volunteer to paid

[Guest Close postal79]

im looking for any FF union officials or any one who has knowledge on this topic, being what would be the requirements for a very busy volunteer dept to become part paid or full, i know a 100% volly town that is about 15 sq. miles serves heavy industrial, large commercial and dense residential, and i give them all the credit in the world for doing it, but isnt there a point where its too much to ask from volunteers only, these guys run 2000 or more strictly fire calls per year
any insight appreciated

[Guest Close hot DAMN]

do you realize the can of worms you just opened up? let the flaming begin.....

[Guest Close spo0k]

Personally I don't see any reason to flame this post.

I think the only requirement would be money. Put a levy or bond issue or whatever your area does to get money on the next ballot and ask the voters. If you want to go straight to full-time you'll obviously need money, and the best way to get that is through public education. Have your firefighters go out and talk to as many people as they possibly can and make sure they have their best faces on

As for becoming a union department, that I can't speak for. I know to be a 'recognized' union, that being a union that gets support from the national level and have negotiation power, you have to have over 5000 people in your township or city (I could be wrong about that)

Good luck to you, although taking 2000 runs it shouldn't be too hard to justify the need.



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FF. Mike Burnes
Whitehall Fire Division

[Guest Close J Almon]

I guess it depends on the situation, but I suppose you are looking to hire some of the volunteers who make most of the calls and supplement the force with other hires with no previous relationship with the department. If the vollies can't make the calls, then why pay them? Sounds like a serious check of dead wood might be a cheaper thing to try rather than just going paid.
In other words, fix the problem; don't make new ones.
I know everyone is busy, but I'll be the ones slacking on calls aren't as busy as some of the ones making most of the calls. Just spending money won't necessarily make the problem go away.

[Guest Close PBFTRK33]

I believe you also have to have at least 3 paid personnel to charter a local in IAFF.

[Guest Close KeithA8]

postal:
Is this dept. having trouble getting the job done with vollunteers? Do they have a decent response time? It all depends on there performance. If their getting the job done - then city hall will never foot the bill of a paid dept. If you have documentation to back up your need and a significant support from the tax payers then you can start lobying at city meetings. But realize the expence you are getting into. A fully paid dept. on average will increase the fire budget 4 times at least. It depends on the staffing you're asking for. As far as going union you first have to have a paid dept. What is your position here? Are you a chief? If not you need to contact him and run this idea by him. He has the only connection to city hall to ask for this. Keep us posted.

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IAFF member, Love this job! Hate SCABS!