[9101]

Hate to be the one to break the news but the ball to merging and consolation has already begun. No one needed to force the hand; it’s happening and will continue to happen slowly and naturally. The more and more department relying on other departments to get the day to day jobs done, the more this will continue to happen. The larger department will have the recourses and the smaller department won’t be able to keep up. With our demands increasing and our resources decreasing this should come as no surprise to anyone. Being from a smaller department I see it every day, there are over 30members for the larger neighboring dept that live in our district. Having these members in our district would increase our rolls over 33% and better our communities service. We are talking top notch firefighter, some being active officers, ex-officer, ex chiefs, fire service instructors, ect…. Why do the go to the larger dept, they have more to offer, hands down! If we get something in our town, they’ll be coming anyway and they know it, so in essence they are also protecting the town they live in. As someone said earlier, the fire service is way too reactive and not proactive. The smarter depts. will be proactive, realize this is happening around them and help their district before they are no longer in a position to negotiate what is best for their department and members. Just think what an effective service we would be if firefighters and medical personnel responded to the closest fire house and the closest fire house got dispatched to an alarm! Guess that is thinking way TOO proactively.

[MFD594]

What EVERYONE needs to realize here is MANPOWER....

There's a dept in Nassau County with 300 Members on their roster. They turned out 30 members for a signal 10 in the afternoon recently.

300 Members look great at a parade. Where were the other 270 when its game time???

Pro-activity is ESSENTIAL to the SURVIVAL of ANY dept in Nassau....you can always turn em around if ya dont need em, and no one will complain

[StayLow&Go]

[quote

There's a dept in Nassau County with 300 Members on their roster. They turned out 30 members for a signal 10 in the afternoon recently.


30 men at working house fire will fully staff 3 Engines. 2 Ladders and an Ambulance. I don't consider this a poor amount of people at all for a daytime fire because the other 270 might be working, working their 2nd job or out of town for whatever reason. It's the Dept's that have to be realerted during the day for a reported fire that need to clean up their acts. It is not just one Dept. either and if we do not start getting proactive someone is going to pay with their life for the sake of tradition ...

[27indabeach]

To those that are getting upset, please don't. This is a great forum for us to discuss where we think our fire service of this county is going in the next 15-20 years. It has changed so much since "Those Glory days" as stated before. But then again, in those days one or two runs a day was a lot. Also, 10 -15 fires a year was common too. Some departments are lucky (Or not lucky) to get 1 every two years... and 800 more
Sig. 9's a year. EMS has exploded, and that is probably the root of most of the burnout of guys in the local FD's now a days.
As far as taxes being low, No matter how you cut the pie, your paying one way or another. To a district, or the county... its going up , or at least staying even. I can almost bet that you will never see a reduction on your property taxes. Look at the NCFM office listings. There are more employees every year. Who do you think pays for it? Who pays for the "House maintainer" in your own district? If you think merging or not merging will save you $ either way.. you are only fooling yourself.
I personally don't think there is a problem this minute, but its coming. And again, putting a band aid on it won't make it go away. We as a county fire service ( a generalized term for those who use this board) must come up with some solution for the problem down the pike.

[LB231X]

Originally Posted by grumpydispatcher

And the manifesto resurfaces.

Haven't seen this in a few years.

Hmmmmm...I wonder where this came from?

[SPIN_THE_WHEEL]

Originally Posted by StayLow&Go

[quote

There's a dept in Nassau County with 300 Members on their roster. They turned out 30 members for a signal 10 in the afternoon recently.


30 men at working house fire will fully staff 3 Engines. 2 Ladders and an Ambulance. I don't consider this a poor amount of people at all for a daytime fire because the other 270 might be working, working their 2nd job or out of town for whatever reason. It's the Dept's that have to be realerted during the day for a reported fire that need to clean up their acts. It is not just one Dept. either and if we do not start getting proactive someone is going to pay with their life for the sake of tradition ...

If your talking paid....the staffing will be in the ball park of 14 or 15 for 3 engines, 2 ladders and an ambulance. Not 30. Dont go by FDNY manpower #'s. They are the only ones in the Country with 5 man Engines and 6 man Ladder companies. More then likely it will be 3 on an Engine and 2 on a Ladder, especially with a pay range of what the PD gets in the area and any other paid FD's (Long Beach and Garden City) so they would never staff 5 and 6 with a top pay of $80,000.


The fact is, at a working fire in an all paid system you will have less manpower and be stripping a larger area for 3 engines and 2 ladders.

[gareee]

There has been talk about merging Volunteer Depts together years ago.

[thatRescueguy]

[quote=9101;155843]

Originally Posted by SeagraveCherryPicka

TNH Awarded Grant to Study Feasibility of Shared Services


This TNH Grant was awarded to Mineola Ambulance Corp. after no Fire Dept in the Town wanted it. To date MVAC is interviewing to hire paid EMT's with the money.

Actually the grant money to fund MVAC's paid tech program was supplied in the form of a an unrelated grant of $100,000. They would then bill for services, and use the money collected to continue the program, thereby making it self-sufficient. It had nothing to do with the grant to study the possibility of shared services. I worked for the town on this, so I know it is correct.