gamewell45

They think they are police officers hence why they want to keep the uniform. This will all change when they get mistaken for a real cop and get seriously hurt or killed.

Do you know if they have peace officer status?

I think we have to consider the fact that this site may have run its course as many end up doing. In addition, as a few have mentioned, many of the topics posted do not require much of a discussion if any.

Remember, every day is Saturday for the rest of your life. Congratulations.

Today Morningside VFD located in "Gorgeous Prince George's" County, Maryland, celebrated its 1 year anniversary of providing 100% volunteer coverage 24/7 to our community. One of our live-in Firefighters has some experience in video editing, and put this quick clip together from a collection of incidents over the past year.

We should have another video coming out in the next few weeks as well that's solely based on incidents from the last few weeks of "fire season" down here in PG County.

Enjoy:

MVFD 27 - One Year, 100% Volunteer

On a scale of 1-10 rating:

Production: 8

Technical values: 8.2

Music: 3.7

Overall rating: 6.6

Hope this helps (I do this for a living).

A major part of what we do is code enforcement.

Every day we spend hours inspecting properties, educating the property owners and enforcing the NYS UFP&BC. This also leads us to having CIDS info for many occupancies. In my department that's over 12,000 man hours per year. As part of code enforcement we also do plan review, oil burner and oil tank instillation/removal inspections. This also means regular code training and building construction training re-inspections and occasionally going to court to enforce the code.

How important is this? 31 years ago this week 5 Buffalo FD members were killed in an illegal propane tank explosion. Proper code enforcement prevents tragidies like this.

EMS is another major component, which results in 50% of the service we provide and again adds training and in-service continuous training. A shoot of from this is we do a fair number of assistance calls where we generally are checking out then picking up the "I've fallen and cant get up" citizens. This leads to another program, the "Patient Assist Assessment" program which is a referral system where we evaluate elderly and other at risk residence and get them assistance such as home healthcare, special home equipment, and facility placement when needed.

Fire training as you say, but we also have to maintain full Hazmat/WMD tech training and Technical Rescue (rope, confined space, trench, collapse and water). This training is done both in house and with WSOTF (and 2x year with FDNY)

Also because of our call volume, our equipment and maintenance needs are much higher, so a good deal of time is taken up with this as well.

Their are other smaller items, but this is a major part of the difference

If I can expand on that and do a comparison;

While I understand that conditions in a major city differ greatly from rural departments, much of what you have mentioned is already provided by the town I live in (and I suspect many of the towns where I live). We have a f/t building inspector, along with a part timer as well and between the two they do code enforcement, inspect properties and enforce the NYS UFP&BC.

While we provide volunteer EMS as part of our mission statement, we also provide ALS service through a commercial agency to meet the needs of the town. those residents whom may require assistance to get them home healthcare, special home equipment and facility placement are referred to the county social services.

Likewise, the county maintains a hazmat team; technical rescue is handled by the various county agencies.

My department also trains with other departments, particularly those charged with providing us mutual aid and visa versa.

I think it's pretty obvious that due to the size of the city you work in, they end up putting much of the workload on the fire department. But then again there is funding for that whereas where I live that would require funding (which the tax payers are not willing to bite into) and of course would mean duplication of services and as I'm sure you'll agree, that would be the last thing most of us would want to see especially in the era of consolidation encouragement.

Training for volunteers in the areas you mentioned that are out of the 4% scope of fire suppression where services already exist to handle that would be superfluous at best.

Spoken like a true NY volunteer.

Stereotyping again I see.

As long as the taxpayers don't mind paying for the service, there should be no issue.

It seems that it's the same story in other combo depts.one half either lost interest,or just don't have the time,and the other is left holding all the cards and run short handed and the politicians don't want to compensate for the lack of manpower. They play Russian roulette with the staff and the residents.

I think it all comes down to this: in most cases, once elected the primary goal of the elected official is to get re-elected once his/her term expires. Many of them have made pledges to keep the costs down in the tax bill and unfortunately that generally has a negative impact on services provided by the city/town/village. If a politician who understands proper staffing with regards to the fire/police/EMS and/or other services, they are accused of sleeping with the unions by opponents; it's a no-win scenario in most cases and it usually takes a disaster to make people understand the importance of proper staffing. Like you said, they are playing Russian roulette with the staff and residents; at some point the gun will fire.

I have been hearing alot of transmissions on 46.26 coming from washington county fire control which is also on 46.26 are they transmitting at a high power then they used to or is there another possible reason for the jumping

It's quite possible that it is atmospherics; we've had a lot of sun spots in the last week or so. It can have an effect on low-band frequencies in particular.

Interesting article, especially with the increasing trouble of getting rigs on the road.

As far as a quick knockdown of a Class A fire, isn't the can a truck company position?

This seems like it would be a neat tool to have:

:

FULL ARTICLE: http://www.firerescue1.com/fire-products/fire-apparatus/articles/1970355-Should-all-fire-trucks-carry-water/

As much as I like friendly's for some things...THEIR SERVICE KILLED THEM! THE SLOWEST SERVERS IN THE INDUSTRY...JUST LIKE HOWARD JOHNSONS USED TO BE......

There service is pretty slow; of course you get what you pay for. Their servers make next to nothing which=lousy service.

I think we are all aging ourselves!

1. Overkill? Really? Let's be serious now, if it weren't for OSHA's 2 in 2 out rule, we would still have some departments operating with NOBODY standing around outside (including the IC). Two people isn't enough to perform the rescue of a down firefighter so what are we saying, we don't need to have a contigency for that? Two people isn't enough to perform many tasks on the fireground for very long so we are going to wind up with a lot of unfit people after a bottle change or two.

2. It was written into the respiratory protection standard and has been interpreted to include structural firefighting. See: https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=INTERPRETATIONS&p_id=22711

3. On the subject of the right number of people, we still have no consensus on what that number is (see below) but I think we can all agree that if we are talking about fighting a fire with just four people (and are even debating their required qualifications (interior vs. exterior) we are completely missing the point. I don't care if it's a career department with inadequate staffing or a volunteer department that can't get the numbers to respond, we are setting people up for failure. And since our mantra is often "failure is not an option" what the hell are we doing? Even the international association of city managers cites minimum numbers but we still bicker and argue about it.

from: http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/print/volume-162/issue-8/features/fire-department-staffing-a-need-not-a-want.html

The bottom line is we still don't respond with enough FF initially and we don't stage reserve FF effectively for the duration, for contingencies or relief. Why is that?

In the volunteer fire service its a lack of properly trained FF's committed and/or available to respond on demand; in the career service its a lack of funding for proper staffing; everyone wants proper staffing levels, but either don't want to raise taxes or shift funds to pay for it. In all honesty, I don't expect it to change materially much in our lifetimes given the current mindset of our politicians and voters.

Very tragic indeed. It is likely that various law enforcement agencies will be forced to review their policies regarding allowing media to get close to the action in certain types of calls.

It's a no no when anyone, who is supposed to be operating at a fire scene, is taking pictures instead. Paid or volunteer, I don't think anyone is stopping during an operation to take group shots. If so shame on them. You obviously have an axe to grind with the FDNY but there's a legion of buffs who follow them around taking pictures, is that so wrong? No one is "grandstanding", and guys take pictures together after a job? There's nothing wrong with that on either side of the fence. You're ignorant if you think that guys are just out for 3/4, it's not an FDNY problem, there are just as many skells in every job, FD, PD, EMS, nameless other civil service jobs, and even the private sector who are just out to get theirs, to bilk the system and sit on their a-- collecting checks. I'm sure as a NYCMEDIC you see plenty of people abusing every system out there. Quit whining like you know what's going on if you want to ignore that larger truth about people and society as a whole, there are dregs everywhere.

As far as who calls themselves a fireman, it's all about training. I wouldn't go as far as to say most volunteers are capable, a good amount definitely, career guys with more training, sure there are still some useless ones but not quite as many. Their are plenty of useless EMTS and Medics out there too, and police officers on the rubber gun squad, we all know at least one or two. Being paid isn't the difference, training and ability is the difference. If someone said they just wanted to volunteer and help, had no training and about all they knew how to do was put on a bandaid, would you let them run around and call themselves paramedics, stick needles in people's arms, intubate, and give drugs. Oh and would you respect them more because it was free? Do you respect volunteer medics more than yourself? Or guys who just do it for less even? I know I know, there are licensing and education requirements for paramedics, but then following that logic, shouldn't the same kind of standards exist for firemen too? Go ahead though and think it's the fact that someone who does something for free deserves respect rather than someone who actually cares about being good at their profession and knows what they are doing, be it career or volunteer.

One more aside, it seems to be very common that the people who are the most inept and incapable, are the ones who don't realize this fact at all.

One thing you failed to mention in your post (unless I missed it) is that you can be the most highly trained, competent firefighter in the business, yet if you cannot work with others, your completely useless to the fire service.

I couldn't disagree more. I know of more than a few guys who have ZERO business being in the "fire service" yet they are still considered "volly firemen" and they parade around on scenes dressed in half turnout gear doing absolutely nothing but getting in the way. In the professional world this is not tolerated.

Now before you freak out i will say there are MANY great volly firemen in this county and i RESPECT that greatly. Not to get way off topic here but ever think the vol fire service should be a little more selective when letting people "join" aside from just being a resident of that particular area and having a clean background?

Let's be honest here and admit that there are people, both career and volunteer who have no business in the fire service. To deny that is being blatantly dishonest with yourself. In fact, almost every job, whether public or private sector have the same situation that is found in the fire service. Not all, but most firefighters, whether career or volunteer are professionals who do the best they can given the tools and training.

If you want services, it costs money. If they don't want to pay, they won't have the level of service they expect. It's as plain and simple as that.

Maybe, but at least you know that they will respond

So can the garbage man; what good are they if they can't handle a mattress job?

If it was done legally and according to the article it was, then there should be no issue other then the decrease of volunteer numbers in the affected fire district which obviously will become the topic of discussion if the numbers of volunteers continue to shrink.

Is there a copy of this decision on line that we can read ?

typical volunteer bullshit. hill billys need their beer and liquor in the firehouse. They give THEMSELVES a bad rap. Maybe they should attempt to uphold themselves to career standards. Bash me all you want. Marks my words. this wont be the last time we see this.

Give it a break will ya? Try to be positive just once in a while?

Thought it was a 94 Pierce; typo perhaps?

Check out the Greenburgh Update seems there are two sides to the story

There are always three sides to every story; his side, their side and the truth.

So you don't actually think that any of the people who receive welfare benefits in this country are doing so fraudulently or abusing the system? How deep is your head in the sand? Where do you work that you don't see this first hand? This has been reported elsewhere and what do you need for there to be proof? The entirety of your paycheck being taken away from you to pay for others who do nothing? I am sorry to say but this isn't news, it happens every day in every state. Politicians and the media ignore it because of what a large chunk of the population they would isolate themselves from by bringing attention to it. If you really think that this is simply some story manufactured by a political party to get some publicity, then you are sorely lacking in the amount of attention you pay to what really goes on in the majority of this country and the bowels of our political system. Money buys votes, money for nothing buys more. Welfare abuse is rampant in this country, and if you want to turn a blind eye to it be prepared to see more and more of your check go towards federal income tax.

No, I never said that. What I said is that I'd to see a credible link to basically back up the allegations that this pitchman made. Obviously there are people who use the system regardless of whether they are on welfare or not. I'd just like to see where they got their information from and the sampling rates unless its an opinion piece in which case it has no crediblity.

$69 Million withdrawn from ATMs in exotic vacation locations using pre-paid welfare debit cards...

Millions withdrawn from Las Vegas Casino ATMs, ATMs in Hawaii, ATMs on Cruise Ships, and ATMs in South Beach, Miami.

We work hard and pay our taxes while these savages have the times of their lives at our expense...

See video below:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/_wElqMl5TJM?rel=0

It's a partisan website; how about posting a website with that on it which is non-partisan in nature? Lot's of allegations, but not much real evidence unless you believe the pitchman.