Public Perception of the Fire Service

Since the 2007–2008 financial crisis, the Fire Service at the state and local levels has been under budget restraints that have often resulted in decreased service.69 _Because

of this, the public’s perception of the Fire Service has changed from a positive view to a negative one, due to the Fire Service receiving more in personnel benefits than their service is worth.70 _{This poor public perception comes during a period of mission}

expansion in the Fire Service to encompass All Hazards with a national domestic preparedness standard.71 _{Directed by presidential directives, DHS, through federal grant}

awards, has shaped state and local policy to support national domestic preparedness strategies. These grants have often included funding stipulations that draw budget resources away from public safety.

66 _Ibid.

67 _{Bruce Evans, “Make No Mistake, Emergency Service Is Big Business,” Fire Chief, March 1, 2011,}

http://firechief.com/ems/falck-enters-us-market-201103.

68 _Ibid.

69 _{Jeffrey M. Wallin, “Identifying Staffing Model Options for the Moorhead Fire Department,” 3.} 70 _{“Global Fire Service Leadership Summit.”}

Fire departments nationwide are struggling to meet the fire operations and personnel safety criteria of the DHS, National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Occupational Safety Health Administration (OSHA), and International Organization for Standards (ISO). The high cost of supplying fire services may take money away from other social programs during fiscally constraining times.72

Social media is being used on local and national levels as a means to positively change public perception. It mimics the social structure of close friends, acquaintances, and strangers,73 _{and the public at large is clearly engaged. In fact, Facebook’s statistics}

page states that the company had “1.55 billion monthly active users on average for September 2015.”74 _{According to an estimate by the U.S. Government Accountability}

Office, social media use equates to about one out of four minutes, or 25 percent of online usage.75 _{The private sector’s use of social media to market itself has been widely}

embraced, and this technology has proven successful, as evidenced by growth and profitability. The public sector also has sought to capitalize on this technology by establishing accounts and networks in the same manner as does a citizen. This strategy is one that acts upon the existing technology.

The hierarchal nature of the public sector is clashing with the emergent nature of a transparent social media interface. There is a great opportunity for public agencies to partner with private agencies as subject matter experts. Public agencies already act like a super user. Private agencies could leverage marketing technology in order to provide critical feedback to government users. This partnership loop would likely increase the success of the public sector. Establishing trust with the private sector would be beneficial prior to actual emergencies. This is an opportunity for the government to develop better relationships with private partners.

72 _{Gary, Fire Service Emerging Trends.}

73 _{Brian L. Mayer, Modern Social Media and Social Revolutions (Fort Leavenworth, KS: U.S. Army}

Command and General Staff College, December 16, 2011), https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=703593.

74 _{“Statistics,” Facebook Newsroom, accessed January 20, 2016, http://newsroom.fb.com/company-}

info/.

75 _{Government Accountability Office, Federal Agencies Need Policies and Procedures for Managing}

During an emergency, social media allows government agencies to estimate damage, build situational awareness through crowd sourcing, and communicate to the citizens in a two-way fashion in order to collect information while providing valuable resources and information to the public. The use of social media rises on mobile platforms and Internet-based home computers during an emergency.76 _{Uploaded pictures}

can contain metadata embedded in the image including GPS coordinates, date, and time of recording.77 Mobile applications have been created for many major government agencies. These applications draw feed off of multiple sources, and this allows for rapid burst two-way communications of information on conditions that can change dramatically moment by moment. FEMA tweeted suggestions to 157,000 subscribers on how to communicate to relatives and loved ones their status during telephone network congestion via social media.78 This illustrates how social media can be used by government agencies to better serve citizens.

Challenging the current ethos of the Fire Service would draw fierce opposition by labor and the culture of the Fire Service itself. The current consensus standards were backed by labor unions. Failure of the Fire Service to become adaptive to emerging missions could result in increased competition for the privatization of services. Politicians, lobbied by labor unions over concerns for public safety, strive to meet established consensus standards. When funding resources do not match needs, other public services are reduced. Politicians who reduce or restructure Fire Service models to fit financial resources can suffer politically. The public’s support for the Fire Service may reach a tipping point where the perception of services rendered is not worth the cost. For the Fire Service to remain competitive against privatization, growth in service to the public should be made while reducing costs and generating new revenue sources.

76 _{Gadi Ben-Yehuda, Hurricane Sandy: How Government Uses Social Media for Disaster Response}

(Washington, DC: IBM Center for the Business of Government, October 26, 2012).

http://www.govexec.com/excellence/promising-practices/2012/10/hurricane-sandy-four-ways-government- uses-social-media-disaster-response/59052/.

77 _{“FEMA Independent Study Program: IS-42 Social Media in Emergency Management,” FEMA, July}

18, 2012, https://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is42.asp.

78 _{Jacqueline Baylon. “Hurricane Sandy Coverage: FEMA Uses Social Media to Keep People}