RSM2063

Fire Departments and there response times do not "hurt the community we protect". More often than not, our communities are served be either paid emergency services or volunteer services or some combination of the two. Most communities outside of the larger cities utilize volunteer services because the call volume, and type of response required by the emergency has not waranted the incremental spending that would be required by a paid organization. Financially, a volunteer organization operates at a fraction of the cost of a paid organization and the majority of calls that most volunteer organizations respond to, do not include a life hazard or significant property dammage threat. Therefore if a politician were to employ a risk/benefit assesment to the situation, they would not find much documentation that an a quicker response time would have altered the outcome of the situation. There are, however, some exceptions and should a situation arise that response time significantly altered the outcome of the situation, the community and the politicians would have to re-evaluate the existing services. The key question to ask is would a homeowner in a bedroom community be willing to have their fire tax increase from a few hundred dollars a year to a few thousand dollars a year? Right or wrong, I don't see it happening. We all serve at the pleaseure of our communities.
Just my two cents!!

Fire Departments and there response times do not "hurt the community we protect". More often than not, our communities are served be either paid emergency services or volunteer services or some combination of the two. Most communities outside of the larger cities utilize volunteer services because the call volume, and type of response required by the emergency has not waranted the incremental spending that would be required by a paid organization. Financially, a volunteer organization operates at a fraction of the cost of a paid organization and the majority of calls that most volunteer organizations respond to, do not include a life hazard or significant property dammage threat. Therefore if a politician were to employ a risk/benefit assesment to the situation, they would not find much documentation that an a quicker response time would have altered the outcome of the situation. There are, however, some exceptions and should a situation arise that response time significantly altered the outcome of the situation, the community and the politicians would have to re-evaluate the existing services. The key question to ask is would a homeowner in a bedroom community be willing to have their fire tax increase from a few hundred dollars a year to a few thousand dollars a year? Right or wrong, I don't see it happening. We all serve at the pleaseure of our communities.
Just my two cents!!

Fire Departments and there response times do not "hurt the community we protect". More often than not, our communities are served be either paid emergency services or volunteer services or some combination of the two. Most communities outside of the larger cities utilize volunteer services because the call volume, and type of response required by the emergency has not waranted the incremental spending that would be required by a paid organization. Financially, a volunteer organization operates at a fraction of the cost of a paid organization and the majority of calls that most volunteer organizations respond to, do not include a life hazard or significant property dammage threat. Therefore if a politician were to employ a risk/benefit assesment to the situation, they would not find much documentation that an a quicker response time would have altered the outcome of the situation. There are, however, some exceptions and should a situation arise that response time significantly altered the outcome of the situation, the community and the politicians would have to re-evaluate the existing services. The key question to ask is would a homeowner in a bedroom community be willing to have their fire tax increase from a few hundred dollars a year to a few thousand dollars a year? Right or wrong, I don't see it happening. We all serve at the pleaseure of our communities.
Just my two cents!!

Fire Departments and there response times do not "hurt the community we protect". More often than not, our communities are served be either paid emergency services or volunteer services or some combination of the two. Most communities outside of the larger cities utilize volunteer services because the call volume, and type of response required by the emergency has not waranted the incremental spending that would be required by a paid organization. Financially, a volunteer organization operates at a fraction of the cost of a paid organization and the majority of calls that most volunteer organizations respond to, do not include a life hazard or significant property dammage threat. Therefore if a politician were to employ a risk/benefit assesment to the situation, they would not find much documentation that an a quicker response time would have altered the outcome of the situation. There are, however, some exceptions and should a situation arise that response time significantly altered the outcome of the situation, the community and the politicians would have to re-evaluate the existing services. The key question to ask is would a homeowner in a bedroom community be willing to have their fire tax increase from a few hundred dollars a year to a few thousand dollars a year? Right or wrong, I don't see it happening. We all serve at the pleaseure of our communities.
Just my two cents!!