Firefighting Organizational Culture

The Baltimore County Fire Department is a progressive department that adapts to world around us. Every day there are new advancements in technology, medical research, and treatment modalities. The BCoFD strives to provide high quality patient care which starts with proper trainings that supports the needs of the county’s citizens. Trainings are cost-justified through current research, compliance of department standards, and mandatory requirements for certifications and licenses. Based off those components, there is a recognition for the need of training. Trainings are not only beneficial to the citizens, but the department as well.

The Seton Hall University fire took place in January of the year 2000. Sadly, three students were killed and dozens were injured due to a fire that had started in the common room area. At first details about the cause of the fire were a little confusing, there were many reports that said smoking was the cause and a few that had stated that some drunk students had set the fire as a prank and the fire spread more rapidly than they had anticipated as a result of the carpeting containing synthetic fibers that had acted almost like an accelerant due to its makeup (Boland Hall Fire). This was such an unfortunate happening, what started as a seemingly harmless prank turned into an extremely dangerous situation that none would soon forget. During this incident, students thought it best to ignore the sounding of the fire alarms because

In this first assignment, I will try to demonstrate several areas where the trend of hiring greater educated firefighters did affected not only our training division but also the relationship between generations within our composite department.

In the film Escape Fire the Fight to Rescue American Healthcare, there were many insightful examples of why our Unites States healthcare revolves around paying more and getting less. The system is designed to treat diseases rather than preventing them and promoting wellness. In our healthcare industry, there are many different contributors that provide and make up our system. These intermediaries include suppliers, manufacturers, consumers, patients, providers, policy and regulations. All these members have a key role in the functionality of the health care industry; however, each role has its positives and negatives. Each person with an occupation in the healthcare industry is doing their designated job as assigned, but it’s evident that the system’s design is flawed to its core.

The Triangle fire that claimed the lives of 146 people, most of them immigrant women and girls, caused an outcry against unsafe working conditions in factories. Firefighters arrived at the scene, but their ladders could only reach the 6th floor of the ten-story building, while the hose could only reach the 7th floor. Workers were trapped inside because the owners had locked the fire escape exit doors to prevent theft, so workers jumped to their deaths. The government could’ve prevented the Triangle fire earlier if they listened to the workers’ plea for a safety working environment. Union organization tried to address the employees’ working conditions but wasn’t recognized. The fire was a catalyst for change in New York regarding

“It was a pleasure to burn,” especially for Guy Montag, the fireman in Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451. Fire is a recurring symbol of the book, usually showing up with Montag when there is trouble or change. By examining to the novel and its deeper meaning, the reader is shown how Bradbury provides two different meanings of fire, and can learn how truly significant fire is. Bradbury uses the symbol of fire to represent both powerful destruction and beautiful creation. From poetic phrases to simple statements, fire is shown in two different lights, both of which show the true character of the element. After all, there can be no destruction without creation, and no life without death.

During 1910, the country was progressing quickly towards a greater form of mass production and increasingly dangerous working conditions. People labored in squalor like in the “below ground bakeries,” where rat droppings covered rolling tables and children were “coughing beside ovens.” Progressives, unionists, and socialists called for different types of reform, and Tammany Hall opposed them; the political machine sent strikebreakers and stalled legislation that would benefit the workers. Then, on March 25, 1911, the Triangle Waist Company factory caught fire at the end of the day shift. About 146 men and women died in the Asch Building. Months passed before a trial was held. The result was a conviction of not guilty for the “Shirtwaist Kings.”

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire was a devastating fire that killed 146 girls in New York City (Leap for Life, Leap for Death). At this time, citizens of New York were furious and demanded that the government do something to prevent future tragedies. The government responded and the reforms that the government made, it changed the future of New York industry. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, one of history’s deadliest fires, came as a result of outrageously unsafe working conditions, led to a high death toll and injury total, but, ultimately resulted in reforms that helped safeguard future factory workers.

In conclusion, firefighting started from a humble background in ancient Egypt with the simple gesture of building of a pump. From there, ideas grew, and more innovations discovered that has made it an outstanding professionalism it is today. The important role that firefighting plays in the society has seen it transform over the centuries since the third century. Cities have in the past been devastated by fire outbreaks with examples being London and major cities in America. It is safe to say, if those cities had not reconsidered the importance of firefighters, then they would have seized to exist. To prevent such occurrences in the future, innovations that seek to improve the capabilities of firefighting should be

The definition of a firefighter is “a person whose job is to extinguish fires”, however that just scratches the surface of the many responsibilities of a firefighter. A firefighter can fight a fire and also make an emergency medical call if need be. The work of a firefighter is dangerous, it can include collapsing buildings, emergency medical situation, and in extreme cases, even death. A firefighter needs to have a variety of skills such as evacuate fire structures and treat victims, suppress and extinguish fires with hoses pumps and additional apparatus’. Not everything a firefighter accomplishes involves fighting fires, and saving people, they also act as role models for the younger generation, and the community. A firefighter may have to participate and give a lesson in

The Watsonville fire department is operating in an environment that is rapidly shifting as a result of a combination of many different factors. The different drivers of change within the fire department include;

The book i am responding to is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In Fahrenheit 451, there is a particular event in the book that rather shocked me. In section 1, from pages 33 to 37, Montag and his fire crew get a call to an elderly womans house in the middle of the night to burn her books. The firefighters demand she tell them where the books are and they tear up her house looking for them. What surprises me the most is that the firefighters start the fires and don 't put them out like in our modern day world. The firefighters also burn whole houses down, “Beatty flicked his fingers to spark the kerosine. It was too late. Montag gasped. The woman on the porch reached out with contempt to them all, and struck the kitchen match against the railing.”

Firefighters are not individual in any aspect of their appearance, personality, likes and dislikes or even their smell. Montag came to the realization of this while thinking about his job and how his peers looked gazing into their lighters. He asked himself “Had he ever seen a fireman that didn’t have black hair, black brows, a fiery face, and a blue-steel shaved but unshaved look?” And then quickly confirmed to himself that he had never seen anyone who did not look like his “mirror-image”(Bradbury 33). This repetitive and unnecessary question was used to confirm the nonuniqueness of the firemen while portraying a societal expectation placed upon them of looking this way. Another rhetorical question was, “Were all firemen picked then for their looks as well as their proclivities?”, this was also resolved in the next sentence by the reference of the appearances of the firemen as well as the way they all enjoyed smoking(Bradbury 33). While this may have originated as an individual taste for smoking society clearly made it commonplace and almost expected of the firemen to be smokers. The authors use of rhetorical questions projected the firemen as conformists to society which removed their sense of individuality.

During the Progressive Era (1890’s - 1920’s) there were political reforms and social activism in the United States of America. These acts of social activism and political reformation were to fix issues in urban areas, fix issues in the garment industry, and to make a changes so tragedies (like the Triangle Fire) don’t happen again. The triangle fire serves as a microcosm for the progressive era because they both needed reformation but action was not taken until things became extreme.

However, an identifiable gap exists between the stated culture of a company, where companies want to be and the actual culture, the behaviors employees actually display. We must rely on our leaders to help bridge that gap and drive the desired cultural shift by employing the techniques that help drive organizational culture such storeytellting and focused recognition. (Clampitt