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Morning Lineup – October 30

2 comments

I got to wondering yesterday, maybe it was triggered by reading about that firehouse burning down in Pennsylvania, about how many fire departments still have “sleepers” in their stations?  I’m talking specifically about volunteers who either spend duty nights at the station, or in some cases live in the firehouse.

All-volunteer departments often have duty rosters and require their members to take their turn at night duty if the station is active enough to warrant it.  Naturally, a fire company that only runs 3 or 4 calls a month is not likely to impose such an obligation.  And I know that there are still many volunteer departments that are doing this, maintaining full staffing for their communities.  I like to see that.

But I’m curious if that practice is starting to slip along with the declining memberships that many VFD’s (and ambulance squads) are experiencing.  I worked in a combination department and it was not at all unusual to have a couple of sleepers staying at a firehouse.  Usually it was younger volunteers who were anxious to get more experience, especially on ambulance duty, but oftentimes you’d get an older member who was going through a divorce and needed a place to stay pronto.

How about those fire departments that have their career people on daywork only?  Are they keeping a full squad on duty throughout the night?  Are officer ranks included in the mandatory night assignments?  There are a lot of additional obligations being placed on volunteer firefighters and paramedics these days, mainly along the need for upgraded certification levels.

If your department is having difficulty maintaining these levels of certification and pulling duty, what are you doing to plan for the future?  Once your sleepers are gone, they’re gone for good, you know.

On the other hand, there was that flap in October of last year (Firegeezer report HERE) up in Provincetown, Massachusetts.  A volunteer fire captain was living in the firehouse and the city wanted him thrown out, even threatening him with being evicted by the police.  Their reasoning?  They were upset because they  learned that someone was living in the city-owned fire station without paying rent.

But I think most of us can agree that the Cape Cod area has a culture all its own.  Now let’s roust out those guys who are trying to sleep in this morning and get the equipment checked out.  I need to get some more coffee going.

Posted by on October 30, 2008 • Filed under: morning lineup
  • firehat

    There is a volly department I used to run with that basically runs like a paid fire department all the time. They have paid day crew but for the other twelve hours they keep a full volunteer staff on duty. Three stations, engines and medic units staffed in-house probably more than 90% of the time and they even sometimes get the heavy rescue or ladder staffed. There is only one officer required, and that is that one of the officers staff the command car overnight; they can take it home if they live in district. Even at that there is usually an officer or two at each station. They’re pretty busy and have no geographic requirements on the membership; some of the members live 30 miles away from the district!

    I think their key to success is that they run a full academy and EMT school for new members, at night and on the weekends, they’re busy, and they only allow people who care enough about it to put in the time. They get a lot of people who want to get into the fire service and a lot of people who just want something to do. The duty requirements give a feeling of being serious about it (have to be in uniform, etc.) and I think that actually works better than reducing requirements (like a lot of volly departments I’ve known).

    And they do have a few who pretty much live there.

  • firehat

    There is a volly department I used to run with that basically runs like a paid fire department all the time. They have paid day crew but for the other twelve hours they keep a full volunteer staff on duty. Three stations, engines and medic units staffed in-house probably more than 90% of the time and they even sometimes get the heavy rescue or ladder staffed. There is only one officer required, and that is that one of the officers staff the command car overnight; they can take it home if they live in district. Even at that there is usually an officer or two at each station. They’re pretty busy and have no geographic requirements on the membership; some of the members live 30 miles away from the district!

    I think their key to success is that they run a full academy and EMT school for new members, at night and on the weekends, they’re busy, and they only allow people who care enough about it to put in the time. They get a lot of people who want to get into the fire service and a lot of people who just want something to do. The duty requirements give a feeling of being serious about it (have to be in uniform, etc.) and I think that actually works better than reducing requirements (like a lot of volly departments I’ve known).

    And they do have a few who pretty much live there.