This is the one department for sure that you don't want to cut budgets or disrespect, they risk their lives for the public and that doesn't seem to be important in too many places across the country
A fire department I used to be on was a private company that contracted with two fire protection districts and one city. We ran about six hundred calls a year and staffed three pumpers, a tanker, 2 rescue trucks and 2 ambulances. The mayor of the city balked at the $100,000.00/year we asked for and decided to make a power play. He called the local fire equipment dealer to start asking questions about vehicles and budgets for background. Unfortunately for him, I was the person he was talking to. I called the chief and gave him a heads up. The mayor had called an emergency meeting to address our "outlandish" budget request. At the meeting the mayor first said he was taking over our department. The chief explained that we were a corporation and he could not do so. Then he said he was taking over the firehouse and equipment inside. We produced the 99 year contract we had on the house and lot as well as the evidence that the city had not funded the equipment. We explained to him that the only reason the cost was so low was that one of the districts we contracted with had a major manufacturing facility in it that gave us nearly a million dollars us year and said company would become involved if our department were to close. That mayor didn't last too long.
I was on a volunteer department for 10 years. We had 5 board members. One woman in particular wanted to "help out" the community, so she ran for a board seat and got it. She knew NOTHING about the Fire Service. She once said that we should buy all yellow helmets to save money. It was explained to her that EMS wore blue, Lieutenants and Captains wore red, and Chief Officers wore white to identify people on the fire ground. She said "Oh, okay" and then made a motion to only buy the yellow helmets. When questioned if she understood the reasoning for buying different colors, she replied "YES! I am not stupid! You all can just got to Wal-mart and buy spray paint and change the colors of the yellow helmets!!". Fortunately, the other board members were smarter than that and her proposal died for lack of a second.
This is the one department for sure that you don't want to cut budgets or disrespect, they risk their lives for the public and that doesn't seem to be important in too many places across the country
A fire department I used to be on was a private company that contracted with two fire protection districts and one city. We ran about six hundred calls a year and staffed three pumpers, a tanker, 2 rescue trucks and 2 ambulances. The mayor of the city balked at the $100,000.00/year we asked for and decided to make a power play. He called the local fire equipment dealer to start asking questions about vehicles and budgets for background. Unfortunately for him, I was the person he was talking to. I called the chief and gave him a heads up. The mayor had called an emergency meeting to address our "outlandish" budget request. At the meeting the mayor first said he was taking over our department. The chief explained that we were a corporation and he could not do so. Then he said he was taking over the firehouse and equipment inside. We produced the 99 year contract we had on the house and lot as well as the evidence that the city had not funded the equipment. We explained to him that the only reason the cost was so low was that one of the districts we contracted with had a major manufacturing facility in it that gave us nearly a million dollars us year and said company would become involved if our department were to close. That mayor didn't last too long.
I think this fire dept. needs a new board. What part of "volunteer" does it not understand?
Respect your people or suffer the consequences !
Can you say cover up!!!!
The barn is going to burn no matter what
I was on a volunteer department for 10 years. We had 5 board members. One woman in particular wanted to "help out" the community, so she ran for a board seat and got it. She knew NOTHING about the Fire Service. She once said that we should buy all yellow helmets to save money. It was explained to her that EMS wore blue, Lieutenants and Captains wore red, and Chief Officers wore white to identify people on the fire ground. She said "Oh, okay" and then made a motion to only buy the yellow helmets. When questioned if she understood the reasoning for buying different colors, she replied "YES! I am not stupid! You all can just got to Wal-mart and buy spray paint and change the colors of the yellow helmets!!". Fortunately, the other board members were smarter than that and her proposal died for lack of a second.