Not wanting to criticise your other comments in that post, but since when did people call the fire department to fix an upset stomach?
I cannot imagine the fire brigades took this decision lightly: we are not talking French lorry drivers here. Firefighters have not gone on strike for ( I think) 25 years.
And, although on strike, they currently still leave picket lines and go on duty fast where life is threatened.
I think there’d be a bit of a fuss if even on of the army people now helping out were to be killled.
NOw this is bad of me - but shall I lower thte tone with a wonderfull.y bad joke?
Running and hiding now
Redundant!
RR
Well, most fire departments will respond to medical calls as first responders. We can almost always beat the ambulance to the scene, and begin providing patient care. (note: I have no idea if English fire departments do this or not.)
In fact, 70% of my department’s calls are medical in nature. Also, in some areas, the fire department provides ambulance service as well.
St. Urho
EMT/Firefighter
As a general rule they wouldn’t be called out to answer a call for medical assistance, but they are able to administer first aid if they’re attending a car accident etc. Thanks for the info.
drachillix, thanks for chiming in on this one. I was having a bit of difficulty coming up with a response as elegent as you did.
Stay low and keep safe…
CrankyAsAnOldMan wrote
The leading cause of firefighter death is a coronary event.
You are right, but 40 or so coronaries a year among 250-450,000 firefighters is below the national average (according to http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/97-114.html ). Some people just have dodgy tickers - even top class athletes sometimes have heart attacks. I would imagine the average fireman is actually a bit fitter than the average Joe
If a volunteer fire-fighter in this country (and the vast majority of fire-fighters in this country are volunteers) dies fighting a fire, his or her family has no automatic right to compensation - precisely because that fire-fighter WAS a volunteer undertaking a high-risk activity.
I know that people are saying the WTC fires were “exceptional”. I seem to recall that earlier this year there were out of control bushfires in the US - in Colorado, California, and a couple of other states. If you don’t live in bushfire prone areas, you really can’t appreciate the risks these guys take.
Even our volunteer fire-fighters here are highly trained, but that isn’t much help when they go to the truck to get a vital piece of equipment and it has been stolen - that happens here all the time during major fires, and more than one fire-fighter has died because some idiot stole the fire-fighting equipment from the fire truck.
Paid or unpaid, every single one of our firies deserve medals. What they do is - quite simply - exceptional. I can think of very few “professions” in Australia for which the average person in the street has as much respect as they have for our firies, and they deserve every single bit of that respect they get and then some. Which is why we all weep when we lose one - and I suspect that we’re going to lose quite a few this summer. 
Although I understand and appreciate the good wishes FTR I am not nor have I ever been part of a firefighting organization outside of fire academy. I did work as a private sector EMT-1A for several years and have 200 hours of ridealong time from fire academy. I have suited up and done interior attack but living in the town I do unfortunately being a volunteer is not an option.
I think the answer will easily be found by comparing the workmen’s comp insurance rates of various occupations. I’m sure someone else here can work Google better than I can.
*Questions Originally posted by Whack-a-Mole *
**1) Geez!!! Two-thirds of all firefighters are unpaid? Good grief…that’s awful! **
On the contrary, in terms of volunteerism, especially in Victoria, many are proud to be volunteer firefighters, serving their community. It’s important to note that most firefighting traditions started out as voluntary work.
*2) I didn’t mean to imply that unpaid firefighters were necessarily unprofessional. I just thought ‘professional’ implied getting paid to do whatever it is you do. Guess I need to re-read Websters (just did…I was ok in my usage).
I wish the media would understand this too.
**3) That’s really lousy. Paid or unpaid I would hope there was regular training for firefighters. Both for their benefit AND my benefit. This suggests there is nothing new to learn once you’re a firefighter which I doubt is the case. New equipment, new methodologies and so on I would assume are being thought-up all the time. How does that info get disseminated to the field? **
On the contrary, there is always something to learn. Most fire authorities are well aware of the different aspects of firefighting and other natures of response and really encourage training. And there is always research and better training packages being developed. For career firefighters, further training is an incentive to a higher ranking position and pay.
Having said that, the Linton tragedy of December 1998 in Victoria, in which 5 volunteers lost their lives, has been a catalyst for change in training within the CFA (Country Fire Authority). Within the last 2 or 3 years, the emphasis on training has increased dramatically, as has the development and upgrade of equipment and resources.
Dissemination of better training would probably depend on how the fire authority is structured. Within the CFA, training is passed through area headquarters through to brigades via their training officers and training committees. Specific training courses are run for individuals, but most brigades undertake certain subjects to achieve their skills profile, ie, what their “rating” is depending on the type of community they protect.
Back to the OP: When someone decides to join a brigade, be it as a volunteer or as a paid firefighter, they understand from the very start what the job entails. They know it will be difficult. They are made aware of the type of training that they will undergo. They know the risks. It doesn’t make it any less dangerous, but continual training and safety standards maintainence emphasises awareness of the danger.