Political Fires

Within hours after the tragedy that killed two FDNY firefighters last week, everybody knew that the weight of political might would come out fast in order to cover up the misdeeds of the meddling politicians.  It always begins with a race of $1,500 suits to the microphones to be the first to bewail the loss and to make promises to get “to the bottom” of the mess that caused it.  This is followed up with back-room maneuvering to get the blame placed on somebody else, preferably someone who doesn’t have the ability to withstand the blizzard of blaming that pours down on them.

Step one has just been taken in New York.  Using the power of the office and the press release, the millionairemayor has very publicly restored the citizens’ trust and the integrity of the city by demoting the station captain.  You could see it coming, but just didn’t know who was going to take the fall.  The poor guy never had a chance.

Within hours of the fire, the newspapers were (rightly) publishing the long list of deficiencies and shortcomings that various city agencies had ignored and which compounded the FD’s problems on the fire scene.  One of them was the fact that the next-door fire station was supposed to do a walk-through inspection at least once a week but they had not done that since March of last year.  And why hadn’t they?  Well before this fire ever took place, the word had already spread throughout the department grapevines that the station officers had been ordered to stay out of the building completely.  They were forbidden to go inside and look around.  This was so well known that even one of the newspapers reported on it the day after the fire.

But who generated this standing order, and more importantly why, is the key to it all.  The District Attorney’s office  is investigating the situation that led to the fire and they are fairly insulated from the City government.  But it will still be a challenge to find this particular answer because the politically powerful have severed the chain of command that passed the order along.  The captain, his boss the Batt. Chief, and their superior District Chief have all been taken off the street (swiftly and very publicly) and transferred to headquarters where they can be closely watched and controlled.  But what about the other two shifts?  The message has been sent…..clam up, buddy, or this can happen to you.  Dirty stuff.

Now let’s get the equipment checked.  See you at the coffee table.

The New Volunteer – part 3

We have been discussing (HERE and HERE) the decline in many areas of volunteer firefighters and EMT’s.  They are being replaced by people who want to “get involved” to the extent that they feel good about themselves for helping, but don’t want to commit the time and effort needed to become a certified FF or EMT.  Not to mention the incovenience of spending time at the station while pulling duty.

The 5-yr.-old organization known as the Fire Corps (LINK) is actually going around encouraging and training people to “support” their local volunteer organization but not to the extent of responding to emergencies.  This ARTICLE from the Frederick, Maryland News Post last week tells how the VFD in Emmitsburg brought in a Fire Corps representative from 500 miles away in Indianapolis to show then how to encourage people to “volunteer” without volunteering.  It’s a very brief article, yet it uses the phrase “get/be involved” three times, promises the New Volunteers that they won’t have to go to meetings,  they will “feel good” about it and will be in “an area they feel comfortable in.”

So what’s to be done about getting live bodies to ride the fire trucks and ambulances?  The rural areas have always been deficient just because there aren’t many people there in the first place.  But nowadays most people in those areas are away from the community completely during the daytime because they are now driving 20 – 40 miles to a job.  The country towns are no longer the commercial centers for local trade and even the small farmer has to take on a “day job” to make ends meet.

I believe that the rural volunteers need to recognize that it won’t get any better as it is, and take some positive political action to  a) consolidate the fire stations, and b) have the county fund paid FF’s and EMT’s during the daytime.  This is not a new idea.  It’s been the template for counties that have undergone rapid growth for years.  But the rural counties need to be shown that, even though they don’t have the growth, they still can utilize the concept because their daytime population just isn’t there anymore.

The suburban VFD’s should follow the example of the county in Virginia that we talked about yesterday.  They directed their New Volunteers into putting political pressure on the local government to hire more FF’s and provide a minimum manning in all stations at all times.  And in that case it is working.  Politicians will always get up and squawk about how there isn’t any money for things like that.  But that is because they don’t want to shift funding from their pet (vote-buying) projects over to something that has always paid its own way in the past.  In times of strong economic growth like we are having now, people are very willing to pay for services rather than do the dirty work themselves.  So this is the time to get your local government to commit the funds necessary to staff the stations.

If the IAFF is on the ball, they will have their state organizations working the political scene now, encouraging the localities to go down this path.  In fact, the IAFF should be one of the sponsors of the Fire Corps program.  They’re playing right into their hands.  What do you think?

Ok…let’s check out the equipment.  See you at the coffee table.

The New Volunteer – part 2

Yesterday we talked HERE about some of the reasons for declining volunteer participation.  The rural areas are obvious, fewer people living in most of those areas.  But the newer suburbs are an anomoly.  Population growth in the outlying suburbs is high, yet the volunteer fire and rescue departments are not getting new members.

Firegeezer places the blame for that largely on the mindset of the new sub-culture that we refer to as “Yuppies.”  Their entire lifestyle is built around self-gratification and reliance on other people to take care of their needs.  In their world, progress is measured by how successfully something makes them feel good within themselves.  But taking the time and effort to complete a Firefighter I and II program just doesn’t fit in with their pursuit of good times.  Not to mention leaving home at the call of the house siren to go help somebody else.

So they have adopted new ways to “help” the community without having to actually do any emergency responding themselves.  I first learned of this new method of “volunteering” back in January when I read this ARTICLE about some concerned citizens in a typical new suburb.  They became very concerned about their local ambulance station not being staffed from 2 pm when the paid medics went off duty, until 7 or 8 pm when some volunteers would show up. 

Their solution was not to find ways to get some volunteers on duty during the afternoons, but to find funding sources and put political pressure on the County Supervisors to hire more paid medics.  They had bake sales, fund drives, developed funding sources….in other words, they “volunteered.”  They also started hanging around the local firehouse, getting to know the FF’s better and helping spruce up the station.  But not once did they think about signing on as emergency workers.  What they did was enough….they felt “really, really good” about themselves.

Not surprisingly, there is a national organization now that promotes this type of “volunteerism.”  It is called the Fire Corps and is under the umbrella of a Federally funded program, the USA Freedom Corps.  The Fire Corps states that their mission is to:  ” ….provide resources for departments to utilize citizen advocates in non-operational roles so they can develop, implement, and sustain programs and services that will help their department meet the needs of their community.”  Except for actually, you know, responding to emergencies.  You can read about the program HERE.

So now we have the New Volunteer, planting flower beds around the stations, fixing meals for the on-duty crew, raising money for new tools.  But still nobody to respond to the ever-increasing number of calls.

Tomorrow we will look at some possible solutions to the staffing shortages in the once-volunteer fire and ambulance departments.

Now let’s get the equipment checked.  I’ll see you at the coffee table.