As pointed out last week, a confrontation between a firefighter and a fire officer is occasionally not resolved when you “drain the emotional bubble.” There are situations where a firefighter has intimidated a first-level fire officer. In a few instances a firefighter has assaulted a first-level supervisor. Hugh Caulfield provides two varsity-level tools that a fire officer can utilize.

FDNY Captain Hugh Caulfield ran the first Academy Line Officer’s Development Program with two Ivy League consultants during the “war years.” The Line Officer’s program was shut down after the 1973 strike, but Captain Caulfield stayed on at the Academy as the Special Projects Officer.

In that role, he assisted Lieutenants and Captains with leadership issues at their stations. The two tools he shared are designed for career first-level supervisors who report to an on-duty battalion chief in an old-school, unionized, big-city environment.

Control-Neutralize-Command

This technique is deployed in response to a spontaneous confrontation by a firefighter. This confrontation may have come from trying to drain the emotional bubble, a planned “gotcha” to set the supervisor up, or an unresolved issue that has come to full boil.

1: Control yourself and your reaction. Just as if you are first-arriving at a well-involved apartment fire with multiple rescues, you need to remain calm, clear and concise when responding to this confrontation. Amy Gallo’s “How to Control You Emotions During A Difficult Conversation” provide six steps to remain in professional mode, including:

Try saying a mantra. This is a piece of advice from Amy Jen Su, managing partner of Paravis Partners and coauthor of Own the Room. She recommends coming up with a phrase that you can repeat to yourself to remind you to stay calm. Some of her clients have found “Go to neutral” to be a helpful prompt. You can also try “This isn’t about me,” “This will pass,” or “This is about the job.”

Gallo, Amy (2017 December 01) How to Control Your Emotions During a Difficult Conversation. The Harvard Business Review

2: Neutralize the Firefighter and Overall Situation. The firefighter wins if you are manipulated into doing something unprofessional, such as reacting emotionally or in a way that damages your authority. Your goal is to remain professional and appropriately exercise your authority as the formal leader.

DEAP Response during the “N” phase in CNC.

If you feel that the firefighter is on the verge of doing something dangerous, such as physically attacking you, the DEAP response creates additional emotional calming and adds some discretionary time. DEAP means: Disengage and Exercise, Appraise the situation and Perform a command function.

Disengage and Exercise. The disengagement begins when the fire officer slowly backs away from the firefighter. Perform a brief mental exercise to shut out the sensory disturbance the firefighter may be creating. Count to 10, say a prayer, visualize your calm space are three ways to shut out the sensory disturbance.

The goal of the disengage and exercise is to slow down your physiological flight-or-fight response due to the adrenaline that was dumped into your body when the firefighter confronted you.

Appraise the situation. Is the firefighter exhausted and calm after the outburst? Is the firefighter still agitated? Does the firefighter still pose a physical threat to you or the company?

Analyze the situation. Is this firefighter the fire company’s informal leader? What short and long-term outcomes do you want to accomplish?

3. Perform a Command Function. You stepped back and took a deep breath, you have appraised the situation. Now is the time to exercise your authority as the formal leader.

The first formal order focuses on neutralizing the situation by removing whatever power the firefighter may still posses after the initial outburst. This usually means moving the other firefighters into another part of the fire station to await the arrival of the battalion chief. Follow your organization’s procedures when dealing with a situation that is hostile or dangerous.

Caulfield developed CNC-DEAP for FDNY company-level officers that were imposing changes in their fire stations, pointing out  that:

Confrontation can sweep away prior bad habits and provide a fresh start with a new set of rules that will put you in control.

The Complex Environment That Required These Tools

These first-line supervisor tools were developed for work locations where FDNY staffing was 4 to 7 members in a fire company where they were handling 14 to 20 responses in 24 hours. In some companies, 1/3rd of the responses were working fires.

New York City was experiencing 3,156 to 4,880 serious fires a year between 1968 and 1982. A serious fire is defined as “all hands” and greater alarms. The number of serious fires rose 40% from 1974 to 1977.

Fire workload was skyrocketing. The city was buying rear-mount aerials to establish second-section truck companies and creating second section engine companies. They established Tactical Control Units that ran from 3 pm to midnight. This same era included civilian attacks on firefighters operating on the fireground.

There was a one day firefighter strike in 1973. On July 2, 1975, there were 1,600 firefighters laid off as part of the elimination of 40,000 municipal jobs. CNC and DEAP are old-school, tribal behaviors born from complex big city environment under stress. These techniques are considered harsh and honed for varsity-level situations.

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Featured image: Tactical Control 712 (1969 – 1972) outside the quarters of Engine 82, Engine 85, Ladder 31 and Battalion 27. FDNY Photo Unit