...Before joining the Fire Department, I didn’t have a clue as to what it entailed. I knew that committing to the department wasn’t going to be casual; still I was surprised as to how much it demanded from me. In order to learn how to act during emergency situations, there were monthly company drills (training exercises) that we were required to attend. Sometimes the training was very intense, although they were highly controlled, it was always dangerous. A common exercise was entering a multi-storied building with fires at various locations, which we had to find and put out. The drill was highly teamwork oriented and required concise communication in making our way around. Other drills ranged from practicing force-entry into buildings to getting into full turnout gear with an SCBA ready to use. We had even purchased a junkyard car to set on fire in order to practice putting out car fires. Many of the fire related calls were minor or false alarms. Although there were some actual fire crises, many of the emergencies were medical. Some people are surprised to find out that the local fire department runs many of the ambulances. Some calls I responded to were: overdoses, heart attacks, and the elderly falling in their home. Usually an EMT on scene would check the patient and decide whether or not they needed hospitalization. If they did need medical attention, we would get them on the stretcher and bring them to the local hospital. I’d say being a volunteer at the CPFD had...
Words: 280 - Pages: 2
...firefighters on emergency scenes. Operations management can apply to every fire department, and help to make each department more successful. Material requirements planning (MRP) can help fire departments to develop incident action plans for any type of emergency they may face. A MRP can help a fire department be better prepared for emergencies by knowing what equipment they need, how much inventory they need, potential customers, and an estimate for the number of potential emergencies. The just-in-time approach will allow fire departments to overcome emergencies with a focus on effectiveness and a reduced inventory. The limited inventory with this approach will save fire department money by limiting storage and service fees. Implementing a maintenance program into a fire department’s training program will ensure the department has capable employees who can handle the frequent stressful situations they encounter. Firefighters are constantly seeking ways to improve themselves, and the operations management tools will help every firefighter become successful on emergency scenes. Introduction: I will introduce how my fire department currently operates in relation to the three improvements techniques I will be implementing. I will discuss briefly the three improvement techniques, MRP, Just-in-time, and maintenance. I. MRP in the fire department A: What tools/techniques are needed and when B: Materials and training needed...
Words: 453 - Pages: 2
...Optimal no of additional firefighters based on given distribution: Q*= μ+Ζσ μ=20 σ=5 Ζ=0.3772 Thus, Q*=20-0.3772(5) =18.14 Using minimum cost criteria, 18 firefighters should be added in each unit in order to cover daily absences. 3. On a given day, what is the probability that Kelley-day firefighters will be called in to work overtime? Optimal probability that demand will exceed Q*: P (Demand>Q*) =1-((Cu/ (Cu +Co)) P (Demand>Q*) =1-0.3548 = 0.6542 the probability that Kelley-day firefighters will be called in to work overtime=0.6542 4. Based on the three-unit organization, how many firefighters should be assigned to each unit? What is the total number of full-time firefighters required for the River City Fire Department? Firefighters for each unit=Base no of firefighters + Additional firefighters =217 +18 =235 2 Firefighters for each...
Words: 344 - Pages: 2
...Guidelines to Improve Public Awareness of the Services Offered by the Sedona Fire District Jayson Coil Battalion Chief, Sedona Fire District DRAFT manuscript Submitted to Assistant Chief Terry Keller April 14, 2010 Guidelines to Improve Public Awareness of the Services Offered by the Sedona Fire District Why We Are Unique The Sedona Fire District cannot be accurately compared with most rural or urban fire departments in the nation. Although we provide the same core services, we also provide a level of expertise above and beyond most agencies. Our unique environment requires we be proficient in swiftwater rescue, high angle rescue, wildland fire, and other disciplines not always associated with fire departments. We do provide a higher level of medical care than is required. The additional costs are commensurate with the added benefits our agency provides. It is easy for people to argue that we are overstaffed when our level of preparedness is compared to the average call volume we experience. Unfortunately, this thinking is inherently flawed. As an organization charged with helping people in their time of need, we do not have the luxury of just preparing for an average day. We choose to focus on preparing for serious emergencies and multiple calls that do occur. This is the very tenet emergency preparedness is based on. Until we can predict when emergencies will happen and exactly how many people we will need when we show up, we will err on the side of...
Words: 1840 - Pages: 8
...Regionalization of Fire Services In the U.S. and even across the globe, rural volunteer fire departments have joined together to great career departments and/or crews. Due to there being many problems volunteer fire departments face: funding, manpower, equipment, support, etc. the regionalization of fire departments would greatly benefit small communities, ensuring that a response by emergency personnel will be dispatched immediately, day or night, any day of the week.. In the U.S. in particular, many counties in each state have had not just fire services, but also ambulance and police services merge in order to ensure an automatic response for emergencies. There are many problems that would need to be addressed and solved in planning a...
Words: 1106 - Pages: 5
...Local Firefighters Are Furloughed Even though the city needs more money, firefighters do not deserve furloughs because they do not make much money and most have to work second jobs. It is imperative to department morale that they receive adequate monetary compensation, without relying on a second job. Furloughs Firefighters do not deserve furloughs. Local firefighters are on 24-hour shifts in an A, B, and C block schedule. There were two furlough days during the year, on specified holidays. This meant whether or not the firefighter was working on that specified holiday he or she would not be paid for it. Morale Furloughs had a detrimental effect on morale in the department. No one wants to work and not be paid for it. The furlough also made the people in the department believe that their hard work was not appreciated, and unneeded. It is unfortunate that short lived fixes, such as layoffs and furloughs are becoming the norm and are negatively affecting morale and the quality of service (Duggan, Lewis, & Milluzzi, 2010). Causes Strain Firefighters often have to work two jobs. People in the emergency service industry do not join this field for money. The majority of firefighters at the City of Charleston work at the fire department full time, and work another job part-time. They work two jobs out of necessity, not from the enjoyment of working two jobs. Most people do not want to work a 24-hour shift to have to go straight to another job without the ability...
Words: 859 - Pages: 4
...witnessing the negative effects of neglecting responsibility. I have been in the fire service for 10 years now, and it takes a lot of dedication and schooling even after 72 hour shifts to survive everything needed to be a firefighter let alone promoting through the ranks in the fire service. The brothers I've seen fail in this career are the ones who did not take on responsibility for themselves therefore failing in college and promotions within the fire service. My feelings are confident responsibility is the key to all things successful. I want to talk about the effects of taking responsibility for your self while in college for firefighting. I will discuss the effects that not taking responsibility can have on a rookie firefighter during school and training. Personal responsibility must be used in life just as much as college to be succesful. Taking on personal responsibility is not easy it is so hard when you get in the world world and once you understand the real world I truly feel as when you will be at the upmost understanding of personal responsibility I like to start talking about when I was a firefighter going through school I had a very difficult time trying to complete all of my assignments this wasn't because I wasn't trying I felt overwelmed with The Fire Academy,EMT and General Ed. While balancing these challenges My desire to Volunteer increased so I applied for the Local Fire Department, And got hired as a volunteer who had to complete 48 hour shifts while taking...
Words: 426 - Pages: 2
...In this report I am going to analyse the importance of inter-agency emergency planning for major incidents It is very important that public services work together and plan how to deal with major incidents, because it makes their job more efficient. They can get the job done quicker, because they know their roles and responsibilities, so not messing around, but doing their duties and run smoothly at the scene. Planning gives them opportunity to get more training so they will know their roles even better so it makes their job easier and safer as they will get some experience in some kind of situations. They will have knowledge how it could look in real major incident, so they would not get stressed so much if they are newly employed. Also it saves some money when dealing with major incidents as they will be better in their roles, because of training through planning. Another benefit is that because of planning, they would know what equipment they are responsible for and they will bring it to the scene so when it will be needed, they will have it. The first responding agency is always Police and they are responsible for sending other agencies to the scene, protecting the scene – setting cordons around. Inner cordon - operational command – officers that deals with the incident at the scene. Outer cordon - tactical command - creates tactics for operational command how to deal with the incident. Lack of organisations means that they would not be sure what their roles are, they would...
Words: 616 - Pages: 3
...The inspirational speech that I have chosen is ‘Mark Bezos: A life lesson from a volunteer firefighter’. Mark begins by telling us a story of an act of heroism that didn’t quite go how he intended. He is a volunteer firefighter who showed up 2nd to the fire scene. The captain, in charge of assigning tasks, tells the first volunteer to go to the apartment and retrieve the dog of the homeowner, whose house was now in flames. He then tells Mark to go upstairs and get some shoes for the barefooted homeowner. Mark was disappointed in having such a simple task be appointed to him, but did it anyway. A few weeks later the homeowner sends the firefighters a letter thanking them for their service and most importantly, for the kind act of getting her a pair of shoes. The reason I found this speech so inspiring is because it speaks to me logically (logos). After telling us his story, he goes on to tell us the importance of small details and how there’s no better time to do a good deed than the present. Something we all know is that once time passes, it is never coming back. So why don’t we try to make the best out of every moment? Most of us are unfortunately always sitting around and waiting for the perfect moment to come, not knowing that the perfect moment is literally passing us by. Even the simplest of acts play a role in another person’s life. In the words of Mark Bezos “not every day is going to offer us a chance to save somebody's life, but every day offers us an opportunity to...
Words: 288 - Pages: 2
...Fire Department Health and Safety Student's Name Institution Fire Department Health and Safety Summary The article briefly discusses the liability issues that are directly associated with the fire-service training and also the key role played by training as regards risk management through reduction of the overall liability in the fire department. It further describes the interrelation between the liability issues and the role played by training as mentioned above. It seeks to put emphasis on the incorporation of revised policies and procedures that ought to be adhered to by instructors to scale up student performance and reduce legal liability as well as eliminate ignorance on routine procedures. Purpose, research process and results To obtain information to address my topic, I have carried out case studies in various fire safety training departments and also have done reviews of previous works carried out by Curt Varone in his article ‘A Less-Risky Business’. My research has proved that there is a relative failure in the way a risky event is handled as regards fire health and safety. Proper policies and adequate procedures ought to be put into practice to avert any likelihood of an unforeseen occurrence of a hazardous event and any kind of legal liability as a result of the same. In addition, proper training for drivers, vehicle maintenance personnel and other handlers of apparatus used must be done and documented as a risk-control technique. Implication The article...
Words: 1054 - Pages: 5
...ago has been reduced to nine active members of the Prairie Township Volunteer Fire Department. It's a situation Chief Reuben Miller said will not affect service to the public, noting that all volunteer departments are challenged to respond to all calls, especially during daytime hours. He said he didn't believe the loss of nearly half the department's membership would have an impact. “We can still care care of the community. Everybody's dedicated to serving the community,” he said. However, since July 9 the department has been paged out for three squad calls. However, with members unable to respond, twice mutual aid had to be called to respond, according to Holmes County Sheriff's dispatch....
Words: 927 - Pages: 4
...Javan Pruett Introduction to Fire Prevention and Public Education What it Means to be a Firefighter 2-25-2015 People choose the careers they do for a variety of reasons. Some of those are money, enjoyment of the job, or the opportunities their profession affords them, such as traveling. I do feel that it is important for you to choose your profession and not the other way around, or for a parent to choose it for you. I chose to pursue a career in the fire service for many reasons. When I was a child I wanted to be a firefighter to ride on the big red truck. After 15 years in the fire service I have a much better idea of what it means to be a firefighter. Being a firefighter comes with something that you must be very diligent to protect, and that is the trust of the public. No other profession is as trusted as we are. That is one of the things that we can have a little pride in. Having the desire to be a firefighter hopefully means that you have a desire to help the people in your community. A big part of that means that we not only help them in the time of their emergency but also that we be proactive in helping them from having accidents in the first place. On the internal side, being a firefighter is very rewarding because of the relationship built between firefighters. Firefighters tend to develop closer friendships with not only their coworkers, but also their families tend to grow closer to each other than in other professions also...
Words: 338 - Pages: 2
...RECRUITMENT & RETENTION OF THE VOLUNTEER:: RECRUITMENT & RETENTION OF THE VOLUNTEER THE MISSING PIECE OF THE FIRE SERVICE THE MISSING PIECE OF THE FIRE SERVICE August 15, 2002 Prepared By: Franklin Woodrow Wilson II Lieutenant, Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................... iv INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1 HISTORY OF THE FIRE SERVICE ......................................................................... 4 RECRUITMENT ........................................................................................................ 6 MARKETING THE FIRE DEPARTMENT ............................................................... 6 ISSUES AND DIVERSITY CHALLENGES ............................................................... 7 CRITICAL AREAS TO INCREASE RECRUITMENT ............................................ 9 COMMUNITY .................................................................................................... 9 SELF ESTEEM ................................................................................................. 10 NEEDS ............................................................................................................ 10 PHILOSOPHY ........
Words: 11494 - Pages: 46
...Volunteer Fire Department Unit 334, Lt. Steve Miller, was summoned by radio dispatch. But, Steve Miller, who died Saturday following a four-year battle with cancer, never answered. The last call, marking Miller's end of watch, gave tribute to Steve Miller's 13 1/2 years of service to the department and community, according to Chief Reuben Miller. Radio traffic is always part of the background for those in service, but that last call is always sobering. “They're toned out and you know they're not going to reply,” said Reuben Miller, who was left speechless in the immediate wake of it and the subsequent music of a single bagpiper. “I had tears in my eyes. It just gets to you,” he said. The last call, Lt....
Words: 1037 - Pages: 5
...When we all started our carrers as firefighters wheatear we knew it or not we were all at the mercey of those more experienced at the station. While this typically what you would expect to see at the fire station it can definatily be a double edged sord. While rookie firefighters get the opputunity to be guided in the right the direction by the more seasoned firefighters the opposite is also true, and can lead the rookie down the wrong path. This can be attributed to a lot of reasons including: the seasoned firefighter has been taught the wrong path themselves, they may not have the patentece to guide a rookieor are have poor teaching skills, and of course they may just not care. Barring the last example(because we all know we work at a good station) the other examples can be detrimental to the new firefighter succeeding. A lot of what we do in the fire service can only be perfected through experience. Tring new ways to accomplish a small task is the firefighter way. Much of the basics of what we do in the fire service is learned at a fire school but is taught as general information with the understanding that each induvudal department, station and shft have their own way to handle fireground activities. This is a completely acceptable practice, it is part of the captains job to gage their crews skills abilities as well as have an understanding of their still alarm territory and target hazards. When a rookie firefighter first comes to the station sometimes it is easy to...
Words: 482 - Pages: 2
