Declining number of Ohio volunteer firefighters sparks concern for community safety
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- čas přidán 10. 05. 2024
- According to the Ohio Fire Marshal's office, the majority of fire departments in Ohio are staffed by volunteers, and the average age of these volunteers is 54 years old. But as calls for help keep going up, the number of volunteer firefighters is going down, leaving several communities at risk.
Story link: abc6onyourside.com/investigat...
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I need a job as a Fireman
When I was a volunteer, we had 400 plus trained volunteers, well the Fire Chief decided he didn’t need volunteers and did away with them. A year later he went to the city and said he needed to hire more Firefighters, the city said NO, you had 400 trained personnel and got rid of them, deal with it, that was 1984, as of 2024, the staffing of the department has remained the same ! There was paid personnel of a 102 in 1984 and today 2024 is the same, 102 ! The city has refused to hire more staff.
The era of volunteer firefighters is coming to an end. This can easily be fixed by hiring professionals.
"Easily" until you realize the price you're going to pay for an increase in taxes from a levy to pay for paid crews. Volunteer departments don't have the funds to pay for part time let alone full time in a lot of the state.
What's your easy fix to get the money for professionals?
@@emmakai2243 good point, I guess we don't need them
YES the TAX burden on those small Departments sorry to say this the biggest EXPENSE is Paying for a crew of Professional FF. I'm not saying Professional FF is not the answer. It's the Funding these small departments get. Do we buy a newer piece of equipment. We cannot because we have to pay the Professional a living wage. The Cadets I work with do REHAB for the professional FF. We would like to see a Light Duty FF drive the Rehab with a Cadet or 2 😊
I just shack my head when I had a Cadet the air chuck and tell them to see the air pressure ( common sense) on are mini go cart fire engine. And I get a ( blank stare)
And asked what do I do with this thing I have never used before. It's mind blowing just trying to get these Fire Cadets after showing them how to reload on the hose bed
And it's just standing there doing nothing
Some of the officer rank Cadets are great junior Drill Sargent. I talk to them and say have the Cadets wash the Rig. They would be great Marine D.I.s so I stand behind them. Some really want to be FF. Some are sorry to say, they are like 2 year olds or special needs children.
Not as easy of a fix as you think it is.
The days of volunteer firefighters and EMS are fading away.
I'm from NY state and paid firefighters and EMS are in our future. I have seen for years prior a need for paid EMS workers, due to work demands. Our county has around 50 fire stations now and once we go paid about half of the stations will be no more.
Here in Franklin County, Vermont most of the previously Volunteer departments transitioned into Municipal Paid-On-Call departments. They still function the same as a Volunteer department, but we are employees of the town, and are paid for our time on calls, at trainings, meetings, etc. At my department the current rate is Minimum Wage for Cadets and Probationary FFs, a little over $15/hr for EMTs & Interior Certified FFs (Minimum of Fire 1 Cert), A-EMTs &Line Officers [Capt. & Lt's] (min of Fire 1, & Fire 2 with 5+yrs of service) makes a bit over $17/hr, and Chiefs make $20/hr
There are a LOT of East Coast NY, NJ, PA, etc. FD's that should've been full time paid YEARS ago, because the run volume was such that firefighters should be PAID when they're taking thousands of runs a year. VFD;s are for when you don't have the call volume, or tax base to run a full time FD.
Watch what you wish for : taxpayers and politicians seem more willing to pay to hire more PD than they do FD . They seem disinclined to hire people to sit around and wait for fire calls . One way around this is to have career / paid firefighters cross- trained as EMT's and Paramedics and save $$ on a contract with a private EMS provider . Also don't get rid of any existing volunteer firefighters you do
have . Free them from fundraising and nuisance calls and save them for back-up on working fires and brush season . Also depending on your labor climate allow them to cover open shifts alongside your career staff . This can be done with foresight and planning .
Private EMS is usually bottom of the barrel... Low pay, high turn over...
It’s simple we can barely afford to live these days so there’s no way we can volunteer. Our parents boomer generation had plenty of money to spare thus they had time they could also spare. Time to hire staff that actually gets paid
Boomer generation had plenty of money???? What are you smoking???
Did I see a Federal "Q" on the front bumper of that Aid Rig. That should get the people to want to be volunteer 😊
That is just me being a 60 plus year old guy who loves the sirens. I am restoring my 1971 SeaGrave 750 gallon syle pumper. I have 3 electronic sirens on dash plus the big old "Q" on my babys front nose. I do lots of events for kids to just maybe show an interest in being a FF
I filled all the airpack compartment with portable Extinguisher 😊 OK Im a nerd. But just maybe I might get the younger generation back interested in being a volunteer. The Chiefs really needs to step up and do public education NOT just a breaf news media flash.
If all you want is to run a Q, then I don't want you as a firefighter....
@@ffjsb come on man, I understand your thinking though. I remember the volunteers that were those types. I'm just an old 60+ guy who got a SeaGrave for restoration. And I want kids to enjoy getting in their seat. Just maybe I plant the seed. I want the younger generation to understand it's about helping people not just clear the way with a beacon Ray. That's from an old federal ad.
@@rp1645 Liberalism and Covid has ruined that.
It happening all across the nation
eggs are 7 bucks a dozen. ima sposta work for free? no.
Move out of the city