Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
Today’s burning question: I am a member of a combination department comprised of full-time career personnel and part-time firefighters. The Fire Chief and Deputy Chief are career, but we also have part-time District Chiefs and part-time Captains. Each of the career shifts are led by Captains who serve as shift supervisors. My question to you is: without an exact chain of command formalized in our department, do full-time Captains have authority over a part-time Chief Officer on an incident scene? Does any case law differentiate between the two?
Answer: The answer to your question cannot come from the law, it has to come from the department’s leadership to establish the chain of command.
There is no provision in the law that establishes a chain of command for a fire department that has failed to formally establish one. A court confronted with a chain of command issue would have to ascertain what the chain of command is by looking at things like the city charter, personnel ordinances, civil service regulations, fire department rules and regulations, and perhaps the collective bargaining agreement (if any). Certainly the fire chief’s testimony – in the absence of conflicting authoritative testimony – would likely be compelling.
Of course, if the firefighter’s collective bargaining agreement dictated that the career shift-commanders report directly to the fire chief, that may be enough to raise a triable issue for the court. Also, keep in mind that basic ICS principles make formal rank less-of a concern. Under ICS a District Chief may be subordinate to a captain who is serving as the IC. The issue may actually be more important in terms of administrative issues rather than at emergency scenes. In any event the department should clarify the situation.
