Posted by Russ Roth [71.222.59.32] on Sunday, March 30, 2014 at 16:06:33 :
In Reply to: Re: Detroit fire dept pic posted by Nick [99.100.212.49] on Sunday, March 30, 2014 at 14:00:15 :
I didn't yet watch the documentary but what you wrote is so true. I retired Portland, OR Fire in December, '99 and saw all of those things in my career. The attitude of many of the city council people is Firefighters just sit around and do nothing and until the bell rings when THEY need help it seems we don't need ya. Not everyone was that way but budget cuts were always there. It is really hard for politicians to understand the difference in using 3 person crews as opposed to a 4 or 5 people since the rig still showed up. I was always in favor of shutting houses instead of running short crews but that is never the way it seemed to work.
One thing PDX did years ago was run a day where news people and politicians were run through the smoke chamber, climbed ladders, carried equipment up stairs and generally did many of things we would do on a daily basis. Not sure it is still done but it was a real eye opener for many.
Stay safe and always keep one foot in the black. =)
RR