BY Patrick Warren, Edited by Scott L. Ehrisman
I wrote an article over a year ago that was finally published in Firehouse Magazine this month. It’s taken them so long to publish that it could be considered old news now:
One thing that has disappointed me is the City’s unwillingness to admit there’s flaws in its mental health programs for firefighters. Its wellness programs are great. They are far above what most other employees receive I’d imagine, but the reality is firefighting is not like other jobs and fitness/wellness coordinators do not have the training to identify, diagnose, and treat mental health issues.
The fact that the City is in denial became quite clear in the Argus Leader article published on June 5, 2015. Where the fire chief, Jim Sideras listed several “fail-safes†he said are in place to help those who struggle with mental illness, because it is considered part of fitness for duty.
Some of the highlights from the article were:
• Annual medical evaluations to National Fire Protection Association Standards: These physicals are supposed to determine physical and mental fitness for duty. Two years after I was fired and no changes have been made to add the listed mental testing as required by the standard.
• Post Incident Analysis (P.I.A.): This probably sounded great to the public, but any firefighter knows this was pure B.S. to stretch out the list. P.I.A.s have nothing to do with mental health, they are conducted by fire personnel and are a review of fire incidents to ensure policies and procedures were followed and the correct strategies and tactics were used. They make certain all operations were performed safely and are used as learning tools to critique incidents to see if anything could have been done more effectively.
• There is only 1 test on that list done by a person qualified to identify and treat mental illness and it is done at the time of hire.
• Comments Sideras made include “We can’t twist someone’s arm and make them go…†and “If they do not share their information of issues… …the proper level of care or referrals cannot be achieved.†So, translation: expect the person with the mental health issue to self-diagnose that there is a problem, and blame them if they don’t?
So since it was clear to me the City was more interested in defending its actions than making change that might actually help people, I wrote the linked article that was recently published in Firehouse Magazine.
The emails I’ve received from firefighters around the country are all basically the same form of question/comment: “The fire service is a brotherhood, how could your chief prosecute you like that?†Once I explain the perfect storm of us both being up for the fire chief position, him convincing himself I was out for his job, the ethics investigation I submitted*; they understood better: payback.
Criminally prosecuting you is one thing, but when your former employer leaks your case to the media to ensure you are publically humiliated and discredited?  Considering the ethics complaint was never fully investigated but instead “swept under the rug†you might call it whistleblower retaliation.
*Warren filed an ethics complaint against Sideras for undocumented vacation time. Nothing came of the complaint.
Nothing ever happens from city complaints. City personnel is paternalism. They’re to busy playing movie star on propaganda Channel 16. They’ll Listen and Ignore’ if you bring donuts but real attention doesn’t happen.
A fireman can’t get attention unless/until he buys a lake lot where other firemen locate and live well outside city limits. The city could burn down before they get here.