City looks into response to fire in N. Stamford

Why does a mid-sized city (in the top 200 for population) have any volunteer firefighters?

If we stopped misappropriating so much of our tax dollars, we could easily support a entire paid city department.

So Harry acording to you population determines whether or not a city should have volunteer firemen? So what are the figures then? Anything over 10000 20000 maybe 1000 people can suport an all paid fire department?
Tell me Harry have you ever heard of any of the county fire departments that have both paid and volunteer firemen to cover a population far larger than Stamfords? Seems volunteer firemen do just fine in such places. Hey they even save the taxpayers some money while protecting them!!!

The city is trying to move foward and provide better protection, The volunteers are trying to protect their right to exist. The people at the fire mention paid for it with their home destroyed., Good job Volunteers, get your priorities strait!

Harry wrote:

Why does a mid-sized city (in the top 200 for population) have any volunteer firefighters?
If we stopped misappropriating so much of our tax dollars, we could easily support a entire paid city department.

Wake up dutz... There are volunteer firefighters in NEW YORK CITY TOO!!!

Check your facts Idiot.

It seems to me that there is a problem with a lack of volunteers doing the job as well as mismanagment by the volunteer chiefs. If the city feels the need to increase it's staffing and keep the volunteers I don't see a problem. It seems to me the volunteers are only concerned about losing power or control over there distric. Ask yourself what's in the best interest of the distric, city and it's tax payers? A combination dept can work but only if the volunteers allow it to work. It would only be common sense that the city dept or paid chief would be in charge of the whole dept. The system is not working any more. It's tough to be a volunteer and work two jobs. Don't blame the career staff for wanting to do what's not only right but in the best interest of the public. we can work together..

Bunch of Over Paid, Under Educated Cry Babies that only want more control of the Cities Fire Rescue System so that later on, they can hold the City hostage in negotiations for pay raises.
Look at examples in all the other major cities in the U.S. and you will see the truth in the consolidation resolution that the City Department wants.

If only the Paid Firefighters would help out and put aside their differences with the Volunteers, maybe the house could have been saved..........

get real wrote:

The city is trying to move foward and provide better protection, The volunteers are trying to protect their right to exist. The people at the fire mention paid for it with their home destroyed., Good job Volunteers, get your priorities strait!

Fire through the roof and outside wall before the 911 was made at the Mill fire... hmmm.. yhea, it was the volunteers fault!?! REMINDER---- SFR (piad guys) were there too... A hundred trucks and 200 men couldn't have changed the outcome of that fire at the point.

Oh, and the house may not be livable but the structure still stands unlike the SEVEN buildings and tons of cars burnt to the ground this weekend by the paid guys who had two working hydrants and 35 guys...! ONE building burning upon arrival, SEVEN end up in ashes...???? Cry me a river....

BLOCK BURNERS!

The fire at Mill Spring may have been through the roof and the outside wall before the first due engine arrived but not on the initial 911 call or the official resident statements. Listen to the tapes & read all the reports whenever they come public.

Get your facts straight about Cedar Street also. One building was fully involved and already exposing on two houses upon arrival of the first due company. High winds and extreme radiant heat (which caused siding to melt on a house over 100' away) spread the fire. When all was said and done one building was a total loss with another house with damge left similiar to the house on Mill Spring. Another house had some broken windows and sisding melted along with two garages burned but were still standing. Not 7 structures like you keep insisting in all your posts around this forum.

Not saying that there may have been somethings at either fire that could be done differantly the outcome of both fires would have been differant if the manpower available was differant. More manpower was needed at Mill Spring and if less manpower was available for Cedar Street the outcome would have been a lot worse.

Forget all the fires from 10 + years ago that everyone keeps bringing up on both sides. This system can work if all the volunteer and career bashing from both sides come to a halt. When it comes down to it we all work great together on fire/emeregency scenes and can continue in the future. Hopefully all this polital crap can get out of the way sooner than later. Then after all the lawyers get rich we can just get the job done.

New Inventions, have you been to the scene? Why don't you drive down to the south end and take a look. I was there yesterday and could not find seven buildings in ashes. 1 building to ground, 1 uninhabitable, and 1 with damage to the attic, but fixable. 2 detached garages with some fire damage and a few cars parked directly next to fire building. Get a clue before you open your big mouth and learn what a block is.

Street wrote:

It seems to me that there is a problem with a lack of volunteers doing the job as well as mismanagment by the volunteer chiefs. If the city feels the need to increase it's staffing and keep the volunteers I don't see a problem. It seems to me the volunteers are only concerned about losing power or control over there distric. Ask yourself what's in the best interest of the distric, city and it's tax payers? A combination dept can work but only if the volunteers allow it to work. It would only be common sense that the city dept or paid chief would be in charge of the whole dept. The system is not working any more. It's tough to be a volunteer and work two jobs. Don't blame the career staff for wanting to do what's not only right but in the best interest of the public. we can work together..

The only career staff being blamed my friend are the ones who openly and violently attacked the volunteers at the very initial beginning of this "merger" instead of trying to find a way for it to work. The plan is good but the direction and process of its launch was a direct attack on the existence of the volunteer firefighter in this city.. It was not about O/T, Budgets or public safety... It was a political power play by the Mayor, PERIOD.
Where was the proper planning for a merger or consolidation? There wasn't any! No consultant, no study, no committees.. NOTHING! They just came in and said.. "We merge in two weeks or we lay off your paid guys". Then the Union Management (NOT THE UNION MEMBERS) decided to sleep with the Mayor and hatch a plan for a "controlled" ballot vote to get the paid guys out while the mayor cut the vollie budgets by 88 F#$@KING PRECENT in order to spin the volunteers into a manpower and money shortage so he could drive the stake through their hart just as we see going on today. The Mayor used the SFR firemen and then the Fire Union used and misguided its very own members. They drove the nail in the coffin instead working a solution to the problem. Guess what, the evil backhanded tactics that they thought would bring them the quick road to success BACKFIRED! Had they done this the right way, it would have worked. Maybe it would have taken time, but all great, well thought out, in the interest of public safety things do TAKE TIME!!! There are no shortcuts!

As far as the amount of volunteers available in this city... WHAT THE F%$CK has this city ever done to bolster, recruit or retain the volunteer base..?? NOTHING!!! There are twenty different state backed incentives that have never been offered. There is PAID recruiting officer position in MANY cities such as Stamford, How about marketing the volunteer firehouses or maybe just a "hey, thanks for supporting your community" from the stupid Mayor. NOPE, NOTHING!! So everyone needs to stop crying about manpower in the vollie ranks, as this CITY is to fault for the lack thereof...
Now the wedge has been driven and the damage done. If you’re going to fix it, a few of the leaders on both sides need to be replaced. Most of all, the Mayor who stood in the bay of TORFD 13 years ago during his run for office and said "I support he volunteers" needs to get his lying a** out of office so we can get the finger pointing stopped and try and fix this retarded mess he and the Union managers caused! For the record... There are a few volunteer Chief's who need to take a hike also.
The SFR men, the Big 5 men, The union membership an some of it's leaders, the SFR Chief and yes, even the Public Safety Director have all been used and wrongly bashed in this whole deal. THEY ARE NOT THE CAUSE! THEY ARE JUST PAWNS SERVING THE BOSSES!
Get rid of the 15 or so bad apples at the top who caused this disaster and I bet we can see a fully integrated combination fire department which recruits it's paid guys directly from the trained ranks of it's freaking volunteers while the tax paying resident gets super quality service at a cheaper price than any city near here!!
I AM SOOOO SICK OF IT!!

The only career staff being blamed my friend are the ones who openly and violently attacked the volunteers at the very initial beginning of this "merger" instead of trying to find a way for it to work. The plan is good but the direction and process of its launch was a direct attack on the existence of the volunteer firefighter in this city.. It was not about O/T, Budgets or public safety... It was a political power play by the Mayor, PERIOD.

Where was the proper planning for a merger or consolidation? There wasn't any! No consultant, no study, no committees.. NOTHING! They just came in and said.. "We merge in two weeks or we lay off your paid guys". Then the Union Management (NOT THE UNION MEMBERS) decided to sleep with the Mayor and hatch a plan for a "controlled" ballot vote to get the paid guys out while the mayor cut the vollie budgets by 88 F#$@KING PRECENT in order to spin the volunteers into a manpower and money shortage so he could drive the stake through their hart just as we see going on today. The Mayor used the SFR firemen and then the Fire Union used and misguided its very own members. They drove the nail in the coffin instead working a solution to the problem. Guess what, the evil backhanded tactics that they thought would bring them the quick road to success BACKFIRED! Had they done this the right way, it would have worked. Maybe it would have taken time, but all great, well thought out, in the interest of public safety things do TAKE TIME!!! There are no shortcuts!

As far as the amount of volunteers available in this city... WHAT THE F%$CK has this city ever done to bolster, recruit or retain the volunteer base..?? NOTHING!!! There are twenty different state backed incentives that have never been offered. There is PAID recruiting officer position in MANY cities such as Stamford, How about marketing the volunteer firehouses or maybe just a "hey, thanks for supporting your community" from the stupid Mayor. NOPE, NOTHING!! So everyone needs to stop crying about manpower in the vollie ranks, as this CITY is to fault for the lack thereof...

Now the wedge has been driven and the damage done. If you’re going to fix it, a few of the leaders on both sides need to be replaced. Most of all, the Mayor who stood in the bay of TORFD 13 years ago during his run for office and said "I support he volunteers" needs to get his lying a** out of office so we can get the finger pointing stopped and try and fix this retarded mess he and the Union managers caused! For the record... There are a few volunteer Chief's who need to take a hike also.

The SFR men, the Big 5 men, The union membership an some of it's leaders, the SFR Chief and yes, even the Public Safety Director have all been used and wrongly bashed in this whole deal. THEY ARE NOT THE CAUSE! THEY ARE JUST PAWNS SERVING THE BOSSES!

Get rid of the 15 or so bad apples at the top who caused this disaster and I bet we can see a fully integrated combination fire department which recruits it's paid guys directly from the trained ranks of it's freaking volunteers while the tax paying resident gets super quality service at a cheaper price than any city near here!!

I AM SOOOO SICK OF IT!!

Do not waste your time responding to "Harry", "Jake", "Stamfordman", or any of his other 10+ names.

It is the same person, playing the same games. Please do not waste a second of your time to respond to someone who thinks that it is cute to act of the various roles here.

He continues to be part of the problem and not the solution.

there are no recruiting officers in Bridgeport, New Haven, Waterbury, all the same size as Stamford. Greenwich is the only town with one, stop finding excuses and do something on your own, CRY BABIES

WAKE UP2 wrote:

As far as the amount of volunteers available in this city... WHAT THE F%$CK has this city ever done to bolster, recruit or retain the volunteer base..?? NOTHING!!! There are twenty different state backed incentives that have never been offered. There is PAID recruiting officer position in MANY cities such as Stamford, How about marketing the volunteer firehouses or maybe just a "hey, thanks for supporting your community" from the stupid Mayor. NOPE, NOTHING!! So everyone needs to stop crying about manpower in the vollie ranks, as this CITY is to fault for the lack thereof...

This is one of the most important facts of this whole story that has been completely overlooked. Having lived in the area for 3 years now I can say the City's treatment of it's volunteer firefighters is atrocious. I was a firefighter, Capt. and volunteer Chief in Montgomery County MD for 18 years before an unrelated injury forced me to "retire" and I move here to be with family. Our incentive plan for volunteers included a $3500 State tax break, a LOSAP with an average of $200 a month after 25 years of service, free training and a live in program for college students and active members. I looked into what is available here and was utterly disgusted by the lack of gratitiude and support offered by the City to volunteer firefighters in Stamford. Maybe all the incentives availble in MD are not fesaible here, but there has been no attempt to bolster the ranks with any kind of program to encourage volunteers. It really seems as though the City has attempted to make it harder for volunteer departments to recruit and retain members.
There are problems within how the fire departments are organized and operated, but these are open to change. We had a set up in which all firefighters must meet the same standards, as must the officers, and we were all under the leadership of one adminstrative Chief. But unlike what I see being called for here incident response and command was determined by the available resources. It was not uncommon to have one or two career engines operating side by side with a volunteer truck and rescue company. Or visa versa under the command of a volunteer IC at one incident and a career IC at the next. Everything was based on available resources at any given time not whether or not a firefighter recieved a paycheck.
Why hasn't this City done more to encourage the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters?

J. Hardsty
Rockville MD FD "retired"

Why don't we just give the volunteers a salary. VOLUNTEER-person who offers to help or work WITHOUT expecting payment or reward. Stop the bull----

kpelley wrote:

there are no recruiting officers in Bridgeport, New Haven, Waterbury, all the same size as Stamford. Greenwich is the only town with one, stop finding excuses and do something on your own, CRY BABIES

First bridgeport, NH, Waterbury are all paid no volunteers. Greenwich has a recruit officer
Makes aprox.$70k a year and the numbers still decline. It's not the volunteers fault, it's like pissing in the wind. With economic times, increased training, kids that go back to school/college it's hard to keep up with. But we don't have to lie about it, or wait for a tradgey to occur to bring change. We can work together and make It possible for volunteers to continue to exist. But we need to provide a timely response.