How To Start A Fire Department Essay

Volunteer fire departments everywhere have staffing problems. If you take a drive past any fire department you will probably see a volunteers needed sign. A fire chief in Pennsylvania stated “I would like to have a greater turnout of firefighters on scene than what we currently have,” he said. “We have a lack of volunteers who are able to respond during daytime hours” (Shawgo, 2014, p. 17). There are several reason that there is not as good of a turnout as there used to be. Back in the 1970s and 1980s the thing to do in town was to hang out at the fire house. There was not as much going on as there is today. People today want to spend more time with their family and go out to the movies or mini golfing, things that family’s did not do as much back in the day. The average amount of training that a volunteer must go through is about 130 hours. Most people see that as too much time to sacrifice. Also, in today’s economy many people work a second or even third job in order to make ends meet. There are also more single parent households then there used to be, which does not allow for hardly any time to volunteer. Due to the reasons stated above it is very difficult to properly staff fire trucks in volunteer departments. The average age of members continues to increase. The few people left who still find time to volunteer often work a regular job during the day, which makes day time emergency calls even harder to respond to with proper staffing. The typical fire truck holds 6

There are a series of equipment a firefighter uses daily. To start off, they have very heavy duty saws in which they can cut through most things you would not think they could

Firefighting tactics, like firefighting itself, has a history step in tradition but must also adapt to modern technology and science to stay relevant. Recently, fire research has provided the fire community with new tactics such as fire flow path, pencilling and transitional attack. While all three tactics have their merit, transitional attack has been shown to benefit both the firefighters and civilians in measurable ways.

With that being said, society has raised its standards on what it thinks that a fire service member’s behavior should look like, and if we don’t meet those standards, we can be

We are the most technically advanced nation in the free world but yet we have not been able to reduce the number of firefighter fatalities over the years. Its one of the great mysteries of the world today. Our gear is better than what they wore thirty years ago, its better than what they wore ten years ago and we still lose an average of one hundred firefighters every year. I know that not all are dying in structure fires but just one is one too many.

According the agency of the Department of Homeland Security states that motor vehicles crashes are the leading cause of death for an on-line duty fireman. Other significant causes of death are: caught/trapped (10%), fall (5%), collapse (3%), and other (7%). Intentions of firefighters are to make the community safe as possible, but we the people need to think twice before we do anything else when dealing with fire. The other things that it 's a national problem for firefighters is not wearing their seat belts when driving out to an emergency. They are so focused on saving our lives when first it 's supposed to be the opposite, their safety is first, but firemen put their lives at risk.

In mans history we have seen many great fires from the 1860 Elm Street Tenement in New York City that killed 200 that resulted in a requirement for fire escapes in buildings over 6 stories and multiple exits in new building to the 2003 Station Nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island that killed 100, making NFPA later adopted a new standard for nightclubs to be sprinkled with 50 or more occupants.

A firefighter’s ability to communicate directly and in real-time is essential, and serves as a lifeline to safety. Any communications delay or failure puts lives at risk. Replacing obsolete portable radio equipment will ensure we can meet mission critical and basic response needs, promoting interoperability with federal, state, and local partners; ensuring compliance with state and federal laws; and supporting the safety of our firefighters, public safety responders, and the citizens we serve.

“Who you gonna call? Ghost Busters” (Brillstein & Reitman, 1984). In 1984, a very popular comedy movie “Ghostbusters” hit the big screen and this quote from the movie seemed to stick in everyone’s head. Today, the question that seems to be raised when there is a crisis or emergency situation is “Who you gonna call? The fire department”. In today’s society, the fire service has become the “catchall” for every kind of emergency. Do you agree? Fighting fire is still a big part of the fire service, “in 2015, every twenty-three seconds a fire department was responding to a fire” (NFPA (Ed.), 2015). However, the fire service has evolved from just “putting the wet stuff on the red stuff” mentality, to a profession of highly trained and skilled firefighters. Ever since the discovery of fire there has been a need for methods to manage it if, and when, it gets out of control. Throughout history, to keep up with the changing environment in which we live, civilization and the fire service have made numerous changes. With fewer fires, and more products being manufactured from plastics and other dangerous chemicals, the fire service must be vigilant in developing new methods to keep firefighters safe and justify their job while providing the most efficient service for the citizens.

Applying the correct abstractions and generalizations to problems is essential to my position within my department. As a station captain in the Waco Fire Department, on the department's safety committee, and equipment committee; I assist in solving many problems that arise in the department. Serving on the equipment committee, we are expected to find solutions for the various needs of the department. As a member of the safety committee, we must look at ways to improve safe operations for department personnel and civilians.

Dallesandro, M. P. (2014, March). Coming Soon: Volunteer and Combination Fire Department Studies. Volunteers Corner. Retrieved September 29, 2016, from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.faytechcc.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=5eaf5717-26a0-4412-8e10-131a830331d4@sessionmgr104&vid=2&hid=114

In 1957 the National Association of Fire Chiefs made the recommendation to use a single number to report fires within a community. Approximately 10 years later in 1967 the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice made the same recommendation that a single number should be used to report all emergency situations and it should be used across the entire nation. This recommendations were made because prior to the 911 system citizens in communities across the country were forced to dial a specific seven digit number in order to reach the providers of fire and law enforcement services within their communities to report an emergency. Then following, these recommendations

According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, Wildfire means “a sweeping and destructive conflagration esp. in a wilderness or a rural area.” Also according to the same dictionary, wilderness means “a tract or region uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings.” Forest Fires happen when there is a drought because branches and twigs die and dry out creating plenty of fuel for a fire. According to the NIFC (National Interagency Fire Center) there are about 105,534 wildfires that occur each year.

Fire prevention is a term being heard more and more today in America. It is starting to become a standard in today’s fire departments. Fire has the ability to keep us warm and also has the ability to make us homeless. As we grow as community and the technology changes, Fire Prevention needs to be made more of a necessity in our homes today. More homes are being built out of lighter material along with being built closer and closer together. Each can lead to extreme destruction, homes being lost, people being displaced, and even death. Why should we not protect homes and defend them against an enemy that can attack at any minute? Fire prevention needs to start in the home and then be carried onward in our lives. There are very

Looking at the changes in fire service little has been done in totality to address firefighter deaths. In fact one of the most