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Comment by Kevin Hatfield on August 27, 2010 at 11:51pm

I will do whatever is in my power as long as it doesn't hurt me, my team, or anyone initially not involved. Our department has a saying .... "Will risk a little to save alot, risk nothing to save nothing" So basically if there are people in the building to save we will risk to a point, and if there is nobody inside we will risk almost nothing. Contents can be replaced .... Firefighters cant.

Everyone Goes Home Alive

Comment by Paul Montpetit on July 21, 2010 at 9:10pm

The line drawn in the sand is that we won't get someone killed or hurt in the process.....other than that we will give it our best shot.....

Comment by Jack/dt on July 20, 2010 at 10:37am

Sorry, that should have been Mick.

Comment by Jack/dt on July 20, 2010 at 10:37am

Mike,
We had a call back in the late winter; the yard was iced over and a recent rain had dropped about 12 inches of water (poor local drainage) into this guy's yard. The water was deep enough that it was flowing into the basement from the casement windows. No life safety issue, water in the basement was only a couple of inches and too shallow for us to pump but we set up a pump in the yard, stretched some hose down the road and over the bank and started pumping.

We told him it was the best we could do but that he should get some sand and make a temporary berm around the basement window(s). Since he was a landscapper and had his own dumptruck he went off to get a load while we stood by pumping his yard. He was able to get back quick enough that we didn't catch another run (we would have disconnected and left), he started plotting out where and how he was going to dump the sand while we picked up and left. We didn't do much to mitigate his situation but it was enough for him to know the fire department was helping him out. You can't always fix the problem but sometimes just trying can be enough.

(On the other hand, getting dispatched at 1 AM because people just got home from vacation and can't find their keys and want us to make entry is a bit over the top. When you come back from a 2 week winter vacation all suntanned and your sole resource to open a door is the fire department then that tells you something.)

Comment by larry jenkins on July 20, 2010 at 7:58am

We are public servants and like Mike, we do what we can within reason. If there is a fire or EMS call then you go the distance, but if it is apublic service than I draw the line on how dangerous it could be. Like gettng a cat out of a sewer that is deep inside. Don't get me wrong. I am a animal lover, but there is a limit. I had a elderly man call the station during the heavy snow, he had a doctors appointment and asked if we could shovel his driveway. He lived in a nice neighborhood and seemed to have plenty of resources but we did it. As we were doing it,his neighbors came out and wanted us to do theirs. We told them why we were helping him and sure enough when it snowed again. This same man called. He had no appointment, just wanted us to do it again. He got pissed off when I refused. I will help when I can, but will not get taken advantage of.