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I am starting to write a research paper and I have narrowed the subject down to a few topics. I need some links or books or anything to give me some more info about both sides of each subject. The paper is suppose to be one side against another. These are the topics I have narrowed down to.
Paid vs. Volunteer
Rural vs. Urban
or
Fire Dept. running ambulance vs. a seperate company running it.
Any help you can give me would be very much appreciated, thanks.
Are there any other big controversies in FF or EMS that I can find a lot of info. on?
one interesting topic to debate about in the fire service would be tradition vs. technology( for examples leather helmets vs. the high tech plastic ones). you could probably find some other examples of this too. just an idea.....good luck.
Rural FFs vs City FFs
Pros to Rural FFs:
-usually there Volunteer so it's a little cheaper to the taxpayers
-Most everyone(if it's like my community) knows you and the fire department so it's easier to get the public involved in the F.D. and fire aweness
-I also feel the FFs of Rural community is usually more will to donate time/money I know your saying well duh their volunteer but I talk to some non-FF friends and they live in city and they can't believe I firefight for free(well other than a occassionally free meal,a free pop usually after a fire run or meeting and a shirt about once a year)(that's my benefits hehehe)
Cons
-Responce Time
-We don't have the money for equiptment/gear like the city firefighters.
-We only have 4 or 5 dry hydrants so we have use Ponds and Rivers as water sources a lot
moving onto Pros of City FF
-Easy hook up for Water source
-Responce Time
Cons
-Traffic
-It's harder to get people(I feel personally) involved in Fire Protection and Fire Awareness.
- There's usually more structure/officers(meaning you don't have like in our department for fires Chief and Asst Chief) you have Captains,Lts, and Ballition Chief and Fire Investigators and other offices usually with rural fire depts we don't have the manpower nor the time to appoint all these officers.
Another Topic I thought of is Wildfire vs Structure Fire
I've dealt with both(more of Structure fire though). Personally I like Structure fire better. their both phyically and mentally demanding cause if your not in shape and thinking on your toes that fire will get you one way of another.(like example for structure fires Flashover,Backdraft or weak floors. If your Wildfire fighting you watch for for "spot fires" and "fast running fires" plus you gotta know alot about metorology(the weather)(one whole section of the course I took was about the weather cause Winds and other things can make that fire act odd) There's a controvery over which firefighters (Structure or Wildfire) are tougher. It's pretty even I think cause most of the Wildfires are summer time and then they train in off season if they's no fires. but they're sleeping arrangements can be horrible you can sleep for 2 weeks at a camp what used to be a gravel parking lot and usually they don't give you a foam mat its just your sleeping bag:eek: and those guys work 110-115 hours a week(that's a normal week for them)
now moving onto Structure fire
Were called out to all kinds of stuff everything from Lockouts to Hazmat. sure we might only be there for 4-5 hours on a good house or barn fires but if you take that times the amount of calls you get that's pretty close (usually to what a wildfire fighter) puts in on the front line. Plus sometimes (most firefighters have had to do this) Forceable Entry on like cement or a Thick door( I know use that hydro. ram but my department doesn't have those things you put on handles and it bends the whole "tumbler") if you ever have to go through a cement(it's really bad if it's rebarred)or brick wall you think you'll be there for 8 days. Once for training we had to do this and we used a "k-12 saw" and it felt like it took 3 days and a month. cause you'd have to cut with the K-12 saw(like for 15-20 mins) then hit it a little with a battleing ram a couple times to see if you did much damage. then start over.:p
Thanks alot for your input. I decided to go with the old worn out paid vs volunteer only because I can find more resources about it. Just have to make things a little easier on myself. If you know of any links, books,or magazine articles about it would help me out a lot.
top come awn help a brutha out:eek: :D
Good luck getting any information on your selected topic. This has been beaten to death on these forums and I think/hope that most people on here will agree to disagree, and not get into it anymore.
If you are looking to get information I suggest looking elsewhere.
I'm not really looking for the people of the forums opinion. I just need to know where I can find some books, or websites, or anything with some info about it. ThanksQuote:
Originally posted by Lewiston2Capt
Good luck getting any information on your selected topic. This has been beaten to death on these forums and I think/hope that most people on here will agree to disagree, and not get into it anymore.
If you are looking to get information I suggest looking elsewhere.