Paid and Volunteer!

[H. Stone 1st MRB]

I just had an argument with an ignorant person who stated that it would be less money if they got rid of volunteer fire departments and made them nationally all paid.

It was a topic that I know the answer to and why it is actually better for everyone to have Volunteers in towns and paid in cities!

Here is how it works: Volunteer fire departments train you on skills you need specific to that fire district, and based upon the structural needs, I.e. If there are high rises, etc you get money toward that type of training and equipment need which is voted on by each district bi-annually.

If they made everyone paid:There would be a standard of training which woe require you to get certified on every possible type of structure even if it does not exist in your district and you would have to obtain all the equipment even if it was not necessary, which costs a ton more, and taxes go up along with insurance rates if the department does poorly on its ability to train in a reasonable amount of time.

I don't like politics, but partly my argument also was, would you rather someone show up voluntarily who is not doing it for a check!

The argument back was well then you have no care about those guys in 9/11

I said wait a minute I knew some if those guys and most of them did both volunteer and paid!

Then the argument went to double dipping!

Firefighter friends in the unit give me your opinion! I know it's a better world to have volunteers, and that paid works for cities but would be very expensive for suburban towns, especially on Long Island where people already pay enough in taxes

[Gardner2]

Well from my personal experience of being a volunteer fire fighter for 7 years up here in Canada in the past is this.

In Canada over 75% of all fire fighters are volunteers, we do it not for money or a pay check we do it because we see a need and a requirement which needs someone to step up and do.

We risk our lives at every call, not for money or glory, but because we can do what we need too to help others in need or distress.

Would volunteer departments like more equipment and training hell yes, but when smaller communities, town and even some smaller cities can not afford it, we do with what we have.

Heck on my fire department half the equipment was 2 generations old compared to what the paid departments had, and we still showed up to help them on larger fire calls and worked side by side.

Our water tanker was an old milk truck, pumper was 10 years old and carried all our hoses, our jump truck/medical truck was an old F250 flat deck that we built a box on to hold medical supplies, spare air tanks and such from the 70's lol.

We were cross trained at my department in many difference rescue, from multi story structures to grain bins. We did ice water rescues, forest fires, medical calls (considering the closest hospital was over a 120kms away from our area), we even received the calls for downed power lines to ensure nothing sparked.

When our department or township could afford it some of us would pile into our chiefs wife's mini van and go to the Ontario Fire College for training, or to get a chance to try out new equipment to look at buying.

We did car washes, kid fun days, BBQ's and so on to raise a lot of our funds.

Every Christmas our township council would make a gratuity check out to us as a thanks for our services, most years this was under $200 for around an average of 400 hours of service through out the year for calls, training, bi weekly meetings for department issues and class room training.

Both paid and volunteer have their place, as volunteers we may not always be available or able to get to the fire hall to help.

As paid you have a crew on call 24/7 always ready to roll.

It all depends on the communities needs and wealth. If they can pay, pay it helps the guys. If they can not there will always be a volunteer who will step up to the plate.

Edited December 4, 2013 by Gardner 1st MRB

[Ratliff]

In my response area, all volunteer firefighters are trained to the level of Firefighter-1, which is the same requirement to be hired as a seasonal firefighter. The department itself sends you to a condensed weekend academy, where, after 3 months, you do the test and get your cert. They then make you do in-house training to make sure you're able to use the local equipment and then they give you a pager and turnouts and send you to the fires. We're lucky in our backwater county that we have decent firefighting apparatus, with the newest vehicle being a 2010 International Watertender, which included air conditioning; something I've never seen in fire apparatus.

Our department is very fortunate. We always have a Captain on duty, and at least one Firefighter. In summertime, we have the Captain, 1 Engineer, and 2 Firefighters, and often the volunteers are on "Level 3 staffing" which means we get paid to man the fire station while the "Paid" guys are off doing stuff. Did I mention that regularly we get $7 per call? And the "Paid" guys cannot volunteer unless they meet their 900 hours of paid work for the season, which I believe is somewhere in the area of 9 months out of the year.

Now I'm rambling, but I think Volunteers are very important to a fire department. Short of privatizing the Fire Department, Volunteers are the most cost efficient way to deal.

Edited January 29, 2014 by Ratliff 1st MRB

[Lehman 1st MRB]

My opinion is that no one should even get into this argument, ever. I've seen volunteer departments shine and career departments flop, and vice versa. It is your love of the sport that defines you.

[H. Stone 1st MRB]

My opinion is that no one should even get into this argument, ever. I've seen volunteer departments shine and career departments flop, and vice versa. It is your love of the sport that defines you.

I totally agree with you Lehman.... It's about Duty Sacrifice and Honor not a paycheck or a benefit!