letter to the editor

摘要

Leadership is becoming more difficult to come by in today's fire service. The fire service is saturated with social media, networking, and advertising. Although social media and the Internet have played a great role in communications and opportunity in the fire service, they have also had negative impacts. The world is full of opinions, and social media opens the door to keyboard heroes badgering and bashing; posting negative comments; and critiquing other people, departments, and organizations. Social media platforms have allowed firefighters and first responders to create a look-at-me epidemic. It is becoming more common to see firefighters obsessed with constantly reminding the world that they are firefighters vs. letting their involvement and commitment to the organization and community do the talking. I have seen firefighters spend more time talking and in conversations about Internet firefighters and in what they are selling or advertising than I have firefighters who have made a respectful difference in the service. We all know the type of firefighter I'm describing; we probably have at least one in our department. These firefighters are in career, combination, and volunteer fire departments and train the least but complain the most. They appear at every event for the recognition but are unprepared and unskilled when it matters the most.