Belonging to two fire departments

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Permalink Reply by Chief Mike France on August 13, 2009 at 2:27pm

In New york it is against the law to be a Active member of 2 departments, and in our department you would be dropped . there is no way you handle both, esp. if you are a Chief Officer.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Gaudio on August 14, 2009 at 10:26am

Wow, I didnt know that about N.Y.

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Permalink Reply by Alan Shaw on October 10, 2009 at 8:39am

I have mixed feelings on this. We have a rule that forbids it, but it is rarely enforced. This rule was intended to keep a member from belonging to two departments in the same town, because of the potential conflict of interest. That was in the days before members lived out of town and still wanted to remain active but might join their local department.

Here in CT we have two laws that expressly allow dual memberships. Given the IAFC position paper on two hatters, it is kind of hypocritical for a VFD to restrict it's members from being in another VFD while demanding that the IAFF allow it's members to volunteer.

I am actually working on rewriting our rule so that it accomplishes what we need it two, but remains true to the spirit of the IAFC paper. Basically if a member can meet all their requirements at both departments then more power to them.

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Permalink Reply by lucas miller on October 10, 2009 at 2:30pm

we have 4 guys on our department that are on two department. It seems to work out good for them because both the departments are brought closer. we are able to work together so when an incident arrises ,when we need help by calling those departments we already know what it is like to work with those guys. this can help in achieving a common goal when you have worked with all the guys on the fire ground before in training. so you are confident they know what there doing and they know the same about you.

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