Much has been written in the past year about the decline of the role of the company officer within the fire department. The scope of most of these articles has been about the loss of experience and dealing with ways to get newly promoted officers more training to deal with that loss. In career departments all over the country, it's hard to imagine an engine or a ladder company functioning without an officer. Unfortunately, many departments throughout the country do just that. What benefits could your department gain with the addition of a company officer to an engine or a ladder company?
In Reading, Pennsylvania, the fire department operates with four on-duty shift officers. Two of those officers are deputy chiefs who are assigned vehicles to respond as needed citywide. There are two lieutenants, one assigned to a paramedic unit and the other assigned to the department's heavy rescue. Regular shift staffing is two persons per apparatus or medic unit, with a total shift complement of 18 firefighters and six paramedics. We provide coverage to a population of more than 85,000 in a 10-square-mile area and had a call volume of 22,900 runs in 2010. In addition, we provide mutual-aid assistance on request to departments in neighboring municipalities.
Many other departments in Pennsylvania operate similarly to Reading because of financial or other issues. The situation is quite unique and at times requires "out-of-the-box" thinking and actions. Firefighters are often tasked with officer-level decisions on and off the fireground. Some of the problems encountered in situations without officers include the following.
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