Hell, probably 1/2 the membership there is asking that question. Don't the commissioners have to hold a public meeting with the citizens that the requested tax hike would impact?
Citizens of 2nd & 9th Districts: potential changes to your local Fire/EMS Station
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Hell, probably 1/2 the membership there is asking that question. Don't the commissioners have to hold a public meeting with the citizens that the requested tax hike would impact?
####, that's easy. Nothing, zero, nada.....Hollywood kind of started that issue. Next thing you know, everybody wants a multi-million dollar station. Justifications you'll hear all sound good, banquet facilities, meeting hall, bingo parlor, blah, blah, blah. Reality is, very few of the members want to volunteer time for any of those events. You end up with the same 5 or 6 people doing the work. Free food, 100 will show. Cut the grass, hell no, not me, we need to hire someone.
Without volunteers, nothing, zero, nada.....The Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute is one of the best anywhere. The volunteers attend for free, transportation is provided. Drills are held on a regular basis. Training classes are held on a regular basis. Equipment is purchased on a regular basis. College education can be reimbursed. Maryland gives a tax incentive for active members. Getting volunteers to take an active role and do the things they don't like along with what they like, is getting tougher everyday.
Bottom line: prepare for new tax increases to hire career fire and ems. There are some great men and women out there doing it every day and the public isn't very good at saying thank you. Factor in increased call rates due to population increase and more people wanting a faster (better) response, the current system is doomed for failure. There aren't enough volunteers to go around.
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And yet in an earlier announcement they threatened to go ahead with new building plans that included no community facilities...a pretty lame attempt to coerce more support from local community for their grand plan.
I've always thought the current community center is great. Our Cub Scout meetings and other activities held in it...the monthly breakfast...the craft sale event. All well accommodated.
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The local fire dept. is somewhat owned by the members. The goal is to serve the public. The property, facilities and equipment belong to the station. If they are complying with state, local and federal requirements for zoning and construction........If someone doesn't wish to volunteer, contributions are always accepted and they are tax deductible.
Anyone who goes into a burning building has 'skin in the game'. Ever done so ? Its enlightening.
Apples and pineapples.
Based on what criteria/data can you make that proclamation from 600 miles away ?
Actually, Waldorf is fully volunteer (except for the occasional career mutual aid response from PG). With the exception of Baltimore City, a number of the communities you mention have hybrid departments with 'paidmen' during the day and volunteer staffing for nights and weekends. But how would you know.
There are different setups in Charles county.
In most stations, the vehicles are purchased with fire tax revenue/donations/bingo and the volunteer organization takes care of maintenance and equipment. The county provides medic + driver or medic + EMT.
In other stations, the county provides both crew and vehicle (the white ones that just say 'Charles county EMS' on the side).
For basic life support responses, often a volunteer BLS ambulance is paged out along with the county staffed advanced life support unit. If the volunteer unit responds in time, the county ALS unit goes back in service. Frequently the county unit gets to the scene before the volunteer ambulance. If the medic doesn't believe that any advanced life support is necessary, the volunteer BLS unit does the transport. As the transport often takes an hour round-trip (with time spent at the hospital), splitting the response that way keeps the ALS unit available in their response area.
Unless the current station collapses unto itself, it doesn't. The fact that the current plans are to retain the old station for 'community use' raises the question whether it is really in such dire straits.
The county should take a critical look at the scope of the project before they approve any funds or tax increases for it. In how many fire responses has the department actually staffed more than one apparatus and do they need a pumper a squad and a tanker or would a rescue-engine and a tanker be sufficient ?
Also, building bay space for things like 'command vehicles' is a waste of money as those are usually parked at the chiefs or deputy chiefs house. Public service buildings are expensive to build, any square footage that can be shaved off helps to bring the cost under control. Would it make sense to build X bays now but lay out the building that additional space could be added if community and call growth make it necessary ?
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anyone who has watched 250 years of their family history burn completely due to incompetence also has some skin in the game.
black dog
Free America
I enlisted in the Marine Corps, it was much more enlightening than being a Volunteer Fireman.
It's actually farther than that, how about I lived there for 40+ years, I grew up in Bethesda, where they have paid Firemen. And I still own a home in MD.
I have owned homes in Bethesda, Sunshine, Annapolis ( paid fireman ) and Mechanicsville..
Is that good enough?
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Well, if I ever need advice on invading a country from the sea, I'll be sure to ask your advice.
Because Bethesda with a density of 4200/sq mi and St Marys County with a density of 312/ sq mi are exactly the same
.Btw. Bay District has an ISO rating of 3. Montgomery Fire also has an ISO rating of 3 (for the urban tier of the county). To the insurance underwriters, the fire protection provided by the 100% volunteer BDVFD in the 'urban tier' of SMC is equivalent to that provided by the predominantly career MCFRS. So there is that.
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The county rents space and equipment from the volunteer organization. There are not paid/career EMS people at every station in the county.
The volunteer unit is always paged out, ALS may be paged depending on severity of call. Second alarm for the station is supposed to be an automatic ALS page. Transport is often more than an hour wait time as the area hospitals have gotten ridiculous. You can't just drop a patient at the door, hospital staff has to sign for the patient transfer.
You don't have a frickin clue how this process works.
Which process ?
The spec and bidding process for a department owned fire station in SMC ?
The process to approve a fire tax increase for the 2nd and 9th district ?
The newsletter they sent out says otherwise. I laughed at the justification beside the building costs, for the tax increase request, including the potential to have to hire and pay for a Chief, a President, and other salaried admin folks. If that's the case, contract with Patriot or AMR and have an EMT and driver at the station M-F, 0600-1800. Answer the alarm instead of paying for bureaucrats...
nobody really
I need a nap
wtf is wrong with being a volunteer firefighter?
Well it looks like it's been outfitted so I'm guessing they found the money. I passed it on MD-249. A pair of new looking outboards on the back and a fully populated radar/antenna mast. It's currently underway in the Piney Point area.
They sure timed it perfectly on the weather...maybe they wanted to see if the cabin leaks.