Thats exactly how it seems to be working for many of the top brigade managers these days. Straight into the job as an ACO and maybe if we are lucky we may make a fire fighter of them by the time they retire.
Or maybe not.
I find it quite interesting to watch the news stories showing firefighters pouring water on the outside of buildings and very well educated senior managers explaining to the news teams that the building is lost and we are in the business of containment.
It brings back to me those words by Captain Eyre Massey Shaw
A fireman to be successful, must enter buildings; He must get in below, above, on every side, from opposite houses, over brick walls, over side walls, through panels of doors, through windows, through loopholes cut by himself in the gates, the walls, the roof; he must know how to reach the attic from the basement by ladders placed on half burned stairs, and the basement from the attic by rope made fast on a chimney;
His whole success depends on his getting in and remaining there, and he must always carry his appliances with him, as without them he is of no use.
James Braidwood was one of the most successful innovators in setting up brigades in Edinburgh then London- he was a qualified bulding surveyor before making fire his career. The trouble of todays top tier entry is that whilst it may bring in managers well skilled in all the essentials such as elf and safety, diversity, media relations, corporate affairs they may have little understanding of what needs to be done at the sharp end.
Hey sorry Chris - gone way off topic again.
