BY DAVID “CHIP” COMSTOCK JR.
Young boys and girls often dream of becoming firefighters. Many of us fulfilled that dream when we joined the volunteer ranks. How many young (and a few older) firefighters dream of that next step of becoming a fire officer? Will that dream of promotion become a reality, or will it remain elusive, like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?
In today’s volunteer fire service, firefighter promotion to company officer occurs in several different ways: by popular vote (one of the oldest methods); selection by the fire chief or a group of chief officers (a far less democratic method); or written or oral examination (rare in the volunteer fire service). Occasionally, a department will use an assessment center to determine the officer candidate’s competency. Each method has pros and cons, and no single method guarantees that the candidate selected will be a successful company officer.
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