Northwest Indiana Discussion

Buzzcut posted an article talking about how much he dislikes "professional,unionized" firefighters. Apparently, Buzzcut would be fine with an untrained force of firefighters who are subject to the political whims of whatever party is in charge. I really enjoyed these comments that were posted on his blog.
Well said!
Anonymous said...
So Buzz, I just want to clarify. You have no problem with firefighters as long as you really don't have to pay them? In the effort of full disclosure I am a full-time firefighter paramedic, so we're never going to see eye to eye on this issue. I would also like to say that I feel many times firefighters are their own worse enemy. That being said I believe the transition from volunteer to a paid department is less a political ploy and more of a necessity. For some reason it is difficult to maintain a trained motivated roster who will train, respond and deal with a public who doesn't feel the job they do is worth paying for. I was raised with the belief and values that police and fire were noble worthy jobs. Respectable jobs. Respectable people. I'd be lying if I said that the attitudes towards firefighters by members of your party didn't stun me the first time I ran into it. I've been the guy that just stands there with his mouth open when I read and heard some of the misinformed and ingrained attitudes towards my profession. I consider myself a pretty conservative guy but when a guy like me becomes the enemy viewed as someone just feeding at the public trough I guess I just have to respectfully part ways.

With the beat downs of soporific spanks continually chronicled, you'd figure he could identify a "tune up". Just like his hero McDermott, who wants four departments to consolidate so that employees can work more efficiently and cross train for a broader set of activities, Eric suggests that firefighters could be cross trained so their abundant downtime could be used to benefit the taxpayers who pay them. Together, police and fire are known as public safety services. Why can't firefights take idle time to perform mundane public safety chores that police do, so police can police? Union rules? And what's with spanks highlighting an anonymous comment? His hate of anonymous speech is a recurring theme in his prattle. Just like his vague denials of convictions, his lack of conviction allows him to make it up as he goes.

Saint John operates a voluntary fire department. Some key staff are full time, but otherwise, it is a volunteer department.

As to Sparks, it's really sad how he changes his tune to accommodate protecting McDermott. Little does this guy understand, he is disposable and will experience a McDermott tuning soon.

Sparkie challenged me, that there was a more pending crisis, scandal in Hammond, then when it was brought out, as one of the four pending scandals, well he fell silent.

With hand chosen key personnel hired by mcdermott to run some of the city agencies involved, city equipment, trucks, garbage trucks and vehicles have disappeared, some sold to a gary scrap yard, others, raffled off to city employees, the common theme, as in the disappearance of $250,000 of Charter School steel, the money has disappeared.

Involved, some of Tom's closest confident & one just left. Feds are on the trail and some will have to be sacrificed.

Many of the cities have volunteer fire departments like Munster and Highland. They work very well and give good protection. Larger cities like East Chicago Hammond and Gary are a complete different picture. One change that could be made and many have done so, is to privitize the ambulance service.

Like all big, dumb public servants, this firefighter is too stupid to realize that he serves at the whim of the party in charge.

Like all big, dumb public servants, this knucklehead doesn't seem to understand that the wheel has turned and taxpayers are tired of serving, instead of being served.

Like all big, dumb public workers, when his employers expect him to learn to live within his means so that they can too, he casts himself as the poor, put-upon bad guy. Its getting old.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess the same thing that happen to you when you Identity was leaked, and I asked you about instability in the middle east jumping off under President Jimmah Carter and you not recalling the hostage crisis...

Can you explain why you believe a defendant can't depose anyone? Of course defendants depose plaintiffs. Someone say that they were defamed because someone said they smoke pot? The defendant will depose the plaintiff to question them as to whether they do smoke. With a sworn complaint and deposition, evidence can be produced to validate or debunk.

Do you guys know what fulltime firefighters do when they're not fighting a fire? They wait. Maybe they're watching TV while they wait. Maybe they take a nap while they wait. Maybe they're shooting the breeze with their fellow firefighters while they wait. Are their days when their wait time is ample? Yes. Those are good days. Then there are the days that they're slammed. Back to back fires. Sometimes back to back to back fires. Sometimes these fires are minor. Others, they're back to back major fires in the middle of the night. Then there are the fires that consume the majority of a 24 hour shift. I am completely against cross training firefighters. I'm also against a volunteer dept in a city this size. Should your house ever burn down around you, you'll be thankful for those fulltime firefighters that were waiting in a station. Waiting mere feet from the equipment that will save your house and possibly your life. This isn't fear mongering. This is what they do. My dad is a firefighter. I know what he does. I know all about the waiting. I've seen him the mornings he's come home and hasn't slept all night. Never with a word of complaint. It would be dumb to pull them from the station to do something else. These are people's lives we're talking about.

I'm all about efficiency in government but let's not be stupid in trying to attain it. It takes a special kind of person to run INTO a burning building time after time. This is why we call them heros. This is why we mourn when we lose one of them in a fire. I say we're fortunate to have a fulltime, professional dept. I am not willing to risk the safety of the people of Hammond and neither should any of you.

Also, it's hard to take we need to cut stuff for the fire dept seriously when you have MCMinions on the payroll.

Poor firefighters. Plenty of people put in long days and don't piss and moan like they do--and they put in those long days and all-nighters a lot more often than firefighters do. Statistically, how often do they "run into burning buildings when everyone else is running out"?

(I will leave this area blank so you or some other firefighter can tell me all about the New York firemen that died over a decade ago.)

Done with the grave dancing and exploitation yet? Good.

Sure, every so often they are put into risky situations. Situations for which they have been well trained and well equipped. More often than not they are at a safe distance dousing a fire with relatively little danger to themselves. Most firemen I see have struck a pretty good balance between doing their jobs, preening for each other and their employers (the taxpaying public), waxing their cars, playing three-on-three basketball, and earning money working second jobs.

(Here is a blank space so some firemen can tell me how jealous I am of them and their jobs).

No, its not jealousy. Really. If I wanted to be a firemen, I would have applied to be one. My odds of making any given department would have been pretty small, given the fact that I don't have many friends, family members, and neighbors in local government.

I have firemen in the family too. Nice enough guys, but not quite the superheroes they are made out to be.

I probably don't know the firefighters you do but I know plenty. They've gone into burning building many times. Comparing someone who works all night in a mill vs someone who puts out fires for a living is apples and oranges, especially in an urban area. I have no idea where you live but if you don't live in a highly populated area, I can see how you fail to see their worth.

I will agree that the Hammond Firefighters can be whiners but it doesn't negate the jobs that they do.

I think our firefighters and Paramedics are not appreciated for all they do.

Agreed