The increase in full time paid fire fighters is due to an inability to recruit and maintain volunteers. Additionally most full time departments require ff to be EMTs at a minimum up to paramedic. This consolidation of services occurs in an increasing number of areas. Sure there has been a general decrease in structure fires however those same building codes have created fires that grow and spread much more rapidly requiring faster and more equipped responses from departments. Fire engines respond as first responders to incidents because they are equipped with EMTs and medics and can function on scene in an effort to stabilize patients before an ambulance arrives. Cardiac arrests, strokes, traumas and other critical incidents require more than just the two people on the ambulance.
Please try getting peripheral IV access, an advanced airway, interpreting cardiac rhythms, administering appropriate drugs, and performing quality CPR without tiring and losing rhythm and depth all while an angry, sad and desperate family attempts to interfere with the process with two people.
Fire stations spread stability through a community. They guarantee a response whereas ambulances are not always available right away. Fire departments are an insurance policy for communities, they may not always be needed but when they are they need the staffing, equipment and training to get the job done.
Interviewing one chief from a small town fire department that hardly has much of a run volume whose actions fit your very narrow predetermined and poorly researched narrative is not good journalism. Your chart is silly as it can be interpreted many different ways. I could go on all day. In the end it really seems like your beef is with naming them "fire fighters" when they are really firefighter, paramedics, extrication specialists, hazmat technicians, rescue divers, swift water rescuers, usar personnel, high and low angle rescue technicians, confined space rescuers, and public educators.
Your articles regarding the inefficiencies in service delivery within the fire service fail to point out different deployment methodologies in the fire service that can create savings over the old ways. The move towards a real fire-based EMS system or the consolidation of fire/EMS delivery modes to a county-based system will save money and provide an efficient, effective, and resilient all-hazards response organization. Before retiring a the assistant fire chief, I did a lot research on the effects of dropping volunteerism in rural America on the delivery of fire and EMS services. Would love to talk more: fyrfyterx@gmail.com
The increase in full time paid fire fighters is due to an inability to recruit and maintain volunteers. Additionally most full time departments require ff to be EMTs at a minimum up to paramedic. This consolidation of services occurs in an increasing number of areas. Sure there has been a general decrease in structure fires however those same building codes have created fires that grow and spread much more rapidly requiring faster and more equipped responses from departments. Fire engines respond as first responders to incidents because they are equipped with EMTs and medics and can function on scene in an effort to stabilize patients before an ambulance arrives. Cardiac arrests, strokes, traumas and other critical incidents require more than just the two people on the ambulance.
Please try getting peripheral IV access, an advanced airway, interpreting cardiac rhythms, administering appropriate drugs, and performing quality CPR without tiring and losing rhythm and depth all while an angry, sad and desperate family attempts to interfere with the process with two people.
Fire stations spread stability through a community. They guarantee a response whereas ambulances are not always available right away. Fire departments are an insurance policy for communities, they may not always be needed but when they are they need the staffing, equipment and training to get the job done.
Interviewing one chief from a small town fire department that hardly has much of a run volume whose actions fit your very narrow predetermined and poorly researched narrative is not good journalism. Your chart is silly as it can be interpreted many different ways. I could go on all day. In the end it really seems like your beef is with naming them "fire fighters" when they are really firefighter, paramedics, extrication specialists, hazmat technicians, rescue divers, swift water rescuers, usar personnel, high and low angle rescue technicians, confined space rescuers, and public educators.
Do better.
Your articles regarding the inefficiencies in service delivery within the fire service fail to point out different deployment methodologies in the fire service that can create savings over the old ways. The move towards a real fire-based EMS system or the consolidation of fire/EMS delivery modes to a county-based system will save money and provide an efficient, effective, and resilient all-hazards response organization. Before retiring a the assistant fire chief, I did a lot research on the effects of dropping volunteerism in rural America on the delivery of fire and EMS services. Would love to talk more: fyrfyterx@gmail.com