Policies

All LKFD members are expected to maintain a professional and courteous demeanor at all times. 

You are expected to always abide by department policies.

You are expected to utilize proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

You are expected to remain respectful and subordinate to higher ranking personnel.

You are expected to refer to higher ranking personnel by their rank.

You are expected not to campaign or brigade for ranks or positions, nor to directly ask for ranks or positions.

This policy is effective as of October 1st, 2025.

You are expected not to disrupt communication within radio or text channels. Do not interrupt other personnel, do not casually converse in the RTO. 

You are expected to have the ability to hear and speak to RTO at all times when not on a scene. 

You are permitted to use a Radio Account, when permitted by server rules.

You are expected to follow the chain of command at all times, never DM a Chief directly unless specifically told to. Instead, use the support bot.

This policy is effective as of October 1st, 2025.

You must engage with citizens professionally and courteously at all times.

You are required to provide a supervisor when requested, if one is not available, any higher ranking firefighter can act as substitute. If no higher ranking firefighter is available, a firefighter of the same rank as you can substitute, otherwise direct them to contact the LKFD bot.

You are not permitted to threaten or directly disrespect anyone, in any way.

You must treat all injuries and emergencies in order of severity. You may not skip over any person due to their status or identity, including criminal statuses.

This policy is effective as of October 1st, 2025.

Emergency Light Systems and Sirens are only ever to be used when enroute to an emergency, on a scene, transporting a patient to the hospital, or when you are faced with a dangerous threat and ELS are the best way to stay safe.

ELS and Sirens are not to be misused for personal usage, or to return to the station faster. 

This policy is effective as of October 1st, 2025.

Ambulances will respond to every call full code, as medical emergencies cannot be accurately conveyed over callouts.

(Added and effective as of November 16th, 2025)

Generative AI is not to be used word-for-word for any purpose within LKFD, and doing so may subject you to disciplinary action. All content that you submit is expected to be your own original content. The sole authority for determining whether generative AI was used is the Internal Affairs Office, with review and approval by the Fire Chief.

This policy is effective as of October 1st, 2025.

Fire Command, by default, will always be assigned to an online Fire Officer. If there are multiple Fire Officers, it is at their discretion to choose who is the higher level Fire Command. Fire Command is responsible for the assignment of apparatuses, the discipline and enforcement of policies during a shift, the proper operation of a scene, and for dispatching if a dispatcher is not available.

If there is no Fire officer available, Fire Command will be passed to the highest ranked unit (Firefighter+, excludes probationary).

Unranked units can act as station command when ranked units are not available, but may not formally be Fire Command.

This policy is effective as of October 1st, 2025.

Positions and ranks are given on merit and merit alone. Ranking anybody to any position or providing them with any favorable action for any reason other than merit is a violation of this policy.

This policy is effective as of October 1st, 2025.

All Chiefs within the Lakeview Fire District are required to uphold the Open Door Policy. If any member formally requests an open-door meeting with a specific Chief through the LKFD Support Bot, that Chief must honor the request, provided it is made in good faith and the policy is not being misused. The Fire Chief may designate the Deputy Chief to attend the meeting on their behalf when appropriate. 

This policy is effective as of October 31st, 2025.

The District employs all of its responders and other staff in an “At-Will” status. No reason or investigation is required for termination.

This policy is effective as of October 1st, 2025.

Members of the District may request a Leave of Absence if they are unable to meet activity requirements due to real-life circumstances. Such requests should be submitted to a Battalion Chief or higher and may be approved for a reasonable duration at the discretion of the Board of Chiefs. LOAs can be granted for up to 14 days, any leave duration above 14 days will be classified as an Administrative Leave, which allows the Chiefs to fill that position while you are absent. You are not guaranteed the same position upon your return, but will be placed in the closest available position equivalent to or below what you left.

Members who wish to resign must do so in writing through official communication channels. (Support bot).

Any Captain+ who resigns must recommend (to the first Chief in their chain of command) a replacement to fill their position.

Fire Officers must give at least 7 days notice for a resignation. Chiefs must give at least 14 days notice for a resignation.

Failing to resign properly will result in a Dishonorable Discharge, which disqualifies you from positions in the future.

This policy is effective as of October 1st, 2025.

Any former member of the District who served on or after October 1st, 2025, may request reinstatement to the rank of Firefighter without completing the initial probationary training program if they provide proof of their previous rank and a written justification explaining why probationary training is unnecessary. Any former Chief who served on or after October 1st, 2025, may request reinstatement to the rank of Engineer if they provide proof of their previous Chief rank, a justification for not requiring probationary training, and a written letter describing how their reinstatement would benefit the District. All applications for reinstatement will be reviewed by the Board of Chiefs, who reserve full discretion to approve or deny reinstatement requests. We do not accept rank transfers from outside of Lakeview.

This policy dictates the entirety of IAO operations. Internal Affairs - regardless of structure, organization, name, or any other variable - shall abide by this policy. "Internal Affairs" is defined as any person acting as a representative of LKFD charged with the responsibility of investigating a member of LKFD in any capacity. 

Internal Affairs investigators may never conduct or involve themselves in an investigation in which they are already personally involved. The only exception to this is with written permission from the Fire Chief.

Internal Affairs, as an organization, may not issue any disciplinary action above that of an activity notice, a written warning, or a retraining order. Any action issued must be approved and signed off by a Fire Officer assigned to Internal Affairs, in addition to the original investigator.

Retraining orders are to be issued to both the individual receiving retraining and to the Field Training Office (or equivalent organization). The individual will be given 21 days to complete their retraining; during this time, they are suspended and unable to represent themselves as a member of Lakeview Fire District.

Any punitive actions other than those specified above must be sent in a formal recommendation of action at the conclusion of the investigation. The Internal Affairs Captain must review this formal recommendation. If approved, the IA Captain will then forward the recommendation along with a detailed summary of the investigation to the Assistant Chief (Administrative Support), who will discuss it with the Department Management Board. This board will ultimately issue the final disciplinary action. 

This policy is effective as of November 1st, 2025.

To reduce health risks from fireground contaminants, turnout and bunker gear shall not be worn or stored in any living quarters. “Living quarters” refers to residential, recreational, and office areas. Turnout/bunker gear is permitted only in the apparatus bay, gear room, or decontamination area. Members must remove all gear before entering living spaces and are encouraged to clean or decontaminate gear after every incident involving fire, smoke, or hazardous materials exposure. 

For Station 1, living quarters includes all rooms in both side wings, with the exception of the gear room.

For Station 2, living quarters includes all rooms excluding the garage.

This policy is effective as of November 6th, 2025.

Any member of the district who is convicted of a criminal charge, or arrested of a criminal charge, while online as LKFD or representing themselves as off-duty LKFD, must immediately notify the District through the support bot.

Any member of the district who faces felony charges will be suspended immediately without pay until the Internal Affairs Office clears them for service.

This policy is effective as of October 1st, 2025.

Members of the District are not permitted to represent themselves as members of the district when not on the Fire Department team. 

The Internal Affairs Office is given an exception, and is permitted to use the civilian team for IA actions only, when necessary to surveil or monitor a district member, with permission from a chief in their chain of command.

The Fire Police Squad is given an exception, provided they are acting as Fire Police and utilizing the Police team.

This policy is effective as of October 1st, 2025.

All department members are required to meet a quota of 1 hour per week.

LOAs can be requested through /leave manage

Shifts are managed through /shift manage

This policy is effective as of October 1st, 2025.

New officers are placed as "Trial Lieutenants" for a period of 1 up to 9 weeks. The standard period will always be 1 week unless specified by the Deputy Chief or Fire Chief.

During this period, the officer candidate may be removed for any action deemed unsuitable of a Fire Officer.

During this period, Trial Lieutenants may not:

• Accept their own personnel requests

• Use officer vehicles

• Overrule the orders of any Officer

• Kick members off team

• Permit apparatuses to patrol

• Overrule any LLE supervisor, even on a fire scene.

• Handle Law Enforcement stops or interventions involving an LCFD member

• Handle reports or issue field disciplinary measures

• Handle support tickets

• Declare MCIs or MEs

• Handle supervised shifts

This policy is effective as of November 12th, 2025.

Battalion Chiefs and above are permitted to perform random inspections of any site with any of the following:

• Fire Hydrants

• Fire Lane

• Functioning Fire Alarm system

• Hazardous Material Storage (Eg: Fuel)

• Major Infrastructure (Eg: Power Plant)

Upon completing their inspection, they must provide an official inspection report to the Deputy Chief, who will provide that report to the Fire Chief as part of their weekly report. This inspection report must utilize official letterheads, be at least 250 words, and include the time of the inspection, exact address of the inspection, duration of the inspection, items inspected (in order), and name of the inspector. No other officers or firefighters may be present during the inspection, and no more than 2 officials may inspect.

This policy is effective as of November 27th, 2025.

All Chiefs are required to submit a weekly report on the happenings, status, and perfomance of their units to the next higher command member. Battalion Chiefs will report to their Assistant Chief, Assistant Chiefs report to the Deputy Chief, the Deputy Chief reports to the Fire Chief. These reports can be in any format, as determined by the Chief receiving the report.

The report from the Deputy Chief to the Fire Chief shall include:

1. Date/Time

2. # of Ranked members in the district

3. # of Officers in the district, by Battalion or Office

4. # of Orientations hosted since the last report

5. # of Certifications hosted since the last report

6. # of IA investigations conducted since the last report, and links to the investigations for the Fire Chief to review

7. A short (50-100 word) performance review of each Chief

8. If there are any vacant CPT+ spots, the status on filling that spot

9. Status on all current Tasks, as determined by the Tasks page on this website

10. Status on all major developments currently in progress

11. Major issues seen since the last report

12. Actionable items that the Fire Chief is needed for

13. Any other relevant items 

14. Any Inspection Reports conducted by the Chiefs.

The creation of this report may be delegated to any other Chief or Officer, but item 7 and the final delivery of the report must be done by the Deputy Chief himself.

This policy is effective as of November 28th, 2025.

All Chiefs are hereby required to assist the FTO in the process of hosting and completing Orientations (FF1 & EMR), until all positions within FTO are filled (Fire Officer Positions). During this time, at least 1 training from each member is expected.

This policy is effective as of November 26th, 2025.