In America today there are very few organizations you can call and they will have a representative at your door in 7 minutes or less.   That representative is ready to handle about any situation the caller perceived they could not handle by themselves.  In many cases the seriousness of the problem is increasing at an expediential rate  (The car is on fire in the garage and it is spreading to the house).  These usually involve heavy property loss or potential life threats.

Sometimes however the problems are not serious but annoying like smoke from a pile of leaves in a yard or from a commercial property in the vicinity of the calling party.  It is easy to get the fire department on the phone and they always respond.  Upon arrival the caller explains the problem and the fire department makes a good faith effort to resolve the issue.   However, there are times when the fire department can not resolve an issue. 

A recent case involved a resident who complained about smoke form a near by landfill.  The fire department had extinguished a fire at the landfill but knew it would probably re-start given the nature of the burning material and the size of the pile.  The fire department contacted the various agencies responsible for landfills and the office of County Fire Marshal.  Both agreed to a plan that would contain the fire and prevent it from spreading.  In addition the landfill operator was advised to extinguish the fire using his equipment. 

The smoke continued for days while the various county agencies tried to get the operator to put out the fire.  During this time the original caller continued to call the fire department and complain about the smoke.  The calling party was advised of the problem and what was being done to correct it.  The homeowner was not satisfied and wrote to the local newspapers and the homeowners association blaming the fire department for not acting to put out the fire which was causing the smoke. .  It was not until after several meetings that the resident understood what role the fire department played in the initial control of the problem and who would be responsible for finial resolution of the problem.  Because the fire department is easy to contact and highly visible the homeowner took their frustrations out on the group who was most responsive to their needs in the first place.

In another example a dispute broke out between two business parties at a local airport.   Fire department access to the business became a secondary issue covering up a commercial dispute over the price of fuel.  Each party tried to involve the fire department to support their side of the issue.  This dispute became so heated that the local VFD, to put their neutral position directly to both parties, retained legal council.  This cost the taxpayers of the fire district several thousand dollars, money that could have been spent on fire education or suppression equipment. 

What should residents expect from the Fire Department?  Property loss control and life safety risk mitigation is the top priority for all fire departments and these are certainly shared expectations by most citizens.  However, after these two critical tasks, the expectation divergence gets wider.  How does a fire department balance public option against the variety of requests made everyday to handle situations not part of the department’s mission statement?   The fire department is in the business of protecting risks.  We’re in the business of responding to events that those risks create.    This means that the public and the fire departments need to understand each others position when it comes to measuring performance and accepting personal responsibility for those things that go on around us every day.