How Do You Know When Enough is Enough?

By John M. Buckman III

“We don’t have enough volunteers.” “We don’t have enough money.” Those two statements are made by fire Chiefs all across the nation.

The question I would ask the fire Chief, “How much is enough?” and if you had enough, how would it change outcomes? What outcomes would be clearly successful?

I would ask the fire Chief how you would measure “enough”? What does the data say about the level of service and the lack of funding? What kind of data do you collect? What do you do with the data?

Is the concept of measuring outcomes one skill set the fire Chief is good at? When we actually collect data and information to measure effectiveness, we begin a relentless process of judgement of ourselves and others. Or does the fire Chief have a “not good enough” mentality?

When I conduct a presentation, I am often asked, “How did it go?” My response is that I gave the best presentation at that moment that I could give. I gave the presentation my all, I had done the research, prepared the presentation visuals and practiced my delivery.

This might be a “what” comment: We are only human and as a leader we should embrace the attitude we are good enough to tackle the community problems with the resources we are provided by the public.

Some things you might consider measuring:

• Hours of training
• Buildings inspected
• Citations issued
• Corrective action taken
• Number of firefighters responding to an EMS call
• Number of firefighters responding to a fire call
• Public education events
• Smoke detectors installed
• Smoke detectors in residential facility checked
• Citizen contacts
• Fire stations sufficient in number
• Fire stations located in correct areas
• Hydrant inspected and tested
• ISO level adequate
• Apparatus replacement/refurb plan in place
• Capital expenditures planned
• Evaluation of fire department operations conducted regularly including EMS responses

This list of data is not all inclusive. It is a start.

So how do we know if we are measuring the right things and if those measures actually provide an outcome that is easily understood and able to be used? You won’ t know until you examine the data you are currently collecting to see if tells the story. Collect the right data and use that data to create the story.

The fire service funded at whatever level we are funded at together with our community resources should always remember we make a difference in their world by showing up and doing the best we can at that moment in time with the resources provided.