Need to find rank structure/job descriptions

[justfish]

I am on our negotiation comitee and need some contract help. Long story short, our deptartment has bastardized the traditional rank structure w/ assigning Engineers to ride in charge of apparatus, Lt to ride in charge of ALS apparatus, and Captains to be in charge of a District (8 total). There is absolutly no rhyme or reason. As you can imagine, it leads to an enormous ammount of confusion, and micromanagement. There excuse was always we are young and growing, blah,blah.........
Now as a member of the negotiation comitee, I see that not only is it affecting daily operations, it makes negotiations impossible because we arent comparing apples to apples.
They tell us in negotiations to bring them evidence of why we need what we are asking for, so I want to flood them w/ info. I dont think it will be hard to do if I knew where to go to look for it.

So basically what I need is a bunch of Traditional rank structures and job descriptions from departments everywhere to show them how very stupid this is. Where can I go, prefrably online, to get these?

Thanks alot!

[4095fanatic]

I know this isn't exactly what you asked for, but the best I can do given we don't have anything online. We have 11 stations in our county, all of which run 1 ALS medic unit and 1 ALS engine company. Each also has a special service (tanker, squad, truck). We run a 3 shift system (24/48).

The county is divided into 2 battalions (north and south). Each Battalion has a Battalion Chief and an EMS Duty Officer assigned to it (also a BC level position, but with the additional requirement of paramedic certification).

Each station has 1 captain assigned to it and 2 LTs. The station captain is in charge of station operations as a whole, as well as a shift. The other LTs are in charge of their assigned shift.

While the pay is different, HVO's have the same rank as firefighters. Up until 3-4 years ago, we also had Master Firefighters, which were veteran firefighters. In practice when a shift LT/Capt. was off they would have another off. detailed in on overtime, but a MFF could ride seat as an acting LT. if need be. This would also happen if the station officer was a paramedic and was required to ride on the ambulance.

On the volunteer side of things, each station has a chief, deputy chief, and assistant chief. Fire side there is a captain, several lieutenants, and 1-3 sergeants under them. The Capt./LT.'s usually ride as officer, with the sergeants usually riding in the back, but riding seat as need be. EMS officers follow the same structure, but have no authority on fire scenes, though they have the same amount of authority in the station. Things get a bit sticky regarding sergeants, as volunteer sergeant's only have authority over members of their own station and usually not in other districts, though in practice they are given the same respect as the other officers.

Hope this helps!

Hope that helps!