We Need More VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS Like This #3

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  • Опубліковано 31 лип 2022
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 283

  • @mike_pertz
    @mike_pertz  Рік тому +6

    Try Firefighter Furnace: geni.us/firefighter-furnace (use code FIREFIGHTERNOW20 to get 20% off for life)

    • @rp1645
      @rp1645 Рік тому

      Thank you for all your great video's. YES volunteer is a big problem. My Humble opinion from years of working with a Explorer/ Cadet program with the local Volunteer Department is you get to weed out the ones that might be interested then drop out. The volunteers don't put a lot of time into the Fire Department TRAINING, then LOSS the volunteers. Are Cadets do REHAB so on any big Fire they go if Paramedic go. They work with the Paramedic on the Rest period for Firefighter. The Local school district is also very helpful on having a skills program, with school District. The Cadet program you can get the younger age highschool kids involved. It does save the volunteer Department, not having a big turn around of members.

    • @ivanh.d3297
      @ivanh.d3297 Рік тому +1

      In Slovenia, 90% of fire service is based ob volunteers. They are well trained for all sorts of situations, fires, road accidents, hazmats, bad weather… They are not paid, its more like a passion for them. Volunteer firefighting is our countrys pride. They recently tackled the biggest forest fire in countrys history. Some departments were on the field for days, even two weeks, more shifts straigt. Thankfuly help came from other countries with their airforces.

  • @douglasbawden3134
    @douglasbawden3134 Рік тому +202

    As a retired medivac helicopter pilot, I worked with a number of volunteer fire departments in some pretty rural areas. They have always been dedicated to their mission and always eager to learn. My hat is off to all the volunteer firefighters around the world.

    • @douglasbawden3134
      @douglasbawden3134 Рік тому +1

      @@timesup5105 I am also a retired Air Force Combat Search and Rescue pilot and can imagine what your father saw.

    • @LauRoot892
      @LauRoot892 Рік тому

      @@douglasbawden3134 LOL ! Seriously ?? 😊

    • @r.j.dunfee2882
      @r.j.dunfee2882 Рік тому +2

      Over 100 hours flight observer. FLIR, NODS, NAME IT!!! Coolest position ever! Pilot, ex Vietnam War Helo pilot... He let me take the stick one night... I don't know how they do it!!!! I was a train wreck!!!!

    • @r.j.dunfee2882
      @r.j.dunfee2882 Рік тому +1

      I couldn't maintain altitude, port/starboard... It was stupid!!! I told him to take it back, please Sir!

    • @r.j.dunfee2882
      @r.j.dunfee2882 Рік тому

      We flew under a 135' bridge!!! UNNDER!!! I loved it! PAX NAS didn't, my partner didn't. Oh well!

  • @scottcampbell4678
    @scottcampbell4678 Рік тому +33

    I spent 20 years as a volunteer. I live in central Vermont. Due to the fact that most depts in VT are volunteer, we have a massive mutual aid system. It was nothing to see 4 or 5 depts on a scene. When a MA dept goes to a fire, the depts behind them come in to cover the towns that came to the fire scene. Some depts would travel 20 miles or more for station coverage. A strong mutual aid system is essential for a small state like Vermont

    • @scottcurry479
      @scottcurry479 Рік тому +1

      We do the exact same thing in Indiana, but we may have 10-12 departments on scene if we're shuttling water, which for a large fire is almost always.
      We have absolutely GREAT mutual aid departments and we train together often.

  • @heudorferfasnet
    @heudorferfasnet Рік тому +62

    Best wishes from a German volunteer firefighter. I don't think we have a thankless job. Some people are smiling about us, when we do training at the station. But everybody who we could help, when a call was needed, was very thankfully.

    • @danielrose1392
      @danielrose1392 Рік тому +3

      We where recently hit by a tornado in Paderborn and I am sure our two full-time fire stations would have been totally lost for days responding to all the calls. Glad we had all the help available from neighboring volunteer fire stations.

    • @1234fishnet
      @1234fishnet Рік тому +4

      I'm from Austria. Volunteer firefighters here are a social event, integrated into the rural community and that's why it works.
      Same with Red Cross.
      But when you go into an urban city these concepts don't work.

    • @GriderTornado
      @GriderTornado Рік тому +5

      In Luxemburg it used to be, since firfighting became state business and not anymore municipality business, it changed. There was a big loss of volunteers (a good chunk went to professional as they were hiring many) but nevertheless many stopped because all of the annoyence the direction of the CGDIS created. I used to be allowed to leave on work time and keep getting paid (because the CGDIS would refund my salary) but because of the giant administrative bullshit, my boss does not allow me any more to leave on work time, this means when I leave I have to clock out and will not be paid a salary, and the lost time i will have to recatch as overtime/saturday. There is also big issues with the trainings, most of them are nowadays done during the week, and as you can guess it is pretty hard to get approval to get holidays for it when you are required at least to ask them 2! months in advance (used to be 1) and often the weekend ones get canceled (in this year alone 4 or 5 formations i was registered for had been canceled.
      It has been a very loud and long topic already that in Luxemburg the direction of the CGDIS is aiming for a completly professionallized fire fighting but the question will be: who is going to pay all those firefighters their 4k+ salaries? If already the minimum needed to head out in the firetrucks are 4? In a municipality like mine where in average 2 interventions per month happen and there is a ~60% chance it getting canceled, this is a no brainer that it is a waste of money and human time.

    • @1234fishnet
      @1234fishnet Рік тому

      @@GriderTornado totally stupid. Motivation of volunteers is higher and they are cheaper, even if their salary in their daily job gets refunded. Saved money can be spent on equipment.
      In my personal opinion only the leader of a station should be paid by the government to have better influence on what people aware doing.

    • @mrsaltytea
      @mrsaltytea Рік тому +2

      volunteer fire departments in germany are great they run the jounior firefighter "clubs" and with out the ffs a lot of emergencys could ended up pretty badly

  • @Desert_Amish
    @Desert_Amish Рік тому +11

    You're The Donut Operator of The Fire Service. I've seen a few of your videos, and I love the way you break down videos of fires, and how you've also gone out of your way to give us advice on interview Do's and Dont's. You've also given your opinions on tactics Firefighters have used in videos, which helps a hopeful FF like myself get a understanding of how things could be done. I've already learned a variety of things from you and your videos, and I haven't known of your channel for that long. Thank you for the knowledge and advice you've given us, wether we want to be FFs or not.

  • @po4RP20361
    @po4RP20361 Рік тому +18

    As a retired police officer from a small town in Pa Ive never felt more proud of anyone than the volunteer fire fighters. To me, no one is derserving of more thanks than them. People used to thank me for my service and Id tell them thank you but the volunteer firefighters of our community deserve the real thanks and most importantly, donations. My only regret is not having done more for them than I had.

    • @r.j.dunfee2882
      @r.j.dunfee2882 Рік тому +1

      My family is from Bradford County, PA. My father was a Professional Firefighter here in Maryland. I'm a retired Game Warden. Started FF 1, but covid shut it down. Many calls before covid, lots of overhaul

    • @stevecooper2873
      @stevecooper2873 Рік тому

      Wow, Sir .. In my experience, you are a rarity.

  • @thevoid4060
    @thevoid4060 Рік тому +26

    Hey mike, im a 17 year old junior volunteer who started back in march with my towns department. Your videos have been super helpful to me and helped keep me interested and passionate about the job. The day of my interview I remember finding your interview guide video and went down a rabbit hole watching all your videos. Joining my department has been the best decision i ever made and your channel has helped me a lot so thank you and keep up the great videos
    Also my department uses Active911 and i can vouch that its incredibly useful

    • @wesrobinson7366
      @wesrobinson7366 Рік тому +4

      So proud of you, I love being a volunteer firefighter. It also is the best decision I ever made.

  • @jimlongley9531
    @jimlongley9531 Рік тому +8

    Thank you for this. I was a volunteer for 17 years, rising to Captain more due to availability than ability (I was not allowed to run for Chief because I lived out of district) and daytime weekday fires were the worst for attendance, our town had automatic mutual aid for the 5 departments in town, and special arrangements with some of the surrounding districts. One time I arrived at the firehouse just a minute or so after the siren started to blow, I pulled the first response pumper out on the apron and geared up while waiting for other responders, after a few minutes, I called dispatch and rolled, by myself. I arrived at the scene, turned up the pump to 125, pulled off the first attack lines and got water on the fire before anyone else even showed up. A scary feeling.

    • @ffjsb
      @ffjsb Рік тому

      Any VFD that votes for Chief is F'd up. You should be Chief 100% because of your qualifications, not popularity.

    • @jimlongley9531
      @jimlongley9531 Рік тому

      @@ffjsb And I would agree with you. Part of the reason I quit was a "difficulty" with the chief. The chief and I had been friends from the time he was a captain, and I was a new kink chaser, the chief's wife and my wife had been friends for 5 years before we married, we went on a couple of vacation trips as a foursome and had even spent the night at each other's houses when a dinner party got a little too drunk to drive home safely. They attended our wedding, and they came to our vow renewal at our tenth wedding anniversary, but there was trouble in their paradise. When she left him, she stayed at our house for two nights as she made her escape. I don't know how he found out, but life at the fire department became unbearable - one time we were just wetting down an abandoned building that we were making no attempt to save, and two of our firefighters were manning a hose line without proper safety gear (we still had some rubber coats even, so a while ago) and I, as captain, told them to shut down their line and get helmets, gloves, and boots on. They were from Company 1 and I was from Company 2 and one of them went to the chief and complained that I was rude, and I caught hell. The following month was our election of officers and I declined to run for re-election as captain or as lieutenant, and two months later, after another confrontation with the chief, I resigned from the department. A couple of years later the chief's now ex-wife told us that he had found out, and it became clear why the animosity, but it was too late to do anything about it.

    • @happycommentator6773
      @happycommentator6773 Рік тому +4

      Definitely sucks going "Driver only".

    • @jimlongley9531
      @jimlongley9531 Рік тому +1

      @@happycommentator6773 Should have heard me yelling for mutual aid on the radio on the way. Luckily the fire was confined to a small barn and a shed.

    • @oscarosullivan4513
      @oscarosullivan4513 Рік тому

      @@jimlongley9531 Beggars belief

  • @joe0813
    @joe0813 Рік тому +5

    Always great to see a good volunteer fire departments that actually train and know what they are doing

  • @LiveevilProductions
    @LiveevilProductions Рік тому +3

    Thank you for reviewing my video. I'm just seeing this and wondered why viewer traffic increased a few months ago. I appreciate your comment about being impressed by the turnout considering it happened around 6:30 pm that evening, you know a majority of these volunteer ff were probably just sitting down to have dinner. There's quite a bit of negative comments on my video about why there's so many ff standing on the lawn "doing nothing". Most, if not all, of the departments in my county use IAmResponding, which is a similar app to Active911

  • @virgilhilts3924
    @virgilhilts3924 Рік тому +34

    I stretched my first line back in the 80's with a full time metro FD until I retired at 30 years.
    About halfway through my career our city lifted the residence requirements so my wife and I moved out of the metro and into a mountain community served with a VFD that I also joined and am still at today. We have about two dozen members that show up regularly for training, and about a dozen that can be counted on to respond somewhat regularly. So there are often calls where only a few manage to show up and we are left to work with just a small crew. This past weekend we had 4 MVA's and only 4-5 people responded to each, so it can be tough quite often.
    A big issue for us is the drive time due to long travel distance in and around the mountains. It can take 20-30 minutes to get to a call in our primary area, calls out on the highway can take more than an hour to reach because how vast the area is. Earlier this year we had a family of four killed when a drunk driver in a company truck crossed the CL and plowed into them head on. It took me 45 minutes in our Squad (our fastest vehicle) to reach the site, a deputy happened to be about 15 minutes away and found everything burning out of control, all we could do was cut out their remains.

    • @thepressurepack3777
      @thepressurepack3777 Рік тому +1

      What state are you from? 😅 asking for a friend, so we don’t move there 😵‍💫

    • @virgilhilts3924
      @virgilhilts3924 Рік тому

      @@thepressurepack3777
      Looks like your triggered 😂🤣😆

    • @homeFall1
      @homeFall1 Рік тому

      My department only has 10 volunteers total with 3 active EMTs. We are doing GOOD to get 4 people to turn up for just about any call including MVCs (in my county in Oregon we are not allowed to call them MVAs anymore as it COULD be taken as an expert calling the crash an accident and no one at fault). Anyway totally agree that with the videos stated 3 top problems and hope all the other VFDs can hang in there like us and make it work. Stay safe and do good things everyone!

    • @stevecooper2873
      @stevecooper2873 Рік тому

      SAD.. Of course you know, from your experience that A] you did not cause the emergency, and B] you can only work with what resources you have.

  • @leadspartan1203
    @leadspartan1203 Рік тому +11

    I just want to let u know thank u very much I just pass my firefighter exam yesterday because of ur video . Keep up the good work

  • @ritzoriginal
    @ritzoriginal Рік тому +1

    Less than a year to go and I receive my Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal from the Canadian Government for 20 years of volunteer firefighter service. Joined when I was 18. IMO our fire dept has the best group of guys you could ask for. Many more with 20, 30, even 40 + years of service on our dept.

  • @blakslee720
    @blakslee720 Рік тому +13

    To be fair, a daytime structure fire is always going to have a better turnout than a 3am automatic fire alarm or CO alarm. Any structure fire in a volly town is probably going to bring people out of the woodwork that haven't shown up to anything in months.

    • @kenmeinken8115
      @kenmeinken8115 Рік тому +8

      Our best turnouts were the middle of the night fires when most of our volunteers were home. Daytime responses were thin because most of us worked outside of our city. But a midnight structure fire often turned out 25-28 firefighters. A few years after I moved away the department became paid and they needed to dispatch 2 or 3 departments to get minimum personnel on the scene. Where I live now, there is only one paid department within 40 miles and they run an 8 man crew in two stations including two EMS units, two engines and a ladder. That leaves a two person fire crew at each station if the EMS units are out.

  • @jadsmvs8651
    @jadsmvs8651 Рік тому +5

    I'm at an urban vol station servicing an area of 25k and about 45k in the summer. We have about 60 members and are part of a state-wide agency with about 1,200 stations and 50k active volunteers. Even with 60+ people at our station we have been struggling because throughout covid a number of our senior members left for work and such in other areas. Probably lost close to 100 years of experience.
    We train very well and regularly but attendance to calls has dropped. We use to get 2 of our 4 vehicles the door in a few minutes (10 people). Now we are lucky if we get a full truck. It's getting better, but slowly.

  • @CShivery
    @CShivery Рік тому +6

    Awesome that the driver of the first arriving engine left room for the truck. I've seen too many videos and experienced it too many times firsthand that the truck gets blocked out, or the truck gets into a good position only to have someone nose up behind them and block access to their ground ladders.

  • @gregliautaud1474
    @gregliautaud1474 Місяць тому

    Retired, moved to a small town, joined the local volunteer fire department. Just like I did a career ago. Much more fun switching between structure calls and wildfire calls.

  • @anthonyc790
    @anthonyc790 Рік тому +5

    I could not agree more about the issues with volunteer departments. My 65 year old father joined his VFD 4 years ago, 90% of the time he is the only one who shows up when they are toned out (over 30 on the roster)I am moving up there next month so I can work with him.

  • @austincrawford5477
    @austincrawford5477 Рік тому +3

    In our department, we love active alert (911), it just that our county dispatch takes forever to send them out sometimes, and the pager goes off first. Active Alert is very useful, just not completely ready to be fully integrated as a stand alone service until the dispatchers make there end ready.

  • @rodrigonicolaudelroure8359
    @rodrigonicolaudelroure8359 Рік тому +1

    another reason why so many FF's (at end of video), simply because mutual aid will draw a lot of FF's... the issue (in my opinion) of volunteer fire service is "initial response" (first in) units,... as you pointed out, staffing 24/7 is impossible (a few exceptions in the east coast), so, first units will be with at best 3 man crew... add to this the distance between fire stations and mutual aid response, quick placement of fire hoses is very difficult (and rarely quick as stated).. i admire the dedication of volunteers (thumbs up)

  • @northtexasfireresponses
    @northtexasfireresponses Рік тому +5

    One of the most impressive volunteer responses I have ever seen. Great video!

  • @ethang6735
    @ethang6735 Рік тому +2

    My department has 11 of us that are active riding members. We have 2 stations. The station I respond to has 3 members assigned to it, and only two of us are interior qualified. Yea, we need more help lol but no matter how many open houses and county wide recruiting events are held people these days just arent as interested as they used to be I guess

  • @Q1745
    @Q1745 Рік тому +1

    In my volunteer days (late 80s) I worked night shift in a regional 911 center and ran calls during the day. I was a paramedic the fire district was only BLS at the time. We had lights/sirens in our personal vehicles (POVs). Our department SOP was to tone out backup stations during the day due to lack of manpower. We had 8 stations and in addition to all apparatus at my station I was qualified on the aerial (Pierce 75’ tandem-axle quint that was basically a crane with a good ladder, pump, hose, etc) in another station. Our daytime staffing (made up primarily of night shift workers) was a skeleton crew for our rather large district. (When I first started, my captain told me that for medical calls to never to go to the station for our rescue unless driving by, but to respond directly to the scene. We didn’t run all medical stuff, maybe half.) Anyway, I can’t tell you how many times I ran calls taking our engine solo to fire alarms and small-ish fires, other stations doing the same. But when we got a real structure fire suddenly we had plenty of personnel who all responded in their POVs. That always angered me. You need apparatus to fight fires and we didn’t have enough “regular responders” to get proper equipment to fire scenes.
    I won’t air much dirty laundry, but I had to quit after the department made Inside Edition for its Christmas parties and even worse I followed a chief (who was in a department vehicle) that was under the influence to a fire!
    Several friends I served with became paid firefighters and I actually went into law enforcement. I’m disabled now and miss those days horribly even with the shenanigans that went on!

  • @jackremington2020
    @jackremington2020 Рік тому +7

    I'm from that area where this fire happened and I love what you said about volunteer attendance. Yes, most departments where I'm from are extremely lucky to get a rig out with a full crew. I know my department and other surrounding departments are the same way. However, with most volunteer departments, everyone will come out when they hear there's a fire

  • @edwardrtt
    @edwardrtt Рік тому +1

    my volunteer station we have people come in and then go career ones they get their certs. 1/2 said they only joined to get the certs to make it faster to get hired. others left said we do not get a house fire every day and run more medical calls than anything else. Im a volunteer for over 10 years and my county is doing everything they can to push us out and we see it.

  • @cmcer1995
    @cmcer1995 Рік тому +3

    This was an amazing response from so many different volunteer departments. Water on fire right away, the number of First Responders unbelievable. Lots of hustle from responders, with a wide variety of fire equipment on scene too. Anyone would be proud to have the firefighters respond to their homes.

  • @tiredoftheliesalready
    @tiredoftheliesalready Рік тому +1

    Every volunteer team I've ever seen has been top notch. Usually they had higher turnouts than needed for any sort of fire call. Thee's so much unspoken bravery of the men and women who compromise our volunteer departments, and many of them have been more dedicated than the paid staff in larger cities I've lived in over the years.

    • @ffjsb
      @ffjsb Рік тому

      You haven't seen many VFD's then, turnout is a HUGE problem across the country. A turnout this big is generally unusual.

  • @bfdmod
    @bfdmod Рік тому +3

    I can attest to active 911, it is truly an amazing tool. We are paid on call and all have pagers but when your pager isn't on you, it died, or you accidentally left it off after work then you get all the information sent to you on your phone. It does have a slight delay but still helps tremendously in the fire service! It usually gives you more information than the original dispatch too. As well as timestamps for things such as time of call, dispatch time, en route time, on scene time, and clear time which make paperwork a breeze afterwards. 10/10, I'm glad they sponsored your channel!!

  • @motor2of7
    @motor2of7 Рік тому +2

    That’s some bad ass equipment for a volunteer department. Nothing like that where I am

  • @kalebhopkins248
    @kalebhopkins248 Рік тому +1

    As a volunteer firefighter for 8 years in the fire service we see this all the time and we try to setup our firefighting strategy to get the fire contained and exgushted but most of the golden rule is 2 in 2 out but sometimes we request our paid fire department for a ladder truck because our vol fire department has 3,000 gallons water tanker / engine

  • @WhiteFishNinja
    @WhiteFishNinja Рік тому +5

    Love your videos! As a volunteer firefighter for the past 3 years. Hearing breakdowns of real scenario calls from a veteran career firefighter have been awesome to learn from. As a general request, breakdowns from other types of calls, ie. medical or auto ex would be great to see as well.
    Thanks again

  • @billynomates920
    @billynomates920 Рік тому +1

    thanks, ffN. i really appreciate youtube channels that go the extra mile and put work into the video description. i know not everyone is interested or can access it (my pc died yesterday and i had to watch via tablet) but as soon as you mentioned building construction types, i wanted to know more about it. thanks for the link! 👍

  • @Ameri-Texan
    @Ameri-Texan Рік тому +6

    Being and staying volunteer is a major good feeling. My city is pushing 120,000 and estimated to double by 2025.
    Running soon to be 8 to 9 (depending on how the city growth dictates) stations. Still fully volunteer. Granted we have shifts that we can pick and choose to pick up that leaves at least one station station staffed at all times.
    But that feeling is great being able to maintain the ISO1 rating while being full volly in a city that many assume is fully paid.
    There's many a great men in this department that are well over twenty years of their life and free time sacrificed for this city. Couldn't ask for better men to look up to

    • @ffjsb
      @ffjsb Рік тому

      There's ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE for a city of 120,000 having a volunteer FD. NONE. You should be PAID for doing the job.

    • @Ameri-Texan
      @Ameri-Texan Рік тому +1

      @@ffjsb It's been volunteer since its founding almost 100 years ago. We all know going in there's no real money. We don't do it for the money, we do it for the sense of duty, brotherhood and simply it's fun.
      We do get stipends and yearly pay outs, so we definitely get a little something.
      By being volunteer, the city can use those funds and we all get free training through fire academies, whatever outside training we desire through any college or school. Any certifications we desire. Top of the line equipment and apparatuses. We are very blessed and take pride as I said being able to maintain an ISO 1 while staying volunteer and helping save our beautiful city money.

    • @kenmeinken8115
      @kenmeinken8115 Рік тому +1

      Congratulations on maintaining the ISO1 rating!

    • @ffjsb
      @ffjsb Рік тому

      @@Ameri-Texan Tradition has nothing to do with it. You should be PAID to do that job. It's not like it's some rural district in N. Dakota or something. You can get that training with a paid FD too. Time for the community to step up and do what's right.

    • @Ameri-Texan
      @Ameri-Texan Рік тому

      @@ffjsb
      I'll agree to disagree.
      It very much has to do with tradition within our department and its history. There's a massive push against the city from our members NOT to go paid. We wear that Volunteer on our logo with pride. Not to be conceited, but we maintain such good numbers and responses for that ISO 1 that an overwhelming amount of our citizens don't even realize we're fully volunteer.
      We love the fact that we're saving our city millions of dollars, saving our citizens who knows in taxes.
      We are happy to not receive a "full time" paycheck.
      In fact, with many members working in the local plants and refineries around here in Houston and many working for NASA, a vast majority would be taking a vast pay cut if we went full time.

  • @Lecon60
    @Lecon60 9 місяців тому

    I ran a department as the EMS Coordinator for 3 years. It was a struggling deoartment and nobody even had a basic firefighter cert. One month after taking over, everyone was a basic firefighter, two months later everyone had an Emergency Trauma Technician, six moths later everyone was Firedighter I and an EMT, I sought out grants for my training and I'd train at other departments.
    I got my FF2, Marine Offshore (my offshore certification bumped me up to FF2) and EMT in that 3 years.
    Trying to train volunteers isn't easy. They have work schedules and have kids at home. My RIT consisted of 3 men and 3 women, we only had 10 steady, reliable volunteers, but we all had our EMT, Firefighter 1. I also responded to mental crisis, domestic violence calls where I intervene becuase Alaska State Troopers have to fly in.
    2018 we had an earthquake and I left the department (in good hands) because I was also a Red Cross Volunteer with disaster assistance.
    I finally finished 2001 and came back home.
    My community has a Trauma Room, staffed with CMA certified staff and behavioral health. All run by my peers.
    Our trauma room is necesary because we cant always get our patients to Anchorage immediately. I've had situations where we couldnt get a patient out for 8 hours due to weather.

  • @ShawnHackneyMusic
    @ShawnHackneyMusic Рік тому +2

    our volunteer department had this same issue with attendance a bit ago, we had a call for a car fire and between our city department (the one i'm on) and our rural department we had 9 people show up for the call at 10am on a Monday and we attempted to call for another department but they didn't have anyone who could respond and thankfully we got it put out with just the 9 of us

  • @tornadojames
    @tornadojames Рік тому +8

    I started with A-911 on my department, and the constant growth and updates have been astounding. I would not go with any other app for first response and notification...

  • @dougmyers8767
    @dougmyers8767 Рік тому

    Three weeks ago we had a large structure fire in our town. First engine on scene had an engineer and a probationary firefighter who would generally not be on the nozzle yet. We had mutual aid departments from at least 5 other districts who had the fire completely out in 6 hours.
    As much as possible, we train together so everyone knows what to expect from firefighters and equipment.

  • @CheeseNoodleOZ
    @CheeseNoodleOZ Рік тому +1

    Aussie Volunteer here, good job done on that one, it was going that's for sure. My brigade is full volunteer urban and wildfire so have to deal with both and I agree, retention is a major issue and so is recruiting the right people.

  • @TheCanadianBubba
    @TheCanadianBubba Рік тому +2

    Great looking equipment for volunteer crews 👍

  • @hermangoetter8821
    @hermangoetter8821 8 місяців тому

    I spent 50 years as a volunteer fireman and thoroughly enjoyed the experience ,
    I still hang around the station and meet weekly with some former members.
    Our station has some of the best trained guys in the county who are very dedicated to serving, several of them work for paid fire department s .

  • @dirkbeekhuis7286
    @dirkbeekhuis7286 Рік тому +3

    Im a volunteer firefighter in the Netherlands, my departement uses a app called brandweer rooster in combination with a pager. It gives us the alarm in our phone and in the pager

    • @britneygrant9773
      @britneygrant9773 Рік тому +2

      Hello, does volunteer firefighters get paid as if you were a regular firefighter ?

    • @Trainingforatri
      @Trainingforatri Рік тому +1

      @@britneygrant9773 there are “on-call” departments that will pay you for a certain amount of hours per the calls you attend. There are also volunteer departments that are strictly volunteer or give you minimal tax breaks. All depends on the department, if you are interested contact your local fire department and ask what type of department they are whether it’s full time, on-call/per diem, or volunteer.

    • @LauRoot892
      @LauRoot892 Рік тому

      Dirk 🤨

    • @oscarosullivan4513
      @oscarosullivan4513 Рік тому +1

      Britney Grant such Brigades are called Retained Brigades here

  • @Jimmythefish577
    @Jimmythefish577 Рік тому +1

    We’ve been using Active-911 for two years now, great resource. We can see who’s responding, where they are and we can even allocate them to particular tasks on the fire ground.

  • @04Junior
    @04Junior Рік тому +1

    Man this whole video relates directly to my combination department. Volunteers are crucial to impact on a scene and it seems like most of our weekly trainings consist of complaints of not enough attendance. This is incredible that they have such reliable resources

  • @brucecuratola6389
    @brucecuratola6389 Рік тому +1

    I seen some inadequately staff fully paid ( not combination) departments that have to fight fires like this with 4 men for a very long time! Thank god for well staffed volunteer fire departments!

  • @SongMom8
    @SongMom8 Рік тому

    Finally, firefighters that are actually running around like they are doing something!

  • @kevadams1964
    @kevadams1964 Рік тому +2

    I normally teach bldg construction to our rookies and I am constantly repeating to them how bad these new composite materials react to heat.
    For those who may not understand, lightweight building materials are usually incorporate glues which do not hold together under fire conditions. For firefighters they are a nightmare. For those who may become trapped in their homes during a fire they can be deadly and they have been. If you place this video at 2 am with occupants asleep upstairs there is a high probability of fatalities. Either fire crews cannot reach you due to high heat and collapse issues and/or the fire department personnel will deem the occupants as nonviable.

  • @TheEmmaleighMorticia666
    @TheEmmaleighMorticia666 Рік тому +4

    I am a firefighter in Hamilton township New Jersey. Our department has worked along side with Franklin township. They are great. A lot of us in this township are volunteer we always show up to calls no matter what.

  • @Dr_Duck69
    @Dr_Duck69 Рік тому +1

    This is how our volunteer fire department works in our whole county

  • @Blazefork
    @Blazefork Рік тому +2

    We have a MABAS based mutual aid system, people don't mind coming and don't mind being turned around if not needed, especially in the heat we've had this summer, it's nice to have an abundance of manpower and equipment

  • @Firemann93112
    @Firemann93112 Рік тому +2

    Thanks from a german volunteer firefighter 🇩🇪👨‍🚒👩‍🚒🚒

  • @ananku2
    @ananku2 Рік тому +1

    Thank you for being a positive and professional representative of the fire service. We need more content creators like you!

  • @levijames8871
    @levijames8871 Рік тому +1

    It’s refreshing to see a video and comments that recognize and appreciate a job well done. Typically no matter how you approach a scene there is a trend of criticizing everything. This can be a good thing if it is constructive but unfortunately most of the time it is not. On the flip side it is also nice to see good timely, effective firefighting by personnel who train hard. Well done.

  • @ThatsMrAwesomesauce
    @ThatsMrAwesomesauce Рік тому +1

    I was so excited to finally pass EVOC so i could at least take the bus to the scene. Re-tones late at night are my nightmare fuel.

  • @tombakabones274
    @tombakabones274 Рік тому +1

    Growing up in Rombout fire rescue in Fishkill New York (1980s&1990s) I was listening to the scanner one night when my dad who was an engine driver and my mom the fire police officer responded to a call my dad made four calls for manpower to show up at the fire scene it got to the point where he almost put my mom on a hose line I don't know how many guys actually showed up after the fourth call I do know a couple of them were stuck in traffic because nobody would pull over for volunteer blue lights (no sirens) because personal vehicles are not considered emergency vehicles & police EMS and fire emergency vehicles all run Red only) but I do know it wasn't much and it was probably about 30 maybe 45 minutes before the 1st guy actually got there after the first call out

  • @nebraskaninkansas347
    @nebraskaninkansas347 Рік тому +5

    Attendance can be difficult. A volunteer department near where I lived had that problem. Its a city of around 5000. But a major fire they had at a commercial building only had 2 firefighters and the chief initially. Mutual aid helped but they had a minimal response and the chief did voice his frustration in that.

    • @Jimmythefish577
      @Jimmythefish577 Рік тому

      Wow, we have a town of 375 and I can count on at least 8 guys showing up to a call, from a call list of 14.

    • @nebraskaninkansas347
      @nebraskaninkansas347 Рік тому +1

      @@Jimmythefish577 i think after that fire the chief cleaned house or did something. My town is only 3000 and has about 20 to 25 volunteers at any time. Usually they get about 80% response. They do have an attendance policy for training and calls. If you miss so many you will be dismissed. I know you also have to inform the chief if you'll be out of town as well.

    • @LauRoot892
      @LauRoot892 Рік тому

      @@Jimmythefish577 🙄

    • @LauRoot892
      @LauRoot892 Рік тому

      @@nebraskaninkansas347 Neb 😬

  • @MichaelCook1981
    @MichaelCook1981 Рік тому

    In my county volunteers work alongside the career firefighters. I wasn’t able to make it through fire 2 due to an old shoulder injury from the military. I’m working on getting on as a volunteer firefighter/ EMT and maybe later going through fire 2 again to get on full time.

  • @davidstephens9203
    @davidstephens9203 Рік тому

    I’m from a small town with a volunteer FD. Most of the time we had a pretty good response. Partially because of the dedication of our volunteers…. But mostly because everyone in a small town wants to see what’s going on so they all drop what they are doing and show up.

  • @braxtonw1993
    @braxtonw1993 Рік тому +1

    It's impressive what equipment volunteer departments have back east. Don't see that anywhere around where I live. On another note, your first in engine could have positioned (if your department didn't have a stick to put up in the air) in front of the house and use the deck gun to get a knock on the main body of fire, wouldn't have been near as effective but it would help. Great videos as always!

  • @101stairborne6
    @101stairborne6 Рік тому

    Firefighters are who I look up to, they’re real heroes! Nothing but respect for them.

  • @jcm028
    @jcm028 Рік тому +1

    Volunteer firefighter here.... daytime availability is simply rough... our first due truck might have 3 guys on it. Thank goodness for mutual aid but those departments are equally struggling with daytime availability.

  • @proteinshake7608
    @proteinshake7608 Рік тому

    Just turned 19 and have 2 offers from fire departments in Georgia. One of those offers is from the 2nd biggest city in Georgia. I am thankful to have found your page!

  • @dottiedavis355
    @dottiedavis355 Рік тому +1

    I really like your stuff, glad you enabled SuperThanks to let us chip in. Thanks!

  • @k.krause1457
    @k.krause1457 Рік тому +2

    Keep the good work brother and thank you for videos that you've made for us, I've learned a lot.

  • @stefankeller7176
    @stefankeller7176 Рік тому +1

    I’m a volunteer firefighter, and sometimes the response is terrible, we recently had a call of a wildfire nearby the highway, problem was, there was no driver, no one that could drive the truck towards the fire, what was good was they called a next department and sounded the pager again. But they say every single year is getting more difficult because people work in the city and some don’t even carry pagers with them, we use also a phone app and sirens (like those from WW2, not exactly the same ones but you get the picture), also a problem is finding interested people.

  • @TempestShadow
    @TempestShadow Рік тому

    Awesome video! I absolutely agree with you and your videos are very informative and interesting. Keep up the good work!

  • @kitclayton5144
    @kitclayton5144 Рік тому +1

    That is a good looking ladder truck!!

  • @jacqulinebrixton6381
    @jacqulinebrixton6381 Рік тому

    I would like to say a very big thankyou, I have learnt alot from you, I'm in the UK, early one morning watching tiktok was a large fire, there was lots of questions, bearing in mind I have no fire background but I could answer their questions. Like why hadn't they gone in to the building to put the fire out, turns out the roof had collapsed. Thank you

  • @ericgilbert2967
    @ericgilbert2967 Рік тому

    We have that up in Vermont act of 911. The only bad part is there's so many areas that you don't get service on your phone so we still carry pages

  • @Skippy2539
    @Skippy2539 Рік тому +2

    Here in Australia in the Rural Fire Service in NSW we have a similar app to active 911 and it is brilliant. It has made getting crews out so much easier and especially for getting strike teams from across the district.

    • @interestedobserver587
      @interestedobserver587 Рік тому

      And how cat proof is it when you lose the cellular mobile service?

    • @Skippy2539
      @Skippy2539 Рік тому

      @@interestedobserver587 It's like anything, pagers, sms paging. You just don't get notified. It is something you can't just stop, it happens and nothing can be done until technology progress to where cell reception coverage is 100% but I don't see that happening

    • @interestedobserver587
      @interestedobserver587 Рік тому

      @@Skippy2539 Emergency services pagers used to be their own network. Later it was contracted out but priority allocation. If the tool is an app based upon internet access then it would most likely be vulnerable to the cellular network being swamped in significant events. That was a lesson from Oklahoma Bombing through to Black Saturday in Victoria Australia.

  • @nathanmcbride4893
    @nathanmcbride4893 Рік тому +3

    We use Active 911, and it is great EXCEPT there's a significant delay from when the tones go to when the SMS comes in. Often around 2 minutes. That's probably out of their control, but it's an important consideration. We just use it as backup to the pagers because of this.

    • @sleepyjay2664
      @sleepyjay2664 Рік тому

      Something is wrong in your setup/system. We use Active 911, and there's no more than 5 seconds of delay for us.

    • @Logan-hu9fu
      @Logan-hu9fu Рік тому

      @@sleepyjay2664 yea. If we are getting toned out with multiple stations and our tones aren't first, my phone will go off before my pager.

  • @alexkitner5356
    @alexkitner5356 Рік тому

    IDK, that 2nd alarm on arrival job is the kind where you see guys for the first time in 3 years struggling to get their gear on. Its the guys that roll out for the CO alarm at 3 a.m. of for that frequent flyer alarm activation the one time its activated cause the place is ripping. They're the ones that make it work. Not necessarily in this department but in general. And if you have different types of boxes. Some may be a simple 1 and 1 but some have 8-12 apparatus on scene by the second bell. Even rolling light, thats a crowd.

  • @eastonkeeton5370
    @eastonkeeton5370 Рік тому +1

    Could you do a video going over the pros and cons of the different brands of air packs (Scott, MSA, etc) I'm only a Jr. Firefighter but I've heard people argue about it and I'd like to hear your take on the subject

  • @shanereichsr2382
    @shanereichsr2382 Рік тому +1

    I havent been active in several years due to family and health issues but now i got it under control so last week i reapplied again

  • @janniklasbertram9436
    @janniklasbertram9436 Рік тому

    We use a system in Germany called FF-AGENT, it sounded like active 911 has nearly the same features. I’m interested now in the differences if the systems and mostly the differences caused by the different underlying concepts in America and Europe

  • @michael7324
    @michael7324 Рік тому +1

    We get guys out of the woodwork for structure fires. No busy shows at 3am for a CO alarm.

  • @EICL2011
    @EICL2011 Рік тому

    Also thank you for this, your channel is the best on youtube! Heck in the web thank you!!!

  • @justinfinn6850
    @justinfinn6850 Рік тому

    Whenever there is a dispatch with notes like “fire showing, smoke showing, PD on scene with heavy smoke” then you get the guys that never show up for training, never do community service events, never run the 3am alarm system at the same place 3 times a week showing up on scene in their personal vehicles with their gear and grabbing the line off the truck before the guys on the truck have a chance to get off and having the nozzle. Then they get rewarded for how good of a job they did and the cycle continues putting a bad taste in all the other guy’s mouths that show up to everything and try to respond to the station and play by rules... then they realize years have gone by and they never got the chance to have the nozzle or do a search or cut a roof and they feel like they have wasted their time and they walk away from the volunteer fire service. It’s sad.

  • @rbspider
    @rbspider Рік тому

    That house is toast. All they can do now is save it from complete destruction. Maybe the owners will be able to save a few items.

  • @joshua24p
    @joshua24p Рік тому

    This channel is so awesome. Thank you

  • @a.c.6426
    @a.c.6426 Рік тому +1

    I love the RC clips.. lol.. great vid bud.

  • @rogueconcepts7404
    @rogueconcepts7404 Рік тому

    Have more firefighters on scene at a single house fire than we have in our entire damn country. That’s awesome.

  • @brandonmiller4384
    @brandonmiller4384 Рік тому

    My volunteer department uses I am responding as well as pagers. I am responding is a pretty neat app

  • @Pigeon__Man
    @Pigeon__Man Рік тому

    In my last town the words "working fire" brought guys out of the woodwork that you hadn't seen in years.

  • @tylerthomastt
    @tylerthomastt Рік тому

    Watching your videos have reignited my childhood dream of firefighting, and I ended up joining a volunteer department, and seeing this side of stuff is interesting. Also, traffic control is the worst lmao

  • @sparky5942
    @sparky5942 5 місяців тому

    Awesome Job

  • @jdaz5462
    @jdaz5462 Рік тому +1

    I still don't understand why fire suppression isn't standard in new home construction. It only adds between $5-8k, depending on the home size.

  • @jdr6128
    @jdr6128 Рік тому

    I know it's only rock and roll, but I like it!!!! 🤘🏽

  • @averynelson632
    @averynelson632 Рік тому

    Love the vids! Keep it up!

  • @itmeng
    @itmeng Рік тому

    It helps to have a town/municipality that understands that their budget will be orders of magnitude higher if the FD will be paid versus volunteer.

  • @stevecooper2873
    @stevecooper2873 Рік тому

    That 'pad mounted transformer' is, IF I am looking right, likely a cable/fiberoptic terminal box.

  • @boonehelm7271
    @boonehelm7271 Рік тому

    To see GingerBilly’s clip here just topped off an already great video!

  • @lucasflint2069
    @lucasflint2069 Рік тому

    This was the town over from me, my department responded as well before I became a member.

  • @piercedfreak27
    @piercedfreak27 Рік тому +1

    some of the volunteer fire fighters in my small town drive me nuts, they join to be cools and get flashing lights on there trucks. They drive faster than the ambulances and the police. i repeatedly see them driving by my house going 80mph+ in a 25mph zone. I've seen them doing 100 mph on a 55mph.

  • @TomB205
    @TomB205 Рік тому +2

    I don't know, whenever we have a structure fire, people who haven't been to meetings or trainings in months show up. What's more impressive is when you get good turn out for BS calls.

    • @davidmcallister1327
      @davidmcallister1327 Рік тому

      I agree!! See how many guys show up at 0300 for a fire alarm activation!!

    • @LauRoot892
      @LauRoot892 Рік тому

      @@davidmcallister1327 Maybe 🤔

  • @dxclastride6393
    @dxclastride6393 Рік тому

    I'm a volunteer firefighter and its hard work I have been to calls were we have 1st 2nd and even 10th alarms and it's bad

  • @samwebb585
    @samwebb585 Рік тому +2

    Just because you're not paid to do something, doesn't mean you can't be a professional

  • @a.k.m.shafiqulislam8083
    @a.k.m.shafiqulislam8083 Рік тому

    THANK YOU FROM BANGLADESH

  • @rjhornsby
    @rjhornsby Рік тому

    rofl @ your b-roll of FD Chronicles heading to the scene

  • @Diddley-js6lf
    @Diddley-js6lf Рік тому

    Very very true

  • @engine2truck6
    @engine2truck6 Рік тому +1

    Nice!