Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by CHRIS PUYLARA on August 13, 2009 at 2:37pm

We get funding from the county,through a fire tax,even though we took a hit this year in our budget,we still made out ok-we like to pad some of our line items to make sure we don't get hit too hard.Manpower continues to be the big issue and all the points brought up here--time, expense etc are very very valid. BUT-THE BIG QUESTION IS--If you go to paid or combo---who is gonna pay for it? Taxpayers are fed up with their taxes going up all the time...not to be political here but our country has become the country that we tried to get away from in the 1700s. And remember- George Washington and Ben Franklin were volunteers too. I think for the most part we should be safe as vollies..here in N.C.at least in our county- you get penalized for raising money--they take away what you raised the next year in your budget. All in all we should be ok though....TCSS....CHRIS

Permalink Reply by Auxman on August 18, 2009 at 5:29pm

I don't buy the "people are too busy" or "not enough money" arguments. There is a major long term trend in loss of membership in all volunteer organizations, especially those that actually do some real work. Why? People in general are lazier. They're not "spending more time with their family", they're watching tv 3-4 hours a night.

With volunteer fire deparments in particular I do see the higher training requirements being imposed by some departments as a major barrier to recruitment. If your FD wants all the volunteers to be FF1 or FF2 that going to keep out a lot of folks who would probably otherwise be great folks to have on board. That high barrier may be a good thing overall, but it is not going to be compatible with having very many folks on hand. If you're a combination department that might be ok though.

Permalink Reply by Russ Beeson on August 21, 2009 at 3:24pm

I think unless they are willing to pay for it with out raising the Taxes or robbing peter to pay paul they are in for a fight. Volunteers have a sense of duty and pride that runs deep and having grown up in a volunteer Dept and being an active member currently they should instead of trying to phase us out put more money on the table for better training and equipment instead of looking to squash it. It is currently not costing the Federal Government anything and they need to leave it alone. JMHO

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