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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on October 12, 2009 at 8:13pm

MY QUESTION TO YOU IS: What would you like to see from your community to make your job easier/better?

Very basic, people to understand that the job is there to keep them safe, not to soak up their tax dollars. To understand what cuts in service really does mean for them and to stand up to elected officals who would rather cut protective services, but spend money on flowers in the medians, boardwalks, and pretty street signs.

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Permalink Reply by ashfire on October 12, 2009 at 9:30pm

One thing I would like to see is community groups to ask the fire dept to attend their meetings to know whats happening on their level if they want our input on things. The local community group invited our station to attend their meeting over the problem with speeders in front of the two schools and our station which is across from them. They also invited the police and local politicians.
We have had people killed right in the block of the schools and one right on our ramp by a dump truck.
I guess they wanted our input on the situation.
I would get the list of groups in the area to find out when they meet and attend them.

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Permalink Reply by Derek R. on October 12, 2009 at 11:52pm

understanding and awareness on both sides. I agree, have meetings which involves everyone.

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Permalink Reply by Rusty Mancini on October 13, 2009 at 12:48am

For starters, for the community to mark their residents with the proper letter and number sizes, to be able to find them quicker in their time of need! I know we all say this all the time, but it still seems like the community lacks in this! Also the community needs to be more proactive when the fire departments try and educate them in fire prevention programs. Then last but not lease, I'll echo what John has stated.

And I imagine some volunteer departments need more volunteers to fill the ranks!

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Permalink Reply by blair4630 on October 13, 2009 at 1:25am

Need from community: more money
Want from community: nothing

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Permalink Reply by Andrew on October 13, 2009 at 2:28am

Hm...

I'd like to see vehicles move out of the way for emergency vehicles in my community. A large majority does, but a lot of drivers will get in the way, won't move, will continue driving normally, and will even block detrimental intersections - including the primary intersection that my department's rigs must go through to get to most of our calls. I mean this for POVs as well, as we need to get to the department to get the rigs out.

I'd like to see more compassion from my community. I can probably count on my two hands the amount of times that I've received a sincere "Thank you" from people that we help. Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it's probably 1-2 for every 10 calls we get thanks, if that.

The other week I did go to a fire prevention type of program. We set up our ladder truck, an engine, and our new ambulance in a local Lowe's parking lot. We let people ride the bucket into the air, let people check out the interior of the engine, and so on. We got a decent amount of praise from people walking by, which made me pretty happy.

One more thing: There's minimal fiscal incentive to be a volunteer in my community. I'm not saying that we deserve free cars, not to pay taxes, or anything like that, but we do get a small discount from Best Buy. If more businesses gave a discount - as minimal as it may be - it may make volunteering look more attractive. It's just an idea, especially in this day in age where less and less people are finding time to volunteer.

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