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A Ladies Auxillary
My husband is the firefighter and I am so very, unbelievably proud of him. Before we became parents I seriously wanted to join the dept. myself. Things happen, I never got to it, but because I do have such a great interest in this field I would like to restart up our areas Lady Auxillary for our men, sorry no women on this dept. Can anyone give me any suggestions on how to do so. I once mentioned it casually to the Chief, and he thought that it wouldn't be such a bad idea. Can someone tell me how to get the ball really rolling.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on
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No women in the fire department? Here we go again... :-)
Seriously, it depends on what you want to do. Our Ladies Auxiliary has been replaced by a new class of members aptly called Service members. These members are issued pagers and respond to the fire house to make hot meals, coffee, etc. that we find waiting for us after large incidents. They also respond to an incident scene with water, sandwiches, etc. if it looks like we'll be there for a while. In addition to this they help at FD fundraisers like chicken BBQs and clam bakes.
Back in the day, the L. A. catered wedding receptions, parties and other functions in the fire house banquet room. The kitchen was designed specifically for this purpose, and the members used the income to buy restaurant grade pots, pans, china, flatware, ovens and stoves, as well as folding tables and chairs. All of this was set up for serving mass quantities to two to three hundred people. I believe they were a separate business entity from the FD.
This is just to give you an idea as to what has been done in the past. You can make it as small or as large as you want to. Like James said, a meeting of interested parties would be a good place to start.
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Permalink Reply by Scott on
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I think a L.A is a great Idea. If you are wanting to start it I belive you have a vision of what you want it to do. You said you are proud of your firefighter husband and I belive there is not a firefighters wife out their that does not feel the same. I would talk to other wives and see if they would be interested in being part of the L.A and then I would go outside the department and look for people interested.
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Permalink Reply by ee779 on
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If there was one at one time the charter should be on record somewhere (this would be a whole lot easier, if they didn't just dissolve it) Like the others said it also depends on what the "auxillary" is going to do. We had a very active one years ago, before women were allowed to become firefighters. So they had their own charter similiar to the seperation between the dept. and relief assoc. they pretty much had their own account and did dinners. ran the kitchen for band nights and pretty much ran our block parties then donated money to the fire company every year! As I said though that fell to the way side when we started welcoming women into the fire service.
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Permalink Reply by Wendy on
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I appreciate everyone who has responded thus far. These ideas are great! I will try to use some of the ideas ya'll replied with and try to get something going.
When I said there weren't any women, it's not because women aren't allowed, there just hasn't been anyone to apply recently and anyone who was on just isn't there anymore. My little one is still really young, I thought this would be a great makeshift.
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Permalink Reply by Amy on
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Speaking as a female and an active firefighter in a dept. in PA I must agree that the Lord does move in mysterious ways. He has given Wendy the oppurtunity to become part of a fire dept. in a way that suits her needs right now since she does have a young child. At my dept. I have seen members of the L.A. move from doing just that to fireground support operations (running our mobile air cascade system) to being active firefighters.
Now, I'm not going to sit here and rant, and whine, and complain about why women deserve there place as active firefighters in the fire service... simply because it's what you except and want and I will not give you that satisfaction.
I will on the other hand thank you. When I joined the fire dept. a few years back I had a guy tell me to my face that the fire house is no place for a woman. I also thanked him. It's not because he changed my mind about joining an organization that is predominately male. He obviously didn't change my mind about joining and niether have you.
You see it's the guys like you.. guys that don't have an open mind, the guys who think the ladies should be in the fire dept. as the auxillary or nothing... that have given me the motivation to become a firefighter, and not only a firefighter but a damn good one. You have given me the motivation continue to train and become better at whatever I should choose to do. You have given me the motivation to give a little bit of a challenge to the guys on the dept, because what guy wants to think that a girl is better than them. I don't have the 20+ years in the service, but I'm young and I'm sure I'll have that experience under my belt years in the future. So seriously, thank you.. thank you for giving me the motivation to continue in the fire service, to reach my goals and exceed them, and for giving me the ability to one day go back to these guys and say.. "I thought you said a girl couldn't be a good firefighter?" when they're all complimenting me for a job well done.
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Just a thought, instead of calling it a "ladies auxillary" I think it could be called a "fire auxillary" and invite some of the older members (both women and men) to help with activities regaurdless of what they might be. I think it is a great idea to have a way to allow the seasoned members that can't physiclly fight fires, work behind the scenes and still be a part of the company! Some of our older guys suprizingly are really good cooks.
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Permalink Reply by Jim Seargent on
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When he, (God), had St. Florian start the first fire Department ???????? What's with that? First of all, isn't it a bit presumptious to think you know what God had in mind for anything? Secondly, St. Florian's boss at the time he entered the fire service was the Roman emperor of the time. The fire service was in effect long before that. Roman soldiers, (of which St. Florian was one), were soldiers first, and they were given special jobs as well. One of these jobs was fighting fire as a member of a bucket brigade. They fed hand powered pumps to put water on the fire. These soldiers were given the distintion of wearing green tunics, and were identified that way. St. Florian was especially good at it, and rose through the ranks to command a unit of his own. His cannonization had nothing to do with fighting fire, rather his refusal to renounce his belief in God. That's a general background so as not to bore you with too many details, but I suggest if you want to use a historical figure to make a point you should at least know the history! My sermon is now over. Stand by for more, I'm sure.
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Hi Wendy, I applaud your desire to start one. I wish we could get the people together at my department and be able to do so. One thing you have to remember through this is that there are legal issues to consideer. If there was an auxillary at the time of the department charter the charter itself will outline the details. If not, you must research the verbage you use carefully. Wherever there is money in an account for the purpose of the benefit of a fire department there must be a specific accountability and stated purpose for that money. Many departments have run into trouble with that and there are at least 2 lawsuits in litigation over that right now. All I can suggest is for you to make sure to do your homework on the legal aspects.
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Permalink Reply by Spanner 122 on
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Sure didn't take long to get a bite on that line, did it? ;)
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Wendy, I misunderstood your original post about women in the FD. You should really reconsider your pre-child thinking and become a regular FF. St. Florian appeared to me today and told me to write this.
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any idea exactly that i might be able to find this info, i guess the chief? right?
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Generally from the president of the company or association. It is usual that the Chief cannot hold this position. If no-one can help you, just look at the charter.
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