Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by CHRIS PUYLARA on September 11, 2009 at 11:33am

Living near the station,myself and another guy, we can roll a truck within 4 minutes of the call..for an MVA... we might get 4-6 people,EMS is provided by another dept.If it is a fire,depending on the type--structure- during the day is an AUTOMATIC MUTUAL AID call ,brush or otherwise is a sizeup and call for help if need be.At night we generally dont have issues. But we do have the ones that pick and choose their calls.

Permalink Reply by Chris Tomlinson on October 1, 2009 at 9:58am

((((raising hand))))) Staffing issues here and it's a little more sudden. I've been on for 18 years and have never seen it this bad.

At the moment, out of a 30-person roster we're lucky to have 3-5 people available during the day. Two of which are the chief and asst. chief who typically won't be actually fighting fires. We have people on medical leave, personal leave and some who just can't make it because they're stuck with the kids. Honestly if we get a house fire I'm going to be terrified at how bad it could get.

~Chris
Fire Department Web Design

Permalink Reply by Brandon Eichenlaub on October 28, 2009 at 10:59pm

We can usually get enough people to show up on week ends. however i was a member during high school and during school hours if the alarm went off i would leave school. and that was the only way to get a truck on scene was me and another high school member. now we were the most dedicated members an i only missed two call in my two years of service and that was because i was just too sick to respond. nnow we have other members that have not responded in two years.. and they are always home... so high schoolers and self employed people is the best way to get more responders.

Permalink Reply by AJ on November 17, 2009 at 8:25pm

My department is pertty good actually with getting the B.R.T.'s out of the house. But... as far as getting intrior guys on the job eh thats really hit or miss usually were pretty good because most of our guys work around the district so if they here a worker go in they leave work and go but if theres not enough men mutual aid is a beautiful thing, our neiboring departments aren't that far away the farthest one in MAYBE 7 miles away if that far.

Permalink Reply by mike erwin on March 22, 2010 at 9:47pm

sounds like the roster needs to be cleaned out and get rid of the inactive personell

Permalink Reply by Lani on March 23, 2010 at 2:30pm

Our district is covered by Career firefighters during the daytime hours M-F. Because we were having inadequate staffing issues.

Permalink Reply by Mark Klaene on March 27, 2010 at 5:09pm

we are about 5 short in total staffing 24/7 . But if I had a choice I would take all 5 of these during he daytime

Permalink Reply by Kelly Saunders on April 12, 2010 at 10:17pm

It was a huge problem years ago but with a change getting rid of the last Chief & replacing with a visionary who saw the future & changed the culture. We expanded our recruiting to include non town residents. We gave them free training in exchange for them signing up for shifts with the watch they were assigned to. Now, we still have some times where manpower might be low but overall we have had to add sleeping quarters to our Station as members are spending more time at the hall. Our Chief empowered every member & gave them responsibilties, ramped up Training to more advanced levels & we began to teach the traditions of the Fire Service to every new recruit from day 1. Chain of Command is enforced but opinion & new thinking is encouraged, the members have pride in their "House" , our performance at calls shows it. All members must attend a certain minimum of Training nights, call attendance is monitored as is overall contributions to the Station. We began a drill program of marching,purchased #1 dress uniforms , made sure everyone had the best gear we could afford. The mind set is the key,get rid of the no-shows,malcontents & trouble makers! Reward those who rise above the rest, we send three members to FDIC every year for example. I"d rather have 10 committed, passionate firefighters than 25 "space takers" any day! It all starts with leadership. Great leaders place their troops welfare first, stand up for their people & Station.

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