Is Seniority Really the Problem?

How much weight does seniority carry in your fire department, and how much carrying do the senior members do?

Some departments have senior members who are bonafide recliner compressors while others use their senior membership as the backbone of the organization.  Regardless of which one you're involved with, those senior firefighters are getting paid more and have more time off, which can be a major pain point for the junior contingent.

Curt and I cover a bunch of aspects of this and some ways to survive with a slug of a senior firefighter.  We've both felt the pain of dragging someone along, and the benefit of the perpetually engaged informal leader.

There's not one answer to solve the problems of the fire service but we give a few options and ways to look at it.