PVFD855
Joined: 07/05/2007
Posts: 2

Recent Comments by PVFD855
Catoosa to combine fire departments, search for new chief
07/08/2007 12:04:57 PM
Ks27110,
"The rate of loss of we will experience (of well-trained and willing volunteers) if we combine." Some departments have already lost most of their experience. PVFD nor FOFD have, we have many members with over 15 years, quite a few with more that 20 or 25, and even 1 or 2 have hit the 40 year mark. We seem to have no trouble retaining well-trained, experienced, volunteers. The funny thing is these people have lasted through political turmoil, Chiefs being swapped or moved, or the lack of good funding. MAYBE THATS BECAUSE THEY ARE IN IT FOR THE RIGHT REASON!!! You will always have certain people who will come and go because of family matters, or career decisions, but to leave a joy and a passion over who the Chief is or is not would be insane. Actually, they should leave, I don't want someone to be willing to save life or property today and then all of a sudden there is a new Chief and they decide I no longer want to take an active role in my community, I no longer want to be there for my neighbor in their time of need, or worst yet leave their BROTHERS behind in a structure because of who the freakin' chief is. Gut check time boys: Are you here to risk it all to save life and property? Are you here to be a part of a brotherhood that knows no bounds? Are you here because you love the passion, the joy, the excitement, the challenge of a difficult job being done well? Or, as seems to be the case, are you here for a chief? PVFD and FOFD have great training, we are an agressive department, we know what we are doing, we have a great membership and would love to add to it. However, some people say we are chaotic and unable to retain well trained and willing volunteers. Look around, talk to people (the ones who actually know facts and not rumor), get into the history of FOFD and POST not only in the local area but state and national as well. We have an impressive past of great firefighting and an unsurpassed loyalty to our brothers.
And for INHOC79,
FOFD and POST actually train all the time ( 3 hours a week, some weekends, we send people to GPSTC and the dept. pays for it, we have people who organize our training that know what they are talking about, they have spent countless hours themselves training on how to train us better, we send people to FDIC and a pretty good number too, our training is actually organized). Incident command, yeah, we actually know what a fire ground channel is, and we use it to give assignments on the fire ground to different sectors and divisions, I think we can see where this is leading so I'll move on. Our officers and chiefs are not picked first of all which may be a good indication that we have the right ones since they actually have to prove knowledge before they are moved to that slot. All of our personel have a great understanding of incident command and SAFETY yeah thats a big one. I've yet to see any of our Chiefs running command right next to a burning structure in khakis and a polo, enough said.
Catoosa to combine fire departments, search for new chief
07/05/2007 03:28:35 PM
I have a huge problem with the words rival and chaotic being used to describe the organization that I am proudly a part of. Every department accross the nation is put into the same situations every day. Some days we fight fire. others we run med calls, or rescue calls, and even some days like it or not we have to deal with our fair politicians. Is it fun ALL the time? Do we agree ALL the time? Absolutely not. We are charged, and have willingly accepted, a job, a passion, a brotherhood, that has become a part of all of our lives. Mr. Webster has described chaotic as a completely confused or disordered condition. My friend you may say what you want, I have yet to see my department act that way. I have seen people in other parts of the state that have chosen to pass along compliments, and plenty of them, about my well trained and highly disciplined brothers. We may not always get everything right, but we do make a positive impression and impact on the people we come in contact with. That could be the citizens that we assist on a call or it could be another firefighter somewhere in the state that we talk to, or that sees us wearing our shirt very proudly, and acting in a appropriate manner when doing so. We are proud of our department, as you should be sir. We are proud of our national fire service, as you should be sir. We are also very proud of the job we do every time we roll out. We are highly trained, we do a very dangerous job, and do it well. Other people notice this and other people notice our attitudes as well. Call politicians rivals. Call politicians chaotic. Leave your brothers out of it.