Years ago, I worked as a consultant with a department that was having some serious conflicts between line firefighters and dispatchers. Because I was hired to work primarily with uniformed firefighters, I mostly heard their side of things. They told stories about dispatch errors and categorized dispatchers as lazy or incompetent. But when I asked what direct experience those firefighters had working and communicating with dispatchers apart from their own emergency response, the answer was very little.
When I suggested including dispatchers in the training sessions I was facilitating, I got strong pushback. “Why include them?” people asked. “We have nothing in common with them… READ MORE
