Just a simple discussion

I am on two fire departments one on paid on call and one strictly volunteer. They are very close to each other and none of the insight for this topic came from my two departments.

My topic is paid on call vs strictly volunteer.

Other P.O.C. departments in my area think they are so much better than the small town department that is right down the road and will not call the volunteer even for a roll over car fire that is almost ten miles closer to the volunteer department. The main reason behind all of this from what i have found is that the P.O.C. thinks they are better just because they have a better tax base and can afford the news and greatest equipment.

So any opinions comments or same problem in your area. Or maybe you had this problem and solve it if so how?? :confused:

How does the pure volunteer department training compare to the neighboring paid on call departments?

If the call goes to the volunteer company...the P.O.C. members don't get the pay. Is that figuring in at all?

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Originally Posted by FF-Andy

How does the pure volunteer department training compare to the neighboring paid on call departments?

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the poc department trains two nights a month and the volunteer trains one night but for about 4 hours 2 hour class 2 hands on

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Originally Posted by Bones42

If the call goes to the volunteer company...the P.O.C. members don't get the pay. Is that figuring in at all?

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if we call them to our district they are still getting payed by there department (mutual aid)

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Originally Posted by ff548

the poc department trains two nights a month and the volunteer trains one night but for about 4 hours 2 hour class 2 hands on

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poc im on trains 4 nights a months on a diff night every week so more members can make it to training at least once a month and one saturday water rescue drill for both departments witch last about 8 hours
so its prety much the same all the around

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Originally Posted by ff548

if we call them to our district they are still getting payed by there department (mutual aid)

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Now I'm confused. Is it that the vols are not calling the POC department or the POC department not calling the vols?

Your first post made it sound like the POC is not calling the vols....but now you are talking about the vols calling the POC.

That's what I like about our county - the whole county signs on to the same mutual aid agreement and responses are, for the most part, set up long before the incident.

That's not to say that there aren't issues from time to time, but it surely simplifies things.

That said, what you're presenting happens in the purely volunteer world as well.

Time for the leadership to get together and talk things out, and perhaps for some joint training (never a bad idea). Once you learn each other's strengths and weaknesses, perhaps you'll see some changes.

I'd think that whole "ten miles closer" thing deserves some attention, too. Unfortunately, I suspect it has to do with political subdivisions, which means that it would require some sort of contract or other boundary modification to bring you into that area outside of a mutual aid call.

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Originally Posted by Bones42

Now I'm confused. Is it that the vols are not calling the POC department or the POC department not calling the vols?

Your first post made it sound like the POC is not calling the vols....but now you are talking about the vols calling the POC.

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the poc will not call the vols but the vol will call the poc sorry about the confusion

tree thanks for the input and yes the whole ten mile thing is all about boundary lines with the townships
we have also tryed all that you talked about and it worked for some time until the poc changed officers
things where im at used to as it should be a brotherhood and i would rlly like to find a way for everyone to get back to that since of mind.

this probably dont make much since and im sorry for thati will try and find another way to explain it a little better

Is there a prejudice toward the volunteer department from a previous call?

Does the volunteer department operate professionally?

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Originally Posted by FF-Andy

Is there a prejudice toward the volunteer department from a previous call?

Does the volunteer department operate professionally?

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no nothing from a previous call

and yes we operate professionally.

they just do not like vol departments for some reason and i am just trying to find a way to solve this issue for the future of both of our departments.

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Originally Posted by FF-Andy

Is there a prejudice toward the volunteer department from a previous call?

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This might be a problem from back before any of the current members were even members, of either department.

Even though something might have happened years and years ago, and nobody is quite sure what it was, they still hate on it.

A career FD near me will only call in neighboring volunteers (and we're talking distances of under 5 miles) as a last resort. They also have the issue of career members being members of those selfsame volunteer departments, meaning that said volunteers can't roll into the city because they'd then be volunteering in the jurisdiction that pays them.

I'm pretty sure that's going to remain the status quo, due to legal issues. As I said, though, sitting down with the POC department leadership and sorting out the issues, as well as training together, may help smooth things out.

thanks agin tree you are very helpful and i appreciate it

Ill put my 2 cents in. Iam in a similar situation such as yourself. Only our problem goes much further. Where I work our city borders 2 others cities that are across a major river. When we get a big fire instead of calling in 2 very large all Vol departments we call the other paid departments from across the river. When I was first hired I took a lot of crap for being a "volly" but the way I look at it is the Vol departments have much better equipment and a lot more heart. I fought fires for free, where as a paid guy I hear people complaining about false alarms and the like. Somewhere theres a line people cross when they become paid and they forget why they do it, or at least around here.I do everything I do to help people bar none. However, the politics ruin that for me from time to time