This has always been known as the fire service. In my mind its refered to in the same way as the military. Were both paid for by taxes, so why not? Take away ego and geography and this could work. having a standard for training that you can't fake, and spreading the wealth around so that areas that are volunteer wouldn't need to be. But I beleive if this is going to happen it has to be at the national level. A single organized entity that doesn't have district lines.
Good idea, but implimentation would be a nightmare of red tape. We can't even get all the departments in our county to agree on things and play nice with each other all the time.
So, then;
What you're saying is that you are opposed to the idea?
You're dashing a young man's dream and my hopes to be the chief of the United States Fire Department.
One nation, under Art. Man; that has a ring to it.
Wally; help a brother out.
Where ya bin?
TCSS.
Art
OK, OK, I flip flop...wait, Im a conservative, I do not.
Art for Chief! if we have to have one, why not Art.
So I am taking 9 college hours in Emergency Management and that means about 15 hours a week away from here writing papers for those classes.
That and I am in charge of prefire plan conversion to digital for my shift.
Oh yeah I have 4 kids too and a wife who all want to see me at some point when I am not in my cave, er office doing classwork.
Hope that covered my absence...signed Epstien's Mother
Our system works, and works well; perfect doesn't exist, does it? I understand what you say Joe, any system has to be better than no system at all!
In Victoria, over 70% of the funding for my FRS comes from a levy on house/building insurance, with the remainder coming from State taxes. This funding is controlled by our State HQ. Brigades are encouraged to raise funds themselves for extra equipment. The centralised funding ensures that any Brigade can have a reasonable Station, and at least one standard vehicle - both of which would be very hard to fund for a lot of the small Brigades. Being a State FRS, local Municipalities have no say in how the appliances are utilised, which helps a lot in the organisation of support for local and distant incidents, crossing minicipal or State borders for instance (any Brigade can be asked to supply a vehicle for a long distance Strike Team) - Mutual Aid.