BBBMF

How to Be Calm During Chaos

If your going to seriously compare numbers, most of the American population lives in urban areas and larger towns served by career or combo departments. Also, I would be willing to bet my next 5 pay checks on it that there are significantly more career firefighters than volunteer. Let me explain that one. You cannot say that a volunteer department in a small town that has 200 members in it, has 200 fire fighters. Stop the interior/exterior nonsense. No career department has an "exterior" FF. If you take the number of volunteer interior FFs and compare it to career, I think you'd be surprised. These towns should come out with the real number of people in their department who can pull you out of your house when it's on fire instead of saying they have hundreds of members "serving" their community . 
I have been an active volunteer FF for a couple of hours now, and a career firefighter for a few minutes. The biggest thing I have noticed is the hate of the volunteer FFs (who work somewhere else like say, FDNY) by Volunteer FFs. That's more of an issue than Union staff VS volunteers. Most likely, sorry but gonna say it, fuled by some level of jealousy . They can be their own worst enemy. 
 
Enjoy your day.
TYFYS

When those soldiers who are standing fast are called to service they will be capable of shooting the enemy because they're all fully trained and qualified.  When these so called "fully trained exterior firefighters are called to push into a dwelling fire, he or she cannot.

When those soldiers who are standing fast are called to service they will be capable of shooting the enemy because they're all fully trained and qualified.  When these so called "fully trained exterior firefighters are called to push into a dwelling fire, he or she cannot.

When those soldiers who are standing fast are called to service they will be capable of shooting the enemy because they're all fully trained and qualified.  When these so called "fully trained exterior firefighters are called to push into a dwelling fire, he or she cannot.

When those soldiers who are standing fast are called to service they will be capable of shooting the enemy because they're all fully trained and qualified.  When these so called "fully trained exterior firefighters are called to push into a dwelling fire, he or she cannot.

When those soldiers who are standing fast are called to service they will be capable of shooting the enemy because they're all fully trained and qualified.  When these so called "fully trained exterior firefighters are called to push into a dwelling fire, he or she cannot.

When those soldiers who are standing fast are called to service they will be capable of shooting the enemy because they're all fully trained and qualified.  When these so called "fully trained exterior firefighters are called to push into a dwelling fire, he or she cannot.

When those soldiers who are standing fast are called to service they will be capable of shooting the enemy because they're all fully trained and qualified.  When these so called "fully trained exterior firefighters are called to push into a dwelling fire, he or she cannot.

When those soldiers who are standing fast are called to service they will be capable of shooting the enemy because they're all fully trained and qualified.  When these so called "fully trained exterior firefighters are called to push into a dwelling fire, he or she cannot.

When those soldiers who are standing fast are called to service they will be capable of shooting the enemy because they're all fully trained and qualified.  When these so called "fully trained exterior firefighters are called to push into a dwelling fire, he or she cannot.

When those soldiers who are standing fast are called to service they will be capable of shooting the enemy because they're all fully trained and qualified.  When these so called "fully trained exterior firefighters are called to push into a dwelling fire, he or she cannot.

 
I think you and AFS1970 may be missing the point.  
 
I'm not questioning the value or appropriateness of having/using members in a VFD who are not interior qualified for whatever reason.
 
The description used was "fully qualified, completely trained and certified firefighters" which to me would describe members who are interior qualified and exclude members who previously were, but are not currently able to operate interior whether due to age, physical limitation, having a beard or whatever (i.e. not qualified).
 
I was commenting on the thought process that results in a (former) chief officer describing 9 members of the department who are not interior qualified as being fully qualified, completely trained and certified firefighters.
 
I would think that using "fully qualified" to describe a firefighter would imply the ability to perform a vital, core component of the position, like interior operations.
 
Like I asked, when did interior operations become a bonus skill set for firefighters rather than the standard?

I like how some here will continue to try and sugar-coat what this story is about (very predictable).
 
It is also cute how one clown had such a "strong" defense of his fellow volunteers that he blurted out the "get a life, get a job" rebuttal (that kind of response could get you on the fast track for a Chief's position in Port Chester). 
 
Sorry folks...."it is what it is"..... and that is a poorly orchestrated plan to retaliate against Union firefighters for blowing the whistle about actual problems within someone's little kingdom. 
 
I know that many volunteers have traditionally cherished the "victim role" in the endless career vs. volunteer saga, but this piece of history should not be looked upon for anything more that exactly what it is = textbook anti-union animus . 
 
This story will not have a happy ending for those who had a hand in the release of these firefighters.
 
 

 
The Pawling situation was slightly different. The Pawling PD was comprised of part-timers, many who worked full time PD jobs elsewhere. There were ,of course, a few bad apples that constantly made life "difficult" for some of the residents. Personalities won out over principles. (Sounds familiar doesn't it?)  The County Sheriffs Dept picked up many of the part-timers after taking over. Better service? I doubt it.
 
Now back to Port Chester. As any firefighter who works or worked in a combination dept knows, the vollies who hate the "paidman" the most are the ones totally incapable of passing the requirements to becoming a professional firefighter. They are, to say the least, green with envy. Then, there is the next bunch who are successful in life and harbor no resentment. They tend to take a back seat (unfortunately) to the issues because they have a life and can "take it or leave it," when it comes to the FD. The remainder, usually the highest percentage of members, active or not, some living in Florida, North Carolina, etc. just don't give a rats ass. As was stated in prior posts, the union needs to get some volllie support. Ang's post seems to say there is some, and hopefully it grows.
 
The next thing the PCFD needs to do is impeach all three chiefs. Lets face it, they're losers. Didn't the head chief get thrown out of his prior volunteer dept ? They need guys like Joe" Pug", Bob Thalhiemer, Vinny Lyons ,sr., and Bill Neathercott to come back and lead the dept. They were gentlemen, who didn't play games with anyone, especially with the public's safety. Enough of me ranting. 32 years in the fire service and the only thing that got better were the rigs.

We really shouldn't be perpetuating a bad habit as something that's okay to do.  Instead, we should be putting more funding towards helping these people come off the drugs through treatment and therapy.  Methadone clinics help a little bit, but we, as a society, would benefit greater from having programs that "unhook" people from drugs and allow for either group or individual therapy sessions to stay off of them (think of how Alcoholics Anonymous works).

There's bad apples in every profession or sector, doesn't mean all are bad. I believe the point being made is that the career members have the training and maintain the training standards. Residents will surely feel safer knowing that there is someone in quarters who is fully trained and ready to respond to an alarm vs hoping that someone who is properly trained and certified happens to be available and fit to respond from wherever they may be and there are a ton of PC vols who don't live in district. No disrespect to them but they cannot offer a sufficient response time. For the money these residents pay in taxes they should have a guaranteed quick response.

In the anonymous world of the internet much of this will likely remain unknown. That being said, the internet is not nearly as anonymous as some would think it is. While it would take some digging and probably a couple of court orders, I would be willing to bet someone with the right skills could probably find out what computer I was sitting at to make this post. If it is a computer with limited access like a home computer, that would lead pretty quickly to who I am.
 
One of the articles I read about this mentioned that the same posters made references to events and information that would likely only be known to firefighters. So this is what lead others to think the posts came from her fellow firefighters. A couple of the articles, interestingly enoug, said that it was unknown if she even saw the comments that were posted about her.
 
One thing that struck me was possibly a cultural change. Remember when Firehouses were open (at least to each other) in their comments? For better or worse if the guys didn't like you they told you up front. If you were a hairbag you were well aware of it. However that dirty laundry stayed firmly behind the bay doors where it belonged. Now apparently it is a big secret that can be allowed to fester and grow, to be plastered on someone Else's internet site, which frankly might as well be a billboard on the side of the highway. I never wanted to be the old guy bemoaning the good old days, but come on, this is not they way folks are supposed to deal with each other.

I feel for the volunteers but the company had 61 runs last year. Im sure a dept. like Pittsburgh can pick that up no problem. This will sting for a while but I'm sure its in the towns best interest , they could use the extra cash for law enforcement 

Very touching video.  That should be played on every type of media.

Very touching video.  That should be played on every type of media.

How do we "THANK YOU for what you do" ? I am glad you are out there and what would we do without you. "I know I couldn't do it". I respect you for what you do and I'm on your side.
 
Here is a video to try and explain what I mean.
 
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA4eblPMBaA

What if the politics is compelling you to do it wrong and you're not able to implement change to do it right?  Do you suck it up and do it wrong or do you take a stand and adhere to your ethics and morals?
 

Why should Con Ed be responsible for buying equipment for the FD's? 

FD's need to be responsible for their own equipment in their own districts.
 


 

I don't think anyone would doubt that getting out of the station quicker may improve your outcome. Of course there were/are plenty of times that calls have come in and our volunteer station happened to have a complement of personnel and we're on the road within the time it takes to suit up.
I'm just asking, but are there really that many more burned out hulks in the volunteer districts than in the paid districts? Oh, let me answer, NO.
So, as usual, it's about the money. $3 Billion in NYS about $140B nationally. That could be a lot of jobs. Provided the public is willing to pay.