01/04/2024
9 January 2023
An email appeared in my inbox from the Fire Chief announcing promotional testing, the email stated that he needed to know who was interested by 12 January for testing on 23 January. I was dead set against promoting. I was more than content and completely comfortable driving.
It took several conversations with my Captain and the guys on my shift to convince me into testing. The reason being, if me or the other Engineer didn’t get the spot, one of us would have to leave C-Shift.
On 9 January I made the decision that I would take the promotional test with the only goal being to stay with my crew, to stay with the boys! On the day of testing the interview process consisted of officers from departments neighboring, some I knew by name and recognizing their faces.
The entire interview process simply felt like a conversation amongst friends so I don’t remember all of the questions, I simply remember one. “Why do you want to be a lieutenant?” I took a deep breath and I answered as honestly as I could. I told the panel that I had truthfully didn’t want to promote, I was more than content driving the tower ladder, I’m not in the promotional process chasing rank and quite frankly don’t care for it. I’m simply here to stay with my crew, to stay with the boys!
I’ve spent a majority of my career with these guys, I’ve had the privilege of training them when they were hired, going through their check offs to be a driver, and even as they went through their promotional process. These guys have been some of the best I have had the honor of working with and truthfully it’s the only reason I wanted to promote, to stay with the boys.
On 1 February I was asked to step out into the apparatus room where my Captain and Chief told me that through the promotional process I had scored the highest and offered me the position, hesitantly I accepted the position. Hesitantly. Hesitantly because this is going to be outside of my comfort zone. This is something new.
The more I thought about this new role, the more nervous I become. My nervousness wasn’t from me thinking I couldn’t do the job, it came from the unknown of the job. I wholeheartedly believe that if my Captain hadn’t been allowing myself or the other Engineer to step into his role and run the shift from time to time I wouldn’t have been prepared for this new challenge.
I’ll be the first to tell you, I’m not the officer I feel like I should be. I’ve always been my biggest critic and honestly, most days, I feel like there’s a ton of room for improvement especially on the administrative side of the house.
I write all of this to say that these bugles aren’t a way of doing less, but a responsibility to do more. If you’re considering promoting you have to understand that promoting to an officer rank is 100% a responsibility for you to do more. To do more for your people, to have their back and their best interests in mind, and to do your best to help them see the potential in themselves and develop them into that.
Take the time to invest in yourself. Take classes that are both officer related and firefighter related, you will forever be a fireman first. Read. Read books on leadership, the different learning styles (so you know how best to reach your personnel), management, and on the different generations and how to bridge the gap. You’re not going to have all the answers or be at the top of your game right off.
This month marks a year that I embarked on this new journey in my career and I definitely don’t regret it, while I’m still not the officer I feel like I should be I believe that I’m in the position I need to be to help those I’ve been with. To be with the boys!
-Eller
