Going Rural

[hairman]

In a bit of a predicament here. I am currenly involved in a very busy urban dept with paid pump and appratus operators. My wife and I are moving in a couple of weeks and I am going to a rural dept. Some say that the rural is going to be absoluteley dead compared to where I am now, and others say it will be more busy because in rural the members are responsible for maintaining equipment and trucks. Any input on this issue.

[TWEJFD]

What's the predicament? You'll be as busy as they need you to be. You'll get the number of calls you get, and you'll spend the number of hours working around the station that you work. What's your question?

And remember, "busy" is all relative. There are departments that will make your current "busy" department look quiet, and there are departments that will make your new "dead" department look busy. It's all in how you look at it.:)

[MalahatTwo7]

As TWEJFD said, its all in perspective. My station is considered "rural", and we run an average of 50 - 70 calls per year. However, we are kept busy during with station and vehicle maintenance training and other functions as they come up.

In simple words, we are quietly busy. Attitude is everything. Look happy, feel happy, be happy, and work hard.

[ChiefDog]

What do you call busy? 50, 100, 200, 2000 calls a year? What type of calls are you including? Fire, EMS, both, HazMat/DeCon?

By urban do you mean hydranted area? Do you mean rural = no hydrants?

If you do then you have a lot of things to learn about or refresh your understanding about. Rural water supply can be a huge problem.

Even if you have more experience in some areas you may be "busy" bringing the new guys you meet up to speed. You will be busy learning the new area you are in. You will be busy learning people, personalities and capabilities of everyone.

If it is volunteer or Paid-on-Call you will most likely have fundraising events.http://

I just wanted to ask these to get your mind working on what situation you will have and how you will deal with it...

[blueeighty88]

I live in a rural-wilderness area of Pennsylvania. Some of the departments around us have less than 10 calls per year. People from cities look at rural areas like nothing to compare to them. But contrary to urban belief; the majority of rural calls aren't brush fires; rural America has had a population boom. Where there used to be vast forests, there are pre-fab housing developments. It used to be common to only have 50-70 combined fire & ambulance calls a year. Now we run from 750-800 combine fire & ambulance calls every year. Houses are getting bigger, indurtries are changing, populations are growing. With the threat of terrorism in urban areas; folks who lived in cities; and suburban areas are moving into the mountains. Last week, a "utah shelter" was delivered for the backyard of a new pre-fab. I looked this object up on the net, it's a fallout & storm shelter; the urban sprawl has crossed the mountains. Plus more apparatus to care for, trucks are getting bigger. Used to have just three pumpers; and one ambulance; rescue tool fit in one compartment. Now we have an aerial ladder; five pumpers; two ambulances; and so much rescue equipment it barely fits on the truck built just to carry that specific range of tools. The common place volunteer fire department was once a high social point in the rural community; the fire house was called the club house in many places. Now it takes an every day effort to run an efficient department; it's not uncommon to see officer works; and drivers paid. Most of us have at least one call everyday; this month our department has had as many as 13 calls in a single day.

Anyhoo... being a rural firefighter isn't the same as being an urban firefighter. While many towns do have hydrants; or "dry hydrants" that's a luxary. You don't just fight fire, you fight your equipment; your water; and many times angry land owners. Until you have to build a dam in a creek w/ tarps, rocks, anything you can find; or get your truck stuck in a creek for water. It's a walk in the park. Many a time we had to drive to the center of dry creeks to get to a water hole; or get stuck in the mud to get to a pond for a barn fire. Stay on scene for 30-40 hours to tear apart thousands of hay bails. And barn fires, that's a whole other ball game. Propane heating, ammonia tanks, feltilizers, silos, steam explosions, 16,000lb barn beams; running cattle & horses; falling equipment. People sucked into corn choppers, still alive-that's a trick! Extricating a live person from farm machinery. And the saw mill accidents, those are brutal. A person fallen into a 80' silo, having to be rescued from the top. Waiting for crews that aren't coming, wishing for mutual aid that isn't there. Having carnivals, and BBQ's to pay for the expensive fuel; the damn expensive turnout gear we need. Having to knock on doors and beg to buy new trucks. Fundraising isn't an issue in most areas, the public likes to see what the fire company is doing, see who we are, see how much we care; but it isn't easy to balance your normal life, your family, with fundraising and a high call volume, but somehow we manage to do it; and things work out fine-year after year. I can't say that being rural is worse than being urban; but I'd be willing to bet a bashing from an urban guy that it is. all I can say is that the volunteer department is a dying breed; I see paid crews coming into most areas in the next 10-20 years. I hope they don't, I enjoy being a volunteer. being paid in lemonade, coffee, smilies and thank you's is what it's all about. Enjoy the traditions while they last, b/c they are worth a million bucks to us and the people we serve!

[42VTExplorer]

Busy vs. dead is like comparing you drepartmentto Burlington or South Burlington right TWEJFD?

Hehe, just playing TWEJFD! :D

Though I have to say, you guys had a pretty good farm fire recently didn't you? Burning brush and it expanded into the tire pit and the hay or something like that?

[MalahatTwo7]

Originally posted by blueeighty88

I enjoy being a volunteer. being paid in lemonade, coffee, smilies and thank you's is what it's all about. Enjoy the traditions while they last, b/c they are worth a million bucks to us and the people we serve!

That is the very best that I have seen any one put what its like to be a volly! :D Thanks blueeighy88.

[ullrichk]

I don't think the work in a rural area is any less rewarding than it would be in an urban environment. Depending on how rural your situation is you could discover that:

The first alarm assignment is all the help you're going to get.

If you need HAZMAT, you're it.

If you need heavy rescue, you're it.

If you have a MCI, you're it.

If you need truck work done, an engine company might have to do it.

If you need the engine serviced, you're going to do it yourself.

Mutual aid is 15 minutes away on a good day.



None of these things are necessarily bad, just different. It does give you the opportunity to train in and experience a wide variety of scenarios that large departments devote specific teams to. Of course you might not have the resources to do the job as easily, so you improvise.

I hope it works for you!

[hwoods]

After reading all the posts on this, I guess I'm pretty lucky. I live on a farm, so that tells you something. I am a chief Officer in a Department that runs 7,000+ calls annually and that tells you something else. Quite frankly, I'd go nuts in a station that only ran 50 - 75 calls a year, I'm currently running around a thousand a year personally. But, you'll adapt. Stay Safe....

[DrParasite]

and we all know that Chief Woods has a chief's car with a full LED light bar and responds to 6900 of those alarms ;)

but in all seriousness, I know what you mean. i went from a suburban town where a volunteer fire departent ran 700 calls a year and a volunteer BLS squad was dispatched to 4000-5000 calls a year, to a college squad that ran 1000 calls, of which maybe 650 of them were actual emergencies, and later to a combination fire department that ran about 1500 calls (fire + EMS). and yeah, it drove me nuts doing a station shift and not getting a single call. I spoke to a co-worker of mine, and she said her department did 500 fire+ems calls. i told her i would go nuts on her dept.

I can remember one night where I was working in dispatch, and the supervisor was pissed off that we got 5 calls during the overnight shift. all I could do was smile and say to myself "and welcome to the real world."

you guage what you feel comfortable with what you start out with. if you are used to a dept that runs 5000 calls a year, you will go crazy trying to adapt the same mentality when your new dept only gets 500. or even worse, if they only get 150, but those 150 might all be major calls, which do require the heavy rescue for extrication, or the chopper, or a full structural response for the barn fire, or something other than the typical active fire alarm or person feeling sick call.

good luck with your new dept.