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Question for anybody who knows
I am on a vol. FD in Iowa I was considering also joining another vol. FD in the same county That we run mutual aid with. I was told by a former chief that Iowa has laws against belonging to more than one FD at the same time. doese any body know if this is true or where I can find out. I heard of people belonging to two FD's in other states why would it be any different here?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by FRANKS on
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Nicholas, I Don't know much about Iowa's laws. But I am on two vol. deptarments here in Nebraska. The biggest "concern" at first was, i Was just helping the one dept on rescue calls without joining. But then the First dept i was on was concerned on who will pay for my insurance if i got hurt. So long story short i just joined the second dept that way i was for sure covered by insurance. So if there is some law or something in Iowa about being on two depts. it probably pertains to insurance.
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Permalink Reply by Kimberly A Bownas on
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Nicholas, I belong to a volunteer department in New York and here you can't belong to 2 volunteer departments but you can talk to the chief of the other department and see if you can get permission when you are in the area to respond on their calls. We have done that before. The only other thing I can tell you is to go online and check your state laws about that. Good Luck to you and stay safe...
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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How can you be on call for two different departments at the same time? I work as a career firefighter and don't quite have a grasp as to how volunteer fire departments work if it's considered acceptable to be on call x2... I'm guessing that one or both departments have a ton of folks serving as volunteers so it does not matter if you show up or not?
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No they do not have a TON of folks serving on the deptarments (in my case anyways) thats why i joined the second dept because they are Sort a bunch of EMT's so i join that way they always have enough to roll squad. We don't run several calls a day so it really has never happend that i'm on one depts call and have a call for the other dept. except for mutial aid call.
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Permalink Reply by John Perry on
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I work for an combination department. The neighboring city is annexing most of our area, so our 2 departments volunteer forces has more or less combined. The career side has rolled together for years on major incidents. Plus when either one of us are tied up away from our first due, the other department has picked up the call. Its all about customer service. Yes in South Caroline you can belong to more then 1 department at the same time.
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Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on
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Mike, what Kim was referring to is that here in New York, on a case-by-case basis, a volunteer FD will recruit a member of another FD to respond to calls within the recruiting department's district. The situation is invariably where the recruited FF, by reason of employment, is in the "away" district during working hours. Training requirements, evidence of same and other details are worked out by the recruiting chief.
One of our members did this, and there was a written "mutual aid" agreement between department chiefs and the FF. The words mutual aid are important, because here in New York a person can only be an active member of one volunteer fire department at a time. Obviously in other states there is no such limitation.
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Permalink Reply by Craig France on
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Here In new Hampshire you can belong to more than one Dept. How ever ,, Some Bylaws prohibit it, When It comes to Mutial aid calls You need to Know Which hat you are Waring, Also it helps with accountabillaty.
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Permalink Reply by BillySFCVFD on
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Don't know of any state law here in Texas prohibiting membership in more then one VFD but our VFD by-laws only allows FFs that live in our service area, even if it's the same county, who holds the insurance. I believe it's because one VFD could "steal" the best FFs and cause animosity between VFDs but it's just a guess. Some of the surrounding VFDs do have FFs, even a chief, that are also on paid depts elsewhere but live in their VFD service area. God bless those guys, it's in their blood. TCSS
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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Bolster on
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I am a vol. fd in NY and I don't think we are allowed to be a part of two vol. fds. I know you can help another department, I do that alot. But I don't think I can join them. Hope it helps
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Permalink Reply by Eric on
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I am a volunteer in NY as well, and this is my understanding of how it works (here anyway). If you are already a member of one fire department and you work in another department's jurisdiction, you can join the department whose jurisdiction your workplace falls under. From my understanding, this has to be approved by both departments beforehand. This may be different for departments that respond as mutual aid with each other though. I would ask officers in each of the departments, they should be able to advise you better as to what your options would be. I have been informed (again, this is in New York) that if you just want to belong to multiple departments, that it is actually not allowed because of potential conflicts with insurance and disability, etc. if anything were to happen. I hope this helps a little.
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Permalink Reply by Fire Capt. 1304 on
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Thanks for all the replies guys I really appreciate it. I tried looking up a state law pertaining to this but could not find anything. I was concerned about the liability/insurance factor because the second department told me that I could roll on thier calls if I was in the area especially since I work only one mile outside thier jurisdiction. But not being an actual member of thier department I seriously doubt thier insurance would cover me if I got hurt and I know my home departments wouldnt since I wwould be with a different dept. I will talk to both chiefs to see what thier opinions are.
Again thanks guys it always nice to have somewhere to come for freindly advice,
Nick
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It's hard for me to get a handle on how the various volunteer departments work. If you are on call for two separate departments and the pager goes off for you to respond, which one do you choose? And in your case, can you still perform your duties as a law enforcement officer concurrently? I know you can, and do. It's one of the types of firefighters that I admire the most. Doing the law enforcement gig is a whole different perspective that usually attracts a very dedicated individual. At least that's the impression I get from my buddies who are deputy sheriff's, CHP or State Park Rangers, all are very dedicated. But when you add the additional burden of keeping up with not only the latest and greatest crime crunching data plus the fire, ems and rescue as well as hazmat, etc... My hats off to you. Your taxpayers are getting a bargain. Please do not misinterpret my question as dishonoring anything about a volunteer fire department. Quite frankly, I'm a little jealous. I can hear sirens all the time from my house and have had calls within close proximity, but we do not respond off duty to an alarm... you can and do. If there is a problem, regardless of what ever it is, you will in some way be involved with resolving it, 24-7. Hence my call about you Franks... you are a very dedicated individual. TCSS, Mike
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