It’s coming sooner than you think. Some fire chiefs will be replaced after the end of the year. Some will have made the decision themselves; for others, it will have been the choice of department personnel. Either way, changes are coming for a whole bunch of us.
Some of you reading this will be the next chief of your department. How will you handle the transition from the old guard to the new guard? I once heard Alan Brunacini say regarding a fire, “What you do in the first five minutes determines what you do for the next five hours.” And to a certain extent, a change of leadership runs along the same lines. What you do in the first week/month of your administration sets the course for the rest of your term.
First, if you made promises to people about what you’d do if you were elected, you’re a fool! You’re starting out hamstrung. You have to keep the promises for obvious reasons, and you’ll likely not be able to keep most of them for various reasons, including the ever-popular budget constraints.
Second, if you’re replacing a popular chief who left on his or her terms, it’s likely that things are already running pretty darn well at your department. If this is the case, your highest priority is to not screw things up. If you can’t make it better, or at least keep the status quo, then you need to leave it alone.
Take council from the outgoing chief. Spend time with him figuring out what he did to be successful, and why he did what he did. Learn from his errors as well. No matter how popular your predecessor was, he undoubtedly made some unpopular decisions.
Learn the former chief’s filing system, and review personnel folders together. Keep in mind that while problem firefighters for one chief may not be problem firefighters for another chief, they likely will be — even if they were your buddies before you were chief. Above all, keep all personnel issues and discussions CONFIDENTIAL! That means tell no one, not even the individual(s) discussed.
Don’t make drastic changes right off the bat. Take some time, get in and figure out why things are the way they are. Things that look like a mess on the surface may just need a tweak to level it out, not a complete overhaul of the program.
And finally, nothing matters more than the safety of your troops — NOTHING. Your highest priority is to ensure that your personnel are safe and return at the end of every run/shift. Cut no corners in the safety of your personnel.