Any other firefighters here?

[Craig B]

Hey guys and gals,
Just finished weekend one of Hazmat tech class this weekend. I am a volunteer firefighter/first responder in (booger)Douglas county Mo. I was just wondering how many other fire eaters, medical first responders/emts and hazmat trained personel we have on this site.

 

[Easysport]

Not me, but I have a step son on the Phoenix fire dept. Never could figure out how you guys suit up in weather thats 115 deg and go fight a fire. My hats off to you all that try and keep me alive.[]

 

[Ron Mc]

Craig,
Not a fire fighter but one of "your families" that appreciate all of the policeman and fire fighter out there!
Thanks and please be careful!

 

[alamocdc]

Not me, Craig, but my brother is a VF/FR... Captain of the Bennett station north of Houston.

 

[DWK5150]

I am not but my father is. He is actually a trustee now. He's been on the department for 30 years and he is currently on his second term as a trustee. He never used to tell us meaning me and my brothers and my mother what he would do when he used to go on calls. None of the other guys would tells us either but we finnally found out. He used to go on the roofs of building and cut holes in them to ventilate the building when there is a fire. Talk about scarey. Not for me but some people enjoy it.

 

[rtparso]

Hazmat 40 CFR 165.15 (HAZWOPER). Corporate Emergency Management Coordinator (manager).

 

[JimGo]

There are several here. IIRC, Mike of Connie and Mike (a.k.a. the Honeymooners) is a firefighter. Also, check out http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=5580&SearchTerms=spark

 

[Fangar]

My Father in law is a Retired Assistant Fire Chief (32 yrs) and his son (Brother in law) is a an active Fire Fighter.

I Broke the mold for them. COP, 10 years on at 32 years old. We are EMT trained and Hazmat FRO trained as well.

Cheers,

Fangar

 

[jwoodwright]

Originally posted by Craig B
<br />Hey guys and gals,
Just finished weekend one of Hazmat tech class this weekend. I am a volunteer firefighter/first responder in (booger)Douglas county Mo. I was just wondering how many other fire eaters, medical first responders/emts and hazmat trained personel we have on this site.

My "handle" on the CB Radio was "Fire Eater"...
I was a Volunteer Firefighter for several years. Then, I enlisted and became a USAF Crash,Rescue, Firefighter. Then I became a EMT. Too many responses, too much everything. Too many nightmares. Too many injuries, almost did 14 years before I was medically retrained. New Career was then Training Management. Had plenty of Hazmat training. If people only knew what was in that truck or Railroad Car. Still find myself looking at placards...


Lost Dad two years ago, he was a Volunteer Firefighter (40 years) and was on the NJ First Aid Council, Taught Red Cross First Aid classes for 40 years, plus Life Member NJ Fire Police. His Old Company, Rusling Hose, gave him a Fire truck escort to Mass then to the grave. Damn, have something in my eye...

 

[pastorbill1952]

I was 30 years ago before I enlisted in the Navy. Back then oyu rode the backends of the truck & held on for dear life. There are several members that are FFs and will show up. Couple are firemedic4christ & airportff.
Let me also thank you for your service to the communities. Be extra safe out there, it is now time for house fires becuase of the cold weather.

 

[cd18524]

I am in my fourth year as a career FF/medic. I work in a suburb of Chicago, so it is a lot more medic than FF. Greatest job in the world, if for no other reason than I can bring my lathe to work with me.

Chris

 

[GregMuller]

Craig,
Served fifteen years as a Volunteer FF and EMT. I am now a life member but still operate as an EMT for PD that I work for. The volunteer service is getting hard hit for members due to the demands of training and here on Long Island we are seeing more and more paid First Responders where departments can't field crews during daytime hours.

 

[Ligget]

I was a retained firefighter for 13 years, I provided cover 24hrs a day all year round (fully retained).

I was lucky as being self employed at the time I could respond to my pager from my job, as well as from my bed through the night.

Our station had 2 pumps (engines), both retained.

As Greg states in his post, even over here it is getting very difficult to get crews to respond during the day, work places are not letting them go anymore.

Although our station was retained, we responded to around 500 call-outs per year, and we did not get many false alarms.

Loved every minute of it all too!

[][][][]

 

[GregMuller]

Mark,
What is a "Retained Firefighter"[?]

 

[Ligget]

Greg

In the UK, there is 3 types of FF`s status.

Wholetime, retained and volunteer.

WHOLE-TIME are career FF`s, that is their occupation, they know what days they are working each week, they are either on day shift or night shift duty. The wholetime are normally located in densly populated areas or where there is a lot of industry. They are paid an annual salary with occasional overtime included.

RETAINED firefighters have another full time job but respond to the fire station from their work or homes when their pager goes off. The retained station is situated in a lesser populated area. The firefighters get paid fortnightly for what call outs they have responded to, and are paid a retaining fee every 3 months, you also have to attend at the station one evening per week to carry out training, check equipment is working OK etc.. The station I was in received approx 500 to 600 call outs per year.

VOLUNTEER is the same as retained but does not get paid, these stations get around 10 calls per year. Mostly on very rural areas indeed.

Hope this helps![]

 

[GregMuller]

Mark,
That clears it up very well. Here on long Island there are only volunteers and paid FF's. We do get a "very small" pension after serving a set ampont of years and reaching a specified age. Usually 55 or 65 yrs old. Its not enough to attract new members but I think it has made some who were thinking about leaving to stay long enough to become vested in the system.

 

[woodwish]

I spent many summers in my younger years working as a volunteer with the forestry depts. Mostly brush fires and helping with controlled burns, but also got involved in some big ones for this part of the country (nothing like the big ones out west it seems). Had some scary moments but a lot of good times and feeling of satisfaction. I still physically would do it at 52 but politics seemed to be why I have backed away in recent summers. Fought fires for more than 10 years with my long hair and ponytail. Yes, I put firegel in it at times for big fires, tucked it in my shirt or under my hat, singed it once or twice, but now with new big shots it's "cut it or get lost". The hair isn't that big of a deal, mine's long because it doesn't bother me and I'm too busy or cheap to go to the barber shop I guess. It was just a matter of principle to me, I'll still volunteer if they ask but I won't go looking for them.

 

[FireMedic4Christ]

Going on 10 years career in the Denver metro. Volunteer before that. Retired my paramedic last year, just completed my engineer certification and waiting on promotions hopefully this summer/fall when the new station in finished.

Brian

 

[Craig B]

I PASSED!!!![8D][8D][8D]

Just got back from weekend 2 of Hazmat Tech training and passed the class. The level A suits are way too cool []

Glad to see others on this forum that are fireeaters/1st responders.

I serve on an all volunteer dept. in rural Missouri. We have more brush fires than structures but still have an average of 5-10 structures a year. Had just sit down for turkey day dinner with my folks and got a mutual aid call with another dept. Finally got back from that call @ 1:30 the next morning. Dad's got cancer real bad and probably won't be with us next thanksgiving so it was a real bummer not getting to spend this one with him, but he understands and supports me so that made up for it I guess.

Anyway, glad to see others out there.