Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by KERMIT on January 24, 2008 at 7:19pm

THIS IS A GOOD ONE BILLY,I THINK THERE OK THEY BOTH NEED TO WORK TOGETHER TO KEEP THINGS GOING AND NOT LET THE ARGUMENTS AMONG THE CO.AND SQUAD GET IN THE WAY OF THINGS.
KERMIT

Permalink Reply by Mcloven on January 26, 2008 at 3:55pm

in today ems/fire u have have trucks that can handle differnt type of calls, speacly in salm county manpower short day/nigth.

Permalink Reply by SquadCompany13 on March 24, 2008 at 12:22pm

The squad company concept was originally started by in the mid 1950's in FDNY to combat the lack of resources due to volume of fire duty in the city. The purpose was to develop a company that was the "jack of all trades". An engine company that was proficient to also operate in the capacities of truck, rescue and hazmat work. It wasn't till the late 1970's when a permanent Squad Company was established in the city. This concept has slowly been established through out parts of the United States, and, for limited resources / manpower- it is an excellent concept. The problem, in my opinion, is those companies established as "squad companies" aren't proficiently being able to fulfill all the aspects of a squad company. I am willing to entertain the idea of dropping the Hazmat component off of the job duties for SOME of these companies, but, you need to been on your "A" game with the balance of the tasks at hand. The purpose is when the IC notices a deficiency on the fire ground(lack of Engine, Truck or Rescue work) he / she will be able to confidently assign it to that company. I have noticed that some companies out there have established themselves as squad companies simply due to the fact that they also carry limited vehicle rescue equipment on the engine. That is not a true squad company! On the flip side, I have seen a couple companies out there that have stepped up to the plate and taken the concept on in its true form. I will be the first to say how difficult it is to stay on top of all four disciplines as a career guy. Those who do it in a volunteer capacities, my hats off to you!! You guys have my utmost respect and keep up the great work. I just think that if you are going to establish yourself as one, be sure to do it to it's designed capacities.