Only Two Firefighters for 40,000+ People

[Jedimike007]

I'm just curious if having only two fire fighters on duty is illegal? Is there any way a city can be forced to staff more fire fighters? It's a combo dept. protecting over 40000 people.

[cozmosis]

Originally posted by Jedimike007
I'm just curious if having only two fire fighters on duty is illegal? Is there any way a city can be forced to staff more fire fighters? It's a combo dept. protecting over 40000 people.

I think you'll need to elaborate on your situation.

However, from what you've posted... I see nothing "illegal." My hometown's combination department only has one or two firefighters on duty at a time at each station.

As for forcing the city to staff more firefighters... Public education is the key. If the public drives by the fire station and see trucks inside, they think they are protected. The public often has no clue what we do or how we do it. Educate them on what resources are needed... and how many resources your department lacks.

[E74A]

Is it illegal? Nope. Is it hopelessly short-sighted? Most likely. As cozmosis said, we need more info. If you want to cause the city to hire more full-timers you need to educate not only the city council but the public in general, too. Even if you're not in an OSHA-compliant state, their standards still carry a good bit of weight in the legal arena. So if you violate their standards and something bad happens, well, it won't be pretty. 2-In, 2-Out is but one of these standards. Here comes the education phase - with 2-In, 2-Out being a standard, accepted safety recommendation in the fire service, to be compliant your two FFs cannot make entry until two of the call people show up, get geared up and find out what's going on. The elected officials need to understand that, and the citizens need to know that their elected officials understand it and choose to play Russian Roulette with the citizenry's lives and/or the lives of their Firefighters.

Public education isn't accomplished overnight, but it most definitely works.