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starting a water rescue team
A bunch of my friends and me have been trying for over a year to get the local fire departments to get to gether to form a water rescue team for the area,( western central maine) we have been told no by everyone we have asked for support because they are content on just using there own departmants equipment and dont want a area responce team, we are all water, ice, swift, rescue tech , and a few of us are also divers, use have been using personal equipment , and just been working as mutual aid towns but not toning out each other but rather calling cell phones saying hey there is a call can you come help, so far it has worked good , but we want a official team so we can get the equipment we need and training we need to be more affective.and so if something happens we will be coverd by insurance.any advice or info would help a lot
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brian Dumser on
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Ok, first you get some water...
Seriously, I have no idea. My F.D. doesn't have a weater rescue team. We utilize the ajoining F.D's team.
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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have been using personal equipment , and just been working as mutual aid towns but not toning out each other but rather calling cell phones saying hey there is a call can you come help, so far it has worked good , but we want a official team so we can get the equipment we need and training we need to be more affective.and so if something happens we will be coverd by insurance.
Right there should scream a reasoning for looking for a single team. If getting personal calls for help, there are some huge issues at play there, especially if something happened. At leasted if toned out as a MA dept, you would be covered by the dept, but receiving a personal phone call and thus responding is really nothing more than freelancing.
Now the way it sounds is that individual depts have their own training and equipment and may not want to give up their fifedom, but if they are certified and have the equipment and training, there may not be a reason for a single team. The thing perhaps should be to promote such an idea as a cost savings so individual depts don't have to get their own gear, train their own folks, etc.
When you say "we" are you all on the same dept? Would this be a county/regional team? Is a single dept taking the lead for such a team? Is there an interest by the county for such a team? Is this a service which can be branched out? Are there already single regional teams like HAZMAT? etc.
The best way to approach such an idea may be at the county level like a public safety meeting or something similar. This would help the elected officials to get the idea of having a single team, but the issues really does come down to individual depts. The notion of cost savings etc always helps, but you really can't force depts to give up existing equipment, especially if they don't want to be involved.
Either way though, I would really start looking into responding by personal phone calls, because there really is a shady area insurance wise if something were to happen. If this is how things are currently working, well then that just would be more reason to show the county as to why there should be a single team, or at least improve how MA is called.
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Permalink Reply by limerick on
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we are on a few diffrent departments, but diffrent and two diffrent countys, but for instance in my dept we have me as the sr.tech and two guys who just got there tech a few months ago, we hae a boat, and our training officer has no intrist in training on it because we dont use it ever, but oxfd has gumby suits and rope and 5 techs, pfrd has a boat and heavy rescue with a few techs, mfd has nothing, the city dept has a few techs with all the equipment you need, but they re a good 20 minutes away from all the other towns,so it came down to the people in the other area that has water to get gear and do it out way, the problem we are having is the town councles, they dont listen do us because we apperintly do need something in the area until some dies from not having the resources we need
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