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sky shark posted:Being wholly ignorant of the day-to-day aspect of the firefighting field, why is firefighting dying? Well, it's a mix of things. Most of the US is still reliant on volunteer-based fire services. As times have changed, towns have gotten bigger and jobs have been spread out more. The days of being able to leave work because the fire whistle is tooting are long gone, in part because employers won't allow it and in part because you work an hour away from where you live. It doesn't help that some of those affected towns are unwilling to move to a paid municipal style department because of the costs involved. Many of the state and federal grants available to volunteer departments, many of which are singularly responsible for keeping them afloat, aren't available to paid agencies. In some areas of the US we've seen the breakdown of local fire departments in favor of the creation of 'regions'. Some places already had these in place, the idea being that the local call volume is too low to warrant the full cost for the town - so the towns pull together and create a fire commune which responds to several municipalities. This sort of system was initially fairly prevalent in rural communities, though now we're seeing similar systems spreading across suburbs. We're also doing a pretty decent job with fire prevention. We're nowhere near 100% but we're doing well enough that as Senor said - fire departments have to start doing other things than just putting water on fire. In many areas fire departments have taken over the EMS side of things (or are contesting it), many already handle local technical rescue and hazmat. Diversifying your service allows you to pull money in from new areas (e.g. EMS billing, EMS/hazmat/rescue grants, etc) because most of the money you need to actually fully operate as a service probably won't be coming from the town you represent. People hate taxes. The decline of fire services, the problems with our aging infrastructure. They're all really symptoms of the same problem. People want a deal and you get what you pay for. There's lot of other reasons as well, I'm sure some of the other folks in here will point them out.
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Feb 13, 2010 03:26
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Kashew posted:I'd say that increasingly lighter construction in the name of driving costs down is also hurting the firefighting profession. Houses are made so flimsy these days that after about 15 minutes of free burning fire the roof is compromised to the point where you can't even enter to suppress. Also, we're seeing in increase of building materials which cause toxic outgassing when mixed with high heat or fire. That new insulation which save Johnny DIY $5 dollars a month on his heating or electric bill will very likely knock him on his rear end if he breathes in even a wiff of it post-combustion/outgassing.* That super-cheap no-name brand drywall from Rhinakstania that's supposed to act as a lil-firebreak to give you time to get out of your house? For some odd reason it turns into a chemical weapon when mixed with temperatures greater than 200 degrees F.* So it's very important to look at the materials going into your house. Granted, *not all materials will behave like this or are super duper deadly - but there are enough out there that you should examine the fine print and do some research... Well, every time you do something to your house.
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Feb 15, 2010 18:40
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grover posted:Virtually everything inside a house is going to give off toxic fumes when they burn. Even if the structure itself is "safe", the house is packed full of plastic and other nasties. Very true, though now there's a wider variety of potent plastics and nasties. For the life of me I can't understand why, it's just the way it is. Variety is the flavor of life I guess.  edit: kash why ain't I on the list? 
Marx fucked around with this message at 19:53 on Feb 15, 2010 |
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Feb 15, 2010 19:46
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senor punk posted:I can't speak of the LA or California market specifically, however I'd say the easy days are over for people looking to get into any big city department. With the lower rates of fires and tight budgets many cities are looking at layoffs or staffing decreases through attrition, making getting on that much more challenging. If at all possible you should do whatever you can to make yourself more marketable to the department(s) that you are trying to get on. If LA staffs FF/medics then do your best to try and become a medic, as well as the other certs. Yeah, attrition is pretty big right now. This past year we've retired 8 dudes, not looking for any replacements either. Then again we were riding four to an engine when I started and I guess we're just moseying down to the standard three. Also, if the only paramedic classes in your area are the 1.5 to 2 year programs - just do yourself a favor and go to nursing school.
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Oct 25, 2010 16:11
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invision posted:Why isn't there an ask/tell? There's one like, once a year. Most of us bs in the GBS EMS thread though.
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Nov 18, 2010 18:46
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senor punk posted:Which is now in Goon Doctor. Which explains why I wasn't able to find it during my irregular perusals. 
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Nov 18, 2010 18:51
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Slippery posted:On the other hand, if you're irregular, TGD can probably help you dear goon doctor, My teeth hurt and I haven't crapped in a week. After googling these symptoms I found that I may have lung cancer, please help.
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Nov 19, 2010 15:33
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invision posted:Bro's, some girl at a club tonight showed me the "bunker gear dance" which is pretty much a dance that mimicks putting on bunker gear. It was awesome. hth <3 Badge bunnies are dangerous, keep them hocks off that box slick. Unless she was a normal well adjusted person, in which case carry on.
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Dec 10, 2010 21:20
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nobueno posted:-The general vibe here in California is that nation wide in the next 2 to 3ish years the fire industry is going to be comming back in style and brining a good amount of jobs with it. Can any of you comment on this with your views? Actually it's probably going to go the opposite. Budgets are tight across the country and many municipalities are forcing their folks to do more for the same or less. In the forseeable future it will likely be more of the same. What you will see: increased privitization of services, further diminishing of staffing levels, increased expectations put upon the individual responder.
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Dec 22, 2010 23:42
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Kashew posted:Medic/FF cops advancing bullet-proof-pepper-spray-laced-water hoselines into robbery-in-progress-while-on-fire-and-a-premmie-birth-in-the-lobby banks. A couple of towns over from where I live the police also do EMS/rescue/hazmat leaving a volunteer service to cover purely fire related stuff. It's not podunk either, has a population of around 50k and takes up about 20 square miles. edit: though recently they contracted out EMS transports to a local private. Marx fucked around with this message at 15:06 on Dec 23, 2010 |
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Dec 23, 2010 15:03
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invision posted:So we went from having ~2 calls all month to having 5 separate calls today. I spent my overnight digging out hydrants. 
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Jan 27, 2011 13:36
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Paper pushers and scenesters can come in their POV, trucks are for folks that can put in the work. Seconding the 'run it up the line' motion. Some folks might try to give flak but just stick with your reasoning, it's sound.
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Feb 6, 2011 03:28
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Branis posted:How do full time departments view volly experience? In my experience its less about 'volunteer experience' and more about 'certifications/licenses earned while volunteering'.
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Feb 27, 2011 01:18
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[ask] me about missing a department layoff by 1 day of senority because our rich populus hate local taxes.
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Mar 22, 2011 02:59
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invision posted:drat. How many did you guys lose? We're down twelve guys, 5% pay cut across the board with extra taken out of medic pay, have to pay in more for benefits. So my current take home is almost on par with our local commercial EMS counterpart - which I had left to get that sweet municipal crude.  senor punk posted:Along the same lines, the city has initiated the process to try and erase EMT and paramedic civil service titles and replace them with noncompetitive titles. They're going to try to take away our benefits and job security. This poo poo sucks, I mean, the understanding has to come some time that you get what you pay for?
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Mar 22, 2011 14:05
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Revolvyerom posted:Isn't that always how it is? They told us in training that something like 30% of all calls to our stations are followed by another call in the next 5 minutes (small town). "Hm, what's the in the distance? Sirens?. I guess I can use some fire trucks here too."
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May 19, 2011 20:00
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invision posted:I would totally drive the gently caress out of that.
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May 23, 2011 00:30
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 'A firecracker went off near my precious angel and he's crying now please help.' No sign of injury, no deficits - you sure you want us to take your kid to the hospital? If he's still fussy you can always hit up a walk-in in the morning. 'WHAT DO I PAY TAXES FOR ARRRRRG!' 1 hour later Doctor: Your kid is fine, enjoy your huge ER bill 'Better safe than sorry TEE-HEE.'
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Jul 5, 2011 13:44
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Bigass Moth posted:Duh, meant to ask this. I'm considering joining the National Guard to be EXTRA MANLY -- are fire shifts generally flexible for ONE WEEKENED A MONTH TWO WEEKS A YEAR guard duty? It depends on where you go, just like any job I guess. I mean, technically they're obligated to be flexible though of course they have ways of circumventing that if they want to give you a hard time. I'd say a solid tenth of my department is either National Guard or Reservist and we haven't had any issues to date. So, yeah, your mileage may vary.
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Jul 29, 2011 17:21
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Did you have to CPAT prior for the hiring process or are they depending on the post academy CPAT? If the latter, start climbing stairs everywhere and invision posted:Cardio
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Aug 3, 2011 14:11
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b0bx13 posted:I'm already lifting 3x a week and doing running (3-5 miles)/HIIT 3x a week as well. The physical test during the hiring process was a "CPAT light," but I haven't heard anything about doing the actual CPAT. Any suggestions on studying/books in the meantime so I can catch up a bit to my fellow recruits? I'm assuming that the academy you'll be going to will make you sit through the local equivalent of what I call Fire I and Fire II which are both pretty straight forward in regards to course work. The two courses are pretty basic and if you can follow high school chemistry you can follow most of science-y sides of things pretty easily. The hardest part in my particular academy for most folks happened to be the ropework section for high angle rescue and the like. With those, it's really just a matter of learning the knots and understanding basic physics. If you live in an area with a sizeable volunteer populace, you can probably just bum the course books from one of your coworkers. If not, you can probably find them pretty readily online though amazon if not available directly from the academy.
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Aug 3, 2011 22:08
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Bigass Moth posted:Passed all my tests (95/100 on written, "Pass" on the physical and don't know scores on oral). Now have to wait until November for final word on training class placements. Am I guaranteed a spot in a class at some point (even if it's years down the road) for having passed? They'll let you know if and when you have a spot. Some places let you know well in advance, some places are rather horrible and last minute. Can't vouch for the specifics of your circumstance. Congrats either way though!
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Aug 11, 2011 15:20
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Eh, I wouldn't worry too much about it to be honest. I literally spent years testing all over my region before I actually got hired, the lions share of these places had physical testing on top of requiring current CPAT at the time of the process so it was double-lovely. Work at working out and running, poo poo sucks but if it was easy everyone would be chiseled and gorgeous. Take solace in the fact that the majority of the people around you at processes will be more like you than not.
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Dec 13, 2012 20:03
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Conqueror Bounma posted:I am just lacking in confidence that the third try will be different from the first two. Attempt #3 is either on the 20th or the 21st I'll find out Friday. Look on the bright side, if you fail you can look forward to taking the CPAT many many more times. Was taking it every couple of months for awhile since local departments wanted a 3 month window between your last CPAT and the process. It gets easier, it really does. senor punk posted:I'll be in the first class. Should be starting in a month, though that's not 100% official yet. Unofficial congrats until you get your official. 
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Dec 14, 2012 00:48
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