antiquefirelt

Your district/city/village decided that it was of the utmost importance for life safety to purchase that apparatus, what ever type it is, using taxpayer money. 
 
To remove it from service to show it off places everyone at risk. 
 
To those who say "that's what mutual aid is for," if that's your excuse, why not just rely on it all the time and use them instead of purchasing your own equipment. If you can justify the extra response time a couple times a year, other than mechanical or maintenance reasons, how can you effectively justify your need for your own apparatus all the time? 

Wow, if that isn't an understatement! I know numerous VFD's that run the whole show on far less than that. At $77k/yr I can see how a dept. can go to so many parades without affecting public safety resource, they could buy a parade engine so the real engines could be in quarters!

I doubt that case can really be made. Up here other than Portland FD, most firefighters do not have a recruit academy, so there are a large number of volunteers who have the same FF I&II as entry level career staff. Often the VFD's give more opportunities for outside training, as their budgets can support that having little/no payroll. But that would discount the daily training regimen that most career firefighters have. My FD is a combo Fire & EMS department, our career personnel train every day, and the call personnel get the same topics (condenses) every two weeks. While we have some very capable call firefighters, the working knowledge is far different, born directly on the time spent with hands, eyes and discussion about the work. Not a slight, just a reality. Pretty difficult for a part timer of any profession to have the same overall knowledge and skills of a fulltime person of the "same" position.

I doubt that case can really be made. Up here other than Portland FD, most firefighters do not have a recruit academy, so there are a large number of volunteers who have the same FF I&II as entry level career staff. Often the VFD's give more opportunities for outside training, as their budgets can support that having little/no payroll. But that would discount the daily training regimen that most career firefighters have. My FD is a combo Fire & EMS department, our career personnel train every day, and the call personnel get the same topics (condenses) every two weeks. While we have some very capable call firefighters, the working knowledge is far different, born directly on the time spent with hands, eyes and discussion about the work. Not a slight, just a reality. Pretty difficult for a part timer of any profession to have the same overall knowledge and skills of a fulltime person of the "same" position.

You've hit on what I feel is an important aspect of the career/volunteer dynamic, but is often overlooked and is a significant factor in the "conflict".
 
There seems to be an inability among many volunteers to recognize and understand that being different doesn't necessarily mean one side is inadequate.  Anytime the notion of career firefighters being "better" (by virtue of doing the job FT and the training/experience that comes with it) comes up, you typically see a defensive reaction from volunteers with claims of doing the same job and having the same training.
 
While in some cases, individually & departmentally, this may be true, in general it isn't the case.  What seems to escape these people is the understanding that I (career) can be "better" than you without you (volunteer) being inadequate.
 
For example, say we both take a test, I score a 97 and you score a 91.  Well, I clearly did "better" than you on the test, but it's also clear that you didn't do too bad either.
 
I've come to refer to this as the "volunteer inferiority complex".  I think if we could get passed this "misunderstanding", we could make real progress in reducing the animosity. 

I doubt that case can really be made. Up here other than Portland FD, most firefighters do not have a recruit academy, so there are a large number of volunteers who have the same FF I&II as entry level career staff. Often the VFD's give more opportunities for outside training, as their budgets can support that having little/no payroll. But that would discount the daily training regimen that most career firefighters have. My FD is a combo Fire & EMS department, our career personnel train every day, and the call personnel get the same topics (condenses) every two weeks. While we have some very capable call firefighters, the working knowledge is far different, born directly on the time spent with hands, eyes and discussion about the work. Not a slight, just a reality. Pretty difficult for a part timer of any profession to have the same overall knowledge and skills of a fulltime person of the "same" position.

I doubt that case can really be made. Up here other than Portland FD, most firefighters do not have a recruit academy, so there are a large number of volunteers who have the same FF I&II as entry level career staff. Often the VFD's give more opportunities for outside training, as their budgets can support that having little/no payroll. But that would discount the daily training regimen that most career firefighters have. My FD is a combo Fire & EMS department, our career personnel train every day, and the call personnel get the same topics (condenses) every two weeks. While we have some very capable call firefighters, the working knowledge is far different, born directly on the time spent with hands, eyes and discussion about the work. Not a slight, just a reality. Pretty difficult for a part timer of any profession to have the same overall knowledge and skills of a fulltime person of the "same" position.

I doubt that case can really be made. Up here other than Portland FD, most firefighters do not have a recruit academy, so there are a large number of volunteers who have the same FF I&II as entry level career staff. Often the VFD's give more opportunities for outside training, as their budgets can support that having little/no payroll. But that would discount the daily training regimen that most career firefighters have. My FD is a combo Fire & EMS department, our career personnel train every day, and the call personnel get the same topics (condenses) every two weeks. While we have some very capable call firefighters, the working knowledge is far different, born directly on the time spent with hands, eyes and discussion about the work. Not a slight, just a reality. Pretty difficult for a part timer of any profession to have the same overall knowledge and skills of a fulltime person of the "same" position.

Only one of the places I work has adopted a social media policy but they did have a policy on taking pictures while working.  They said that all photos taken while on company time are the property of the company and cannot be shared, published, or otherwise distributed except by the company PIO.  Kinda squashes any problems. 

Now the social media policy says the same thing and also prohibits sharing information or photos of incidents responded to on FB, IG, Twitter, etc.  It even goes so far to say that posting to FB, IG, Twitter, SnapChat, etc. while on company time is not allowed.  One guy tried to be a jackass about it and got himself in the director's office so they aren't taking it lightly.
 

Clearly this guy has the ability to make his opinion seen, too bad the real story won't. He doesn't understand EMD protocols, just in case his daughter was seriously injured. He'd likely be very unhappy if a BLS bus was sent and she had a more significant injury. He doesn't understand that much of EMS costs are part of providing the necessary training and resources to be immediately available to respond? He just doesn't get that until people are there, no one can be sure the requisite level that's needed and after they arrive and determine the injury is BLS in nature it would be more money to wait for a BLS bus to come and transport her or maybe he should find fault with the school who called 911 for such a trivial injury? I'd hardly call the billing rates dictated to us by Medicare as some sort of evidence of collusion between the ambulance company and the insurance companies. Maybe he'd like for EMS to be municipally run, taxpayer funded and free to the users? 

Well, I couldn't agree less. My FD has been using F-series chassis for over 20 years (3 ALS buses on 8-9 year life rotations) and our experience has been terrible. Ford has a habit of make big motor changes every 3-4 years so just when they figure out the bugs in one, another model comes out and you start the beta testing all over. We've had terrible luck keeping the ambulances on the road in years 8 & 9, with numerous issues with cam-shaft sensors, computer issues, fuel problems, and the latest they spent over a year trying to figure out before buying it back from us. We'll be taking delivery of two new Dodge/AEV ambulances in August in hopes that they're more reliable. Of course we know everyone has issues, but at this point Ford has failed us for the last time. Look around, many places are moving away from Ford. Some big Texas city Fire?EMS services are totally moving away from Ford, along with numerous smaller ones. The largest private EMS firm in out State has had similar issues as us with their new Ford F-series and another FD EMS service we're quite familiar with just switched to Chevy in the type III style. 
 
New issues to come? All new F-series will be on the new aluminum platform, again an unproven chassis, and as of just a few months ago, you couldn't get an F-series gasoline engine in the ambulance prep package? E series: yes, F series: no. 
 
Just our experience, I'm sure others have had more success? 

Clearly this guy has the ability to make his opinion seen, too bad the real story won't. He doesn't understand EMD protocols, just in case his daughter was seriously injured. He'd likely be very unhappy if a BLS bus was sent and she had a more significant injury. He doesn't understand that much of EMS costs are part of providing the necessary training and resources to be immediately available to respond? He just doesn't get that until people are there, no one can be sure the requisite level that's needed and after they arrive and determine the injury is BLS in nature it would be more money to wait for a BLS bus to come and transport her or maybe he should find fault with the school who called 911 for such a trivial injury? I'd hardly call the billing rates dictated to us by Medicare as some sort of evidence of collusion between the ambulance company and the insurance companies. Maybe he'd like for EMS to be municipally run, taxpayer funded and free to the users? 

Well, I couldn't agree less. My FD has been using F-series chassis for over 20 years (3 ALS buses on 8-9 year life rotations) and our experience has been terrible. Ford has a habit of make big motor changes every 3-4 years so just when they figure out the bugs in one, another model comes out and you start the beta testing all over. We've had terrible luck keeping the ambulances on the road in years 8 & 9, with numerous issues with cam-shaft sensors, computer issues, fuel problems, and the latest they spent over a year trying to figure out before buying it back from us. We'll be taking delivery of two new Dodge/AEV ambulances in August in hopes that they're more reliable. Of course we know everyone has issues, but at this point Ford has failed us for the last time. Look around, many places are moving away from Ford. Some big Texas city Fire?EMS services are totally moving away from Ford, along with numerous smaller ones. The largest private EMS firm in out State has had similar issues as us with their new Ford F-series and another FD EMS service we're quite familiar with just switched to Chevy in the type III style. 
 
New issues to come? All new F-series will be on the new aluminum platform, again an unproven chassis, and as of just a few months ago, you couldn't get an F-series gasoline engine in the ambulance prep package? E series: yes, F series: no. 
 
Just our experience, I'm sure others have had more success? 

I'm sure I must be missing something, but it appears the Mayor believes he can save $800k a year by cutting these jobs, but didn't account for the $1 million contract he'd violate, causing a net loss of $200k?

Good point. As most of us know there is typically much more to the story. Are the EMS personnel part of Local 2, or do they have a separate charter?

If that is the plan, it makes sense, but why collect the gear before issuing new stuff? 

Seems to make sense at some levels? If these are single role paramedics with no firefighting assignments, the gear is heavier, constricting and more expensive than other gear designed to protect EMS folks from pokes and cuts at MVA's and such.  It sounds like they plan on issuing the lighter, less expensive gear purpose designed for EMS and not change anything for those firefighter/medics who have firefighting assignments. 

Seems to make sense at some levels? If these are single role paramedics with no firefighting assignments, the gear is heavier, constricting and more expensive than other gear designed to protect EMS folks from pokes and cuts at MVA's and such.  It sounds like they plan on issuing the lighter, less expensive gear purpose designed for EMS and not change anything for those firefighter/medics who have firefighting assignments. 

     Truth be told, I work 3 paid EMS jobs and I volly. The all of them put me working with multiple agencies each.   The very next time I am on a rig with someone who is driving and they let an incoming call go to voice mail will be the first.  That crosses the the entire spectrum of all agencies I work with- about 8 agencies.
  Transcare I think had the best policy:  I believe it was either once and done, or twice and done, but you were done.
   The phone to me is not as bed as the navigating. Even on a rig with a dash-mounted GPS, folks seem addicted to the hand-held device. You need to stop looking at  where you are going and look at the freaking phone!!  LET SOMEONE ELSE do that.   Anyone who rides with me knows I carry a real paper map. I hate to drive, so I navigate by  giving  real, live 'Turn here, dummy' by turn instructions.  Folks should try that.
   
 

I don't think anyone is complaining about "helping people"... I think they are saying are we the right ones to be helping...
 
If you fall and can't get up in your home/private residence... I have 0 quarams.
 
If you fall and can't get up at an assisted living facility and the staff who are well trained refuse to help... THAT is where I have the issue.

I think and hope a lot of people are missing the issue. We shouldn't be complaining about doing EMS calls for anyone anywhere. Now comes the BUT. But, facilities that market and charge for care in addition to housing should not use EMS to reduce their WC costs by having "No Lift" policies for their employees. This means every time someone is on the floor, EMS is sent to pick them up. This is a relatively new policy stance that seems to be effecting all areas of the country. In my 'burg these calls result in needless transports more than 75% of the time as the patient has ceded all rights to the facility to make decisions and they will not sign a refusal of care or transport form after hours when the actual medical staff has gone home. This results int eh pt. and family being billed for a transport and ER visit when it was a simple fall or even in some cases, the pt. just sat down or laid on the floor and cannot answer "why". 
 
So I can see a growing frustration in EMS for tying up units to respond to calls that rarely have actual injuries, but result in increased health costs for the patients while tying up resources. The answer is a higher level than the providers. Good bosses need to work on this problem so providers can continue to treat every patient with care and compassion regardless. We are starting to see many places up our way bill these facilities. We're looking into how they accomplish this ourselves.

I think and hope a lot of people are missing the issue. We shouldn't be complaining about doing EMS calls for anyone anywhere. Now comes the BUT. But, facilities that market and charge for care in addition to housing should not use EMS to reduce their WC costs by having "No Lift" policies for their employees. This means every time someone is on the floor, EMS is sent to pick them up. This is a relatively new policy stance that seems to be effecting all areas of the country. In my 'burg these calls result in needless transports more than 75% of the time as the patient has ceded all rights to the facility to make decisions and they will not sign a refusal of care or transport form after hours when the actual medical staff has gone home. This results int eh pt. and family being billed for a transport and ER visit when it was a simple fall or even in some cases, the pt. just sat down or laid on the floor and cannot answer "why". 
 
So I can see a growing frustration in EMS for tying up units to respond to calls that rarely have actual injuries, but result in increased health costs for the patients while tying up resources. The answer is a higher level than the providers. Good bosses need to work on this problem so providers can continue to treat every patient with care and compassion regardless. We are starting to see many places up our way bill these facilities. We're looking into how they accomplish this ourselves.

I think and hope a lot of people are missing the issue. We shouldn't be complaining about doing EMS calls for anyone anywhere. Now comes the BUT. But, facilities that market and charge for care in addition to housing should not use EMS to reduce their WC costs by having "No Lift" policies for their employees. This means every time someone is on the floor, EMS is sent to pick them up. This is a relatively new policy stance that seems to be effecting all areas of the country. In my 'burg these calls result in needless transports more than 75% of the time as the patient has ceded all rights to the facility to make decisions and they will not sign a refusal of care or transport form after hours when the actual medical staff has gone home. This results int eh pt. and family being billed for a transport and ER visit when it was a simple fall or even in some cases, the pt. just sat down or laid on the floor and cannot answer "why". 
 
So I can see a growing frustration in EMS for tying up units to respond to calls that rarely have actual injuries, but result in increased health costs for the patients while tying up resources. The answer is a higher level than the providers. Good bosses need to work on this problem so providers can continue to treat every patient with care and compassion regardless. We are starting to see many places up our way bill these facilities. We're looking into how they accomplish this ourselves.

 
According to MSA it's not available yet. It's also not hands free, or silica free. 

 
MSA wishes. The gauge mounted technology they showcased was basically a pedometer and they claimed that it was going to that base for a lot of other technologies..in the future. It's basically the same as looking down at a TIC so I don't see the point. When they told me the gauge was kept dry by a silica pack that you have to change every month and I couldn't bang the demo against the display I laughed and walked away.