It is no news flash that the volunteer and combination segments of the fire service have a problem with members who commit criminal acts. Arson, embezzlement and theft tend to top the list.
It is also no news flash that these departments have a great number of challenges when it comes to weeding out these candidates in the hiring or interviewing process.
Consider all of the resources available to and regulations imposed on the commercial airline industry. Yet, Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz cleared all of Lufthansa’s employment screenings and flew without incident for nearly two years before deliberately crashing a jet full of passengers into the French Alps. Other pilots, though not many, have also intentionally crashed commercial planes.
It leaves you to wonder how a small volunteer department can be expected to keep potential arsonists and embezzlers off their rosters when a global airline company had such a large failing.
While by no means a guarantee of success, most career departments administer a psychological test during the hiring process to red flag those not mentally up to the task of being a firefighter. Many private-sector companies do similar testing to identify would-be thieves.
This level of testing is something volunteer and combination departments need to consider.
Police background, employment and reference checks should be part of every fire department’s hiring process. But background checks will only catch those who have been caught, and employment and reference listings are usually more friendly toward the applicant than they are revealing.
Psychological testing is no insurance policy against firefighter candidates becoming arsonists, but it is one more filter to snare bad actors trying to weasel their way into the brotherhood.
Many fire chiefs will find the cost of such testing prohibitive — that’s understandable. It is difficult to measure what doesn’t happen, making it hard to justify such preventive spending.
Yet, I urge chiefs to take a hard look at those costs compared with the damage that can be wrought by someone pocketing a few hundred bucks here and there every month. It’s much like arguing to keep a fire-prevention budget in place.
And when it comes to arson, it is as much a firefighter-safety issue as it is a property crime. Keeping a would-be firefighter-arsonist off the department may just save firefighter and civilian lives.
