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What do you do???
Whats one of your favorite free time activites to do at the firehouse? I know some of the paid guys don't get a lot of free time, but we all enjoy the tidbits we get when we do. For volunteers, how often does everyone just stop in the firehouse and hang out for a few hours?
Balls in your court.
Balls in your court.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Robert Owens on
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When I was a vollie (also no kids) I was at the vollie house all the time. I spent at least 3 nites a week there and was a line officer 5 years in a row so I was always there. I would get off shift ( at my FD job) then go straight to the vollie house and pull 12 to 14 hours then go home for enough time to eat, shower, shave, and sleep. Get up and go back to the FD job again. It was crazy now I don't operate like that with a wife, a son, a full time FD job, and a part time FD job I really don't have time for it anyway even if I wanted to. I am planning on going back volunteering becuase I live in a rural part of the county and they have no one so I figure I can at least offer my services when I am avaliable.
As for work we work 24's so after 1630 hours we have down time. It is pretty much do what you wanna do and if a call comes in we go. Now of course we never put off duties just cause it is down time. Sunday's is always your day. Like I said befor we don't put off mission critical stuff but we don't inspect, train, or do preventions on sundays. When this time comes up we like to watch movies, sports, play video games etc. We also like to play football, or basketball in the yard. SOme guys also wash there cars.
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Permalink Reply by WhiteLightning on
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Well, I go to the station every day. I always have a list of things to do. I've built new offices for the treasurer, radio operator, fire marshal and quartermaster. I perform maintenance on all our trucks. Check equipment and even clean the hall or do what ever the chief has in mind! I guess I'm just a full time volunteer! Git er done, what ever it takes to do it right. Then there is training in between, of course.
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Permalink Reply by ILDisasterEMT on
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Well, Im still in academy, so some of the
old fartsveterans are a little leery of us newbs. So to make up for it, I try to do some work around the house, take old stuff off the bulletin boards. Being an EMT, I check jump kits, check O2 tanks, make sure everything is stocked up. Once I am more into the fire/rescue aspect at this department, I'll make myself available to help with trucks, keep equipment in good order. I also dont like to mess with the other guys/gals stuff too much but I will go through the gear room and straighten up bunkers, clean helmets, make little repairs...hell Ive even been known to clean boots and bunker gear. You'd be surprised how shocked the guys look when they come in and their gear is actually straightened up and cleaned. We still allow cigarette smoking in our house and the smell bothers the ambulance service folks (wah!) who also tend to me a littlewhinysensitive to the smells that build up on bunkers and in the house so I will go through with a bottle or two (or six) or Fabreze and spray things down. Plus Im just trying to show from the get go that I take pride in what I do, in my gear and in the way the house is kept up. Im hoping that when the weather warms up to convince the Chief and Captains to let us keep the bay doors open and hang out out there so the community can see us, come up and talk to us, let us know if they have any problems or concerns...I just really like the idea of the fire station and the firefighters being at the center of the community. I want to try to organize events like open houses where we really spiff everything up and let the public come through, let the kids get their pictures taken on the trucks, etc. Its not so much public relations as it is just letting them know that we're theyre for them. Our house also sits on sort of a dead end roundabout street where alot of kids play and they like to see the firefighters and trucks, etc. Being an all volly squad, our medical folks tend to turn out in all kinds of bizarre combinations of uniforms so for the sake of morale and esprit d'corps, Im trying to gather up some donations for job shirts, station pants, etc. Ive always had the philosophy that you act how you look so it seems like if we look better, we will take even more pride in what we do and hence get even better at it... Id really like to get up enough donations to get all the EMTs and Medics job shirts with their names and ranks on them.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Simmons on
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Our VFD was really pretty neat, we had cable TV, VCR, a pool table, weight set, guys were always leaving movies (think I just dated this one). There were usually 5 or 6 of us just hanging out, watching a ball game or some such.
Sooner or later somebody would start working on something & b4 you knew it, everybody would be busy with 1 project or other. Members would be driving by, see us & stop & pitch in. We had a real tight, professional group, high levels of activity/participation.
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Permalink Reply by Bill Brierton on
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I usually spend about 6 hours on Friday nights and about 4 hours on Monday nights. If we are not doing anything such as drill/training I usually build a plastic model, or read a book.
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Permalink Reply by Ron Maddox on
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Well it depends most usually every day between 1600 and 1900 members stop in and shoot the bull before going home. On Thursday nights after drill a card game usually breaks out untill 0000. On Sat nights the cards start to fly around 2100 and may not stop untill 0300. Any time during the day time on weekends as well ( for hanging out not cards). The one thing is if there is something to do you must help. Good relations are important and so is a good time.
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Permalink Reply by Bull on
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have a talk to the chief,they want to hang out,,great, do some work while there
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Permalink Reply by Brittany on
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We have a really tight department. We love to just hang out with each other. If someone stops by to pick up something or do a quick chore, ten minutes turns into six hours because someone stops by, then someone else stops by, etc. We had a fish fry yesterday and ended up staying at the station until after two a.m. ((My dad is a captain in my department and he jokes that we should just get our mail sent to the station since we're there more than we are at home.) We usually just end up there after a call or just because someone is there and everyone else stops by and starts talking. We watch movies (everyone ended up watching sling blade in our meeting room a couple nights ago. haha.), play cards everyone now and then, sometimes a couple of the guys will bring guitars and they'll make music, tinker with the trucks, in the summer we hang out around the big grill/fire pit we have out back.... mostly we just hang out and enjoy each other. Everyone's really close.
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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on
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Sounds to me like you have a great system in order. Your right on one thing, it is hard to stop by the station for a minute and not have it end up being a few hours. The firehouse is like a casino (where they don't have clocks) you blink twice and an hours gone by.
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Permalink Reply by Ann Johnson on
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Free CE's NREMT and CECBEMS accredited. www.ems-ceu.com. Department contracts available.
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I understand your attempt to promote your business, but why on this forum topic? It is completely unrelated
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Permalink Reply by brock griffin on
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in my free time i sweep the bays make sure the trucks are in order ( checking the scott packs cleaning them etc...) sweep some more and do anything else there is to do theres almost no free time when im down there
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