can anyone hear the crickets?

[blaze79]

Wow. I wasn't in here for a week and I was expecting lots of interesting new posts. Guess not.

Are there any other volunteer departments out there that get paid? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of "VOLUNTEER" FDs? Not that I'm complaining....

[jaybird210]

Well, there's a grenade to get things rolling....

[FlyingKiwi]

Ah am confuzzed?

When I VOLUNTEERED to join the military in the PERMANENT force, I did a job they said was important. We had other VOLUNTEERS who did the job part time, we called them "Cut Lunch Commandos", and while they were VOLUNTEERS too, they were attached with their units to the PERMANENT force.

Now I VOLUNTEERED to be a FF in a VOLUNTEER brigade, we are managed, trained, and run by the PERMANENT force.

The PERMANENT force guys all VOLUNTEERED to be FF's in the first place, it is just that they do the work PERMANENTLY as their job.

If you wish to start making distinctions, please start calling yourself a RECREATIONAL FIREFIGHTER.

And never come near an incident that us normal Firefighters are attending.

[Weruj1]

KERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRR BOOOOM

[Steamer]

I think the grenade just went "boom", Jay!

[StayBack500FT]

Originally posted by blaze79
I wasn't in here for a week and I was expecting lots of interesting new posts.

HHhhhmmmm....a correlation???

[FireSarge]

ouchie dont smack blaze that hard...i love her normal post


but then again she stirred up the hornets nest and now the fun begins

[blaze79]

Hey Kiwi...if I saw you on a fire scene, I'd probably run for cover. You seem to know what you're talking about, so I'd leave all the "important" tasks up to you.

You don't think that I can fight a fire? Bite my ***. If God ever puts the two of us together on a fire scene, you better stay the hell out of my way.

My department is competent and well trained. We don't need somebody to stand watch over us. Give me a break.

[blaze79]

I didn't know that I would be paid when I joined my department. I did it because I wanted to help my community. Being paid is just a perk. I'm not selfish. So there you go...I joined up for the same reason you did. Just because I'm a female doesn't mean I'm stupid.

[RyanEMVFD]

i hear crickets at night only because we have one of those sound machines for my son Connor, it helps him stay asleep which helps us sleep also.

[Lewiston2FF]

Blaze,
I am going to make this post in the hopes that I will not be banging my head against the wall.

The point behind Kiwi's post (correct me if I am wrong, please) is that we have argued the volunteer, paid thing to death and have decided that fire is fire, and everyone gets treated the same by it. All firefighters should be considered professionals and those that do not behave as such should be considered amateurs and stand behind the professionals. Now, as for the woman thing. I dont see that that was mentioned anywhere in Kiwi's post so please dont make it an issue. If you chose to do so please understand you do it on your own.

Kiwi, bro, I got the point, now lets see if Blaze does.

[StayBack500FT]

Blaze - My friend Kiwi and I dabble in the Sarcastic Arts from time to time...Lewiston2Capt has pretty much summed it up accurately.

[Lewiston2FF]

I am thinking that, based on some of blazes other posts, she hasnt been around long enough to become appreciative of the art of sarcasm which is served up regularly in the fire service. I am hoping that with time and experience blaze too will begin to dabble in the art of sarcasm.

[RyanEMVFD]

The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from one generation to the next, says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.
However, in modern business, because of the heavy investment factors to be taken into consideration, often other strategies have to be tried with dead horses, including, but not limited to, the following:

1. Buying a stronger whip.
2. Changing riders.
3. Threatening the horse with termination.
4. Appointing a committee to study the horse.
5. Arranging to visit other sites to see how they ride dead horses.
6. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.
7. Appointing an intervention team to reanimate the dead horse.
8. Creating a training session to increase the rider's load share.
9. Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired.
10. Change the form so that it reads: "This horse is not dead."
11. Hire outside contractors to ride the dead horse.
12. Harness several dead horses together for increased speed.
13. Donate the dead horse to a recognized charity, thereby deducting its full original cost.
14. Providing additional funding to increase the horse's performance.
15. Do a time management study to see if the lighter riders would improve productivity.
16. Purchase an after-market product to make dead horses run faster.
17. Declare that a dead horse has lower overhead and therefore performs better.
18. Form a quality focus group to find profitable uses for dead horses.
19. Rewrite the expected performance requirements for horses.
Promote the dead horse to a supervisory position.

[CJMinick390]

That post is priceless!

[StayBack500FT]

Originally posted by blaze79
If God ever puts the two of us together on a fire scene, you better stay the hell out of my way.

Yeah...stay out of your way all right...as you run up to pat on the back "The idiot that threw the cigarette butt out the window during a drought" that started the fire...that injured three firefighters...took a neighboring barn...closed a state highway for two days, interrupting commerce..caused tourists to stay out of the area...etc.

Yeah....thank God for those idiots......

[psychospitfire]

I appreciate the fact that the situation was handled well. I think that there were some minor detonation problems, but all in all, the bomb has been diffused. Thanks guys for being so cool and not taking sides. *Kiss Kiss*

[blaze79]

All right. Obviously I can't get away with being mad because I just get stomped on.

Just so all you guys know:

1) I don't pat guys on the back for causing the fires that we have to fight.

2) I DO understand sarcasm because I've used it myself a few times (for instance, that post that Stayback is talking about)

3) I don't enjoy making enemies, so I'll apologize before I manage to turn the entire forum against me

4) I get angry very easily (my weak point)

5) I tend to put my foot in my mouth a lot

6) I tend to get hostile before people get their chance to explain what they REALLY meant

Apologies to all of the awesome people that I offended.

[psychospitfire]

In regards to Blaze's last post, I can verify points 4 and 5. At least she's honest.

[Temptaker]

I see that both spitfire and Blaze are rookies.

Hmmmm... new version of the 360?

You might want to think about what you are saying before you start spouting off things about how well trained you are, and that you don't need anyone watching over you!