Policemen vs Firemen

[TooLowBrow]

in the suburbs, why do we pay our policemen but expect out firemen to volunteer?

how come we cant have volunteer policemen?

to me the volunteer fire department looks mostly made up of high school seniors cutting class to go drink at the firehouse. i dont believe those kids ever actually put out fires

[britneypablo]

<img src="http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa60/proudarmygirlfriend8/prod_715_29920.jpg">
<font color="deeppink"> id empty out my bank account and saving for any one of these guys today....but if they are jus gonna volunteer thenn.......ok!

[brettmojo]

in the suburbs, why do we pay our policemen but expect out firemen to volunteer?

how come we cant have volunteer policemen?
We do, they're called Batman.

[cougarjake13]

never thought about it til you pointed it out



im guessing cause they dont want volunteer policeman to be carrying guns

[TooLowBrow]

never thought about it til you pointed it out



im guessing cause they dont want volunteer policeman to be carrying guns

do you want unpaid teen volunteers to save you from a burning house?

[SatCam]

Well if you think about how many actual fires there are a day in the suburbs...... like maybe 0-1? If more common there is probably a paid force

Also the job is much safer than being a police officer. Sit at the curb and spray a fire? Put out a car fire? Saw people out of a crushed car? Fairly safe, compared to dealing with armed (even unarmed) criminals. Firefighters also don't have to make as many tough decisions. Most fires are by-the-books, just spray it, contain it, whatever they gotta do. Police work can be much more fuzzy.

As far as saving people from burning buildings, im going to guess much more rare than in a city. First of all a 1 family home has maybe 3-4 occupants in a few thousand square feet that can get out in case of a fire. An apartment in the city has much more. Also suburban fire departments can reach the highest floors in a house (using a ladder) without having to enter the building. In an apartment fire that's a much different story (pun not intended).


Also there is probably more interest in a suburban area in being a volunteer firefighter. Residents probably have more free time to commit. Compare that to people in an innercity who probably just work and sleep and have no time to volunteer. If you didn't make it a paying job no one would be able to afford to do it.


Finally it is just simply considered to be too expensive. If you paid one guy you'd have to pay them all. And to put out a fire you'd need more than 1 guy. Compared to something like the ambulance which is also mostly volunteer, one paid member (typically the paramedic) is usually enough.

[cougarjake13]

do you want unpaid teen volunteers to save you from a burning house?

no but theres less chance of something bad happening with volunteer fire than police

[keithy_19]

My brothers are on the volunteer department in my town. Neither of them are high school seniors. In fact, I don't think any of the people on the department are under 20.

Being a fire fighter in a small suburb is just as dangerous, if not more, then being a cop. That's not to put down any police officers. But the thought of people just standing at a curb spraying water is so wrong. Fire fighters go into the building while it is ablaze. It's part of their training.

Granted they aren't going into a fire in some 15 story building, but fire is fire.

[keithy_19]

Finally it is just simply considered to be too expensive. If you paid one guy you'd have to pay them all. And to put out a fire you'd need more than 1 guy. Compared to something like the ambulance which is also mostly volunteer, one paid member (typically the paramedic) is usually enough.

You need at least two people for an amublance call. You need the driver and the emt. Paramedics are usually sent from a different company.

[SatCam]

Being a fire fighter in a small suburb is just as dangerous, if not more, then being a cop. That's not to put down any police officers. But the thought of people just standing at a curb spraying water is so wrong. Fire fighters go into the building while it is ablaze. It's part of their training.

Granted they aren't going into a fire in some 15 story building, but fire is fire.

Yes it may be part of their training but I'm willing to bet that going into a burning building happens much more rarely than it does in a city. In the suburbs you just don't hear about people getting trapped in buildings. Buildings are much smaller, and fewer people live in them. What I'm saying is, a firefighter's job could potentially be as dangerous if not more dangerous than a cop's, but it's almost always not. Cops face danger on a daily basis, volunteer firefighters do not.

You need at least two people for an amublance call. You need the driver and the emt. Paramedics are usually sent from a different company.

I know that, my point was the most they usually need is one paramedic (who is the paid person on the truck) to save a life. Whereas with a fire, you need a whole group of people with the same training. Maybe I cant explain that as good as I hoped

[SatCam]

The main thing is, it is too expensive for most towns. In a perfect world yes, I would want firefighters to be paid. But then they'd have to be on duty all the time and that is just not realistic in a small town

[ChrisTheCop]

Trust me, according to my paycheck, most of my work is volunteer.

[jauble]

There are volunteer police that are used to supplement the traditional paid police.

[SatCam]

There are volunteer police that are used to supplement the traditional paid police.

they direct traffic

[Coach]

We had a guy work for our fire house for years he was a paid Fireman/Emt..He never did shit for EMS and would maybe drive the truck to a fire..dunno why they held on to him for so long.