Chief Officer That Won't Let Member's Drive

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Permalink Reply by David Wilson on August 10, 2009 at 11:43am

How do your fires get put out if no one hows up to drive the rig. If your chief responds in a command rig and no one else can drive a engine or pumper what does he do fght it with a fire extinguisher. In our district all our fire fhter are evaluated by their station captains as to whether they can operate the equipment. And then at a certain point they have to take a EVAP class where they are then qualified to operate all fire apperatus that we have. I am one of the intructors that teaches the tender operators because these trucks weigh over 60000 lbs loaded. Some of these do require a class A cdl but our EVAP class does qualify firefighers to operate after they go through a forty hour class with me ad let me tell you my class is'nt easy by any means. All my tenders have 13 speed road ranger transsmissions.

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Permalink Reply by Chief Michael Neudorf on August 17, 2009 at 12:57am

I don’t know why if the firefighter meets all the SOG why you guys are not rolling the trucks out, I want my trucks there as sone as I can get them moving myself. It don’t make sense to me.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Mackie on August 20, 2009 at 10:21am

Very good point.. Our dept. gives new members up until their probation period to obtain their drivers license to drive the apparatus ( here it is a CLASS 4 with air brake endorsement). If the member fails to obtain the license by the time their probation is over, they don't get to drive the rigs, AND, they don't get to respond to calls.. because they are removed from dept.

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Permalink Reply by Beastfire2009 on August 17, 2009 at 4:06am

That a bunch of bolony a chief shouldn't be running and pumper he should be the ic the eyes and ears on the scene. Thats they way i was trained.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Mackie on August 20, 2009 at 10:17am

EXACTLY!!! good for you for pointing that out! the chief is IN CHARGE and needs to concentrate on what the hell is happening, and what WILL happen. Plain and simple.. he does NOT TRUST his members. Thats a basic fundamental requirement in the firs service.. TRUST.. If he doesn't trust his members to even drive and operate the pumper, I can't imagine him trusting anyone but himself to go inside for primary search and rescue... sounds like he is looking for the glory and bein the HERO himself. I say out with him!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Daniel J. Graham on August 25, 2009 at 3:33am

If the apparatus does not make it to the scene, then what's the point of having it? Sounds to me like you need some new leadership. If the department is reluctant to step up to this "Chief" (and I use the term very loosely), appeal to the public! Your residents pay taxes for fire protection - they are paying your department to provide protection, and you have an obligation to do so. If that is not being done (which clearly it is not), then the public has the right to make sure it is done. Now I am not one for airing out dirty laundry for all to see, but that is a serious issue that needs to be resolved immediately. If it cannot be fixed within your department, appeal to the local government, and if you must, go to the public. You may seem like a bad guy at first, but the people you signed up to keep safe will thank you in the long run. And you will earn the respect of those around you for not being a follower, but standing up as a leader and doing what is right for the department and the community.

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Permalink Reply by CHRIS on August 25, 2009 at 3:13pm

Makes no sense to me....you might need other equipment at the scene that is sitting in a station WASTING taxpayer money(or fire tax)..and if I were a taxpayer there-- the chief WOULD NOT HAVE THE JOB-(volunteer or not) we have driver training state certifcations (pumper and aerial) here(N.C.)-and in our dept. you must first learn how to drive the trucks-(smallest first)-then you must learn how to pump ALL the trucks,you must also take the state cert class emergency driver(EVD), after some time behind the wheel- you must get checked off by a chief officer (pumping and driving),then you need to start pursuing your state certs on driver/operator-especially the pump classes.

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Permalink Reply by Dean Shrider on August 26, 2009 at 3:02am

With that being the case it sounds like you dont need anybody else to respond to a run and the first truck out can do it alone ,and your governing body could cut the budget by getting rid of trucks thats not being used since nobody can drive them. We have a policy at our dept that if you cannt operate the equipment at the scene you dont drive it.

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