Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by firechief911 on July 22, 2008 at 10:40pm

we are vol. i have 20 firemen 5 counting my self are officers. we are averaging 11 to a fire and 13 at meetings. we have a couple that you never see but they fuss if you tell them they need to show up , there days are numbered. we get $5.00 for a meeting and $10.00 for fires and certificateable training pd out every quarter. officers get a couple dollars more for fires. we have very few people left in our town to recurit we are a small town 514 a lot of those are retired ,disabled people and widows . our reimbursement comes from city general fund we are the only dept out of 14 in the county that get this so i guess we are lucky . i get $100.00 per month from city general funds to keep the dept paper work and be the chief. im not in it for the money thank goodness. id do it for free anyway. we average 45 calls per year i usually make 99 % of those
i try to get interesting classes extracation ,storm spotter, driver opps everyone wants to drive .

Permalink Reply by lutan1 on July 23, 2008 at 5:20am

That's different....

Permalink Reply by Engi209neeR on July 23, 2008 at 8:23am

Hi, The career department I am with pays their volunteers $12.00 a call and $5.00 for every 3 Hrs. of training. The department I work part-time with pays $6.00 a call and $3.00 for every 3 Hrs. of training. Oh.. If you miss 3 straight meetings in a row......you are gone! Hope this helps

Permalink Reply by Rob Young on July 23, 2008 at 9:15am

This is off the subject: You state everyone wants to drive. I have never wanted to be the driver. Maybe because in every department I have been on, the driver usually either ends up being the pump operator, or shuttling water, or watching the truck (depending on the siutation), all of which I do happily if that is what I am asked, but I still love to be the first one off the truck and onto the hose line, or doing search, or ventilating, etc. I know, they are all important, I just never got the big thrill out of driving. :)

Permalink Reply by Oldman on July 23, 2008 at 10:27am

I don't get a thrill out of driving, other than I trust me more. But I don't mind being the pump operator. Ya have to keep the pump operator happy. He/She can really make you have a bad day if you piss them off!

Permalink Reply by VollyGuy on July 23, 2008 at 10:37am

The only thing we get is $85 credit from the city on our water bill every month. We had memos go out about having to make 50% of the business meetings and trainings and 25% of calls for the credit to be in effect but quite honestly it has not made a difference. People who want to show up for training and calls show up with or without the incentive. The others don't go regardless. The other thing is that I am not quite sure whether we followed through with actually cutting people off the water discount if they didn't show for enough calls or meetings.

As others have mentioned my question is "Do we really need monetary incentives?" Do you want to be on a truck with a guy who goes because he's getting $10 or do you want to be on with a guy who's there because he wants to be there?

I would certainly volunteer whether I got the water credit or not. It makes it easier to sell the volunteering to the wife saying "Look it's $1,000 a year, it's not all for nothing" but it would make no difference in my mind if I wanted to go or not.

___________
www.firefighter-blog.com - The stories and rants of a volunteer firefighter

Permalink Reply by Thomas Doney on July 23, 2008 at 1:59pm

Here in my county we get $10 per call, whether we are there 5 mins or 5 days. We get $5 per training meeting, and monthly meeting. That is at all county stations here.

Permalink Reply by Rob Young on July 23, 2008 at 3:01pm

I can see the point of trusting yourself more to be behind the wheel. I guess, for me it's that there is too much responsibility when driving, you have not just your life, but those of your crew members and public to think about. Not that it stops me, but I don't relish it.

Permalink Reply by VollyGuy on July 23, 2008 at 3:56pm

I'm a driver/operator on our department and I agree with you that most of the time the driver has to stay back and babysit the truck while the rest of the guys go and play. Every time we get a grass fire call I cross my fingers and hope that I won't end up stuck on the tanker getting canceled or stuck on the side of the road waiting for brush trucks filling off of me. Sure it's not as glamorous as being the guy putting wet on red but I know someone's gotta do it. Other times when I know the call is probably BS and the guys in the truck will end up doing nothing I can go home and say "Hey, at least I got to drive the big red truck!".

__________________
www.firefighter-blog.com - The stories and rants of a volunteer firefighter

Permalink Reply by Chuck Walker on July 23, 2008 at 4:37pm

YOU PEOPLE AREN'T VOLUNTEERS. YOU JUST BELONG TO A PART TIME JOB.

REAL VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS DO IT FOR THE ADRENALINE RUSH. YOU CAN CALL IT HELPING THE COMMUNITY OR WHATEVER , IT'S THE ADRENALINE RUSH.

BEEN A FIREFIGHTER FOR 33 YRS. AND NEVER GOT A DIME FOR IT. THAT WOULD MAKE ME A PAID FIREFIGHTER, NOT A VOLUNTEER.

WE GET A TAX BREAK FROM THE STATE ON MILEAGE ON YOUR VEHICLE TO GO TO THE FIREHOUSE FOR STAND-BYS OR MEETINGS/ DRILLS.

IF I GOT $10/ CALL I WOULD BE RICH. MULTIPLY THAT 500 CALLS/YR FOR 33 YEARS.

IF YOU HAVE TO PAY SOMEONE TO VOLUNTEER, THEN THEIR HEART AND MIND ARE IN THE WRONG PLACE

Permalink Reply by Christina Luick on July 23, 2008 at 7:21pm

Well i belong to a small volunteer department and we need some ideas as well. We still have the same faces at calls, drills and meetings. I think that incentives are a great thing but we are a VOLUNTEER organization. I did belong to a department that gave end of the year incentives and it was nice, but did it make people work harder? I don`t think so. The ones who love the job will show up anyway. Fire Departments are strapped for cash( well some of them) just like everyone else is. Your incentive for participation in drills, etc should be the way it makes you feel at the end of the day, not what the department is going to do for you!!

Permalink Reply by firechief911 on July 23, 2008 at 9:50pm

we have assigned engineers but the first one there normally drives but i have been there long enough to not care if i drive or not . being the chief i still drive a tanker more than anone else when we had a bunch of junk no one wanted to drive. but now we have some nice customs everyone wants to drive. so when we have a driving class everyone shows up .but none of them can drive as good as i do in or out of the class. a 35 ' truck isnt the easyest to paralell park but its part of the pracital and i can do it well. so they all want to better me they keep trining maybe next class

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