Comment on American cops think they're what American firemen ARE.
Pencilnoob@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Every volunteer fire/EMS organization in the USA is struggling to keep the trucks filled. Most stations in the country are one or two volunteers away from just shutting down entirely.
If you can show up, please volunteer! My station desperately needs not just firefighters - these roles at my station are barely covered by a few overworked volunteers:
- accountants to track gear and vehicle deprecation and keep our books
- grant writers to get us new equipment
- social media people to spread the word
- photographers to tell a story at the fire scene
- cooks to help us with social events and build community
- mechanics to work on the apparatus
- drivers to drive the apparatus (even just back and forth to mechanic shops takes a lot of time)
- detailed people to inventory equipment / replacement schedules
- artists to make cool banners for community events
- people to manage renting out the building to the community to help pay for the station upkeep
- IT folks to help fix station Internet / manage digital records / select vendors / deal with station computers and email accounts
- Web developers to make and manage our website
- leadership to sit on the board and direct the organization
- finance people to help manage investments
Most fire companies would be thrilled to have someone show up and join as a member with the goal of just doing one or more of these roles. We don’t just need firefighters, we need a whole host of other things to keep the organization healthy and stable. We’ve seen what happens when these roles are neglected: we lose memberhip and when we lose membership we lose the bench needed to keep the trucks filled and ready to respond.
NotJohnSmith@feddit.uk 2 days ago
Do you guys pay really low taxes in the US? I just wonder why this isn’t a critical public service and therefore something that is funded through tax by the government?
Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
It depends what state/county/city you live in. For instance, battling the Palisades Fire we had the city LAFD, the LA County Fire Department, and CalFire all coordinating resources, including some of the incarcerated firefighters who just got a raise from $1.00/hr to $7.25/hr and are starting to be able to apply for regular firefighter certification when they get out. And yes, our taxes pay for this, one of the most-supported uses of that money. They also do fast-water rescue when we have enough rain to flood the streams and rivers, help extract crash victims and put out flaming vehicles on the highways, and rescue hikers and mountain bikers on the local trails…
Whereas if you live in a rural red area, there may only be volunteers, because there’s not voter support for a professional fire department.
NotJohnSmith@feddit.uk 2 days ago
That’s really interesting, thanks. Incredible that it’s a political stance, why do Republicans vote against it can I ask? - is it seen sort of like a socialist provision?
Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
I wouldn’t know, but probably something like “I ain’t payin’ for putting out someone else’s fire! And I sure as hell ain’t payin’ a bunch guys to sit around the firehouse when nuthin’ is burnin’!”
Meanwhile a lot of the work our firefighters do throughout the year is clearing brush, creating and maintaining pre-emptive fire lines so they’ll have places to make a stand when wildfires do erupt, and making sure buildings are less likely to burn in the first place.
Oh that reminds me, I should probably add, “Ain’t nobody gonna tell me what I can do on my property!”
Pencilnoob@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Yuuup some really low taxes and also a lot of money gets turned into fighter jets and missiles which are of limited use in a structure fire unfortunately. If they asked me I’d shave off a cheeky 5% of our defense budget and turn it into emergency response but they don’t ask
NotJohnSmith@feddit.uk 2 days ago
Everyone pays central government taxes also yes! (is that what “Federal” means?). It’s a shame something like you suggest can’t be pushed through pragmatically at that level but like you say, you can’t lob firefighters out of plans at people :)
ayyy@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
Yes, but the central government has a bunch of rules surrounding how it’s formed that can be summarized as “not elected by the people, but by the amount of land you own” so the central federal government doesn’t do anything that helps people, only things that enable big businesses to make more money.