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Pitboss Lecture Series - America's Bravest

Whenever we go out of district en mass, whether it be to a banquet or a call to assist someone else, we call in a company transfer. Basically one of the neighboring departments will send a truck and a crew over to man our station in case we have a call while we're out.
 
HuskyDeac said:
So when you have a sweet fireman's ball and you're all wasted does no one respond? Or are there paid departments that cover your area? Or is there a designated driver who brings a bunch of hammered firemen to the scene?

Obviously I'm kidding mostly, but how do you make sure there are always enough volunteers available?
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This article may give you a little help. This department (I think) is a paid department with some volunteers, but they shut down for a day or so due to personnel reasons. http://www.salisburypost.com/News/092612-E-Spencer-fire-shutdown

I obviously am not all knowing (I'm not a firefighter) but do know a little thanks to having so many around me that are volunteers or paid firefighters.
 
tsywake said:
Whenever we go out of district en mass, whether it be to a banquet or a call to assist someone else, we call in a company transfer. Basically one of the neighboring departments will send a truck and a crew over to man our station in case we have a call while we're out.
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That's what I figured. It's impressive how functionally sound an all volunteer department operates.
 
One advantage we've had over the years is a strong mutual aid agreement with neighboring departments. We're each independent 501c3's, but have contracts to assist neighboring departments without having to exchange money. We occasionally do reimburse for expenses, but we operate on an agreement that even though you may need us now, you'll return the favor down the road when we need your help.

Its interesting how the old world gentlemanly handshake agreements intertwine with modern work contracts amongst volunteer departments. Back in July when we had the 103 degree day and had a structure fire, we ended up with 12 different departments on scene at one time. The conditions kept wiping out the firefighters so we kept dispatching additional departments for manpower. We had 7 departments from a neighboring county respond, and we only have a mutual aid contract with one of them.
 
HuskyDeac said:
That's what I figured. It's impressive how functionally sound an all volunteer department operates.
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While FEMA/NFPA sets guidelines and standards, they dont differentiate between career and volunteer departments. The Vollies as we're called, have had to adapt and scrape by with whatever we could for many years and have developed efficient and effective ways to achieve the standards of departments that receive 4-5x the funding that some of us do.

I mentioned above, we receive $135,128 a year which is the county minimum due to how rural our district is. Three of the districts in the county receive $300,000 due to having a higher tax base. Some of them have partial paid crews and the rest is supplemented by volunteers. In some ways its better to be all paid or all volunteer. There tends to be resentment between the volunteers and career guys in some departments, which hurts participation overall.
 
Finally got a chance to read through this. Very informative - thanks for the lecture (and for fighting the fires).
 
NC has lost two firefighters in the past two days. A White Oak Captain and the Kernersville Chief, both of suspected heart attacks.
 
Ok...I ask because my Dad and his brother are Paramedics/former firefighters in Davidson county.
 
Which department? One of my cousins is the Assistant Chief of Tryo (was the Chief for quite some time), and we respond with Reeds pretty often.
 
Wolfpack fan lurker here. I noticed one of your pics is of a Fork FD truck. Is that your station? If so, I live in Fork and thank you for your service to the community.
 
tsywake said:
Which department? One of my cousins is the Assistant Chief of Tryo (was the Chief for quite some time), and we respond with Reeds pretty often.
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My dad was once upon a time the chief at a volunteer station in Southmont, but that was before I was born. In my lifetime, he and his brother have been paramedics for Davidson EMS (Dad was part time, Uncle and his wife are still full time). They used to work at the station near downtown Lexington, but my Dad no longer works for the EMS (Rescue Squad volunteer only, now) and my Uncle works at the station in Denton.
 
very informative lecture, TSY. i also find the camaraderie of firemen different and seemingly stronger than the bonds i see among police officers. obviously i'm on the outside looking in, but the sense of team and cooperation just doesn't seem to exist from what i see among the officers.
 
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