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Comment by firechief911 on August 16, 2008 at 11:02pm

we have a ceiling of 22 for our vol dept thats from city council. we started at 12 plus chief i finally got it boosted to 22 . our city pays retirement on each vol each quarter its so much per fireman . it changes about every other quarter . we at one time had a waiting list to get on .but now we have 20 firefighters . we are a small town . i extended the distance you live from station to be able to join 8 miles. we are short 2 people now my furthest fireman from the station is 6 miles. he is 2 miles from boundry line 8 miles. its hard for us to get to many. we are mostly retirment comunity lot of retired and widows.our youngest is 19 oldest is 53.

Comment by Chuck Wright on August 13, 2008 at 4:26pm

their could be many reasonsfor saying that,maybe their at their budget or it's the townships,village ordinace that thay can have somany firefighters on at one time.

Comment by Brian on August 13, 2008 at 2:57pm

As far as I know I didn't know anyone on the department.(Could have been part of it to) I do know that they are building a new state of the art Sub-Station 1/2 mile from my house not to mention they have a sign up on the other part of town that they may be building a new main station...I understand the idea of finances, but building 2 new stations...I have never had any problems joining any department it just seems like I may not be one of there good ole boys.....No disrespect intended...But it is sad that we may have more people in our community that may want to join and can't for what ever reason....On a good note our county dispatch has an opening that I applied for, and should know something in a few weeks...

Comment by Eric S. Young on August 13, 2008 at 12:28pm

Brian I can tell you from my 22 yrs of experience there are a few reasons why a person might be told that. One is when looking at the budget and what it cost to outfit such volunteer along with training etc some budgets wont allow a large volunteer base. Second is a persons demeanor upon request of application not that your demeanor is bad, but I know I rely on gut wrenching first impressions. Now whether its right or wrong being that way, well!!!! it has always worked for me. Because the tag holder or the tax payer which ever the case may be, are our customers and when one of my crews go out on a call I will feel confident that the customer will be treated appropriately. (Customer Satisfaction) Third, if your county is like our county then someone in that department probably knows you or knows of you. You know the he said he said crap!!!!!

Comment by Brian on August 12, 2008 at 3:28pm

Chuck you are exactly right, I have thought about it, and the county, I guess you would sayfrowns upon you cross distrcting...My full time job is working with the city fire cheif, in his personal business. I have thought about going to him and asking him if I could get on with them...the department is one of the few that are paid/volunteer....I'm only 4 miles out of their district...

Comment by Chuck Walker on August 12, 2008 at 1:48pm

Why do you have to join the closest fire department. I've seen your page and where you live and although the f.d.'s aren't around the corner from one another, surely another station close by would be needing your services.

Comment by Thomas Doney on August 11, 2008 at 10:13pm

Here we have over 200 volunteers in one county. We all have pagers. Plus about 15 stations here with at least one engine and one tanker in it. We all run off of one dispatch and are in one county, and we dont want to forget our 5 full time stations.

Comment by lutan1 on August 11, 2008 at 6:15pm

Seems strange- they'll be the first ones screaming for more when they nearly fail in getting a truck on the road.

My old service had 100 volunteer members and 45 approx. on pager at any one time- we still had problems getting a truck on the road some days....

Comment by Brian on August 11, 2008 at 5:36pm

Yeah I would have thought so too...but I think this department is....(please forgive me for what i am going to say) full of them selves...they want to be likr our neighboring municipalities that are much bigger then we are...I wish i could move to a better location to get back on .....thanks for the invite....