The Fire Service: White-Collar or Blue-Collar?

The 21^st century fire service, like the fire service of previous generations, is full of opinions and mindsets on what the fire service should be.  There are hundreds of publications and blogs, including mine, with firefighters sharing their thoughts and opinions on various matters.  Since it’s Labor Day, I decided it would be a good time to share some thoughts on a topic that has become more prevalent and debated in today’s fire service: Is the fire service a white-collar or blue-collar profession?  I believe the fire service is a blue collared profession with essential white-collar aspects.  When you mix the colors blue and white, light blue is created.  Therefore, the fire service is probably bettered classified as a light blue-collar profession.

Stronger emphasis has been placed on higher education in today’s fire service than in previous generations.  This fact, coupled with the expansion of services the fire service provides, has led to a whole new group of fire service members.  Often it seems as if more folks feel the fire service is, or should be, a white-collar profession.  The reality of the situation is that an effective fire service will never be a white-collar profession.  To remain effective, the fire service will always need members who are willing to “get their hands dirty” through proficient and technically skilled task performance.

However, after doing this job for a little bit and serving in various leadership roles, I’ve learned that an effective fire service cannot be a completely blue-collar profession.  Unfortunately, the fire service consists of more than just responding to, and mitigating, emergencies.  Believe me, I would love it if that were what we did.  But, that’s not reality.  There are a lot of “behind the scenes” things going on that allow a fire department to operate efficiently and effectively.  Often times, the folks on the floor “getting their hands dirty” do not realize how much “behind the scenes” work is going on.  Much of this “behind the scenes” work is more white-collar work than it is blue collar.

As stated above and as you’ve probably gathered from reading this blog, I am an operationally driven guy.  I love anything that pertains to doing the job and learning to do the job better.  When I became Fire Chief, I really had to focus on doing more of the “behind the scenes” things.  If these items are neglected, an organization will rapidly lose its effectiveness.  Submitting budgets, working within a budget, making requisitions, establishing relationships with political figures and other department heads, intra- and inter- departmental communication, and managing people and programs are all examples of white collar work that’s essential for an organization to run effectively.

An organization can have the most technically skilled folks but if nobody provides these folks with the equipment to perform their tasks, their effectiveness will be extremely limited.  The fire service needs folks who can look at a budget to find funds for this equipment, establish contact with vendors who sell this equipment, make a legal purchase within purchasing guidelines, and establish implementation of this equipment once it arrives.  Just because you are good at riding up and down the road on a fire truck, doesn’t mean you will be good at doing all of this.  Conversely, just because you’re good at doing the white-collar work, doesn’t mean you’re going to be good at riding up and down the road on fire trucks.

While most of what I write about deals with the blue-collar aspects of our job, there are many essential white-collar aspects to the fire service.  If all members of the fire service are able to better understand their roles and the roles of others, mutual respect and understanding amongst fire service members will likely result.  In order to remain efficient and effective, the fire service needs folks who do the blue-collar work by “getting their hands dirty” as well as folks who do the white-collar, “behind the scenes” work.  The next time you think about denouncing the folks who carry out different duties than yours within the fire service, consider the fact that their work might actually help yours.  Efficiency and effectiveness will be better maintained if we embrace the light blue-collar concept.