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I heard the term ghost station today, regarding a volunteer department with no staffing on duty at the station. It caused me to ponder this term. Is a station really a ghost station with no on duty volunteer staffing or is a station a ghost station when it is built and equipped in an area with no volunteers or on duty staffing?
To me if it is a volunteer station with no on duty staffing, yet there are volunteers that respond, in adequate numbers for a call, then it is not a ghost station. It is simply a volunteer station, like so many across the nation that counts on local responders to come from work, or home, or anywhere else.
If it is a volunteer station and there are times when absolutely no one, or perhaps one or 2 people, can be counted on to respond then I would say that is a ghost station. The fire department is misrepresenting to the community and their governing board that there is 24/7 fire protection. Sadly too many communities are blissfully ignorant of the true state of their fire departments.
Finally, I know of fire departments that build stations to meet ISO travel requirements to get a better rating, but have no staffing on duty, or any volunteers to staff the station or respond from that station. To me that clearly is a ghost station. Built to create the illusion of fire protection for insurance rating purposes but in reality offering little or nothing in the way of real fire protection.
We do ourselves, as the fire service, as well as our communities and citizens we protect, no favor by misrepresenting the true capabilities of the local fire department.
To me if it is a volunteer station with no on duty staffing, yet there are volunteers that respond, in adequate numbers for a call, then it is not a ghost station. It is simply a volunteer station, like so many across the nation that counts on local responders to come from work, or home, or anywhere else.
If it is a volunteer station and there are times when absolutely no one, or perhaps one or 2 people, can be counted on to respond then I would say that is a ghost station. The fire department is misrepresenting to the community and their governing board that there is 24/7 fire protection. Sadly too many communities are blissfully ignorant of the true state of their fire departments.
Finally, I know of fire departments that build stations to meet ISO travel requirements to get a better rating, but have no staffing on duty, or any volunteers to staff the station or respond from that station. To me that clearly is a ghost station. Built to create the illusion of fire protection for insurance rating purposes but in reality offering little or nothing in the way of real fire protection.
We do ourselves, as the fire service, as well as our communities and citizens we protect, no favor by misrepresenting the true capabilities of the local fire department.
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