r/Firefighting • u/Launch_Rockface • Jul 10 '25

General Discussion Unpopular Opinions In the Fire Service

I am curious what other peoples unpopular opinions of the fire service are? I know there are alot of things we are doing or trying to do to improve the fire service as far as training and wellness, but I also know alot of it is just not that great in my opinion.

82 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

340 comments sorted by

View all comments

63

u/Imaginary-Anybody542 Jul 11 '25

Promotions should be based on merit and skill not memorizing a book some guy wrote 20 years ago

45

u/ThePhilJackson5 Jul 11 '25

Although using "merit" without any sort of rubric leads to cronyism. Which is my dept

6

u/Green_Statement_8878 Jul 11 '25

The downside to pure merit is backstabbing buddy fuckers that everyone hates who test well end up as your leadership.

I’ve always thought there should be a line vote on the promotions. If you get more than a 10% blackball rate, you’re off the list.

4

u/Imaginary-Anybody542 Jul 11 '25

That is definitely a concern but there are ways to objectively measure merit.