Effectively running a fire department is a tall order. Managing daily operations is critical, particularly in hazardous, high-pressure situations where the lives of both civilians and emergency responders hang in the balance.

With so much on the line during an emergency, your department must be a well-oiled machine. Knowing this, what are some tangible ways you can improve your operations? Here are four practices you can apply today.

#1 Perform Preventative Maintenance

You’ve heard the saying, “a craftsman is only as good as his tools.” For firefighting operations, machinery and equipment must be in optimal condition to ensure an efficient and effective emergency response.

To establish firefighter preparedness, it’s essential that personnel:

  • Perform preventative maintenance
  • Conduct daily apparatus readiness checks
  • Remove the vehicle from service the moment an issue is flagged
  • Upkeep maintenance records

#2 Improve Inner-Department Communication

Fire departments operate with department personnel spread out between stations and shifts.

This fragmented staffing can lead to breakdowns in communication or a lack of cohesion across the entire fire department. In turn, fragmented and inconsistent operations can harm morale, fracture readiness, and response.

Knowing this, fire departments must place a special emphasis on improving their communication efforts. Ways you can do this include:

  • Creating monthly newsletters that detail essential information
  • Conducting weekly briefings to address issues or questions firefighters have
  • Installing an open-door policy with the fire department officers and leaders
  • Streamlining the memo and shift logs systems

#3 Proactively Maintain Staffing Levels

To operate at optimal readiness around the clock, a fire department needs the proper levels of personnel.

But here’s the operational hurdle—across the country, fire departments are experiencing recruitment and retention challenges of both volunteers and career firefighters.

According to a 2021 NFPA report, staffing volumes were at or near historic lows. This is likely due to several contributing factors, inducing COVID, baby boomers retiring from the workforce, and occupational preference changes in younger demographics.

If you seek to maintain operational capability, let alone improve upon it, you must focus on retaining your existing force. If they burn out, you can face a perpetual staffing crisis. That said, it’s paramount to do everything you can to retain personnel with 10+ years of experience.

When it comes to recruiting, salary and benefits are key motivators. With volunteer reliability diminishing, fire companies must move away from that model and increase compensation and perks to encourage career firefighting.

#4 Implement Fire Department Management Software

To operate at a high level, particularly in response to an emergency incident, fire department leaders must make efficient use of their available resources. When deploying your forces, you need to know:

  • Which personnel and apparatus are available
  • Where they are located
  • How long it will take them to arrive on the scene.

Cutting-edge firehouse technologies like personnel accountability management systems (PAMS) make this possible, providing commanders with the information they need to plan and implement an effective, real-time response.

Unlike outdated tag-based and roster accountability systems, modern emergency incident management software empowers all emergency responders by providing access to the information they rely upon at a glance.

IMT—Improving Fire Department Operations

Unlike other businesses, improving firehouse operations isn’t about making more money—it’s about saving lives. To achieve this, your personnel must be prepared to respond to emergencies efficiently.

At IMT, our firefighter incident command system was designed with that in mind. Our goal is to reimagine the way you manage a fire response. Equipped with our personnel accountability software, you have the most effective solution on the market for maintaining situational readiness and awareness.

Do you want to improve your fire department’s operations dramatically? Schedule your demo today.

Sources:

NFPA. U.S. fire department profile.
https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/Emergency-Responders/US-fire-department-profile