firefighter36

To start with, the OFPC training data base. Its amazing how many "firefighters" do not meet the minimum training standards required by NYS & Federal law.

Considering all the other FD's that don't comply with OSHA and/or PESH and meet NFPA requirements I guess that's not an overwhelming critera for consideration.

From the IFFA Locals website.
Salamanca Fire Department is currently operating with 16 Full Time Firefighters and 1 Part time Paramedic under Chief Nicholas Bocharski. The Department provides Fire and ALS level EMS protection to the City of Salamanca, covering an area roughly 6 sq miles. Additionally, another 10sq miles of neighboring areas are covered for EMS only. 2 Engines, 1 Tower Ladder, 2 utility vehicles and 2 ALS Ambulances are available to Firefighters. Duty crews are 4 man strong, with minimum 2 man staffing. These crews consist of 1 Assistant Chief and up to 3 Firefighters. When duty crews are tied up at 1 or more calls and station coverage is needed 2 Firefighters can be recalled for duty coverage of the station (more Firefighters can be recalled as needed for manpower and staffing needs).
From what I can see they run a 4 man shift. This covers 2 ALS ambulances and the 2 engines and the tower ladder. It looks like there is a manpower concern with the duty coverage.

The lifespan of all firefighting equipment (PPV, ropes, apparatus, SCBA...everything) is ONE YEAR, calculated April to April.
That's when guys see the new stuff at FDIC and just have to get it.

This is an excellent topic. M'AVE, thanks for the perspective on NYC's promotions. A division/borough change is a big step for any new officer, but also, a fresh start and a fair chance for a new officer to be able to do their job effectively, and be a real leader, not just a manager or first line supervisor. That, of course, is FDNY, and not the majority of small to mid-size fire departments throughout the state that employ career firefighters and officers.
In smaller career or combination departments, just like the book says, guys often go 'From buddy to boss'. You literally leave one shift in a blue shirt, and show up the next shift in a white one, with a whole new job description. (Remember, career officers don't have to attend FLST before taking command, just within 1 year of promotion.) Career advancement is a wonderful thing, and so are growing fire departments. A lot of places are experiencing growing pains, so to speak. Demographic changes in our communities, progressing the mission of the FD, are both reasons our jobs are changing. With changing jobs, comes changing responsibility.
In combination departments, all too often first line supervisors are much more than a first line company officer. They are training officers, shift commanders, senior firefighters, safety officers, etc. All while being the closest thing to a company officer the firefighters have. Typically, they have come directly from the same station, and the same back room, and were the same firefighters the guys have worked with all along. The pressure put on them by virtue of their position is often the biggest change and challenge of their careers. This is a tough dynamic to break, on both sides of the issue.
Finally, the pressure from the higher-ups. Officers in smaller places are much closer in proximity to the politicos that make the fire service possible, typically a city or village council, or board of fire commissioners. These people manage the fire department on a business level, and are not leaders. Essentially, they are not out of reach. They can be micro-managed, and held accountable, regardless of whether or not its right. As I learned my first day on the job, S#*T flows downhill.....
In my limited experience, and time on a smaller job, I guess the best way to empower officers to lead, and firefighters to do their jobs, is to let them be a fire department. Give them the proper structure to be a fire department, give the officers a chance to be leaders, and the firefighters a chance to be just that. Everything else, all things normal, should fall into place.

You are so right. It's really difficult to make the transition into a leadership role on the smaller jobs, and I imagine in volunteer departments as well. In the City, they transfer you out of your Battalion, your Division, your Borough in most cases right?
Take a small job with five firehouses and 70 members. Where are you going to go and make the change? Right in your same five houses, with the same 70 members.
Now you go to FLiPs, come back, in my case with two bars on the collar. That went over well at Randall's Island too. There was a guy in Flips from upstate that was a chief. Firefighter to chief. Talk about a leap. I spent half the time I was at the Rock explaining why we didn't have Lieutenants at the time. Now the job has Lts, much better transition for a firefighter to go to company officer then to tour command, than to skip the company officer part. But a lot of us do/did.
Even jobs like FDMV, NRFD; they aren't so huge that you can take a new officer and start over in a whole new environment. You want to practice the book and try to live by it.
But you get back, with all the knowledge you've absorbed from Flips, even though much of the classtime was devoted to FDNY operations, and now your brothers are calling you sir and you have a new level of performance you have to bring to the job every day.
It gets tested, guys have issues, problems arise, how do you handle them, do you help the brothers stay out of trouble, do you become hard nosed, do you want to be loved or feared?
I always took the meaning of my job to protect my guys as just that. Protect them in every possible way I could, so they could go home at the end of their tours to their families. There's a way to ensure bail-out systems get inspected and serviced regularly, and the members get to be trained and retrained. Commanders just have to be enabled with the authority and responsibility to carry it out. Too much micro-management on smaller jobs. Too many times a tour commander will get squeezed between a chief and his squad.
A really good boss will give the tour commander the authority, he'll pass it to company officers and the whole system works like it supposed to.
Good judgement by the commander is neccesary; we can't take our leadership roles to the extremes; laxidical or authoritarian.
In some cases if it isn't going well for a leader, it's because they can't listen and adapt to what is being told to them. A good commander is a good listener, in my opinion.

Much can be learned about the transition in rank/supervisory duties at any level of size by taking a look at the military. As most already pointed out it can be very challenging when you transition in smaller departments when most of the persons you are going to now be supervising are your friends and even saw you do some of the smaller things that might not have fit so snug within the rules, regs or appropriate means of the fire service.
As with the military the rank structure does carry some weight and also changes the way in which persons speak to you by title. The only major difference is enlisted personal (at least in the Marine Corps) are also prohibited from calling each other by first name, last name only was appropriate. Once you reached NCO status, everyone called you by your title and last name, even if you were the same rank. Hence, Corporal Smith. Not just "Smith" by another corporal. This instills that the title is something of significance and demands the respect of such. I also feel that this holds true within the fire service where a Lt. should reference another Lt. as Lieutenant. Not Lieu..not "L.T.". Same things holds true with Captain. Obviously anyone of higher rank should always be called by title and last name. ALWAYS. To take it another step, I rarely if ever refer to a fire instructor who I am working with by their first name with students, I do not allow students to call instructors by their first name and I reference them either by Instructor XX or by the title they earned if they are on the job, Captain XX. I find it sets the example for students, particularly probies in the academy and demands respect of the service, the title and the discipline the fire service should have. Bottom line is this also, while you may be friends with some of them, those that are truly your friends and respect our job will give you the respect you deserve and if not they will quickly not be a friend and you will do your job as needed.
On a personal level when promoted in the service and assigned a team, squad or whatever the assignment, I generally had a meeting of just my personnel under my supervision. This often included guys who I was friends with and was going to stay friends with as I had bonds with outside of the tight comaraderie that occurs in operational military units. In the meeting, I would make it semi formal as I would take a position of authority either by having them sit, and me standing or having them directly in front of me as I would sit alone in front of them. I would lay out what my expectations are and in smaller unit levels would remind them that I am also not just there to supervise them, to get a job done, but also there for them when they have problems or concerns and that I would carry them to the appropriate level to get assistance or an answer and that I will be honest with them, but I demand honesty with them. Then once that was done, for the first couple of weeks, if any hiccups would occur I would do personal verbal counseling sessions to attempt to correct any issues that I had or were violations of rules and regs. From that moment on any additional would get the appropriate disciplinarian action. If there is one thing that I have learned that gains huge respect from your men is this:
1. They're not stupid. They knew who and what you were in the ranks. Come on too strong or holier then thou, they will become defiant. Also under this..there is a difference between leadership and management. Balance the 2 well they will go to war with you (in some cases for me that was literally).
2. Stand up for them and they will respond very well. Often another person of equal rank but of a different group or of a higher rank will want to take something on or go after a member of or your group directly. I would always, pull that person to the side and discuss it, even with higher rank, stay respectful of their title, but if they get it, they will realize that it costs you face and sometimes they need to be reminded that chain of command goes both ways and with same rank you are responsible for your people. I would then go back to them, reinforce that if they did something wrong, they were wrong, but that I spoke to the individual and that if that were to occur again that they were to report it to me, and not take it up with the other person. This builds face for you, shows you are involved in your group cohesiveness and shows other rank that you will not be walked on. The problem is you have to make sure you're people are up to snuff and doing their jobs or this is all for not. The only thing I ever found acceptable was to correct safety issues immediately but then those persons should come to me not only out of respect but to ensure I can supervise correctly and make sure it doesn't occur again. I also forgot that if your member was disrespectful..to ensure you deal with that immediately and sternly.
3. Let them do their jobs..and let them invest in what you need to get done. If your not afraid of how you will look by delegating they will like it and helps them build into getting promoted and the skills necessary to do so the right way. Maximize your people with their potential and pair those up with them who are not so they learn a new skill/process. It will come around full fold if that 1 person who is good at something isn't there when you need them.
4. Know how to identify when its time to be your rank/last name and when its time to be joe blow. I always looked at it this way. In uniform or official FD function in plain clothes...title. Non FD function, first name. Again friends who have respect will get this also.
Just a few and I could go on...but some probably stopped reading already.

This is an excellent topic. M'AVE, thanks for the perspective on NYC's promotions. A division/borough change is a big step for any new officer, but also, a fresh start and a fair chance for a new officer to be able to do their job effectively, and be a real leader, not just a manager or first line supervisor. That, of course, is FDNY, and not the majority of small to mid-size fire departments throughout the state that employ career firefighters and officers.
In smaller career or combination departments, just like the book says, guys often go 'From buddy to boss'. You literally leave one shift in a blue shirt, and show up the next shift in a white one, with a whole new job description. (Remember, career officers don't have to attend FLST before taking command, just within 1 year of promotion.) Career advancement is a wonderful thing, and so are growing fire departments. A lot of places are experiencing growing pains, so to speak. Demographic changes in our communities, progressing the mission of the FD, are both reasons our jobs are changing. With changing jobs, comes changing responsibility.
In combination departments, all too often first line supervisors are much more than a first line company officer. They are training officers, shift commanders, senior firefighters, safety officers, etc. All while being the closest thing to a company officer the firefighters have. Typically, they have come directly from the same station, and the same back room, and were the same firefighters the guys have worked with all along. The pressure put on them by virtue of their position is often the biggest change and challenge of their careers. This is a tough dynamic to break, on both sides of the issue.
Finally, the pressure from the higher-ups. Officers in smaller places are much closer in proximity to the politicos that make the fire service possible, typically a city or village council, or board of fire commissioners. These people manage the fire department on a business level, and are not leaders. Essentially, they are not out of reach. They can be micro-managed, and held accountable, regardless of whether or not its right. As I learned my first day on the job, S#*T flows downhill.....
In my limited experience, and time on a smaller job, I guess the best way to empower officers to lead, and firefighters to do their jobs, is to let them be a fire department. Give them the proper structure to be a fire department, give the officers a chance to be leaders, and the firefighters a chance to be just that. Everything else, all things normal, should fall into place.

On duty, Officers should always be addressed by their title (title nickname such as Lieu, Cap is also acceptable). In the gin mill, it might be Joey, but on duty it's Lieutenant. It reminds all hands what the pecking order is..all day, every day. By the same token, a good officer respects his subordinates. They are not stupid people. They are heros. If you are on the brimk of death, you expect those guys to risk their lives to save you. That is not to say your men should not be disciplined. A conniption on the part of an officer (only for serious matters)goes a long way. But if you throw a conniption fit more than twice a year, something is really wrong with your organization.
I have often heard officers make the statement "I am the Chief" or words to that effect. I can never recall myself doing that. If you are really a Chief they'll know, you should never have to announce it.
I have always tried to use "We" when talking about goals, safety, teamwork, critiquing fires, etc. I strived not to use "You" or "I." We are a team,and we are responsible for the members of that team.
As the two well respected posters before me said, sometimes you gotta be a pr..k. Sometimes you gotta get the whole 1st alarm assignment to a shopping center parking lot at 3am to chew them out over the fiasco that occurred an that last inncident. Don't expect breakfast in bed the next morning, but expect that fiasco won't happen ever again.

efdcapt115, Look what law is still on the books!
The mayor of each city of this state and the mayor of each incorporated village may issue, under the seal of his office, to each policeman and fireman appointed by the duly-constituted authorities of such city or village, a certificate of the appointment and qualification of such policeman or fireman as such, and specifying the duration of his term of office; and it shall thereupon be the duty of every street surface and elevated railroad company carrying on business within such city or village, to transport every such policeman or fireman free of charge while he is traveling in the course of the performance of the duties of his office. Every telegraph or telephone company engaged in business within such city or village, shall afford to such policeman or fireman the use of its telegraph lines or telephones for the purpose of making and receiving reports and communications in the course of the performance of his official duties.
Don't "flip your tin" just yet. There are a couple of bumps in the road...read close:
1. It says the Mayor "may" not "must". Good luck to you when you ask the Mayor.
2. It's only good "in the course of the performance of the duties of" our office.
The second one is definitely argueable in that I think it's every fireman's duty to go to at least once in his career to a St. Pat's Parade someplace. (And also to at least one LODD funeral)
Keep the tradition alive

I said they dont go far like to the City of Poughkeepsie or Fairvie, but they will do a close mutial aid.
Thomas

Town of Wappingers Contract is totally seperate they work for the town technically not for TransCare. Thier units are Town Of Wappingers Ambulance Not TransCare. The EMT's and Medic's get paid from TransCare but work for the town. This was an issue a few years back when a guy worked for Mobile Life and called them personally for an EMS Call and them came and DC 911 knew nothing and it was in the Town Of Wappingers Area. Town Of Wappingers Ambulance will not go cover City of Pooughkeepsie or Fairview.
Thomas

I think that we are missing something here. EMS contracts in this county change constantly, and people bounce from company to company, oftentimes working 3-4 agencies at any given time. While we have plenty of great providers, how do we make the business end of EMS work for the public we serve?
I would assert that 911 EMS needs to be a municipal service. Provided by the Fire Department, or a 3rd municipal service. Pay employees what they are worth for the work they do, allow some movement and a future for them (something few private sector companies in any industry can provide these days. Depending on what type of governmental entity they work for, billing can still be done to recover costs incurred for providing services.
It seems to be only the employees who lose here when contracts get bounced around and people have to bounce between agencies. Until the government powers give credibility to EMS agencies, or EMS in general, the days of contracts, politics, etc. will continue. Don't forget, the municipalities go for these agencies because they charge less than the actual cost of maintaining an ambulance and crew, hoping to make up the rest on billing revenue. I would challenge any City Manager/ Administrator to compare the costs of a private system and municipal system and see what the bottom line is. I don't think it would be too far off, and it would enable the municipality to have better control over the system, to ensure superior public safety.

The contract between an FD and a Fire protection district is made yearly, or on another time constraint, as far as I know. Such a contract would absolutely be subject to FOIL. A good place to go research would be your local Tax Assessor's Office to see what the tax levied to the Protection District is, and work from there. One could also reasonably believe that the Commissioner/ Board/ Political-Based FIscal Manager, etc. of the Entity that is providing the service to the FPD would be the ones who set the "rate" for service, i.e. how much the FPD will pay for coverage for the year.
I know of a Fire Protection District that is contracted for service from a Village FD. (Combination Career/Volunteer FD with ALS Ambulance)Being a municipal FD, they can bill to recover cost of EMS service. Subsequently, the Village Mayor/ Town Supervisor often work out a "rebate" to the Town's taxpayers. Disclaimer: I am not sure of all the particulars in how it is worked out, this information came to me in some research I was doing for another project.
A Fire Protection District is not a way to automatically run away with a fire department or tax money. Conversely, an entity providing service to an FPD could theoretically pull a deal apart by charging entirely too much for service. Remember, there are some AG/Comptroller reports and decisions out there that say a government agency cannot use EMS Billing or Contracts and Fees Charged as a "funding stream" i.e. to make a profit.
I would also ventue to say that Ideally, as long as the Municipal FD or Fire District was fiscally responsible, made reasonable purchases, and had justified expenses, there should be minimal issues with the public and politicians, but then again, public perception and politics is a whole other thread for a whole other time.
Hope this helps.

This one is just too good to pass up. We were vertualy across the street from an A&P at one time the Chief decided that we should send one man to the store for lunch. ok not a bad idea(maybe) so he made an order that the "light duty" man would go. hmmm can you see the problems coming cant you, It seemed that the "light duty" firefighter was having a "problem" with the department with his status, haveing said that the Chief ordered him to go to the store. did I mention that he was ordred to WALK to the store?? he was on light duty because of a back injury, so he called the police and asked about crossing the street in the middle of the block---we all know what the response was. So the firefighter in question walked all the way up to the cornor crossed the street did the shopping walked allthe way back but because the lunch was "kinda" heavy he took a shopping cart out of the store area. walked all the way back up to the cornor then all the way to the station. got the lunch back to the station around 1:30 in the afternoon. it gets better he left the shopping cart on the ramp and then called the police to report it!!! The look on the chief face was pricless when the officer came to take statements.
cant fool fighters for long
I should write a book but no one would believe it--except maybe you guys
and dont for get we get to park on departmental property for free!!

If we wanted free food we shoulda been cops

For one the issue of "staffing" which I take "staffing" to mean members who are in a firehouse ready to respond versus "member" response meaning those who arrive to go to work, is a very touch issue for those of us who start to question such things even when the issues are that obvious. That's when labels start coming out labeling you a "troublemaker" or "anti-volunteer" start being drawn even when you use facts to back up your presentation of the issue and the fact that you are taking into account public service and personnel safety. I always look at it this way...there are 2 ways to take such things when they are brought up...either you take it way to personally which the fire service was here before you and will be here well after our time is up..and guess what...it will survive quite well. Or flat out...the truth hurts. So with that said...there are several combination departments in Westchester that are in obvious need of better and more consistent response levels then what their public is getting. However there are the same old factors that get in the way. But what do I know...more then likely some are already saying he's just a big bad paid guy who wants to take over everything. So let me state this again...I'm pro service and have no issue with where I work or whom I work with because I want better service...do you?
I was just wondering as typing this... what is Mohegan's current career staffing levels and when was the last time they hired?

Response times are often an accurate barometer of what the community has collectively decided to pay for. It doesn't take knowing this job to understand that it will take volunteers longer to respond when they have to come from home. Now that that is understood, it's no stretch to understand that the longer the emergency goes without intervention, the greater the chance of serious injury, deaths and greater property loss. The problem is when "we" confuse what we are capable of with the resources we've been given. Not all of us can fulfill every aspect of emergency work 100%, yet we seem to falsely act as if we can, giving a flase sense of security to the citizens.

Someone said it earlier in one of the post. We as fire service organizations need to define what an alarm is. With technology what it is today there is no reason why any of us should not know the buildings we are going to. How many of us have heard a neighboring fire department get called out for a house fire and then go and look the address up on Google Earth. In Sullivan County's E-911 Systems a picture of the structure along with other relative life hazard and water source information comes up on the computer screen. It is then relayed to the responding units. Information like this changes how we as responders evaluate, look, and act at our alarms. The definition of a 1st alarm in a city is very different than one in a rural setting. With this information we can better determine what a 1st alarm is going to be in different areas.
When it come to the topic of relocating or even responding with an engine or truck. What we need is the fire service leaders to give us their expectations of what they want from mutual aid. If as a consensus the various emergency services leaders say, "I want XYZ when I call for ABC.", than we have a guideline to respond to incidents with that everyone can agree on. I'm not sure if a county could place such a policy into a mutual aid plan, such as a minimum manning clause. I.E. A manned fire engine or ladder truck will consist of 1 driver and 3 interior firefighters. If Engine ABC1 is requested for mutual aid perhaps they should call out with the personnel on the engine. "Engine ABC1 is responding manned with 3." or "Engine ABC1 is responding undermanned with 2". For the fire chiefs out there how would knowing the manning levels of incoming mutual aid you as the IC?

Doesn't our county (Dutchess) have a Task Force System specifically desgined to revolve around having adequate, trained staffing responding on mutual aid calls? Why isn`t this isn't applied to ALL alarms, not just mutual aid?
On another front, mutual aid is even a grey area, since so much of it is essentially "automatic" aid to see if we can get a rig to even respond in some areas of the county. Furthermore some aid is anything but mutual, with one department providing aid to others consistantly, and not receiving it back as such. Until departments and their commissioners, officers, and members alike can assure a response of propoerly staffed equipment that meets the lay of the land, building construction etc. of their jurisdiction, paid, volunteer, or some combination therof, we have a lot of room for improvement.
After reading the on-time ratings in the 2002 Boston Globe report, I would be interested to see what the staffing levels (or average staffing level) was in each department as well.
Also, to all of the Career Brothers here, we train in 5-6 person "Companies" in the Academy, probably for instructor liability reasons, why is it that when we get on the line we work in 2-3 person companies? Is there any liability that comes back on those who dictate the staffing of apapratus?

A few more questions that arise in my mind;
Would you have gotten the same response if the mutual aid company had been dispatched to respond to the incident scene to help? (ie get to go to work)
What if the incident took a turn for the worse and the relocated engine was then requested from the station to the scene to help?
How much help would they have been?
Does the incident commander have any idea of the staffing of the engine during the incident or is he unaware of whether the engine has five interior firefighters or only an exterior driver?
If a volunteer department wants to be seen on the same level of professionalism as area paid departments, they need to respond like the paid departments. Otherwise area departments (paid, volunteer or combination) are going to stop requesting departments that only send two exterior members and request an engine from a paid department where they know they will get a minimum of two interior firefighters(most likely three to four) right away that can go to work. This is not an anti-volunteer statement at all. I know that some volunteer departments in the county have a large number of well qualified members that respond at all hours and other departments are doing the best that they can. However, we need to use some common sense, if a department cannot send an acceptable number of interior personnel, do the right thing and notify the county. If I were in charge of a department and two exterior members responded (to relocate or to the scene) I would have to think twice about requesting them in the future. If the department notified the county and passed the call onto another department, I would have a lot more respect for them. Just because they were unable to respond once, does not mean they will never be asked again. I think everyone understands certain times of the day are better or worse for a volunteer response.

Thanks to the strong lobbying efforts of both the IAFF and the volunteer fire service (with a special notice of FASNY as the lead in this issue) NFPA has 2 different standards that address this:
NFPA 1710 for career depts requires minimum response times which limits the distance by 4 minutes drive time for the 1st due engine and 8 minutes for the rest of the 1st alarm assignment.
NFPA 1720 for VFD's lets the locals determine what they need.
ISO considers any property beyond 5 miles drive istance to be unprotected. Their standard calls for engines companies within 1.5 miles of all properties and ladders within 2.5 miles. Beyond the 1.5 & 2.5 they prorate the department based on % beyond those distances.
Agreed, this is one of the questions the the Comptroller was concerned with, what happens if the owner (this so called illegaly set up not for profit) no longer wants to rent it to the FD after 10 years? What happens if the principals are sued over this by an angry tax payer?
The report also mentions that the fire commisioners failed to meet other legal requirments, including mandatory training and purchasing in general.

First I will start out saying that I have very limited knowledge and hope that other more experienced members wiil chime in and aid in the discussion of operational tactics and use of the water can.
At Yorktown's fire yesterday, I, along with everyone else was impressed at the amount of fire that was knocked down with the water can. As I pulled up in the utility an noticed fire was pushing up the stairs and out the front door of the building, E270 arrived on scene and begain the basic bread and butter operations of an engine company. 3 members had streched a line to the garage / basement door, and were ready for entry while my LT and I headed to the front door with the irons and the water can and TIC. While the hose team was awaiting water, my Lt and I entered the building and he was able to hold and basically knock the fire down with just the simple use of the 2.5 gals of water. The room that was on fire was approx 5'x5' big and was the boiler and washing machine / dryer room. The fire had extended out of the room and was seconds away from catching the furnature at the top of the stairs.
Fire was banked about 1/2 down the height of the stairs and begining to travel into the garage and into the living room in the basement as well. My Lt and I made our way down the stairs and to the fire room and he begain hitting the seat of the fire and the walls/ celing with the stream quickly extinguishing most of the heated gases. Had this not been done, fire most likely would have continued travling up the stairs and spread throughout most of the living area.
That war story being told, I urge every department to carry and utilize the water can for both holding a medium sized fire in its place and extingishing a small fire before it gets out of hand while you are awaiting water. In a simple room and contents fire, the water can works wonders because in a confined area, when the water is applied, it expands to 1700 times its original size in the form of steam and will quickly darken down the fire. When a fire is little bit beyond the r&c stage, it can hold back and slow progression until the hose team arrives.
Im curious as to what other departments utilize this tool and how its implemented in their deparment. For mine, every rig with the exeception of the tanker and the brush truck carry at least 1 2.5 gal water can, and take it in on almost every alarm we receive. Im sure other can add more to this, but thats my rant for now.

With the current fiscal nightmare we are going through and my job looking to lay off 6 FF and not fill the 15 positions we are down it is a slap in the face when you post stupid things on the recent status updates or any forum for that matter. Over the last few week I have seen more and more people post about their tours and how they did nothing and raked in the OT. The final straw is from a member today who who claims to have worked 17 hours and did nothing except the hardest part and that was fill out his OT slip. This is an absolute disgrace to all emergency service providers who actually do work during their tours. I sat down today and read the NY Post and they had 4 pages full of how the unions are killing NY and how greedy we are. And I want to go and talk to the author about how he has no idea about what we go through and what it is like to do our jobs and then I go home to my computer and find one of us who apparently does nothing at work all day and tells the public. W.T.F.? Please people do not show the public how stupid you are because it only took a HS diploma to get your job. This job is for real and some of us do it quite often.

No REP for Mods....?