i am part of Angelina river volunteer fire department. i have been with them for about a year now. and one thing that i have noticed is that our fire men take WAY to many smoke breaks during meetings and on scene. being a smoker myself i understand that it gets stressful out there, but one person shouldnt stop the entire meeting for everone to.smoke a cigarette.. thats ridiculus.. what are some of yalls views and opinions about this?

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the whole purpose of this post was not for anyone to give me a lesson about the hazzards of smoking or rag or diss me or my department! the purpose of this post was the fire scene is not a smoke a thon this is coming from a smomer and i think its ridicculus to smoke 2 packs of ciggarettes and drink all the water bottles you can find, on an hour and a half or.an hour fire call.. you dont come to a fire scene to smoke as many as you can and stand around doing nothing the entire time and point and direct from the truck.. the whole purpose from the time that tone goes off untill the job is done is to put out the fire. now on the other hand if you have been in the fire and you are on break or cool down or rehab if you feel you need a smoke before its time for you to go.back in then go ahead.. i just wanted to see how others felt about the situation... does that clear things up for everyone?
Our dept., a volunteer dept. has been deling with this issue ,a heated ''smoking'' issue' no pun intended. We have some members who smoke and are offended by our policy. I have tried to explain that it is a village ordinance and dept. policy designed to protect everyone on scene ,including themselves and that when they get back to the station they can go into their personal vehicle and smoke all they want to make up for lost time. Personally I think they are being a little selfish, were not saying they can't smoke, they just cant smoke on scene. Addiction of this type makes people very moody and some times people have to do whats best for everyone, not just themselves.
Thats understandable. hell in beaumont the biggest town near me their ordinence for the city is tjat you cant even smoke outside in public.. unless the building says its okay which most dont. so then your limited your car, bars(the very few who still let you smoke), your house and the record store that lets you smoke inside.. and thats it.. it sucks but id rather obide than have to pay a fine.. beings that beaumont is the closest big mall from my city i temd to go.there regularily
no people treating us like were not normal people makes us moody and noone thinks that smokers have rights but if you want to go there we pay more tax's than non smokers...plus haven't seen on TV or on any report someone killed another while smoking and driving as for smoking on the scene they should be allowed to smoke away from the truck and the location of the fire i.e. walk to a safe distance in the street or side walk...banning people from smoking out in the open and not in an inclosed area is against there rights..and there have been suits and those suits have been won...we all have the right to the pursuit of happiness as long as it doesn't cause others harm...smoking out side away from the truck and scene isn't causing harm....its just people being jerks pushing there wants before others..and for those whom want to correct me its Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.its our right....non smokers and smokers should both be able to be happy not one trumping the other...as non smokers have done....oh yea what do you think this country was found on tobacco and whiskey ..tell me which one kills more innocent people..?
cody btw your are 100% right dont think anyone has said that yet..
Cody,

You seem to be coming from two slightly different directions:
on the one hand, you see no problem with people smoking, on scene or at meetings, while on the other hand you do seem to have an issue with what is an acceptable amount of smoke breaks or cigarettes consumed.

Anyone here judging that you shouldn't be smoking is little different from you judging that certain people are smoking too much. Your department allows you to smoke at meetings and on calls so at that point who's to decide how much is too much?

You started out by asking, ",,,what are some of yalls views and opinions about this? and then seem a bit put out when people gave you their views and opinions by then saying, "the whole purpose of this post was not for anyone to give me a lesson about the hazzards of smoking or rag or diss me or my department!" Those are called views and opinions, that's what happens when you ask.

Again, what I'm seeing is that you're passing judgments on other people (which you seem to be offended by here with people doing the same thing to you) by stating what YOU think is the appropriate time (or numbers of cigarettes) to smoke.

I get that you're not looking for agreement as to whether or not smoking is good or should be allowed, but rather what's the appropriate number of allowable smoke breaks/cigarettes on scene. To that I've pointed out my "view and opinion" is let them smoke as much as they want and your department allows. Clearly those that are smoking two packs on scene have nothing to do. Congratulations, you appear to be significantly overstaffed, count your department lucky.
Donald,

Your assertion that smokers pay more in taxes may be true, if where there are two people with identical income, household size and spending habits except where one is a smoker and the other is not. But unless you can prove your blanket statement about smokers paying more in taxes, I might have to call shenanigans (people with greater income may pay more in taxes, people who like sporty import cars may pay more in taxes, drivers pay more in taxes than non-drivers).

There have been some studies that show that smokers actually cost their employer money, from here "For example, smokers' health care costs run about 40% higher than nonsmokers' costs. Preventable illnesses caused by smoking and obesity annually account for more than $100 billion in overall health care spending -- and some experts estimate that smoke breaks and smoking-related absences cost employers an additional $100 billion in lost productivity every year.

This site and this site have some interesting information.

"...its just people being jerks pushing there wants before others..and for those whom want to correct me its Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.its our right..." Um...not really. You certainly have your right to smoke, but it ends at the tip of the other person's nose. An employer CAN eliminate smoking on their property and some employers can ban employees from smoking on or OFF the job as a condition of employment. Of course any prospective employee can refuse such an employment condition and of course that means the NEXT best candidate gets the job. You of course, still get to smoke.

"...haven't seen on TV or on any report someone killed another while smoking and driving..." We do know that distracted driving causes accidents. Cellphone use, eating, looking for that awesome CD or lighting up a cigarette ALL take you attention off the road. Prove to me that smoking is NOT a form of distraction.

Take a quiz here and from
here this:
`Over 443,000 Americans (over 18 percent of all deaths) die because of smoking each year. Secondhand smoke kills about 50,000 of them.
`33 percent to 50 percent of all smokers are killed by their habit.
* Smokers die on average 15 years sooner than nonsmokers.

I'd say smoking (while driving, watching movies, playing pool, etc) DOES kill, just not as quickly as doing it in a car as you drive into a bridge abutment looking for you lighter

...oh yea what do you think this country was found on tobacco and whiskey... I thought it was Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness?
I don't see anything wrong with a 10 minute break every hour to smoke, stretch your legs or use the head. It's up to the Chief to set the tone at the monday meeting and the IC or possibly the safety officer at the fire scene. As a reformed smoker I don't but any sentiment that smokers have to get their fix. I smoked for over twenty years on and off and quit right before I retired from the military. There were plenty of times that I couldn't smoke on board ship and had to suck it up.
We don't allow smoke breaks. I find it rude to stop a meeting to go for a cigarette. Have one before the meeting! What good is a heavy smoker when it counts like in a SCBA situation! If you are a non-smoker teamed up with a smoker you'll be out of the house long before you run out of air because the smoker is nearly dying. I know that not all smokers are out of shape but, If your duty is to save lives.... why not save your own by quitting smoking?

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