Greetings everyone, I hope this email finds you well.  Can you believe its Friday already?  Whether it went slow for you or fast for me, I’m just glad another weekend is upon us.  Not too much going on this week, so let’s begin.

• 2013 Run statistics are out—fun facts:
  • Jacksonville is the 13^th most populous city in America, 1^st in Florida and the largest city in square miles in the continuous United States (two cities in Alaska have us beat)
  • JFRD is the 10^th largest FD with 58 Fire stations
  • JFRD is the 2^nd largest FD in Florida behind Miami-Dade Fire Rescue
  • We are the 20^th busiest in the country in total runs with 122,930 calls last year (we are averaging 352 calls per day x 365 days = 128,480 calls expected this year or a 5% increase from last year!)
  • We are the 13^th busiest in fire calls with 20,665.
  • Miami-Dade had 22,594 fire calls with 238,729 totals calls.
  • What does this mean?  Only 9% of their calls are fire based.
  • 16% of JFRD’s calls are fire based! 
  • The point of this is to remind you how busy we are as a fire and rescue department and to keep your guard up as you put yourself at risk and exposure 48% more than Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.
    • Of course you didn’t need me to tell you how many fires we go on…please continue to protect yourself with the W4 policy and RIT training.

• RIT Training—is still continuing for the next two weeks.  Thank you to everyone spearheading this important company training.

• Suppression—lost 18 Firefighters to Rescue on today’s bulletin, which is a good thing for Rescue.  I sent out openings that are available in Suppression.  Please put the request in RMS if you would like one of the open spots, otherwise the class being hired shortly will fill those vacancies.

• Rescue Engineers to Suppression—I know we said we were going to wait and make moves once the list was certified.  The problem is we needed FF vacancies in Suppression for the new hires to be placed in.  Not to go into too much detail, 6 Rescue engineers are coming into open Suppression spots on today’s bulletin (they were the ones approved for the spots).  If you were not one of them, it’s because a provisional engineer is still holding your spot and we will not revert them until the list is certified; hope you understand.  Same is true for Suppression engineers who have been approved for a new spot, we are waiting for the list to be certified and those folks reverting.  Just keeping you in the loop.

Let’s see some of the runs we’ve gone on this week:

• W3 SINGLE FAMILY RESD STRUCTURE FIRE/FD 26/8139 WYOMING ST/TG B1/END
• FD 42/MVA-EXTRICATION/12819 MANDARIN RD/TG B1/END
• FD62 Structure Fire single family residence 5243 Tilting Oaks Ct. Tgb1
• FD27 W3 STRUCTURE FIRE ABANDONED SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE SHETLAND/PEELER..TGB1
• Traffic Accident/FD4/Wilcox St. & W. State St./Hazmat Team 7 dispatched for gas leak from passenger pick-up truck per R4's request/Incident on A3 per F9's request/End
• School Structure Fire/FD21/7400 San Jose Blvd./Bolles School/W3/TGB1/End
• FD4/ BEAVER AND RUSHING/ SEMI VS BLDG/ CITY BUS INV/ SEMI FUEL LEAK/ SOT/HAZ/ TGB1/ END/ JLC /
• FD4/ MCI I / BEAVER AND RUSHING/ SEMI VS BLDG/ CITY BUS INV/ SEMI FUEL LEAK/ SOT/HAZ/ TGB1/ END/ JLC /
• / FD16/ ALERT II / JIA/ BARNSTORMER/ 46 SOB/ TGB1/END/JLC

The upcoming Sea of Blue March is to honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our department.  July 3^rd  marked the 14^th anniversary of Lt. Glen Rodgers, R22, who passed away shortly after working his shift from a heart attack.  For those of us who knew Glen, he was a great officer, husband, and friend. Although he never made mention of it, Glen was also a Navy SEAL.  He is one of the 22 reasons we want you to participate on 10-10.  Please keep your thoughts and prayers with his family on this anniversary.

Time to give some thanks…

This week nearly all of our officers were introduced to James Rowan, a fire-based leadership coach whose company is called Grow Your Captains.  The takeaway from each officer may have been different but my opinion is this type of training is long overdue for JFRD.  I wish all of our membership could have attended as fire department leadership begins the day you take the oath of becoming a firefighter, whether you know it or not,  as the prerequisite to leading is knowing how to follow.  Remember when I say rank doesn’t define you?  Firefighter Dewitt Cooper may have never been promoted to chief or captain but no one can deny his leadership on this fire department or his influence on many of you.  When you come on this job as a rookie you quickly realize there is no one tool or appliance for every situation nor is it located in any one compartment; no one EMS bag or kit for each call, you must know where to look based on the situation.  That’s why we have a variety of tools and equipment to deal with any emergency you may encounter. 

Utilizing effective leadership is no different as you have to be aware of what tool to use given the situation you are encountering.  If it were as easy as do this (you fill in the blank) and everyone will love and respect you, then everyone would be a great leader.  But the truth is, great leaders use a variety of tools and techniques based on the situation to get the message or point across  and to promote a positive outcome.  But just like ladders, engines, rescues, and tankers, not all of us have all the tools, all the time.   But having access to each is what makes mitigating our emergencies a success and great leadership is no different.  How many of us have been exposed to the ideas or philosophies used by other successful leaders, fire based or not?   The point is to keep an open mind and see this as an opportunity to grow.  We all won’t agree with each other all the time, nor will we see eye to eye on everything…but isn’t that true for anyone you interact with?  Think of your spouse or loved one…are you always on the same page?  When I ask who is the greatest influence on your career or best firefighter you know?... someone comes to mind; I know who that is for me.  What was it about them that separated them from the rest?  Are you emulating the same qualities?  Would they approve of how you are progressing in your career and developing your character?  Use this training to expand your understanding of management and leadership and store it away for the right time and just like every tool on the truck, you must train with it to become proficient in its use.  Recognizing when and where to utilize it will separate you from the good leaders and the great ones and in the end, don’t we just all want to leave this job better than we found it?  That my friends, takes great leadership from all of us.

Well that’s it for this WIR. Please continue to have your thoughts and prayers with our folks as some are truly having a rough time.  Congratulations to all the promotions today and I hope everyone has a great weekend.  Most of all, I hope you get to spend it with family and friends; as for me, I plan to do the same. 

As always, we thank you for what you do (rebuilding homes and lives), why you do it (because of your character), and for always showing why you are truly the best Fire Rescue Department in the Country!

Very Respectfully,

Kurtis R. Wilson

Chief of Operations

Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department