County Wide Fire Department

It's time to start a county fire department made up of volunteer and paid fire fighters. A complete consolidation.

Yes! We can make Peter Pan the Chief and Mickey Mouse a Commissioner......

Personally, I think the guy has the right idea. It's guy's like you that are opposed to it because it'll take away from your drinking time and actually be a real fire department.

There's more to bng a firefighter than drinking, going to parades, christmas parties and installation dinners.

[Iron Cross]

Not a great Idea. YET.
But at town by town would be a great idea. Come on guys we have small districts with 3 & 4 class "A" pumpers and not enough guys to man them . Go for a town FD. all Volley and we are doing great

[But who can do it?]

I think a county wide system would be a GREAT idea. Unfortunately, I just don't see any politician ready to take this on. This kind of change will NEVER come from the fire departments themselves. Way too many empires would be lost to gain the support of many chiefs or commissioners.

Maybe we could start with a county wide EMS system. This way we could solve the biggest problem first while not threatening the local barons as much.

[roman numeral one]

:wink:

County or Township consolidation as combination departments is a great idea. It is an idea that will save any sort of volunteer tradition we have while we still have what little respect we left in the community.

just think of all the xtra chief cars they could sell to pay the first few years salaries

[One less chief car]

just think of all the xtra chief cars they could sell to pay the first few years salaries


Very funny!!! And this is precisely why the chiefs and commissioners would never let it happen.

Why not start by consolidating school districts? I pay $300 a year for fire taxes, and $5000 a year in school taxes...no house or business has burned to the ground in my town in the last 5 years, but plenty of kids have been pushed through the system with less than stellar academic abilities. Let's tackle the real problem first, then focus on the fire districts.

Amen to that!

People waiting 30 to 60 mins for an ambulance to respond to a medical emergency is a real problem going on right now on a fairly regular basis. 30 min engine response times are a real problem. Where is that $300 a year going to.

First off where do people wait 30 minutes for an engine and 60 minutes for an ambulance on Long Island. Wherever this may happen it doesn't mean the entire system is broke, just the place where its happening. The higher-ups need to have a plan set up for mutual aid after a certain set reasonable amount of time say 7 minutes.

Second thats a big Hell Yes to the school tax thing. I mean a fire departments budget could be 2 million and a school district in the same town is 60 mill. Hell in alot of towns the library budget is more then the FD. Do any of you realize that? Probably not.

Now after all this I will say that consolidating some districts would deffinatly be a good way to go and a county wide volunteer system, so everthing in the county would be standardized and mutual aid/dual response agreements could be set without all the BS would be cool. Plus I could picture the rigs painted blue, white and orange in nassau county colors like NYC corrections firetrucks are.

People waiting 30 to 60 mins for an ambulance to respond to a medical emergency is a real problem going on right now on a fairly regular basis. 30 min engine response times are a real problem. Where is that $300 a year going to.

Stop it.....Stop it..........Stop it

When you make a post use real facts. Do not use made up facts to prove your point. 30 -60 minutes for an engine to respond to a fire call is impossible given the mutual aide system we have on Long Island.

Public discourse is your right as an American. Use it with responsibility. Do not abuse it. Speak the truth. Do not create myths by telling false truths.

I have heard plenty of stories about 20 - 30 minute waits for an ambulance.

I have heard plenty of stories about 20 - 30 minute waits for an ambulance.


I have heard...........

You heard but never actually saw, participated in, or personally experienced..................RIGHT?

Ask anybody that listen the radio out there and they will tell you that 30 min and even 60 min waits for ambulance or and engines happen. Today, I will not name the department, but around 6 a.m. they 24'd sig 13 to there nghbor because they did not get out. 5 min sig 3 times the call was given away approx 10 mins into the alarm, now (i did listen to the rest of the alarm so the rest is an assumption) no body was in house at the nghboring department given time of day, so will say 5 to 10 mins to get on the road and then 5 mins to get to scene total 20 to 25 mins. If the nghbor had a sig 3 it is now 25-30 mins into the alarm when the engine arrives. I did not include a chief because they only cerry 2 1/2 gallons of water to put the fire out (good for small fire, bad for large fire). As for the ambulance response times too many times 30 to 60 or more waits happen in this county just listen to the radio and due simple math.

Ask anybody that listen the radio out there and they will tell you that 30 min and even 60 min waits for ambulance or and engines happen. Today, I will not name the department, but around 6 a.m. they 24'd sig 13 to there nghbor because they did not get out. 5 min sig 3 times the call was given away approx 10 mins into the alarm, now (i did listen to the rest of the alarm so the rest is an assumption) no body was in house at the nghboring department given time of day, so will say 5 to 10 mins to get on the road and then 5 mins to get to scene total 20 to 25 mins. If the nghbor had a sig 3 it is now 25-30 mins into the alarm when the engine arrives. I did not include a chief because they only cerry 2 1/2 gallons of water to put the fire out (good for small fire, bad for large fire). As for the ambulance response times too many times 30 to 60 or more waits happen in this county just listen to the radio and due simple math.

Ask anybody that listen the radio out there and they will tell you that 30 min and even 60 min waits for ambulance or and engines happen. Today, I will not name the department, but around 6 a.m. they 24'd sig 13 to there nghbor because they did not get out. 5 min sig 3 times the call was given away approx 10 mins into the alarm, now (i did listen to the rest of the alarm so the rest is an assumption) no body was in house at the nghboring department given time of day, so will say 5 to 10 mins to get on the road and then 5 mins to get to scene total 20 to 25 mins. If the nghbor had a sig 3 it is now 25-30 mins into the alarm when the engine arrives. I did not include a chief because they only cerry 2 1/2 gallons of water to put the fire out (good for small fire, bad for large fire). As for the ambulance response times too many times 30 to 60 or more waits happen in this county just listen to the radio and due simple math.


WOW


Reading this actually hurt my head.

[didIcatcha9er]

Its a shame that what gets lost in all of these arguments is the citizen taxpayer. Egos and corruption are present in politics and fire departments throughout Long Island. Its not about the over abundance of useless vehicles or luxurious firehouses. Its about the best possible service availabe that can be provided to Long Island. The bottom line is this system is not working. The richest counties with the highest tax dollars is lacking a vital service. No ego can argue this. EMS response is embarassingly slow on average throughout Long Island. Fire response not as bad but definetly not acceptable. Politicians are the ones who avoid tackling this problem.

Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 8:28 am

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Its a shame that what gets lost in all of these arguments is the citizen taxpayer. Egos and corruption are present in politics and fire departments throughout Long Island. Its not about the over abundance of useless vehicles or luxurious firehouses. Its about the best possible service availabe that can be provided to Long Island. The bottom line is this system is not working. The richest counties with the highest tax dollars is lacking a vital service. No ego can argue this. EMS response is embarassingly slow on average throughout Long Island. Fire response not as bad but definetly not acceptable. Politicians are the ones who avoid tackling this problem.









THANK GOD someone with a brain. We are here for the public, not for ourselves. If we are not providing THE BEST possible service them lets change the system so we can!!!!

You cannot paint the picture with such broad strokes, there are departments all around the county that are getting the job done and doing it well. Instead of just smearing the entire service county wide, why not address the slackers, the departments that are not performing up to standards.
The state should step in like they do with school districts and shut down departments that are not producing and break up thr areas into the surrounding departments together with the proportionate tax base, give the equipment and appratus to the departments that are for all practical purposes providing the fire protection for that area via mutual aid anyhow.

Unfortunetly the slackers out number the good departments out there. This is why the good departments are overlook. The other reason why people trash the entire system is because the way the system is set up it lets those slacker departments continue to be slackers. That is why people call for countwide change in the system. I will admit your idea would be a huge step in the right direction.