WORKING FIRES: Volunteer Fire Departments in Crisis | Nebraska Public Media
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ต.ค. 2023
- Volunteer fire departments across America are in crisis. The news documentary Working Fires shares the stories of challenges faced by fire and emergency medical responders in Nebraska. Recruiting volunteers has never been more difficult. The frequency of emergency medical calls and the severity of wildfires has never been greater. It’s a situation that increasingly puts public health and safety at risk.
I have just turned 64. I still work full time. I also retired years ago as a paramedic. I moved last summer to a rural area. I live in between numerous fire departments so now have joined three. I am training full time, in my spare time to get my level one 1001 NFPA standard. As well as two other nights as well. I love it. And glad that I am able to do it.
Thank you more people need to stand up and take a stand. It’s been my life for 15 years. It’s my extended family.
It's not so easy for a lot of young people. We're barely scraping by as is, the toll the job takes on your physical and mental health as a volunteer just isn't worth it for a lot of young people who are already struggling enough as is to get by in life, to add volunteer firefighting on top of that just to barely make it to the end of the tunnel in one piece with your family that you can barely support is asking a lot. I think given the current state of things what we should be looking at is completely revamping the system and killing our over-reliance on volunteers. We could pull a Germany and have a draft for it in time of need, but that wouldn't be very freedom-loving of us would it?
It's not just Nebraska. Virtually every VFD in the country is chronically understaffed and unable to find volunteers. The VFD model that has existed for decades nationwide is very close to collapsing.
Hi my name is Fabian, I think it's great that you draw attention to what is important. We in Germany have similar problems, but we have in all of Germany about 98% volunteer firefighters and only 2% full-time fire departments that are only used in large cities or as plant firefighters. With us, the employers get paid for the loss of work and therefore our volunteers have few problems to find new ones. The volunteer fire departments here even have a program that call the young firefighters to address the young people in the age between 12 -18 years and also to carry out exercises with them, which of course attracts the younger early to the matter volunteer firefighters.
Many departments here have fire explorers/junior firefighter programs. The issue is kids don't want to join them, period. They have no empathy for those around them, they plain old don't care. They expect an ambulance or engine to show up when they need them and IMMEDIATELY at that, but then don't bother to actually do anything about it when they don't because of lack of staffing.
@@Stargazzer811
Our volunteer fire departments are more likely to close due to the allocation of funds needed for newer vehicles or equipment.
In addition, in order to attract young talent, there are also public events such as open days or regular exercises and events with the young firefighters in order to bring the whole thing closer to them with joy. In addition, we have a total of 3 different youth groups:
1. Youth firefighters (in the fire department)
2. Youth rescue service (in the rescue service)
3. THW Youth (in the THW (Technisches Hilfs Werk))
Since the 3 different aid organizations regularly practice together, the young people can of course also practice together, which of course makes it easier to help in an emergency.
Short explanation of the 3 organizations in Germany:
1. Volunteer Fire Department
Extinguish/recover/rescue/protect fires
2. Ambulance service
Several medical rescue organizations work together
Their job is to rescue and transport injured people.
Additional attention to disaster control, water rescue,
Mountain rescue and search dog team.
3. Technisches Hilfs Werk (THW) (EN: Technical Relief Works)
Special technical rescue in disasters and
Building collapses and special emergency staff such as
Structural engineers and search dog teams.
In addition, the fire brigade and THW are also deployed during floods to pump out cellars or rescue people from their houses.
Great Documentary. This is definitely happening across the US. My department is having the same issues. Trying to get a younger generation involved is very hard.
Same here in Germany. it´s very hard to find personell, especially the youth isn´t as much interested as 10-20 years ago. Even adults aren´t that much interested.
It's no surprise, honestly. I'm one of only potentially a few people who applied to volunteer at my county fire department, and that's only for me to dip my toes in and get on the stepping stone to a fulfilling career in it because like most young people I'm not willing to sacrifice family time and my physical and mental health answering calls in the middle of the night and going to work a full shift in the morning on 3 hours of sleep, just to barely scrape by in life at the end of it all. Young people are more worried about whether or not they're going to be able to afford a house for their family and support more than two people, and how they're gonna do it, and frankly they probably should be...
Hi I'm 16, I hoping of becoming a firefighter so
@@BootyGoblinesque I think that hits the nail on the head - it's about affordability. Petrol is so expensive now that driving to the fire station adds up. Crime is high now so cars might get broken into while they're parked at the fire station when everyone is out tending to fires, and that means insurance is expensive. A lot of young people work a second part-time job while holding a full-time job, compared to my mother's generation where mums only worked 20 hour part-time jobs, so time is a major limiting factor.
this is a nationwide issue that needs to be addressed..
Wanna address it? Convince the younger millennials, zoomers and any kid that comes after that it's worth doing. Most of them are too self-absorbed to care enough to volunteer, or even to do it for money. Paid departments are having issues too.
@@Stargazzer811 It's not self absorbed. It's a different economy than the 80s. I am a millenial and a fire captain in my volunteer fire dept. I run one of our stations as the top officer.
The problem is that wages have mostly stagnated, so younger folks working in a factory, or on a farm, or in blue collar work have to work extra hours just to make it by. Add ontop of that outrageous housing prices that have risen far faster than wages and young folks just don't have enough time.
It's tough all over volunteer,paid and career
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR TIME!! ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ My volunteer days were the BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE!! When you start paying for incentive to join in my eyes the service suffers, volunteers become lesser than those who get paid believe they 're better than volunteers. I would Volunteer in a heartbeat, again no problem. Just don't LOOK DOWN THE VOLUNTEERS. GOD BLESS THE ILD AND THE NEW VOLUNTEERS ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤🧑🚒👮❤️
Great documentation of the issue. Unfortunately a majority of people these days (ESPECIALLY young people) just can't afford to volunteer (both financially and with time) companies nowadays are paying their employees dirt, while expecting them to do more work. By the end of the work week, people have no time or energy left in them.
Great video. Pennsylvania had the first volunteer fire company in the country, yet we are even struggling to keep companies alive!
I am a retired firefighter (captain), which I now volunteer with our 6 station (planning for station 7) protecting over 120,000 population city. We currently have 140 members but used to have 170 members. We respond to roughly 3000 fire calls annually with EMS added around 10,000+ calls. We do have paid day and night crews and need to expand to 2 station paid coverage but struggle to even get a second paid crew. Requirements for our department is Basic Firefighter 1 certification (state cert). Many of our firefighters are career firefighters in our neighboring Houston Fire Department.
OMG 3,000 fire's 🔥 10,000+ medic calls. 13,000+/- calls 😮 I come to your dept. Volunteer full time
😂😂😂😂 paid firefighter being a scabs
It's not just Nebraska - the entire country's volunteer departments are struggling. My own hometown is in a busy suburb of Philadelphia, PA - they get 800+ calls per year, and their fire department (all volunteer) can barely get one truck out (with two guys on it) for even an actual fire. It's really bad. 20 years ago when I was there, all 7 trucks (fully staffed) would scream out of our 3 stations for even a minor incident - now they can barely get a single truck out the door for a major fire.
A department running 800+ calls a year should NOT be volunteer.
From a former first responder I will say to you --- talk is cheap. Financially supporting a paid department is not. Volunteer or paid the training requirement is the same and both approaches take a lot of money. @@RealJeep
@RealJeep I don't disagree with you, but you'd be surprised by how many all volunteer departments still exist that run that many calls per year. There are tons of them. Granted, 90% of those runs are false alarms, but still...
Fire departments in West Virginia are in the same way. The last few generations don't understand the concept of volunteering if I'm not getting paid I'm not doing it. It's expensive here too be a volunteer Fire fighter. The training you have to pay for.
Fantastic documentary about people in communities across Nebraska carrying on a national tradition of firefighting! I hope this raises awareness and helps get more people to volunteer!
I just 💕 Nebraska history always important
Really enjoyed this video. It hits close to home. 3 generation of volunteer firefighters in my family . My dad, brother, and nephew. I have the utmost respect and love for firemen/fireladies. The hard training, the risk, and all the courage yall have is amazing. Here in North Carolina. Our volunteer departments are lacking members badly. They are asking for people to join. Our town keeps growing. And, I fuss all the time to stop building new developments. The same with our EMS trucks are down. Cause not enough EMTs to work. I want to say THANKS TO EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU!!! I do keep all emergency personnel in my prayers. You all are my Heroes. Thanks for all your hard work and all your services. You all are amazing.
I first walked into a firehouse in Norfolk, Virginia, when I was 10 years old....now, I'm 65 and I wish I could still do it....I miss the job, the challenges and the satisfaction.
As a child, my favorite television show was Emergency!. I grew up wanting to be a firefighter or paramedic. By the time I was finishing high school,that desire had faded a bit, as it seemed like an irrational, childhood thought. Thankfully, when I went to college, there was both a volunteer ambulance and a volunteer fire department in the small college town. There was a working agreement with the college that students, staff, and faculty would be generally excused from class or work if there was an emergency. As a college freshman, I became an EMT and joined the ambulance service. I would then join the fire department. The fire department was one of the largest volunteer departments in the county. We had a very regimented fire department. We were the only department that would not allow volunteers to respond directly to a scene. Every firefighter was assigned to a particular piece of apparatus, with each engine having a captain and each piece of apparatus having a lieutenant. The county placed a cap on our ACTIVE roster of 45 firefighters. We had an inactive roster, which is where most trainees would start off until a position on the active roster opened up. It was because of my volunteer experience that I changed my college major from electronics engineering to nursing. I continued living in the college town for many years after graduating college because my personal life revolved around volunteering. I was sad to leave but I spent 13 years with the ambulance and 10 years with the fire department.
Since graduating and moving away from the college town, the college has introduced a public safety emergency management program, which trains students to become managers in the public safety environment. While I don't regret becoming a nurse, if they had that program while I was a college student, I may have taken that route instead.
After being out of the fire department for several years after moving away, I missed serving my community but I now live in a city. I then joined the county sheriff's search and rescue unit as a volunteer. I love the work, but sadly, family life is currently limiting my volunteer time.
In Germany, you see the same thing. Small fire departments in villages are being disbanded. Usually, however, there are larger ones in the vicinity, which then cover the area.
But it is also a problem with the larger fire departments. But here we have a law. If a volunteer fire department falls below a critical limit of members, the city can make a compulsory fire department and citizens between 18 and 50 to commit to the service.
I dont like that idea where your forced into something NO that is NOT an answeer
Volunteer Fire Departments across America are suffering from this same dilemma, if your not already a member, find your local station on drill night and come in. We’d love to have you!
46:25 he's absolutely right. In my state it took oil cars exploding near town and then an out of control wildfire to help get training in funding allocated to the fire departments .
My department had 9 calls this week. All 10 of us are wore out man. I’m 22 and went through fire academy and all but I’m the youngest by 15 years. We need a paid department now but can’t get the funding. Thank god for mutual aid tho.
Always nice when your fellow companies to back you up. And when they call for you, go back them up too, no matter how tired ya are brother. Thats the job, it's what we signed on for. Never gets easier, but its always rewarding.
This is the same struggle we face here in Oklahoma. It's a struggle to find volunteers, let alone the right volunteers. Even harder to get anyone willing to train to do this properly. EMS is the hardest struggle to get anyone willing to take the classes and go through testing just to volunteer. I'll volunteer till the day I can't physically be there anymore, myself and other middle aged folks are filling in for those retiring and there's a serious lack of those coming in behind us in their teens and 20's.
This report about the Nebraska Vol. Fire Departments was very well made. I was a paid on call firefighter for 32 years in a suburban Minnesota fire department that does both fire and ambulance response. As the community grew and got older calls increased from almost 800 a year in the beginning, to over 7100 a year at end. Twenty years ago we need to start hiring full-time staff for both the increase in calls, but it was getting harder to find people to be paid on call firefighters. The lack of new volunteers is something that has been talked about for the last 30 years. It is just gotten worst in the last 15 years.
Such amazing dedication. VFD make up 75% of departments in the USA. Being paid and full time for 17 years, these are true Heroes and don't get their due respect. I Regretfully, them coming from their homes or work, going POV most of the time to the station to get geared up and apparatus, over a dozen wrecks a year happen of them hustling to get on scene to protect lives and their community. God Bless them all.
What about consolidating departments? As call volumes go up their will be a demand for paid on station firefighters 24/7 and especially with the amount of training responders are required.
I got my EMT Certification in 1980 and it was 180 hours in California. My Paramedic Certification took over 2000 hours. But I transitioned from a Volunteer to a Full Time Firefighter for my career. I can’t imagine how difficult depending solely on people who want to give to their community is going to be in the future.
CHEERS TO THE VOLUNTEERS ! 🇺🇸
Regardless of where you are in the World, finding enough volunteers can be an issue...its working out why and then addressing the issues to solve it because until you do these issues will keep coming up....in Australia we get people interested from toddlers up by visiting schools, we have junior program were kids can progress through the years to being an adult fire fighter and often they go on to being a paid professional or quickly progress to a senior ranking volunteer, we have camps, competitions, visit paid stations, yearly dinner were awards are given all this keeps them interested and wanting to be involved...we are fortunate our Government recognise the value of volunteers and provide free training, equipment, uniforms but it can be a challenge sometimes too ... I was a volunteer, slept with my pager and went to the station in my PJ's loved every minute and miss the job everyday 13 years on I still practice what I was taught in life, those fire skills and knowledge has saved my life countless times I'm glad for my time...paid or volunteer you all put the wet stuff on the red stuff
the issue is world wide, here in the u.k we dont have volunteer fire services, we do have on call, which for all purposes is the same except you get some financial recompence. my county Cheshire has exactly this issue with staffing and they are having to make " volunteer" engines full time during the day as they where only available on average 16 percent of the time, resulting in engines travelling from further away- this is being proposed as we speak, its not only fire services its pretty much all volunteer emergency service and cost- british red cross got rid of their entire ambulance and event first aid section nationally as they couldnt staff or make it cost effective. ems wise all 999 calls are covered by nhs- either own ambulance or a company being paid on contract- even st john get paid. there are community first response volunteers, and honestly a bit baffled why the us dont have this, would at least give them a chance.
what a great video of a little under stood facet of rural life. Thanks for showing it
This mirrors my own department in southern Utah. Very interesting after 31 years as a volunteer.
Well produced.
We have the same Problems in Germany. Citys with more than 100.000 people need full time Firestations the most firestations (98%) are Volunteer Firestations.
The Problem is, that on our Trucks need 6-9 Persons (in US i think 2-4 FF).
We need for a House fire 16-24 Firefighters and often you need to call 3-5 Firestations to get enough Firefighters.
Not every volunteer Firefighter can wear SCBA or is aloud to drive the trucks.
Our small department in rural Southern Oregon will sometimes roll two engines with 2-3 people between them. It is literally whoever can show up rolls in whatever we can grab. We have been blessed with a few new SOLID volunteers that are making most of the calls and really helping make that more like 4-6 Firefighters on most call outs. Because we are so spread out geographically we still often roll with just one person in each truck and the rest who are further out will come "POV" or personal vehicle so we can get SOMEONE with SOMETHING on scene fast enough to hopefully make a difference. My father has been on the department for 44 years and I have been with them for about 5 years and I am just glad that through dedication and "pounding the pavement" spreading the word that we need folks we have gone from 7 to 13 volunteers while I have been there.
An excellent video. I come from a statewide volunteer rural fire service in Australia 🇦🇺. Many of our smaller towns face very similar issues.
I should add I'm 61 and have been volunteering for 40 years as a fire-fighter.
we DO have a crisis on our hands...
Very well put together documentary!
The lack of volunteers is a worldwide problem in the western world.
I love to be an firefighter 💪💯
Everyone share this.
The vollies here in east Tennessee are under-funded, under trained and understaffed. Half the time they don't even show up to calls unless they are toned out several times. Even then, when they do show up, they're not completely sober. Until governments can solve this problem, the situation will keep getting worse.
Wow! Great video! I'm a volunteer out of Maryland
love this
I have been in the fire service for 39 years both paid and volunteer and held every position from probationary firefighter to Chief of the department. I'm now the Deputy Chief. Our department is all volunteer and we cover 129 square miles and two towns. As of now we have ran 202 calls with 39 being working structure fires counting mutual aid calls. We provide an Engine company on every other department in the Counties first alarm or automatic aid. We have a well trained staff and decent equipment and we do this on a roughly $20,000 a year budget! We run 3 engines, 2 tankers, 1 rescue and 2 brush trucks out of two stations. Our biggest problem other than our budget is finding younger people who are willing to volunteer, we've had three apply in the last couple of months that were excepted onto the department and as of today one is still here. And it's pretty much the same story with all volunteer departments around us.
Nice! I want to be a volunteer firefighter or a full time firefighter👨🚒🚒🔥
This film is tells the real story. You could replace the title name with any state in the U.S. We are all in the same boat.
Dam I wish them all well and hoping they get people to show up
I think it predominantly has to do with nuisance alarms. Once upon a time, they only got called when they were actually needed. Now 90% of the time they're spending their time responding to someone's burnt food or shower steam.
People could probably get over the burden of the initial training if they also didn't have to spend 100+ hours a year dealing with nuisance alerts. Its quite hard justify leaving work for an alarm when its the 5th accidental AFA of the week. It would be better regardless of if the community is career, combo, or volunteer IMO if we could figure out a better way of addressing nuisance alarms without requiring a full fire response, whether that be alarm companies having better procedures, alarm systems being configured differently, or some type of alternative response plan that mitigates unnecessary use of resources.
Also cultural changes I think play a big impact. People aren't likely to leave their roots in the town they grow up in for all their lives, they are more likely to commute than work locally, and people just aren't doing well enough financially to spend a bunch of time essentially working for free. But I really think it mainly has to do with the call time investment required just exploding.
The biggest thing I see... is the younger people are having to work 40 hours minimum, just to meet their basic needs. Most work more (part time job in evenings/weekends). If we had the resources and savings and a lack of debt... we would have the time/ energy to volunteer, but due to the disconnect between wages and the economy which started in the 70s... those younger do not have the option to volunteer.
The large chains don't see the employees as an asset, they just see them as a need (same and the machines) to make them profit. They would not support someone just running off for a fire call, as then the business doesn't have someone there, and through cutting staff, they staff with only the minimum of people, often one.
Not only does the younger generation not want to be volunteer, they just don't want to be a part of public service. The younger generation doesn't care for helping people anymore. Sad
That couldn't be further from the truth. In my experience, younger people are more than happy to help others, more so then older generations in many cases. When it comes to public safety, previous generations have robbed younger people of affordable living and somewhat decent paying jobs. Most young people have to get more than one job to bay the bills which leaves no time for volunteering. Then for pain public safety positions, those don't pay very well at all, which brings us back to young people not being able to afford to live. 80k should be the MINIMUM pay for any and all career public safety personnel in this country, that way they can actually afford to help their community, live without worrying about rent, and not get burnt out as quickly because they wont need 2 more jobs.
Suburbs as well.
It’s hard to be a firefighter in your own area as you may , eventually have to go on a call that involves your own family or friends . We got a call for an explosion (arson ) fire at one of the FFs homes -
I worked with the state fire Marshall’s and his son was arrested for it .
going on my 48th year (active) as a volunteer in a ny fire dept and its no different here. people work 2 jobs, family life and the massive amount of time training, meetings, calls, community events and the like. there isnt a lot of incentive even though there wasnt any when i joined. day time calls are a problem. although in NY State, the vol depts save taxpayers nearly 3 billion eventually it will all become paid. these are some of the facts that are a nationwide issue. what if you called and no one came?
48:19 I think the lack of payment is ultimately the issue. There are a lot of people who love the job and want to do it, but the reality is, our world runs on money. Being a volunteer doesn't pay the bills. You save lives, but who is going to pay your electricity bill? Your car insurance? Your house?
My exoerience in being in the fire service as a volunteer for a number of years is one the I know they need training but states has it that they do not think about the volunteers times and other ares of their loves, dont set training hours so high it takes away from the life of a volunteer, they have other jobs also they have to go too, have it so members can do online training when possible, let it be okay for members to go to the fire station to be around for calls and study and wash trucks etc, if they want to do so, also chief officers need to understand that they need to watch how they interact with their volunteers try not to scream at members that are doing their best listen to your members that have ideas and be open to them not just dead set on one way to do things, onvite the firefighters family and have events ;ike cookouts, etc to keep members interested keeo your eupiment and trucks in woeking order and be safe.
I think there is a role for Nebraska Air Guard here. They do training flights. Why not locate some assets out west for medical transport and fire suppression? It will also help develop new leaders and maybe push volunteerism up when guard folks get out? I am a little concerned about the training required in rural areas. Let’s take a hard look at that.
We her in West Virginia the county pays for your training as long as your a member of a department, that has helped , and you only need one EMT on the squad with other basic first aid personnel with them to trans port because we have BLS EMT ( basic life support ) and ALS PRAMEDIC ( advance life support) that’s something to look into !
Young people today wont even work for 20 bucks an hour. They are so entitled NOT but they think they are. In the 80's I had 4 jobs at the same time. 2 jobs during the week and 2 jobs on weekends 112 hours week and I loved every minute of it.
This is happening in Michigan
People are struggling to get by. Many work multiple jobs. No one has the time or energy to just volunteer their time to risk their lives and take the mental toll of constant medical calls for little or zero pay.
Meanwhile your local police and Sheriff's departments areconsumingg upwards of half the municipality's budget almost everywhere. No one blinks at that, but noone wants to pay the 19 year old medic or emt to do cpr on the kid that drown in a pool or deliver the expectant mother's baby. People are just expected to volunteer to do that. What a joke our priorities are.
Sounfds like instead of a bunch of small fire departments they need to do county based emergency services to provide better funnding and the option some paid firefighter paramedics to help take pressure off the volunteers.
My county did that many years ago. Replaced 30ish volly departments with 26 paid stations. Average response time was reduced significantly, overall quality increased and the inherent inefficiencies/redundancies in the volly system were eliminated. Does one county really need 30 brush trucks and 30 water tankers? We still have 5 volly departments that primarily provide tanker support when water shuttling is needed in areas lacking hydrants and also provide mutual aid to neighboring counties.
Paid departments often create issues within the volunteer departments too. To gain more area, justifying making 90k a year for a few fires a year.
Yup me to
what jobs do the fires have
Depts need to change their attitudes and get away from "tradition". I volunteered for over 10 years, was an emt for 9 but because i was working 2 pt and a full time job, my quota went from the 70s to about 28%, i was asked to resign. So be it.
Yup u sleep with one eye open 24 7. Praise them all payed an volunteer
I am the youngest firefighter at 20 years old here (we did away with our juniors bc they never listened
🎉i think all 18yr olds should do compulsory communty work inc firefighting 🚒 🎉
Poor equipment is what you get when state & federal taxes are cut
Zazur 50 year old fire truck 🚒
Heck, not where I live. They'll send 3 Engines, a Paramedic Squad and a Ladder Truck for a simple Car Fire. Another example for a Residential Smoke Alarm call with no smoke visible, they'll send, 8 Fire Engines, 2 Paramedic Squads, 2 Ladder Trucks, 1 Safety Officer and 1 Battalion Chief. It's a waste of taxpayers money, but the Firefighters have to justify their budget!!
Most of these towns have paid police departments. Oh yea fire departments don’t make money. Police departments weren’t intended to make money either. Now they only operate to profit. Sad ! Thank you to the volunteers. I did it for 5 years before becoming a career.
I sympathize with them, but like, you chose to live in a small town in the middle of nowhere. What did you expect?
A great way for the state of Nebraska to use tax money to pay the educational tab for small volunteer departments.
....
Here’s an idea! Staffing Staffing Staffing
The issue, especially here in the US, is that many in the younger generations (millennials, zoomers, and younger still) have no drive to do anything that doesn't benefit them directly while doing the least amount of work. They have little empathy for others, are self-absorbed, rude, lazy and most of all poorly raised. The problem starts with the people they learn from and propagates from there. Don't even get me started on the whole mindset of "anything government is bad, the US sucks!" that is poisoning the minds of today's youth. And when it comes to public and emergency services they demand they exist when they need them, immediately and without delay, but they refuse to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. For me, as a millennial (I hate that fact btw) I choose to join the fire service over the military because saving lives, rather than taking them, appeals to me more. And yes, I bought into the myths and legends of the American fire service too but honestly? Who wouldn't; firemen are a badass breed with few equals in this world. Who else is crazy enough to run into a burning building for someone they don't know and haven't met before with the knowledge they might not come out alive, or at all?
Our climate is changing but you have to remember we are coming out of a ice age.
unrealistic training requirements and extra stuff that has nothing to do with firefighting like weird hierarchies , nepotism , family dynasties and communist regimes
I retired after 25 years on a volunteer department. Politics was the reason for me. We got 6 bucks a run. Now the new setup pays 30 bucks to show up, and 20 per hour!!! And guess what?? All these SNOT NOSED LITTLE PRICKS still dont show up!!! Why? Because if its not a big enough incident for the tv cameras its just not for them!! Kids now a days!?!?!?
meh. over rated hype. none of this matters. america is dead anyway
Thanks to the Blue Communist Progressive Democrats!!
Thank you comrade China-Bot.