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2A – Daily News – Friday, September 24, 2010 Community people&events Tehama County Shriners From the Firehouse: Chain of command By MICHAEL BACHMEYER Red Bluff Fire Department Courtesy photo Pictured are Bob Conatser, president of the Tehama County Shriners, left, and Pilot Ben Conatser after a fly by at the inaugural Shriners Golf Tournament at Sevillano Links in Corning Sept. 11. Red Cross meeting set On Saturday the local Red Cross is offering a class on Service to Armed Forces Emergency Messaging and Finan- cial Assistance. The Red Cross is the Go-To organization for the Department of Defense to provide emergency mes- sages to our loved ones in active military service. They also work with the Military Aid Societies to pro- vide emergency financial assistance. The Red Cross Ser- vice to Armed Forces Caseworker volunteers however many hours they can per month and works from a comput- er and telephone from home. This training will be 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, 1450 East Lassen Ave. in Chico and is for anyone wishing to volunteer in this capac- ity. There is no charge for the class. For more information or to register call Charles at 891-0811. Setting it straight A story in Wednesday’s edition about Special People Day at the Tehama District Fair contained an error. Judy Ferrell is the program manager at North Valley Services. A story in Thursday’s edition contained misinforma- tion. Fees for adopting a cat would increase to $40 but the spay-and-neuter deposit would decrease to $40. The Daily News regrets the errors. –––––––– It is the policy of the Daily News to correct as quick- ly as possible all errors in fact that have been published in the newspaper. If you feel a factual error has been made in a news story, call the news department at 527-2153. Within public safety organiza- tions such as police, sheriff, and fire departments, you often hear employees refer to “chain of com- mand”. This term describes the process dividing an organization into manageable pieces for the dis- tribution of personnel and responsi- bilities. The division provides a clearly defined avenue for the trans- fer of information from an entry level position to the highest ranking management official within an organization: it creates the structure for who works for whom. This concept was not created from thin air by public safety orga- nizations. Instead, this method was borrowed and adapted from a tem- plate used for years by our military forces. As paramilitary organiza- tions, police and fire agencies have easily adapted this structure to best serve our everyday needs. For an organization to be suc- cessful, it must assure that no one person exceeds their ability to prop- erly manage all of the complex components within their control. In order to assure a proper division of labor, the fire service indentifies its personnel, supervisory, and pro- gram management needs based upon the “span of control” concept. Span of control dictates that one supervisor can effectively manage three to seven subordinate person- nel; the optimum ratio is one super- visor to five subordinates. This the- ory also dictates that one subordi- nate can only be managed by one supervisor at a time. This avoids the possibility of mixed management messages, or direction, being sent to employees. Due to increased workloads or the requirement of specialized knowledge, fire service agencies will also assign a supervisor to oversee certain programs like fire prevention, training, operation, and hazardous materials response. As the Fire Chief, I am responsi- ble for the overall success of the Red Bluff Fire Department (RBFD) including its programs, personnel, and fiscal well-being. It is my job to set the mission and vision of the department to assure that we are taking the proper steps to be suc- cessful well into the future. I also D NEWSAILY HOW TO REACH US RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY THE VOICE OF TEHAMA COUNTY SINCE 1885 VOLUME 125, NUMBER 263 On the Web: www.redbluffdailynews.com MAIN OFFICE: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Main Phone (530) 527-2151 Outside area 800-479-6397 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080 ______________________ Fax: (530) 527-5774 ______________________ Mail: Red Bluff Daily News P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 CUSTOMER SERVICE: Subscription & delivery Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. (530) 527-2151 Ext. 125 subscription rates (All prices include all applicable taxes) Monday through Saturday $9.59 four weeks Rural Rate $10.69 four weeks Business & professional rate $2.21 four weeks, Monday-Friday By mail: In Tehama County $12.29 four weeks All others $16.23 four weeks (USPS 458-200) Published Monday through Saturday except Sunday, by California Newspaper Partnership. Home delivery NEWS News Tip Hotline: 527-2153 FAX: (530) 527-9251 E-mail: clerk@redbluffdailynews.com Daytime: Sports: Obituaries: Tours: (530) 527-2151 Ext. 109 Ext. 103 Ext. 112 After hours:(530) 527-2153 ______________________ ADVERTISING Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Display: 527-2151 Ext. 122 Classified: 527-2151 Ext. 103 Online (530) 527-2151 Ext. 133 FAX: (530) 527-5774 E-mail: advertise@redbluffdailynews.com SPECIAL PAGES ON THE FOLLOWING DAYS Mondays: Kids Corner Tuesdays: Employment Wednesdays: Business Thursdays: Entertainment Fridays: Select TV Saturdays: Farm, Religion Publisher & Advertising Director: Greg Stevens gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Editor: Chip Thompson editor@redbluffdailynews.com Sports Editor: Rich Greene sports@redbluffdailynews.com Circulation Manager: Kathy Hogan khogan@redbluffdailynews.com Production Manager: Sandy Valdivia sandy@redbluffdailynews.com POSTMASTER SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO: PO BOX 220, RED BLUFF CA 96080 newspaper of general circulation, County of Tehama, Superior Court Decree 9670, May 25, 1955 © 2010 Daily News Postage Paid Periodicals The Red Bluff Daily News is an adjudicated daily 90 years ago... Bidwell Field To Be Vacant In Ten Days The flight of the Ninth aero squadron which has been stationed at Bidwell field near this city since May 10, will return to Mather field in about ten days or two weeks and Bidwell field will no longer be the scene of aerial activity until next spring when for- est patrol work is resumed. – Daily News, Sept. 24, 1920 have an operational assignment as the department’s Duty Chief every other week. This assignment requires me to respond as incident commander to any potential high risk incident such as fires 24 hours a day. Our department is designed to have two Division Chiefs who report directly to the Fire Chief. Division Chiefs are mid-management employees respon- sible for implement- ing the mission of the department through the management of programs and supervision of personnel. Our two major programs are Operations & Training and Fire Prevention. These positions are also responsible for the operational assignment of Duty Chief for the department. Unfortu- nately, the fire prevention manage- ment position has been vacant for the last year and a half reducing the effectiveness of the department’s division of labor. RBFD operates three rotating fire suppression shifts by using a 2/4 (48 hours on, 96 hours off) shift schedule. The first level superviso- ry position responsible for the man- agement of these shifts is called Fire Captain. Fire Captains are responsible for assuring that the mission and vision of the depart- ment is accomplished through the use of assigned personnel. Captains manage all station activities includ- ing emergency response, assigned shift training, company inspections, and crew readiness. Captains are responsible for supervising two Fire Apparatus Engineers and one Fire- fighter per tour, and are supervised by that week’s Duty Chief. In addi- tion, some of our Fire Captains will assume assignments as Duty Chief to give a welcomed break to the department’s Chief Officers. While not classified as a supervi- sory position, Fire Apparatus Engi- neers are given minor supervisory responsibilities due to the nature in which we respond (two personnel per engine). However, Engineers are typically responsible for main- taining the operability of depart- mental apparatus (i.e. fire engines), equipment, and appliances. They are responsible for transporting responding personnel from the sta- tion to the location of an emergency incident. While at an incident Engi- neers provide operational and logis- tical support from operating the fire engine’s water pump to distributing drinking water to person- nel. As with most fire departments, the entry level position within RBFD is a firefighter. While this position does not have any supervi- sory authority, person- nel in this position have direct responsibility for accomplishing the mission of the department. Firefighters assist in the inspection and maintenance of department apparatus, equipment and appliances to assure their com- plete response readiness. They are also responsible for achieving and maintaining personal training and readiness levels that will allow them to successfully advance in our ranks. Firefighters are usually the first point of contact between our department and the public we serve. Firefighter is the term most often used to describe a member of the fire service. While I have briefly described how our department is divided by ranks based upon associ- ated responsibilities, the fact remains we are all firefighters. Many times the situational needs of an incident are affected by insuffi- cient staffing or incident complexi- ty. This requires any of us from rookie firefighter to fire chief to conduct activities that may not exactly be in our current job description. Even with the best laid plans we must adapt and overcome, because of that, I’m proud to be a firefighter! As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions. RBFD responses for September 16 – September 23, 2010: 58 Med- ical Emergencies, 1 Traffic Colli- sions, 0 Fires, 2 Public Service Calls, 5 False Alarms, for a total of 66 incidents. From the Firehouse runs on Fridays. Michael Bachmeyer is the Red Bluff Fire Department Chief. He can be contacted at mbachmeyer@rbfd.org or by calling 527-1126. Jackson Heights SERRF Courtesy photo Jackson Heights SERRF celebrated the beginning of Autumn with a Fun Friday filled with activities focusing on physical fitness and healthy snacks. Students shown measuring chopped apples, yogurt and crunchy cereal, are from left, Curtis Nichols, Natali Ascencio, Grace Fortune, Sara Nichols and Samuel Smith. Sun Country Quilters Sun Country Quilters Guild meeting will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 27, at the Red Bluff Community Center. Featured speaker for the month will be Don Linn from Redding. He will present a trunk show and have a mer- chandise table for shopping. Interested quilters may join for a half-year member- ship of $15 or attend the meeting for $5. Information is available at Sun Country Quilters, P.O. Box 8266, Red Bluff or www.suncountryquilters.com. A Clean, Reliable, Trustworthy, Chimney Company... Possible? ”Their tarps are always clean and my home is always clean afterward. What I like best is their reliability and quality.” “I can trust them!” Dr. Evan Reasor Flue Season 527 3331 THE Chimney Professionals The Electric Man For all your electrical needs • New Outlets / 220 • Fans / Fixtures • Pools / Spas • Code Corrections • Troubleshooting • Panel Upgrade • Telephone Wiring $10.00 Customer Discount FREE Estimates License# 826543 347-4441