.jpg)
Here are a few facts
The state is REQUIRING that a lot of fire fighting equipment be retired after a certain period. The protective clothing worn by fire fighters is around $2000/set and by state mandate must be replaced every 10 years.
Your fire insurance rates are set by your insurance company but are based on the rating of the fire protection for your area. A good rating takes time, the firemen, who are VOLUNTEERS have to spend their time and their vacation to get the training that keeps your house safe and your insurance costs somewhat affordable.
Currently we are primarily funded by donations, About a third of the donation letters sent out are responded to. This means that if you donate, you are carrying 2 of your neighbors. Is this fair?
Keep in mind when you are demanding a certain level of service and sacrifice, that nearly all of the fire fighters in the county are VOLUNTEERS who receive no compensation when they haul themselves out of bed at 2am to put our your chicken coop. We are glad to help but we need a little support here. I don't want to get by with marginal equipment because Norman here is afraid someone is going to get extra.
I don't want to send a father of 4 into a fire with an engine that might have a pump go out while he's in there. I don't want to have to tell anyone's wife and kids that something terrible has happened, because if we don't do this right people can die, plain and simple.
Fires have changed, the wood, wool and cotton are now plastic, hot burning, low ignition point plastic. The firefighters have changed, they don't have as much time off to train as they used to, they are working harder to get by.
With the extra demands the state has put on with training, and the less available volunteer hours available the firefighters don't have the time to raise their own money for the privilege of protecting your home.
Firefighter bingo is a thing of the past, no one has time. It is a
struggle to train, to maintain the equipment, and to keep the
administrative records required by the state.
We do our part, we want to help protect our neighbors, all we are asking is the the community do their part.
Amen! Support our local fire stations and the brave individuals who staff them!!!! I've seen them in action and they deserve all the help they can get!!
ReplyDeleteI agree that they need our support. The thing I don't agree with is how they want to divide moneys allocated to the firefighters of this county. If all the departments need the same equipment, the same training, the same trucks with the same pumps to work, then why would they divide the money so unevenly?!? All the departments in the county have mutual aid agreements with everyone else. So they all help each other. None of them should be penalized because one or two departments think they should get all the support and the rest of them should just fold up and go away. If one firefighter deserves the best equipment so they can go home to their families after saving other peoples lives and homesteads, then they ALL deserve the same thing!!! Divide monies evenly and stop this crap of money for the popular and forget the rest!!
ReplyDeleteI don't understand what you are talking about, to the best of my knowledge the most likely division will be that a department gets the money collected from the units in its primary service area. There have been discussions about tying it to the number of calls but that hasn't gotten any traction.
Delete