Firefighter/EMT

[NFfireman23]

OK! Im going to re-open a can of worms! I am currently a volly FF (for 6 yrs) I want to volunteer for our local rescue squad and I am in school to be an EMT. The catch... My dept chief says no.... He says I can volunteer for the FD and the rescue squad. He said he will "fire" me from the fire dept! Anyone have ideas or arguments I could use to change his mind?

Mark

[HOTDOG]

NFFireman23,

My department has the same policy as far as belonging to another volunteer agency (Rescue Squad). There is a simple reason for this. I don't want to anger you in any way, I commend you for wanting to better your training, I am an EMT myself. I will explain our position and OPINION on why we have this policy:

As with many other volunteer departments, we have somewhat of a problem with staffing, especially during the day. This, coupled with low membership levels (although better than most in our area) puts a strain on our ability, at times, to have sufficient manpower for responses. If our volunteers belong to a squad, then there is a very good possibility that members would be running EMS and leaving the FD understaffed. The same is also true in a reversed role....Who are you going to run with on an incident, Fire, MVA....no matter which agency you run with you are letting the other one down.

Our fire department runs no EMS. EMS and fire are separate in our county.

That is the way we look at it. It is not meant to be a blow to EMS...We just want to do the best we can to provide the best possible service.

Good luck!!

------------------
Begin with the end in mind.

Be safe out there!!

[McpFF]

Hotdog,
While I understand what you are saying, his Chief is an ***. This member can better serve the community by being trained as an EMT while belonging to the EMS unit. How often does a EMS call occur the same time a fire call does in a vol. system. Hell let the person cary their gear on the EMS unit and then they can perform any function needed on a scene.

[HOTDOG]

McpFF

I think you are missing the point.....

If he can better serve the community as an EMT on a Rescue Squad the Kudos to him, go for it. No need to put bunker gear on the sh*tbox because it will not be needed. The only way it will work is if you join a Fire/Rescue department. Don't get off the wagon.

I know this sounds like I am bashing EMS but that is not the case. I am an EMT because work requires me to be and because it helps when my Fire department is first on scene and someone is in bad shape. But my department can count on me being there if the alarm goes out, they don't have to worry about me running some bs EMS call to some sorry *** junkie's house.

They also don't have to worry about me spending my time studying EMS and letting my FF skills rust up. That won't happen because 100% of my effort will be dedicated to my brothers on the Fire Department!

My dad always taught me to put 100% in everything I do. You will never convince me you can do that while belonging to both agencies.

Hope no one is offended....This is just my $.02 !

------------------
Begin with the end in mind.

Be safe out there!!

[Fire Line]

1st reponders and the fire dept in my area are seperate volunteer orgs. I belong to both as does 3 other members of the fire dept. We have yet to be on a fire call when a medical emergency call came in or vise versa. Our protocal is if I'm at a medical call and we get toned to a fire, we ask for another responder to come and replace us as long as we aren't the primary responder on that call. Fire calls we stay if there isn't enough members on scene. If there are we ask to be allowed to respond to the medical.
Sit down with your chief and look at your call volume. If your chief is a reasonable person he will see things your way. If not then you'll have to have to make a choice.

[d308]

Good luck to you NFFireman23. The way we solved problems like this is that we run the transport ambulance along with fire and rescue from the same guys and department. all together we average abot 20 ambulance calls 2 rescue calls and about 25 to 30 fires per year so this arangment works great.

Anyway Good luck and BE SAFE.
D308

[Colin S]

Around here all the EMS units run shifts. So it is predetermined when you will be volunteering your time. Therefore for the most part the fire departments knows when those of us that do both are not going to be going on calls.

[hazmat112]

Just my opinion, but shouldn't a barf wagon go on all structure fires??
I understand that you want to do all you can to better yourself, but a man can only serve one god.
On the other hand, the only wasted training is training that you don't have.
Good luck.

[Dalmatian90]

Is the guy on a power-trip? What was his logic?

Prohibitions on multiple-fire departments I can see within reason, especially if the two regulary respond to the same incidents.

But a rescue squad? Such responses tend to be complimentary, and what at worse case you lose 3 firefighters to a rig? Is loosing a firefighter or two for an hour for a run less of an evil than ****ing them off and losing them for everything?

BTW, we've run 2 ambulances since 1990, and our policy is Firefighters are automatically released from their scheduled ambulance time when there is a Fire Call. EMS-only members will cover the rig during those infrequent times. If you're on a run, oh well, your stuck till you get back

[cmjones]

The dept I am on is an All Fire Agency. No EMS calls. We have a rescue squad serving the same community we do and its base is right next door to the Fire Department. We have six or seven of our Firefighters that are also members of the Rescue Squad. It has never been an issue. Both of the departments work well together.