Every Day Is Election Day

How Fire Service Culture Builds Public Trust

By Silouan Green with Chief Zane Gibson

At the June WFCA seminar in Chelan, one of the themes we discussed was simple, but important: every day is election day. This doesn’t mean every day is political. It means that every day the public is forming an opinion about your department. Every call, every interaction, every social media post, every board meeting, every conversation at the grocery store, and every difficult moment inside the station contributes to the trust your community has in you and your department.

While the ballot may only come around every few years, public trust is built or weakened every day. For fire service leaders, commissioners, chiefs, officers, and firefighters, this matters because culture does not stay hidden. A healthy culture eventually becomes visible to the community. But so does a dysfunctional one.

When people think about fire department leadership, they often think first about operations, staffing, funding, equipment, response times, and training. All those things matter. But underneath all of them is culture, and the perception of that culture to the public.

Culture is not a side issue. Culture determines how everything else functions.

A department with a healthy culture communicates better. It handles conflict more professionally. It supports its people more consistently. It builds trust between the board, the chief, officers, firefighters, administrative staff, volunteers, and the community. It becomes easier to recruit, easier to retain, easier to lead, and easier to support.

A department with a struggling culture can still answer calls. Firefighters are great at doing the job even when things around them are not ideal. But over time, misalignment does take a toll. Communication breaks down, rumors grow, and even good people get tired. Unattended to, burnout increases while trust in leadership weakens and eventually, is eroded. The public may not see all of it at first, but eventually they will feel the effects.

That is why alignment matters so much.

Alignment does not mean everyone gets everything they want, and it certainly doesn’t mean there won’t be disagreement. In the fire service, as in any high-performance organization, constructive disagreement is healthy. Commissioners will not always see every issue the same way. Chiefs and boards should lean into hard conversations. Officers and firefighters will have different perspectives, and these should be embraced and evaluated with open minds. Your volunteers and career staff may experience the department differently, and this insight of different colors is good.

Healthy departments learn how to stay connected through these differences. This requires an alignment where the board understands its role. The chief understands the board’s priorities. Officers understand the chief’s expectations, and firefighters understand the mission. At each level, everyone understands that the department exists to serve the community while taking care of the people who do the work.

Boards shape culture more than they sometimes realize. A board that is divided, reactive, or disconnected creates instability throughout the organization. A board that communicates well, supports the chief appropriately, stays focused on vision rather than micromanagement, and models professionalism creates a healthier environment for everyone.

The chief sets the tone of the department. Officers should reflect the priorities of the chief. Firefighters reflect the culture they experience every day. If leadership is visible, consistent, fair, and mission-focused, that begins to shape the entire organization. If leadership is silent, absent, reactive, or unclear, confusion fills the space.

Over time, what is normalized becomes culture.

This is also where mental health and leadership connect. A healthy culture makes it easier for firefighters to talk honestly, seek help, support each other, and stay connected on a foundation of shared purpose. A toxic or disconnected culture increases isolation, and isolation is the greatest mental health risk factor.

Peer support, behavioral health programs, and wellness initiatives matter. But even the best resources succeed or fail inside the culture that surrounds them. A department cannot simply create a program and assume trust will follow. Trust grows when leadership creates an environment where people believe they will be heard, respected, and supported.

Public trust works the same way.

Most citizens will never attend or watch a board meeting. They probably won’t look at the strategic plan, nor will they probably ever meet the chief. But they will meet your culture.

They meet it when the medic crew walks into their home, they might meet it when firefighters speak with their children at a school event. They meet it when a neighbor asks about a levy or bond. They meet it through stories shared after calls, through what they hear from employees and volunteers, and through how the department presents itself during both success and conflict.

Dysfunction becomes visible too.

This is why every day is election day. The community is always voting, even before a ballot is mailed. They vote with confidence, support, trust, and goodwill. When the formal election arrives, the result is often a report card on years of culture, communication, service, and relationship building. If you fail an election, you have failed far more than just a vote.

For fire service leaders, successfully meeting this challenge is not complicated, but it does require intention and focus. Alignment should be built before a crisis, and proactive communication eliminates confusion before it can spread.

How does leadership do this?

Create organizational alignment at all levels, from Commissioner to Firefighter.
Support the chief without micromanaging.
Develop officers before leadership gaps appear.
Regularly recognize and reward good work.
Create processes to deal with conflict professionally.
Regularly listen to firefighters.
Keep culture first so negativity never becomes normal.

A stronger department begins with a stronger culture. A stronger culture begins with leadership that understands this truth: the community is watching, the firefighters are watching, and every interaction either strengthens or weakens trust.