Crew Commander - Confusion With The New System

Confusion With The New System

The new ranks to roles system has caused some confusion amongst firefighters on the fire ground, and from an administrative point of view at officer level.

For instance a firefighter would have traditionally known that a Divisional Officer was a high-ranking officer in the Brigade and should be addressed as "Sir" or "Ma'am" (and sometimes should be saluted). However some Divisional Officers are now known under "role names".

In the old rank system there would have been a "Divisional Officer" responsible for training new recruits, or a Divisional Officer in the Fire Safety Department. Clearly both officers are of the same rank but perform different roles.

The new regime tries to resolve this by calling the Divisional Officer responsible for recruit training a "Training Manager" whilst the Divisional Officer in Fire Safety a "Fire Safety Manager". (These are just fictitious examples used for clarity).

If the officer in question is wearing rank markings on his / her uniform, other personnel can immediately determine his or her seniority.

But if the Officer corresponds by email, letter or telephone giving their new title other personnel may not be able to distinguish the officer's level of authority or seniority.

This has caused great confusion between neighbouring brigades especially when not communicating in person because they may give their senior officers slightly different titles (they would wear identification marks on their uniform and therefore their seniority would be instantly quantifiable by officers from other brigades)