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this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2023
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Volunteer firefighters have no legal obligation to respond to a call. Even if it's the house next door.
https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/local/communities/blogs/webster/2017/01/07/being-a-volunteer-firefighter-myth-vs-reality/96296984/
Neat thing I learned when researching this: Some states (like Oklahoma) have laws on the books that state that volunteer firefighters "who are called to fight fires are not required to use any accrued leave or make up any time due to the performance of their volunteer firefighter duties."
Doesn't mean they'll continue to get paid while they're working fires but at least they won't have to make up hours or lose vacation over it 🤷
It's insane to me as a non-American that a) one of the most critical jobs employ lots of people without paying them and b) that person has no responsibility to actually do that critical job.
What if surgeons decided they don't want to operate on someone because they just don't feel like it or like the person? Society is usually built on trust the in an emergency you can count on others.
Honestly it feels really scrummy that people who do firefighting might not be paid.
Want more rage? In my community in East Tennessee, I don't have municipal fire service.
There's a private for-profit fire department that "serves" me. I have to pay a yearly subscription fee to them. Granted, it's not expensive, but it's the principle - Why the fuck do I have to pay for something that, everywhere else, is covered by taxes?
Now... I can choose not to pay the subscription fee. And that's fine. If I have a fire or need to be cut out of a car, they'll still respond and still do whatever needs doing. But then they send a bill for $2000 per hour per apparatus that responds to the call, billed from the moment they leave the station to when they pull back in. So if I have a car wreck and the car catches fire, I can expect a bill for $2000/hour for each of a rescue truck, a pump truck, and a tank truck, assuming they don't send two rescue trucks for some reason.
That's $6000/hr, and they scene may be active for two or three hours. That's $12,000 - $18,000 dollars BEFORE we even start talking about our garbage predatory healthcare system. Do I need an airlift to the trauma center? Whoa buddy... That's a minimum of $20,000 before they even start the engine on the damned thing. Plus, the helicopter doesn't take off from accident scene, so I'll need ambulance transport to the aircraft LZ, so that's another $2,000. But it's okay, because the air evac company has a subscription plan too, and as long as I pay them my protection money every year, they won't ruin my life if I have an accident.
I'm SOO FUCKING TIRED of this shithole profit-driven country.
I'm speechless. This feels like Idiocracy but in real life. What the fuck. It's not even like the taxes in US are particularly low.
I mean... everything is like that here. I don't even have municipal trash service. I have to a pay a dude in a converted pickup truck to come collect my trash and take it to the dump once a week, and that works out cheaper than taking it to the dump myself because I have to pay to use the dump. Nope, not included in taxes. It's $25 for up to 500lbs for each visit, but the dude in the pickup truck gets that economy of scale, so paying him $22/mo works out much cheaper for me.
Our roads are covered in potholes, fire service isn't included, the schools are garbage and the teachers have to buy most of their own supplies out of their own money, the homeless problem is out of control, the opioid epidemic is killing people left and right, the power goes out any time the wind blows too hard, our police don't even bother to respond to anything but violent crime anymore and even then they usually just make the problem worse...
...but Randy fucking Boyd can build an unnecessary stadium downtown and get the taxpayers to foot the bill so he doesn't have to pay for it, but he still gets to keep the profits off of it, and Marsha goddamned Blackburn can go on TV and bitch about Hunter Biden snorting cocaine off a porn-filled laptop or something.
I'm just so goddamned tired of it all. My wife and I have agreed that the instant she finishes school, we're expatriating.
That sounds sad honestly. It looks like you can survive somehow until you can leave but I wonder how it will be for people below poverty line. It also makes me wonder how you can elect so many people who don't care about their own community or people. Around here I've heard the excuse that people are uneducated (basic reading and writing) and therefore easily tricked or swayed but I don't think that's true in America.
Roughly 70% of the Firefighters in the US are volunteers.
Is it that the government doesn't want to pay them to firefight? Or some other reason?
Let me start by saying the big city departments are 100% paid jobs. They have the money and the call volume to justify it. Rural departments and smaller cities don’t. It’s up to the local government ultimately. My rural fire department is staffed by one paid firefighter 24/7. The rest of us train and run calls when and if we’re available. Rural departments are the 70%
That makes a little more sense but it's mind boggling to me as an outsider that that there richest country in the world with multi million or even billion dollar planes and ships cannot pay to keep volunteer firefighters.
Do you get paid when you run calls?
Sounds like you're a great person for doing something for your community despite having no compensation :)
In Poland there are many volunteer firefighters. In small villages and towns. But they are paid. And if you don't answer an alarm a few times, you will usually be "fired".
Nice pun 🤣 It's pretty much the same in India. Firefighters are well paid with benefits etc. like army or teachers.
What's happened is the US judicial system has decided that if you make a fireman or policeman legally liable, then everyone has to be. Meaning if you see that your neighbor is in an emergency situation, it's not enough to call 911, you have to respond and can be found liable, if emergency responders are.
It's stupid.
That doesn't make sense to me though because fireman/policemen have special training and equipment that an average person does not. What is their justification for this?