Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bill Brierton on April 8, 2009 at 1:31pm

In 2015 we shall see that's about five years from now. Sure there is the possibility of more paid departments but funding is an issue and unless that changes I doubt that there will be less volunteer companies and more paid. It is very expensive to start and maintain a career department and that doesn't include apparatus.

Permalink Reply by ashfire on April 21, 2009 at 12:46pm

One thing I see happening to volunteer departments is the leadership of the department as a factor as to if a departmet will surivive.
If you have a chief who thinks he is God's gift to firefighting and abuses the membership causing them to leave or agree to everything he wants. Then you have a board of directors that can't or won't do anything about it.
Or you have leadership that has no time to be involved and those that want to around have fend for themselves or get into trouble with out a officer being around to keep the trouble from happening.
I have seen different types of leadership in my years in the fire service some good and some you just got to vote out and hope they learn never to do what they did again.

Permalink Reply by paul michael komandt on May 16, 2009 at 9:41pm

I agree with this. If you are getting the services for what they think is free (taxes fund my dept) why would they pass a levy to allow staffing with the economy the way it is.

Permalink Reply by ashfire on May 29, 2009 at 10:57am

With money a big problem now in some areas of the country some of the government leaders are asking for volunteers to fill in where career may not be because they don't have the money to pay them to work 24 hours or they have to pull the crews or shut down stations to make ends meet.
Now what happens when things get back to normal. Will the volunteers have to back down again or will they be part of the operations.
Will they have to separated and run separte stations from career stations. Could volunteers be used as reserve fire and rescue personnel to man reserve or private owned apparatus during major emergencies. They could keep their traning current one day a week or a couple a days a month or when needed it. They could be like Advanced CERTs using equipment and apparatus for fire and rescue operations.
Sort a like during WW2 to the 60s when there were Civil Defense groups and vehicles.

Permalink Reply by Marty D. Ross on June 4, 2009 at 7:25pm

The feds just don't get it do they? We need more volunteer departments to train the soon to be career fire fighters. Someomne has to teach them not to be so smoug all the time.

Permalink Reply by Daniel Scott Elsner on June 14, 2009 at 3:38pm

I agree with you 110 percent! We could also use more fire fighters, Who are committed to staying around and doing the hard labor. As for the Lights on the POV's (personally owned Vehicles) we do not allow that in our department. As for being replaced with paid departments, my County and City couldn't afford it.

Permalink Reply by Kelly Holdiman on June 15, 2009 at 1:06am

the matter of the money is how you budget things its not about having enough its how you spend it. i find that most departments that run out of money or have money problems just havnt budgeted there funds correctly

Permalink Reply by Jason Duncan on July 4, 2009 at 11:44pm

For over 20 years the dept. I am with functioned with a budget of 11,000 bucks. Granted we didn't have the fancy new rigs, and were using used turnouts., But we were still out there. Now we have a better budget, and we have better equipment, but we are still the same dept.

We need more volunteers ourselves, but we make do with what we have. 20 years ago we were using 1940's trucks, and 1960-70's turnouts. But most of the comunity was involved with the dept. Now we are looked on as a nusciance unless they need us.

I do actively recruit new volunteers, and am fairly successful. The people that are moving into the area are more apt to help out than people who are long established in the comunity. Not always true, but that is my observation.

Permalink Reply by Shanna Davis on July 6, 2009 at 11:14am

Its already happening in my combo department. The Chief recently took a new policy manual to the district board for approval. The volunteers had no say, no imput, etc. in the new manual and the board would not hear us out and adopted the new manual. The new manual takes away nearly all imput and control the volunteers had in the department and could potentially jeopordize retirement benefits for some of the long term members. The volunteers are fighting this but we keep getting told that "the department is moving forward and needs to make these changes." The other reason is "liability issues."
Our Chief is getting ready to replace our Lts. who have always been volunteers with the paid staff. I really figure that within 3-5 years that my department will eliminate the volunteers, mostly because our Chief does not want to operate with any volunteers and he's working to move the department to all paid staff.

Permalink Reply by Chris Tomlinson on July 6, 2009 at 6:57pm

I'm not sure where you got these facts from, but if the Fed's are saying that, then once again it proves that most politicians are idiots and can figure out that 2+2 doesn't equal 279. The reason I position my response that way is because everyone is screaming "No money! OMG, no money!" which, in all reality this is a problem nationwide.

But let's consider the idea if every-single-department in the nation were volunteer. Think about the cost savings then. Millions upon millions of dollars in retirement funds saved, plus the savings in insurance and so forth.

I know this is really a radical idea and no one would ever see it fly, but if they want to figure out how to do more with less, a volunteer country would be ideal.

Or I might be a little out there and just dreaming. It's possible....

Permalink Reply by Justin Scott on July 11, 2009 at 10:47pm

its sad to say but we are a dying breed

Permalink Reply by Donald Smith Jr. on July 12, 2009 at 9:08am

The feds may be rite in some parts of the country or near major cities but were I live the city of plattsburgh is even looking at getting rid of the paid dept. . I dont aggree with it and think that if the feds and state governments want us to be around then they should figure out a way to help us get the training that we need. For example instead of cutting instructors in NY they should train more so that we can get more training and train some volunteers so that we can hold trainings in our depts on our own as well as with other neighborind depts. you dont need 5 instructors to do classroom activities but I do understand that you do for live burns and things of that nature.

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