Georgia Association of Fire Chiefs

It's not to late participate in the SEAFC/GAFC pre-conference classes July 15!

📢 Friday Presenter Spotlight! We have over a dozen incredible speakers coming to this years SEAFC Leadership Conference. REGISTER and come learn what it takes to Lead, Develop, and Achieve in today's fire service 🔥🔥. Bruce Bjorge Lexipol

https://lnkd.in/eTZHhhpP

📢 Friday Presenter Spotlight! Over a dozen incredible speakers will present at this year's SEAFC Leadership Conference. REGISTER and come learn what it takes to Lead, Develop, and Achieve in today's fire service 🔥🔥. Salvatore J. Scarpa CFO, EFO

Register today!

https://lnkd.in/eTZHhhpP

GAFC is joining forces with SEAFC to have a joint conference - All of the Fire Departments in Cobb County are hosting this fabulous event! Check our Facebook regularly for speaker spotlights. This is an event you will not want to miss. You can register here https://www.seafc.org/events-calendar/

Now explain how you would handle this situation.

Coming up through the fire department ranks I had to go through assessment centers to get promoted. Your chances to succeed improved if you were fortunate enough to work with someone that had gone through the process before you and had done well. You may not have known the exact questions or scenarios that you would face, but you understood the basic format which gave you the ability to somewhat prepare ahead of time. The goal of these assessment centers was to put the candidate in a position to be able to demonstrate how they would react under pressure to a variety of situations. These situations included handling emergency scenes, dealing with irate citizens, and even dealing with problem employees. The top candidates were able to think quickly and demonstrate traits such as problem solving, decision making and communication skills, to name a few. The assessment center panel rated each candidate based on the real-life application of their responses. For anyone that has been through an assessment center, you know that promotion notifications are put out weeks or months ahead of time. This gives a person time to prepare but that does not take away the nerves and anxiety when game day comes and it is you and the panel.

The questions and scenarios that are presented to the candidate involve situations that the candidate is more likely to encounter on a regular basis. The best situations would be specific to the individuals own community. You knew that you were going to be given certain information to assist you in providing your responses. In fire scenarios you were given observables (things you can see or know about the situation) like time of day, wind speed and direction, equipment responding and number of personnel. You would simply fill in the blanks based on the situation described. When it came to irate citizens or personnel issues you could (and should) fall back on established policies when giving your response. I still remember the moderator reading the questions and scenarios to me and then telling me I had an allotment of time to prepare my response. Then the moderator would finish each one with, “now explain to the panel how you would handle this situation.” It was showtime!

I am starting my 17th year as a fire chief. My days of participating in promotion assessment centers as a candidate are over. But my days of participating in impromptu questions and real-life situations have not stopped. I have to stay current on a large variety of internal and external situations that may, can and at some point will affect me, my personnel, my department, my community and our individual families. I must stay aware of circumstances or situations that can get us off course or cause distractions or harm. Time has also taught me that I must stay current on these items for my brothers and sisters in all walks of public safety. We are our brother’s and sister’s keepers. I will never get to meet everyone that becomes part of this huge family we call public safety, but I can do my part to help build the road to success for each of them. So can those of you that are reading this.

I believe public safety (fire, police, EMS, 911 dispatchers…) do a very good job preparing for emergencies and providing top quality responses when called upon by our community. We are willing to give all we have for total strangers because God made us with hearts to serve. The life of public safety is not for everyone.

Throughout my career it was instilled in me that I must be strong and fearless. That I was to run to danger while others are running away. That I didn’t show emotion when something bothered me because it would transfer or affect those working with me. There was not a memo from the fire chief or a policy stating that we were never to talk about things that bothered us. That is just the way it was. I was to live by the old saying, “Big boys don’t cry.” But big boys and girls do cry. Sometimes the load just gets too heavy.

Public safety has had an internal situation for years and for whatever reason never dealt with it. It has been one of those family secrets that we just didn’t say out loud. However, today the secret is out but in too many departments it is being treated as one of those nasty 4 letter words, PTSD. We all should have seen it coming because if we have been in this line of work long enough (long enough could be our 1st day), we have personally experienced a tragic event. One of those calls that just stuck with us. But work is not the only place issues arise that bother us. Situations at home can also add to the load we carry.

We must change our culture to allow and encourage our members the freedom to say, “I am not ok.” That is the starting point. The negative stigma associated with PTSD must stop. Dealing with a tough call or situation is not a disease it is better stated as a brain injury or brain trauma. No employee should ever fear speaking up because they believe that doing so will cost them their job. If they tell us that they hurt their knee, we get them the help they need; and when the doctor clears them to work, we put them back on the job. PTSD should be handled the same way.

So, here’s your scenario:

One of your firefighters comes to your office visibly upset and asks to be able to speak with you. You invite them in to have a seat and ask if you can close the door. The firefighter begins to tell you about the problems they are having like lack of sleep, uncontrollable thoughts, and family problems because of it. They talk about a call that they simply cannot shake. Finally, they tell you that they are having thoughts of hurting themselves.

There is no assessment center panel. You have no time to prepare your response. You must respond immediately to the situation at hand.

“Now explain to your firefighter how you would handle this situation.”

This could easily happen to you today. How will you respond?

If it has not happened to you and if you do not have a plan or policy in place, then you have time to prepare. How much time? No one knows. Our department members chances to succeed improve if we do our part to prepare.

Gather your observables now:
• 988

• Office of Public Safety Support

• Chaplain

• Peer Counseling

• Find your local providers for mental health and substance abuse. Sit down with them to know what they offer. Bring the other public safety directors to the meetings with you.

• Get your Human Resources Department involved.

We prepare on a regular basis to be able to handle any emergency in our community quickly. We know that lives depend on us. It’s past time that we prepare for emergencies within our own house. Lives depend on us.

It’s ok to say I’m not ok.

David E. Eddins – Fire Chief
Waycross Fire Department

HB451 Update - Encouraging Support

GA bill that would give first responders PTSD insurance passes first hurdle The bipartisan bill is expected to eventually make it to the floor for a full vote at some point during the current legislative session.

First Responders and PTSD: Moving Past the Trauma

Please like and share. We never know who is suffering and thinking they are all alone.

Thank you Ashley Wilson for being brave enough to speak up.

First Responders and PTSD: Moving Past the Trauma

REGISTER TODAY!

https://access.gpstc.org/student/classes/details?gpstcCode=MC2731

This video podcast episode features an interview between Chief David Eddins from Waycross Fire Department and GPSTC Fire Academy Instructor, Jeff Dean, as they highlight Chief Eddins journey to making the Come in From the Rain video. This video is about mental health in public safety. This podcast goes into detail about how the video came to life and the impact it has had on people in public safety since its release.

Please share this information with your department.

Register today! https://www.cognitoforms.com/SEAFC1/_96thSEAFCGAFCLeadershipConferenceAttendeeRegistration

Here’s a sneak peak at what’s in store https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RT7rJZxmrI

GAFC President, Terry Smith represented the GAFC at this year’s Georgia Fallen Firefighter Memorial Service.

Honored this year was Efrin Medina from St. Mary’s Fire Department whose end of watch was 4/17/2021.

Thank you to those that put together and participated in a great memorial service.

Congratulations to Chief Terry Smith with Camden County Fire Rescue on his new role as President of the Georgia Association of Fire Chiefs.

Please do not reply to any email appearing to be from David Eddins asking for gift cards or any other type of donations on behalf of the Georgia Association of Fire Chiefs.

We have teamed up with Our Journey of Hope, 600 Celebrate Life Parkway Newnan, Georgia 30265Newman, GA to offer a Cancer Care Leadership Training course for First Responder Chaplains. This is a closed class for chaplains only and you will not find it on their web site. The course is free, you cover your room cost. They have setup special rate for us. Register by emailing [email protected] or calling 770-400-7200.

https://www.ourjourneyofhope.com/

This is a great class to help equip you and your office in ministering to employees and their families suffering from cancer. Reach out to me if you have any questions. Many of us attended this trading a few years back and is awesome.

Please share with those in your chaplain group.

Home | Our Journey of Hope We provide pastors and ministry leaders with the tools, training and support to raise up cancer care ministries in their churches and communities.

Smyrna Fire Department’s, Chief Brian Marcos teaching Leadership in Crisis at the 95th Annual Leadership SEAFC Conference in Wilmington, NC. Chief Marcos also serves as the Georgia State Director for the Southeastern Association of Fire Chiefs.

2023 Fire Service Conference Call for Papers Georgia's Fire Service Conference will be held in Augusta, Georgia, from August 22-25, 2023. The Georgia Association of Fire Chiefs and the Georgia Firefighters Association seek presenters for this year's training sessions. We seek the best of the best to submit proposals for hands-on training and c...

Hall County Fire Rescue (HCFR) is actively seeking two motivated individuals to join our team as Training Officers. Our mission is to "Improve Lives Through Excellent Service," which is achieved through our core values of striving for excellence, being purpose-driven, placing others first, and pursuing personal accountability. If you share our purpose and values and are committed to serving those who serve others, we encourage you to apply. This could be the opportunity you have been searching for to make a meaningful impact in your community as a highly skilled and dedicated professional.

Video- https://vimeo.com/823498949/4c048f81df?share=copy
Application- https://workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/default/mdf/recruitment/recruitment.html?cid=12aec1e0-0217-4f3d-bc8d-3b0e64d0948b&ccId=19000101_000001&type=MP&lang=en_US&jobId=463995

Recruitment