Stamford hurricane drill left out volunteer firefighters

[FF402 133]

STAMFORD, Conn. — Volunteer fire chiefs said they didn't get the call when a Category 1 hurricane walloped Stamford earlier this week.

Public safety and health officials from across the state participated in an emergency preparedness drill designed to test municipalities' ability to respond to hurricanes Monday morning. About 20 officials attended Stamford's exercise at the Government Center, but the city's volunteer fire chiefs said they weren't given seats at the table.

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Stamford-hurricane-drill-left-out-volunteer-5576808.php

[TimesUp 148]

Didn't they hire the volunteers?

[FirNaTine 370]

Hey I know Career Chiefs that have credentials from all over the Country and are still incompetent, They're lucky they can handle a mattress job!

[mfc2257 464]

And why should they be invited. What training or experience do these volly chiefs have anyway? Essentials or ff one? I really doubt they got ff two and officer 2 and advanced nims training. Are they trained certified and qualified at same level as the career chiefs? If yes let them join in otherwise there is no point is there?

There are plenty of volly chiefs who are certified beyond the credentials that you specify. There are plenty who aren't. There are also plenty of career chiefs that litter suburbia with the minimum certifications required to attain the position, who have been placed there through political influence and have no business commanding a girl scout troop selling cookies let alone let alone a fire-rescue response. Your post seems to be more pointed towards a vollie vs. career discussion rather than actually having data to support whether or not volunteer chiefs in a particular municipality have the appropriate certifications to attend a training event that could potentially improve the outcome of an emergency that may occur in their first due response area.

[RES24CUE 168]

They probably only invited reliable resources. You know, the kind that can be trusted upon to show up when there's an emergency. Not just send a few pimply faced kids and a plumber with no recognized training on a half empty rig if they even decide to show up at all...

[PHIL78 129]

They probably only invited reliable resources. You know, the kind that can be trusted upon to show up when there's an emergency. Not just send a few pimply faced kids and a plumber with no recognized training on a half empty rig if they even decide to show up at all...

Exactly.Why train people you aren't sure are even gunna show up.

Edited June 26, 2014 by PHIL78

[FirNaTine 370]

Or maybe they can't trust the Volunteer Depts. to show up with a fully staffed crew because most of them are working that Day for their Career Dept. or "B" jobbing? That's if they decide to even go in and work their tour or answer their phone for OT, if an impending storm is coming. Wouldn't want to go in and bust your ass now would we for our fellow Brother FFs. It's nothing but "Blood Money!" "F" that!

Edited June 26, 2014 by FirNaTine

[FirNaTine 370]

. There are also plenty of career chiefs that litter suburbia with the minimum certifications required to attain the position, who have been placed there through political influence and have no business commanding a girl scout troop selling cookies let alone let alone a fire-rescue response.

Got that right Brother! Too many of them are Political Puppets and got their position because of nepotism, writing a nice big campaign donation or just plain kissing ass their whole career!

[CTFF 65]

When the charter changed ( 2012) a new position was created, something along the lines of "assistant chief of volunteer fire services". This salaried position will be filled when the volunteers submit 3 names for the chief to choose from, 3 names were submitted and there were issues with two of them. The Chief is still waiting on names...

I'm sure this position would have been there for the volunteers but they can't even fill that job.

[Dinosaur 844]

Exercises like this aren't usually tactically oriented anyway. They're policy and strategic so a fire chief would have little to contribute beyond what they will do with anticipated calls and how they will support mutual aid requests or requirements. The municipality has to wrestle with bigger issues over a longer period of time and the Stamford Fire Chief was probably to address those issues. I sat in my share of these and was usually bored out of my mind.

Despite our usual home rule shenanigans, this isn't about fiefdoms.

[AFS1970 504]

Even before this event and the recent charter change, the EOC had one seat for the 5 volunteer fire department's and one seat for the city fire department. The EOC under several directors has never taken the other districts seriously and it has lead to some interesting storm responses. Now to be fair, when asked to send someone into the EOC, the VFD's didn't always take it seriously either, it is rare that I see an actual chief officer there with the rest.

The fact remains that this being the first major drill under the new spirit of cooperation, it is questionable why some departments were left out.

[FirNaTine 370]

Maybe, but at least you know that they will respond

And sometimes everyone is better off if they don't even show up for some of them don't contribute to the Incident and may even make matters worse.

[CTFF 65]

Even before this event and the recent charter change, the EOC had one seat for the 5 volunteer fire department's and one seat for the city fire department. The EOC under several directors has never taken the other districts seriously and it has lead to some interesting storm responses. Now to be fair, when asked to send someone into the EOC, the VFD's didn't always take it seriously either, it is rare that I see an actual chief officer there with the rest.

The fact remains that this being the first major drill under the new spirit of cooperation, it is questionable why some departments were left out.

The charter change created one fire department in Stamford, maybe it's time the vol's come up with three names without checkered backgrounds.

[mfc2257 464]

Maybe they was at the mamaro parade

I honestly don't play the Career vs Vollie argument but you'd have a lot more credibility if you'd stick to the facts. Take a lesson from Chief Flynn from Yonkers and just stick to the facts....

[bigrig77 95]

Chiefs couldn't make it, all at there actual jobs

[Officer Ed 59]

I was not aware of the animosity between some regular FFs and volunteer FFs until I began to read these forums. Perhaps things are different "back east", but out here in the wild west, volunteer firefighters are required to have the exact same training and certifications that the full-timers do.

We don't have volunteer firefighters in the metropolitan areas, but only in rural parts of the state. Without them, those areas would be completely without fire protection and first-responder medical care. I consider volunteers who give up so much of their time - and even put their lives on the line for the public - to be true heroes.

We also have reserve police officers who attend the same police academies and get the same continuing training as regular officers. They do the same job...they just don't get paid and they don't do it full time.

Now, having said the above, what I see as the only real difference between the volunteers and the full-timers like me (at least here in the west), is that we full-timers do this 10 hours a day, every day....and the volunteers do it maybe a couple of times a month. When you're doing a job every day, you're BOUND to be better at it than someone who only does it occasionally. But I think we should support the idea of the volunteers getting as much training as possible because when the fecal matter hits the air-movement device, we're both in the business of serving and protecting the public.

[FireMedic049 597]

I was not aware of the animosity between some regular FFs and volunteer FFs until I began to read these forums. Perhaps things are different "back east", but out here in the wild west, volunteer firefighters are required to have the exact same training and certifications that the full-timers do.

We don't have volunteer firefighters in the metropolitan areas, but only in rural parts of the state. Without them, those areas would be completely without fire protection and first-responder medical care. I consider volunteers who give up so much of their time - and even put their lives on the line for the public - to be true heroes.

We also have reserve police officers who attend the same police academies and get the same continuing training as regular officers. They do the same job...they just don't get paid and they don't do it full time.

Now, having said the above, what I see as the only real difference between the volunteers and the full-timers like me (at least here in the west), is that we full-timers do this 10 hours a day, every day....and the volunteers do it maybe a couple of times a month. When you're doing a job every day, you're BOUND to be better at it than someone who only does it occasionally. But I think we should support the idea of the volunteers getting as much training as possible because when the fecal matter hits the air-movement device, we're both in the business of serving and protecting the public.

That's great, but unfortunately there are a lot of places where this is simply not the case.

In my state (PA), the only training requirement to be a firefighter is a basic hazmat certification. There is absolutely no state required firefighting training. Efforts to adopt something are strongly opposed by the volunteers of the state. Now, some departments have some pretty stringent requirements, but many others, not so much and it usually shows in their operations.

In my experience, the career side is completely in favor of the volunteers getting as much training/certification as possible (ourselves too for that matter), but unfortunately there's a significant portion of the volunteer fire service who don't feel the same way.

[RES24CUE 168]

They probably only invited reliable resources. You know, the kind that can be trusted upon to show up when there's an emergency. Not just send a few pimply faced kids and a plumber with no recognized training on a half empty rig if they even decide to show up at all...

I was not aware of the animosity between some regular FFs and volunteer FFs until I began to read these forums. Perhaps things are different "back east", but out here in the wild west, volunteer firefighters are required to have the exact same training and certifications that the full-timers do.

We don't have volunteer firefighters in the metropolitan areas, but only in rural parts of the state. Without them, those areas would be completely without fire protection and first-responder medical care. I consider volunteers who give up so much of their time - and even put their lives on the line for the public - to be true heroes.

We also have reserve police officers who attend the same police academies and get the same continuing training as regular officers. They do the same job...they just don't get paid and they don't do it full time.

Now, having said the above, what I see as the only real difference between the volunteers and the full-timers like me (at least here in the west), is that we full-timers do this 10 hours a day, every day....and the volunteers do it maybe a couple of times a month. When you're doing a job every day, you're BOUND to be better at it than someone who only does it occasionally. But I think we should support the idea of the volunteers getting as much training as possible because when the fecal matter hits the air-movement device, we're both in the business of serving and protecting the public.

Actually, I had a 10 year career in the volunteer fire service as a Firefighter, Lieutenant and Captain. I have never been paid firefighter. After 10 years I quit volunteering my time because, based on my experince, the volunteer fire service is hopelessly broken in many areas around NYC. If you don't believe me, take a look at the "Vista FD 10-75 Helmet Cam" forum here on EMTBravo. The volunteer fire service has eroded into a mess of inadequate responses, poor leadership, a serious lack of manpower, a dangerous lack of training, and zero professionalism. This, in combination with the huge amount of newspaper scandals and the toothless politics (that often times sided against improving firematics in favor of laziness and keeping what little manpower the department had left), made me quit wasting (volunteering) my time. I joined with the desire to help people and to better my organization. However, I quickly learned that the juice simply wasn't worth the squeeze.

[SageVigiles 1,194]

The volunteer fire service has eroded into a mess of inadequate responses, poor leadership, a serious lack of manpower, a dangerous lack of training, and zero professionalism. This, in combination with the huge amount of newspaper scandals and the toothless politics (that often times sided against improving firematics in favor of laziness and keeping what little manpower the department had left), made me quit wasting (volunteering) my time. I joined with the desire to help people and to better my organization. However, I quickly learned that the juice simply wasn't worth the squeeze.

Unfortunately I felt the same way in CT. Fortunately I've relocated to Virginia and I'm joining a company in Prince George's County, MD that, in opinion so far, doesn't seem to play those games. Not every house down here is as dedicated, but you can definitely see that there are some companies that strive to ensure their members have the best training and equipment to get the mission done, and expect professionalism from those members as a result. Its a shame that those types of places are so hard to find though...

[gamewell45 258]

Maybe, but at least you know that they will respond

So can the garbage man; what good are they if they can't handle a mattress job?