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Does your community really know what level of fire protection they're getting?
Often when there is a discussion here in FFN about proper/appropriate funding by a community, the level of training of a VFD, their equipment, PPE, training and response level (interior vs. exterior) there are a number of people who insist that, yes, a community IS aware of the level of fire protection offered by their fire department. Of course, those comments are never backed up with any proof but rather just offered in an (at best) anecdotal way.
Today in FFN is an interesting story, the results of a national survey of the BASIC awareness of a community's emergency preparedness. The story, "New Study Finds Many Americans Largely Unaware of Local Emergency ... provides some interesting (although perhaps incomplete) statistics on just how much people really know and understand about their community emergency preparedness and warning methods.
From the article; "More than half (57 percent) of those surveyed do not know when sirens in their area are tested, and 70 percent are unaware of the sounds and sirens associated with various warnings. In fact, more than one in four respondents did not know if their community has a warning siren system at all."
Only 47% would take action given a severe weather warning and 33% would require property damage or injury before they would care about public safety awareness. I particularly like this result; "...one in four respondents (28 percent) would require confirmation of severe weather, such as an actual tornado sighting, flood waters or a visible fire in order to take immediate action."
So if people by and large are indifferent to the emergency warnings (if there are any) given or made available to them in their community, what makes you so sure they know what kind of fire protection service your department offers? Based on the results of the aforementioned survey, I strongly suspect that those residents whom you think are aware of what kind of fire protection they have in their community are not only unaware but are madly indifferent to it. That is right up until the time they need you, and then they're in for a surprise.
So the question is: Does your community really know what level of fire protection they're getting?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Just Plain Craig Moyer on
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I live in a small community. Before the late 80's early 90's EVERY male in the community had been a member in some form or other. It might have been for months or years but they were members. A cop once told me everything is quiet until the siren rings then people come out of the wood work.
Then things changed. More people from outside the community started to join the fire company. We had to start doing background checks. We shut off the siren when the new fancy building was built. Somewhere along the way we lost the connection to the community. People didn't know the Chief or President. It became more important to get out on assist calls. The breaking point was a working alarm 30 seconds away from the firehouse and they were the last engine onscene. When I say 30 seconds I mean come out the firehouse, turn left then turn right one block down. 300 yards.
Many people know what they have lost since there have been changes at the firehouse. I get asked all the time whats going on. So to answer the orginal question YES, they know. They knew before and they know now. They know that they can't get air in thier bike tires anymore, they know they can't get ice for the family BBQ. They know they can't use the bathroom, they know that if there is a real emergency after hours (6-7p to 7-9a) someone else will be responding.
They know that they lost 3 pieces of equpment that was sold off, 2 fully staffed engines responding during the day (when everyone else is running one) Being able to empty the house at night. (3 engines and utility truck)
Yes our community knows the level of fire protection their getting...and their not happy about it.
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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Yes our community knows the level of fire protection their getting...and their not happy about it.
Angry enough to ask for changes to improve the service, such as asking that taxes get raised etc to have improved service? Being angry about a loss or reduction of service level (not the ice, bathroom use, or air in tires aspect) only goes so far. It takes people to speak up to the elected officials and it may mean that people pay higher costs to ensure better services. So how angry are they?
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Permalink Reply by Russ on
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most people judge us by how fast we get to calls. i recall the story of a guy who's house caught fire and claimed it took the FD 20 minutes to get there (when in fact it took 5) and when his neighbor's home caught fire he said, "they got here so fast"
reminds me of a bumper sticker i saw once that said, "its never an emergency untill its your ass"
good topic
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Permalink Reply by Don Catenacci on
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Then they need to get off their butts and either march down to city hall, or the fire department itself, and demand change, or perhaps volunteer themselves. To me people that whine and cry and complain and bitch and do nothin else are to be ignored. They are nothing but lazy agitators who want someone else to do all the hard work.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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Lazy agitators? Not necessarily so. Generally the people who complain are just taxpayers or interested citizens. They don't have to march anywhere. All they have to do is pick up the phone and call their elected representatives.
The elected officials cannot ignore the citizens - who do you think elects those representatives? If the elected officials can't ignore citizen complaints, then the fire chief and the rest of the fire department can't ignore them either.
Even if you can't solve the problem, ignoring citizen complaints is going to make the situation worse, not better.
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Ben,
I am talking about the type pf people that will congregate at the local diner, or the convenience store coffee counter, or the post office, and stand there and bitch about how horrible everything is and not lift even their little finger to do anything about it. They are the people I simply refuse to take into account. If they really believe there is a problem then get up, get moving, and try to affect change. Otherwise they are nothing more than the pint sized yappy little little dog that makes a lot of noise but can't follow it up with anything meaningful.
My point is they won't CALL anyone, anymore than they will stop in at the fire station, or the town hall, to voice a concern or complaint. WHY? Because that entails getting involved. They may have to go to a meeting, they may have to sit down and have to put in rational, coherent terms, in a calm, respectful manner, what their concern is and that takes time and effort.
People that have a legitimate concern, or complaint, and follow the proper channel to voice them are to be commended and seriously listened to. Those who publicly bitch and then never follow up are to be ignored like the raving lunatic on the corner calling for the end of the world.
When I was a village board member one day I walked into the local convenience store and heard a group of older men complaining about some issue in the village. I walked over and said "Should I put you guys on the agenda for the meeting Monday night? Because it sounds like you have some issues with how we handled this problem." They all shut up and looked at me. I asked again. Nothing from them. I said "You guys know the caucus for village board members is coming up soon. Right? Well, I am going to nominate every one of you to the board so you can use your vast knowledge and experience to solve all these problems you seem to have all the answers for in here." You should have seen the stuttering and stammering that occurred then. My point? It is easy to bitch but when asked to step up and really do something most of the complainers slink off back into their hole and shut up.
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