Allie Sloan

Dr. Janet McPherson

Comm 250
April 13, 2015

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Fire Department

Class Visit
Theory Comparison

DESCRIPTION
When we first got to The Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Fire Department, I
admit, it was pretty hard not to immediately feel like a child again. Looking at the big red
trucks and still getting excited over seeing them, I couldnt even imagine how excited
professor McPhersons little boys had to have been. Though Im older now and visiting
the station on behalf of school, rather than for excitement like when I was younger, I
noticed and learned more things about the operations of a fire station than I ever had
before. Seeing first hand how the fire station ran really did blow me away. We got to see
how important every single person is to the equation of how the station operates on a dayto-day basis. From personal stories, to getting to see the behind the scenes, I saw many
comparisons with the theories we have learned in class and with how the station itself
operates.
While we were still waiting on a few students to roll in we got to wait in what
looked like the living room of the firehouse. That is where we met Rich Granger (the
Deputy Chief of the department), Cindy (the new public information officer for the fire
department) and Kristy (the stations human resources manager). They told us all about
the history of this fire station and what it took to be a fire fighter. And boy did it sound
like a lot of work. But like any job you are looking to get, there is always training and
testing involved. The Charlotte Fire Department operates out of 42 Fire Stations and
provides fire protection for approximately 792,862 people living in a 300 square-mile
area (Charlotte Fire Department). With statistics like this its no wonder they have such
a strict application and training process.

After getting a rundown of applying to the fire fighter program and some brief
introductions, it was time to take a look around the station.
The first room we got to go into was the call room. This was, from what we could
see, definitely the most important room in the whole station. Because this is where all the
911 calls come in before they can send the firemen and trucks out, it was very important
that we didnt make too much noise while we were there so calls could be heard clearly.
We had the chance to see calls coming in first hand, and how important the jobs are of the
voices behind those 911 calls. The operators job consists of operating calls, directing the
departures of the trucks to an emergency and also, most importantly, to keep the person
on the other line calm. The operators in this call room never know what kind of call they
will be getting, but they must treat them all with the same level of importance before they
end a call. Whether it was a car accident on the highway or just a cat up in a tree, these
call operators pride themselves on handling every situation carefully and properly. With
the stations personal goal of answering every call in 10 seconds or less and sending a
truck out no more than 6 minutes after a call, there is no wonder they pride themselves on
having a great public image and corporate identity. They mentioned a few times how
much they have noticed the community appreciating them both as a government
organization and as a community team, you could really tell this to be true while they
spoke of stories and experiences.
THEORIES SEEN
Because they are the largest and main headquarter station for Charlotte it was
clear to see how important the operations were of this department. With every person
working together and all sharing a common goal of the good of the community and all

shaping their corporate identity, there is no other reason that is reminded me of chapter
19, Cultural Approach to Organizations. Like we learned in this chapter, culture is
formed by shared meaning, shared understanding and shared sense making (pg. 244) that
can bring an organization, like the station, together and grow stronger. Another factor
that we saw in the fire station relating to this chapter was of course, communication itself.
In chapter 19, with the life metaphor of communication developed by both anthropologist
Clifford Geertz and University of Colorado professor Michael Pacanowsky, they state:
communication in a corporate culture consists of webs of significance that he (man)
himself has spun. [We must] not only concern ourselves with the structure of the cultural
webs, but also with the process of their spinning as well, that process being
communication (pg. 244).
The roles of every man and woman in this department come together and all work
together by how they operate and communicate with each other. Communication isnt
just important within the station, but also within the community around them as well.
How they spoke on the phone and how they acted on an emergency site all shape how
they will be looked at as a whole, which is how they got the image they have now.
On the rest of our visit we got to look around the bottom floor of the station. This
is the garage where the trucks and the real action are. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg
County Fire Department has 41 Engine Companies (trucks) and 15 Ladder Companies
(Charlotte Fire Department). Looking at the big red trucks in person was breath taking.
You always see these things flying down the streets with their sirens on and you never
really know how huge they are until you are right up next to them. And boy, are they big!
The insides and outsides of the trucks had buttons and switches all over them. We got to

see both the ladder truck and the engine truck. Though used for different jobs at an
emergency scene, they are both equally important. Though, some of the fire fighters
liked to think differently and joked around about the two trucks importance and the
importance of who was on each, you could still see the pride in these men when showing
of their toys. By having these two types of trucks they are prepared for any type of
situation they may pull up to.
Being a fire fighter comes with a lot of responsibilities, dedication and most of all
bravery. This may go without saying when one thinks of the stereotypical job of a fire
fighter. But we got to see this in real life when the question: What has been the hardest
moment as a fire fighter for you? was asked to Chief Granger. Getting a little emotional
he told us a story about how he saved the life of a young boy who had been choking on a
hot dog. He showed us his true colors and a side that you would never expect to see out
of a tough guy fire fighter. This reminded me that everyone has layers, and in your place
of work it is important to show these layers to gain your teams respect and trust. And
though we are not apart of Chief Grangers team, he let us in and through self-disclosure
we saw how much he cared about this station and his team, which any good leader or
manager should do.
Like we saw in chapter 8, they layers of an onion being pulled back can be
compared to the layers of personality on a human. The depth of penetration represents
the degree of personal disclosure a person may give. How much you are willing to share
can be related to how much you are willing to take in as well. If you let people get to
know you, they will do the same, thus building a ladder of trust within the organization.

After I saw this in Chief Granger I could see how it was easy for his team to trust him as
a leader.
THEORIES TO IMPLEMENT
One thing that I really did take away from our tip to the fire station was all the
information Cindy, the stations new public information officer, told us. I was so
impressed that she said she had only been there for 8 weeks. She seemed as if she knew
that place inside and out, and although it is her job to know, it was impressive that she
had familiarized herself with it all so fast. It was amazing to see how she was still one of
the boys. Her job consisted of everything from updating the Charlotte Firer Department
Twitter page, to knowing everything about each fire fighter and their birthdays. With
experience in government journalism she seemed as though she had the perfect
background to be prepared to work on things under a short and highly stressful deadline.
When there is something that needs to be reported, Cindy is the one that does it and deals
with the media.
Because her role at the station seemed to be so new, (and as a communication
student who is constantly seeing new ways to improve on marketing and communicating)
I did see some room for improvement while at the station. With her ideas on how to
better their social media for the future and what I have learned thus far in this class as
well as others, I feel the Social Information Processing Theory of Joseph Walther would
be good to see improved upon and implemented more in this fire station. The idea of
hyperpersonal perspective claims that computer-mediated communication (CMC)
relationships are often more intimate than those developed when partners are physically
together (pg127). This made me think of all the papers I have written in my time as a

communications major relating to our growing technological culture and how we are
rapidly becoming constantly connected to our personal devices. With the fire station
being as traditional as they come, I can see this being hard for some of the men here to
adapt to. Adapting to technology is new to many people but with every day going by it
seems it is becoming a necessity. As a young person in this generation it is true that most
of my relationships are Multimodal, using multiple media to maintain a relationship, (pg
125). One of the points that Cindy talked about wanting to improve on was connecting
with the community via social media. Though she seemed to be very gung-ho about this
new project of hers, I did see how she could read up on this chapter more to better her
ambitions for the department. The ideas of CMC relationships being more intimate than
those that are face-to-face can of course be argued.
Looking at how our world is rapidly evolving into a computerized planet, I feel
that Cindy could use her ideas to bring not only the outside community closer to the fire
station but to the men inside the station as well. Along with each members personal
Facebook page (or preferred social media), they should be required to have one for their
position as well. So for example, along with John Doe personal Facebook with
information about his person, he has another page with the tittle, Fire Firefighter John
Doe. This may seem like a silly idea at first, but like it states in our book, the information
we take in has a lot to do with not only verbal cusses but also extended time (pg 123). If
you are looking at information for a longer time than we are listening to a short story, that
information about someone will more than likely stay with you longer than what you
picked up in a conversation or heard in an interview. This can give both the men at the

station more time to learn about their team and for the community to know about who the
men and women are whos job it is to protect and keep you safe.
Another theory that I felt could be implemented less with the technical side of this
station and more with the members themselves was the Coordinated Management of
Meaning Theory (CMM) of W. Barnett Pearce And Vernon Cronrn. On page 71, we
learned about coordinating our patterns of interactions and how verbally, what you can
say can have the possibility to be taken the wrong way. You see how this happens in big
corporate businesses, but with a small team like at the station can this still happen? The
answer is yes, it is important for these men and women in the station to not take what one
another say and to turn it around. Because they are all working to achieve the same
common goal, it is important to leave your work at home. However that is not always
easy to do when your work and your home are the same place some nights. Living with a
team has a lot of added presser to this idea, thats why I feel it is important for the
members at the station to follow the LUUUUTT model. The focus of the model depicts
the tension between our stories lived and our stories told. That tension can be increased
or decreased by the manner in which the stories are presented. (pg. 69)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Lived stories what we actually did or are doing

Unknown stories information thats missing
Untold stories what we choose not to say
Unheard stories what we say that isnt heard or acknowledged
Untellable stories stories that are forbidden or too painful to tell
Story Telling the manner in which we communicate
Stories Told what we say we are doing

This model of LUUUUTT shows that there is always more to the story. I like to
think of it as a helpful guideline to not stepping on anyones toes. With the Fire
department consisting of over 50% men, there is probably a lot a testosterone floating

around and how they communicate with their team is extremely important to running a
department like this.
CONCLUSION
Our trip to The Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Fire Department was extremely
eye opening and rewinding to see the men and women behind this great operation. From
getting to see the behind the seen action and the ins-and-outs of working and living with
coworkers and team members, I learned that the theories we learned about in class are not
just seen in our textbook but also in the real world. When it can be so hard at times to put
these theories into play in the classroom, it makes it click when you see them playing out
in the real world.

REFERENCE PAGE

About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2015, from

http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/Fire/About Us/Pages/Default.aspx

Griffin, Em. (2015). A First Look at Communication Theory. New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill Education. Ninth Edition.