I've been upset over the last few days by the onslaught of discouraging words, based once again, on our Lebanon Fire and EMS Chief, Daniel Meehan, as well as regarding several of the "senior officers" who have chosen to leave the department recently.
I've spoken to a few of them, and yes, there ARE actually SIX who have left the Lebanon Fire and EMS over the last few months, not only two.
I have a few things to say that will not be popular with some, however, the calls I've made and the research I've done have been more than helpful in providing a door to understanding for me, and hopefully, they will be for others as well.
The first person I phoned was a Fire Chief friend of mine in a small rural town in Vermont. His town is much like Lebanon in that it is growing and changing rapidly, and the small little town is suddenly faced with "more people than brains", in his words, not mine.
For this interview, we'll call him Chief Jones.
Now Chief Jones came from a Firefighter's position in the town of Burlington, Vermont. A major city in Vermont. He was a full time paid firefighter there for over 13 years. Although he was fully certified as a firefighter, his choice on the truck was as the driver on their tank truck. According to Chief Jones, the department had been through several drivers assigned to that truck, and somehow it seemed that when pressure strength was needed, the drivers that were assigned to that tank truck were never quite able to give the pressure required.
Now, let me tell you that I have NO clue what I just was talking about. Chief Jones assured me that half the firefighters in Burlington had no clue either, so I feel as though I'm in good company.
Anyway, on with the story.....
Chief Jones had never married, but one day, in his 50s, he met a woman who captured his heart. She was from a small town in central Vermont where the two decided that they would take up residence. So then Firefighter Jones headed off to the tiny little town. He took a job in a small manufacturing company and quickly became their Safety Officer, married his lady friend, and for a while, he was happy.
One day, he and his lady were seated on their front porch and the fire trucks started rolling by. Not only the tiny town's department, but fire trucks from towns for miles around were driving past his home, lights flashing, sirens wailing and all headed for a major forest fire that encompassed several area small towns. Knowing that the firefighters needed his help was more than Firefighter, now Safety Officer Jones could handle. He put on his old outdated gear, and he headed for that fire. Upon arrival, Safety Officer Jones spoke to several Firefighters and helped all day long wherever he was needed. His passion was reignited and after the fire was out (several days later) Firefighter Jones made an appearance at the local FD.
It wasn't long that Firefighter Jones' experience and leadership inspired the young volunteer department to request that Firefighter Jones be elevated to Chief Jones, however problems were on the horizon.............
According to the Chief, he had many power struggles, not so much with his young crew, as with the tiny town's elders. It seems they had always promoted from within, and many of the young firefighters had been with the department since they were High School Junior Firefighters, and they felt that one young man in particular, a descendant of the town's very first Fire Chief, should have been called to handle the position.
Well, because I now call him Chief Jones, you can guess how the story ends. Chief Jones wins the hearts of tiny town Vermont and after 1 year and 2 months, he is still the Chief. However, that title did not come easy for the almost 55 year old Chief Jones.
The Chief will tell of changes within the department as the young firefighters grow and change within the department. Some have gone on to gain more education and move on to other jobs in larger towns, some aren't even active firefighters any longer, choosing different career paths for themselves.
Chief Jones does not have the added headache of EMS rescue units and ambulances to contend with as his tiny town utilizes a regional EMS department that covers 9 tiny towns. However, he has had several of his firefighters leave the department due to having to take orders from EMS while on an active scene.
"Knowing my firefighters," the Chief explained, "and how they react to out of town, higher level medical officers, telling them what to do, your Chief has his hands full when combining two departments," he told me on the telephone. "Firefighters like to be the scene heroes," he stated, "they focus on saving property, while medical responders need complete control of a scene in order to put the patient first, before loss of property."
The Chief went on to say that in some instances, control of his firefighter's attitudes is his own toughest job. Being from a firefighter's background himself, he enjoys watching his young firefighters working a scene, but when it's shut down and they are pushed out of the way by an EMT or Paramedic, none of them, including Chief Jones, is very happy about the situation.
Chief Jones assured me that after a year and two months, he is still bothered by the situation. While his own personal acceptance within the town has changed, he is still plagued with those who second guess him. In explaining to him about the comments on Lebanon Maine's social media pages, the Chief let out an audible sigh, and coughed several times before saying that sometimes Facebook is his worst enemy. He calls Facebook the "Mom Brigade", saying that every time he has to pull a firefighter for discipline, the Firefighter's Mom will take to Facebook complaining to all the other Moms in his tiny town, all of whom regard him as little more than an out of town guy that "stole" the Chief's position without any apparent merit.
I had to laugh at the similarity in comments to those we hear right here in Lebanon, Maine. While we usually aren't dealing with anyone's Mom, the comments are more than eerily similar.
So, because I wanted to be sure that this wasn't a fluke similarity, I contacted another friend of mine, an Firefighter/EMT and Auxiliary President in a nearby small town in Maine. Funny but True, his town's department has only recently merged and begun staffing at the Fire and Rescue House. My Maine friend does not hold a Chief's title, however, he is a long time volunteer member of his department.
According to my friend, yes, there were several long time members of his fire department who "walked" when the new ranks and schedules were created.
"The problem comes when you mix departments," this small town Maine Firefighter/EMT stated. (We'll Call him Firefighter Mike). He then went on to tell me that to understand, you have to first look back on a little history. Of course, being a lover of history, I was all ears.
According to Firefighter Mike, "The Fire Department has been the Fire Department for hundreds of years, and yet the EMS people are only a new entity, only first beginning to be designated by American towns in the 1960s. But the truth of the matter, if you really stop to examine things, is that while the firefighters know their jobs, when you combine a fire department with an EMS department, what you REALLY have is a EMS department that has a few fire trucks. Firefighters don't like that."
Yes, I could easily see where this was going, and Yes, I could understand the frustration that the Lebanon fire department folks must be feeling.
Firefighter Mike continued, telling that the tale of the numbers shows all the difference. "While firefighters may have to leave the station 5 or 6 times a month, those numbers will usually show that their main function is to help EMS. While EMS are responding to 30 to 50 calls in a month, the bulk of the firefighter's job is in response to EMS calls for car accidents. The majority of fire only calls are either an automatic alarm malfunction, a smoky kitchen from overcooking bacon, and then once in a while, an active fire." He went on to add that firefighters, in general, do not like to be thought of as an extension of an EMS department, but that as part of a combined department, that was exactly the role that they now found themselves facing, without any say-so in the matter.
Indeed, in his own department, firefighters, who were used to getting their "chores" done and then sitting down to watch television or play a game of cards on their volunteer time, did quite a bit of grumbling when the Chief of their department (and he never did make it quite clear if the Chief were from the old separate Fire or Rescue Department or someone new), started asking them as paid staffers, to help clean an ambulance or to sweep the floors of the station.
Many of the fire department personnel left, and applications had to be taken to fill the slots. But the applications WERE taken and the slots WERE filled and Firefighter Mike's small town heroes liked that even less. "For many years they were irreplaceable," he explained, "and to now be replaced is a slap in the face for them, and of course, they blamed it on the new EMTs or the new Chief. Not because they didn't want to take the responsibility for their own actions, but because their actions that had been acceptable all along, changed completely when the combining of the department was complete."
I will also say that Firefighter Mike knows a few of the Lebanon Fire and EMS employees and he, in his small town, well to our North, has tried to sit back and watch as the changes in Lebanon have taken place. "Things will happen the way they have to," he said, "the Fire and EMS world are like unwilling brothers. Bound together by town department and common goal, but the EMS is like the little brother who operates under constantly high levels of emotion and gets all the attention, and the Fire people, are like the older brothers who don't like it much at all." He ended our phone conversation by saying that sooner or later, the old blood flushes out and the new blood rushes in and a new breed of Firefighter/EMS employee takes the helm, becoming the new brothers and sisters who work and respond together well, help one another, and don't think of the department as two separate departments, as they always were, but as one unit, because they never knew their department as separate.
So, while every situation in every Fire and EMS Department is different, somehow they are all quite similar. Changes happen and those who are not able to control the changes in departments they have served for a long time, are confused and upset by new rules and new officers' ranks, and just where they stand in the lineup of the greater scheme of things.
I've truly tried to speak candidly, and while I have no idea of the actual "events" that happened in our own Lebanon Fire and EMS Department, the story coming from two separate Fire and EMS units in towns very similar in size and makeup to Lebanon were so shockingly similar to the things we are seeing here in town, that they warranted writing them down and sharing them as possible explanations as to why we in Lebanon can't seem to catch a break and go a day without disturbing news being delivered about Fire and EMS Department.
One last note, Firefighter Mike, who as I said knows some of the Lebanon employees, said that Lebanon had one disadvantage that most other towns aren't facing. He stated that the larger problem Lebanon has with their Fire and EMS Department is that we have had over 3 years of intense scrutiny due to such financial problems with the Rescue Department, that people are used to focusing on them. "Your Fire and EMS employees are working under the most stressful circumstances ever," he said, "I don't envy them. Not only do they have to adjust to one another, they're adjusting to a new Chief, and all the while, they're being watched. People in town are just waiting for them to mess up, and sooner or later, because they're human, they're going to mess up. How can you ever cooperate with one another when you're under the gun 24 hours a day? It's difficult, at best."
Indeed, how can you?
And all that for a $12 an hour part time job with no benefits.
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