Ex-Police Chief Has Some Ideas For What To Do With FF's

[x635 4,066]

From an email I received, and also posted on another forum:

Fellow Firefighters,  

There is a speaker in California who may try to peddle his mis-truths across the nation. His name is Bruce Philpott(Google search will get you his bio). It seems that Mr Philpott, an ex-police chief from the west coast has been making the circut speaking to city administrators and anyone else who will listen about the overpaid/underworked firefighters across the country. Below I have included some of his "Models" for the fire service.  

Findings include four new models for fire service that:  

Eliminate the traditional 24-hour shift where leisure and sleep account for 66%, and on weekends, up to 90%, of their on-duty time.  

Convert half of the engine companies to two-person patrol rigs that carry 300 gallons of water and can manage well over 90% of the medical and fire/rescue calls in their geographic areas of responsibility. While on patrol, they also provide a variety of value added services such as graffiti and road hazard removal, field inspections, smoke detector installations, check on elderly, etc.  

Increase response to major disasters such as earthquakes by adding 40% more public safety personnel resources to the community in the form of an effective fire auxiliary or reserve force.  

Adopt a military model of service, hiring young men and women in the community to serve a four-year contract that pays them a $50,000 bonus at the end of their service.  

All of this while maintaining or reducing response times.  

A link to the bio:  

http://www.caltax.org/member/digest...tAndSave.01.htm  

I have read the 22 page document and it stinks worse than the MSN "Slate" document from late last year.  

Just a "heads up" from California.  

Hootman

[Guest]

The first line of the post says it all. "Ex-Police Chief Has Some Ideas For What To Do With Firefighters."

Once again we see jealousy rears it's ugly head.

[Remember585 815]

The only thing I noticed that's missing is a Nationwide "check and advise" policy of all the Police Departments. I wonder how good of an administrator this guy was as a Police Chief. Someone with such far-fetched ideas must of been interesting to work under.

"And today, we will no longer issue traffic tickets, but in turn we will make the violating operators cook dinner for all of us, or if they are mean, wash and wax the entire fleet of patrol cars...."

In the immortal words of Homer J. Simpson..."D'oh." ](*,)

[BFD1054 1,552]

I give you guys a lot of credit, you read a lot more than i did lol! Not to offend anyone, but this is yet another example of why cops should stick to the cop stuff and firefighters to the fire stuff! Law enforcement & firefighting are 2 totally different beasts, and this guy has no standing to go around blabbing his ideas for what firefighters should be doing! Again, this is not to offend anyone, because i know there alot of members in this network that happen to be both police officers & firefighters. But this guy was a Police Chief, maybe he should be thinking of things for the police to do! I mean come on, graffiti & road hazzard removal, checking on the elderly, thats a bit ridiculous! Lets see, graffiti & road hazzard removal should be done by a highway dept, not the police or fire depts & there are state-run programs that will send nurses to check on the elderly! Two-man engine companies? I wonder what the NFPA would have to say about that?

We've had this conversation before and as we all know, there is a lot of down time working as a firefighter, but when they work, they work! When the alarm goes off, these guys litterally but their lives on the line and they do it day in and day out! This guy thinks firefighters are over-paid? He should talk to guys from FDNY or Mt. Vernon or some of the other local depts. This guy was a police Chief out west, i'm sure he made around $150,000 a year or better, and firefighters are over-paid #-o . As i have stated before, it is the police officers, firefighters & teachers that should be paid more, but yet its always the yuppie, pencil pushers that make out the best. Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm and make crazy money to sit in a controlled environment...must be nice! This guy obviously has no clue about firefighting & is way out of context with his ideas!

[jnb1335 0]

One other quote from the above mentioned piece:

"The research also debunks some commonly held beliefs associated with fire-fighting, such as high fatality rates in the workplace"

Although some outside the fire service may believe this (mistakenly), the reality is that the statistics used to back up such statements are flawed, in the sense that firefighting is classified as "just another occupation", which obviously is not true.

Take a look at the link for more on this.

http://www.laurelvfd.org/firefighting_paper.htm

[mfc2257 464]

Maybe this guy would like to look at the old LA County and City of Syracuse way of doing things. They tried these plans and they failed. Both departments ran a Mini Pumper with their engine companies that handled 90% of the calls. Both departments have converted back to traditional engine and truck companies.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Why is he such a bad person for thinking outside the box and voicing an opinion he has. I can't say I necessarily agree with all his ideas/opinions, but at least he's thinking and has the balls to put it out there.

[DOC22 1]

Yup, als you're right. Personally, I think the guy's out in left field, but if that's his opinion, he has every right to express it, dammit!

[Truck4 48]

You have to remember, there are many Public Safety Departments in California that have full time cops that respond to fire calls and are the firefighters. His ideas may seem far fetched here, but it sounds like concepts stemming from the use of those "PSDs."

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Lot of "D's" out there....

ADD

ADHD

VD

PTSD..

lol, just needed a laugh this morning.