Volunteer fire departments.

0patience

I don't normally post things like this, but this one is affecting our local volunteer fire department, so it hits close to home.

ObamaCare putting volunteer fire departments at risk of closing.
Before you dismiss this as something that will never happen, understand that in most rural communities, they use volunteer fire fighters and most can easily put in more than 30 hours per week.
And under the guidelines of they system, they only need to meet that 30 hour requirement once per month. Which is easily done.

Most volunteer fire departments are short on people as it is.
Not only do they respond to fire calls, but as in the case of the volunteer fire department here, they respond to any emergency call.

phobicsquirrel

Do you have a link? Osamacare... Really? On point of the subject I have mad respect for FF however I think they have been abused way to much, at least in portland. They are sent out on most emergency calls which is a waste of taxpayer money. I have family that are FF and they are always talking about it. Not all that familiar with volunteers though. That would suck working 30 hours with no pay.

0patience

Mental slip. I forgot how easily offended people are.
I fixed it, so you won't be offended by it.

As for a link, I didn't see one on the video, so I have no clue.
I would assume that the PA fire commissioner would know what he's talking about though.

jthanatos

FYI

0patience

Evidently, no on let the volunteer fire departments know this information.
Seems odd that they are out of the loop on this, as they can't seem to get confirmation from DC on this.
Because according to the information they are receiving, there currently is no waiver.

I don't know. But I guess they'll find out January 1st.

SleevePlz

jthanatos:

FYI

For the record, the video is from December and the news article is from January. I had concerns that it was the other way around, but nope.

jthanatos

0patience:

Evidently, no on let the volunteer fire departments know this information.
Seems odd that they are out of the loop on this, as they can't seem to get confirmation from DC on this.
Because according to the information they are receiving, there currently is no waiver.

I don't know. But I guess they'll find out January 1st.

That is weird, cause the fact sheet put out by the treasury in Feb seemed to address this directly. FYI-2

Toombes

I normally stay out of conversations such as this, but as a volunteer firefighter I gotta say a few things.
I suppose some of the smaller departments are in the clear on this. I'm a member of two different departments and neither have a roster of more than 25-30 members. It's been my experience in the past 17 yrs that most larger cities are covered by paid departments with a volunteer staff for coverage due to sickness or extreme emergencies.
It was also mentioned that sending a crew out for every emergency call, whether it's a true emergency or not, is a waste of money. I can see it from the perspective of both a tax paying citizen and as an emergency services worker. I would much rather have a crew respond to me and that crew not be needed than to have to wait for them during an emergency. As a Paramedic/firefighter it is annoying to be sent on every call that turns out as a false alarm. Do I enjoy going out at 3 AM to check on the drunk who banged his toe while stumbling to the bathroom? No, but it's part of the job. Deal with it or find a new profession.
As for working 30 hours and not getting paid, that's why we volunteer. We do it because we give a damn about our community and the people who live there. I work the back of an ambulance for 56 hours each week and then come home to be on-call for the rest of the week. Do I have to do it? Nope, but it's what I love to do which makes it all the more enjoyable. Even if I had a different job I'd still volunteer to work at the EMS station in my hometown.

0patience

jthanatos:

0patience:

Evidently, no on let the volunteer fire departments know this information.
Seems odd that they are out of the loop on this, as they can't seem to get confirmation from DC on this.
Because according to the information they are receiving, there currently is no waiver.

I don't know. But I guess they'll find out January 1st.

That is weird, cause the fact sheet put out by the treasury in Feb seemed to address this directly. FYI-2

Thanks for that info.
3 of the local volunteer departments are being told they will have to comply.
It seems that contradicts that.

perkinke

0patience:

I would assume that the PA fire commissioner would know what he's talking about though.

One of the things to keep in mind though is that there is a lot of misinformation and politics involved in this situation. People who SHOULD know better often don't and that's become a problem, people in authority not taking the time to educate themselves before providing information to the public. I don't know that that is the situation here, but be careful assuming that because someone SHOULD know what they're talking about they actually DO know what they're talking about. I do a lot of public education work on a variety of issues and I can't tell you how many times I have to say "Well, while I respect so-and-so very much, on this issue their information is not correct." It's particularly bad right now around healthcare, part of it is simply the level of complication and the rest is pure politics and irresponsible soundbites.

blutattoo

I've been a volunteer firefighter/EMT on and off for close to 17 years and the only people who clock 30 hours in a week in our department are folks that go out on strike teams(wildfires) and they are paid through our State OES once they step on the rig. There hasn't been any talk in our department of ACA compliance problems. I wonder if this is state specific. Our department is pretty large though (4 stations and 135+ volunteers) I can't imagine how a smaller department could pay for it if that's true for everywhere. There would have to be a pretty heavy tax levied on the residents of the district.

jd50ae

I do not know if this is unique to this area but it has made the news on at least 2 different occasions.

House fire and the volunteers responded and then watched the house burn down with out lifting a hand. They wanted to help but were not allowed.

It seems in certain jurisdictions (not mine) you must pay a yearly fee/tax in order for the firemen to help, or it was across some boundary and and required a fee/tax.

The firemen had there hands tied and there was nothing they could do. No one was hurt but at least one home burned to the ground. There is no doubt in my mind some petty political law was to blame.

You could see from the photo of the firemen that responded that they were just a little upset.

Beaker38

Being a Volunteer Firefighter myself up Here around Albany New York for about 5 years we knew about this a long time ago and that we were exempt like 3 weeks after the passing of the bill. now on to other issues.... When people don't like paying taxes its called a pay for services. it doesn't happen up in New York as much as down south the thing is that if someones trapped we will rescue them or a pet. but as soon as that's done we wont help. cant expect us to work if you don't fund us. most of the time we offer that if they pay us right then we would step in and help (from what i have heard this is true). trust me i love what i do so much i became a New York State Level 1 Fire Investigator. the last house fire I was at was last night. My area has every house pay a tax and we have an annual budget of around $800k a year but that is spent in a heart beat beacuse everything has to be replaced and these other companys that do this are hurting for the cash. gear which costs around $5k has to be replaced every 10 years due to OSHA and the material breaking down in fire protective material. You are going to be seeing a lot of changes in the next couple years with how we attack fire OSHA eventually saying no to interior fire attack (where we go into burning buildings) saying its to dangerous... but in the end everything we do is dangerous... another thing i want to say is pay your taxes to Volunteer FD's and send in donations it helps pay for banquets and other things they deserve for there time its not much and they need the support there risking there lives and seeing things that no one should ever see. and check the dates and make sure you have working CO and Smoke detectors yes there expensive but the death rate of fires is on the rise some places doubling there last years total already. my area had 8 deaths last year one i was at and did the investigation and the guy was smoking a cigar in bed and didn't make it out in time. . If you guys want i could share some of my interesting story's with you just say so in this post. have any other questions i am just graduating school in the fire protection degree and would love to answer any. . We always want to help and it is hard to see your first fatal fire but that's where things change. You want to see a sad video look up "Station Night club Fire" on YouTube more than 96 people burned to death in that fire due to negligence to fire safety . And last thing is if you ever get to join afire department do so its like a second family to me and many others.