In NY we are State registered Peace Officer's with power of arrest. We play a big role in our dept but no one notice's us. Alot of the time other dept's will call on us to assist them with parade's and other function's. And I can feel ya Joe I'm also the youngest in our F.P. as well.
I think that fire police definitely serve an important function, although I do think where I live that we need some younger people trained in this aspect. I know that I was at a structure fire in February where it was a whopping 3degrees ferenheit, and the fire police pretty much abandoned their post (their ages ranged from 62-73) and then we had to call extra police in to help keep the street closed. I definitely think that these men (and women) are necessary, but I think we just need MORE of them on hand.
We don't have Fire Police here in my jurisdiction but we had them where I came from (good ol' PA). Methinks they would be a whole heck of a lot better than our current situation, in which we may or may not get law enforcement on scene, which means we end up dealing with that stuff as well.
I worked with a fire company in PA for a year inside Chester County. They are an asset to the community way beyond an emergency function. They were utilized for public functions for traffic control, and large events for security/traffic control. Them being used as a multi purpose service provider helped the fire department, and also the police department in accomplishing the jobs at hand. We were safe on scene from motorists, and the police could dedicate the time to the investigation instead of traffic control.
Permalink Reply by T.J. on September 13, 2008 at 1:34am
Yes I do as long as they're doing it for the right reason and not becasue they get double pay like they do in a city near me and I wont be supprised if it falls apart in the near future and they go back to just firefighters.