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Full Time vs. Volunteer?
Is your department full time, volunteer, paid on call, or some other combo? What types are around you? Do the different types of departments in your area get along or is there animosity?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Robert Rider on
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Why does this always have to be an issue. There is a job to do, let's do it .When it get's down to it for the most part we are all trained to national standards, we all answer to to same people agencies when shit happens and we all care. If you are lucky enough to be paid to do it then be proud. If you are volunteering the biggest problem is getting man power. Yes as a paid firefighter you get to see more action, but that does not make volunteers any less qualified. When help is needed we are all going to be there to back the other up no matter what your status is. That is why this is a brotherhood.
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Permalink Reply by Spotsylvania Vol Fire Co 8 on
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Our Department is a combination system. We are paid from 4:40 am - 6:00pm Mon-Fri. Volunters have 6pm-4:40 am Mon-Fri and all weekend long.
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Permalink Reply by Rich on
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Suffolk county, NY is 100% Voli FD with some Paid EMS. As far as FD's go some just dont get along. Our SOP's are different and unfortunately Politics get involved sometimes. Kind of dumb in my book. Alot of the Departments that run Fire and EMS dont get along and they usually dont get along with the Fire only Departments. There are 5 Departments that are our boarding nabors and we all get along. The ambulance corps that handles EMS calls in our district, we get along great with.
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Permalink Reply by barbara markva on
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Well Joe as you know we are all vol. and we dont want money it seemd to us when you invole money all you are going to get for the most part is people who is there for it and not for the community. And yes we do have problems with other department. You know we might not have new equipment but it does the job and does it well. We are proud of our dept. we have change some over the years and we are all getting the traning we need. so there is my opion you add money you get people who dont care for the most part.
Barb
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Permalink Reply by Joe Sheldon on
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Well there seems to be a lot of good stories with this. Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. I know there are departments in southern Michigan who absolutely refuse to call a neighboring department because they are volunteer. I say as long as everyone is trained, safe, and acting professional who cares whether the pay is money or knowing you're doing a good thing. I think both are honorable, and both have their good points and bad points.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Davenport on
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I started as a volunteer and am now fortunate enough to be paid (I still volunteer actively). Prior to entering the fire service I was a haz-mat specialist for a company that had the EPA region IV cleanup contract. Having had the opportunity to work with all kinds of departments across the country I can tell you we all do the same thing. I have seen some paid departments that were worthless and some volunteer departments that I thought were awesome and vice versa. It has more to do with the leadership of the department. As with all sectors of society some people are better than others. The volunteer service has some that do it to run a red light on their dash and the paid departments have some that are there to draw a pay check. All in all the work is the same and we are part of a brotherhood that is unique to anything else anywhere. When Katrina hit paid and volunteer departments sent people down to help our brothers and sisters- side by side. When our New York and Charleston brothers lost their lives we all, paid and volunteer, mourned a like. At the end of the day we all need to stay in shape, train and stay proficient at what we do, you never know when and where “IT” could happen, the dangers and those we protect don’t care if you are paid or not.
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Permalink Reply by Mick Mayers on
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My department is all career; all of the departments in our county are combination or fully paid. I think there may be one or two fully volunteer departments in the next county over. The call volumes are so high anymore around here with all of the development going on and it's so hard to keep anyone for any length of time, that everyone's pretty much had to go to mostly paid staff to keep up with the alarms. Prior to the merger of the three departments in my town, one of them was all paid, and the other two were combination. I volunteered with one and worked at another, but it just became so hard for our department after the merger to maintain the volunteer personnel, and the program finally was disbanded.
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Permalink Reply by Andy I on
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Most of the departments including mine are combination departments. I am paid now but I was a volunteer for 8 years and I really don't see a whole lot of difference. As a paid firefighter I do a lot more daily work like flowing hydrants and inspections, but that is about the only difference. Most departments volunteer and paid get along in this area.
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Permalink Reply by Craig Hamer-Mathew on
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If you ask people why they volunteer, the majority of them will respond with someone like this " COZ NO ONE ELSE WILL DO IT". This is total crap. People who volunteer do so cos they want to and choose to.
Our brigade is totally voluntary with 25 Active firefighters, 5 probationary firefighters and around 10 support people. We also have a bush fire brigade (Point Samson) 10 km down the road, another VFRS (Roebourne) about 15 km down the road in the opposite direction and another VFRS located in Karratha which is around 50km away. We have a large number in such a close area as we live in a very harsh environment with temperatures reaching 50 degrees celcius regularly in summer. We also reside in the heart of Cyclone territory and the majority of the roads around here are gravel.
I believe that volunteers are the glue that binds a community and the lifeblood that creates the environments in which we choose to be a part of. I am also a volunteer at the local Aussie Rules football club, local softball club, local teeball club and the primary school.
I choose to volunteer my time within environments mostly where there are children / youth / young adults so I can give something back to the community for all the fun and enjoyable times I have had from other vollies who provided quality environments for me throughout my lifetime.
A few stats for you all.
In Australia we have around 300,000 people that volunteer their time on more than three occasions every week. If we converted this into a dollar amount based on an hourly wage of $20.00 per hour then it would cost the people of this great country another billion dollars per year for community events and activities. This would equate to an additional annual cost of $250.00 per person in this country.
Other countries like the United States would be higher again.
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Permalink Reply by Chicfirefighter on
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I work for a 100% paid dept and There are vollies around us I would say we try to get along it in the money areas that we dont city level. I think people are people and will always have some disagreements. I came rom a combination area and was one of those vollies dying to get paid and like every other job in the world no matter how much you love it sometimes we bitch. I can remember when i first got paid i couldnt believe that we got paid to wash a fire truck how cool now its part of the job and gets old. In todays world with having to have two incomes to make ends meet I think it is getting harder and harder to be a good vollie I mean really how much time can you give!?And at what level? No one is better! I thinke we just have to judge each dept on its own merits just like each person there are good in bad in both!
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Permalink Reply by Kevin King on
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Our Dept. is 100% volunteer.I have changed jobs a couple of times over being told choose between theFD and working here.A while back one of the folks that gave me the ultimatum just happened to be the victim,we saved most of his property and with a remodel he can still have a home.I was approached as we were rolling up and told that he was going to change policy on VFD employees,all I could do was look at him and walk away.When the Ultimatum came down I ask him what if it was you that needed us,I was told Quote(I can do more with a garden hose than you guys can with all your trucks and lights.)Sorry for his loss but he can keep his job.I myself will always have time to be a FIREFIGHTER its not a job its a calling,you dont choose it,it chooses you.
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Permalink Reply by Shayna Orsen on
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My department is paid, but relies heavily on volunteer response for major calls. We have good relations with all our surrounding agencies, and we do have occasions where we call on our neighbors for help. We are the smallest FD in the group...but we're working on improving that.
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