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May 20, 2006
Portland Fire Department
Let me ask this question. What do you think of the Fire Department staffing and how they are doing? The town has over 10k in pop normally and increases by several thousand during the day b/c of the factories, and there are only 2 people assigned to work on shift each day with many days only one is at work due to sick, vac, etc. When calls go out, the volunteers, around 25 total on the dept,are called, but they have to drop what they are doing to respond if they can. The volunteers are paid each time he responds on a call but still, you never know how many are going to show up. I believe the fire dept ran over 1000 calls last year.
Posted by David at May 20, 2006 09:37 AM
Comments
I have never had any experience with the fire Dept. Thank God. I have never heard any complaints either.
Posted by: DP at June 1, 2006 10:52 AM
I know at one time there was a certain councilman who did not support more firefighters and made the comment 'it only takes one person to drive the truck, why do we need more men?' He had support from other members with that comment. That is a very shallow comment, what if his house were on fire and 1 man showed and stood there until more people arrived 5-10 mins later? Even when there are 2 people on duty, they cannot fight fire inside until more firefighters arrive because of OSHA rules. The fire department has some good equipment but could use a lot more to be better prepared for emergencies than have to wait for aid from other departments.
Posted by: David at May 23, 2006 03:24 PM
Our Fire Department and Police Department do a wonderful job. Portland is very fortunate to have the dedicated men who serve on both departments. Yes they are both under staffed. I'm sure there is equipment available that both departments could use. You can thank the members of our city council that voted to leave industry off the impact fee bill. The money that will be lost from not including industry was earmarked for our Public Safety Department. The next time you have a fire or an emergency call one of these four....Luther Bratton, Phil Hobdy, Jody McDowell or Bill Caudill. I'm sure they have a better plan than having a well staffed, well equiped fire and police department.
Posted by: JH at May 23, 2006 09:58 AM
I think it is hard to gage the fire department unless you are directly involved somehow, the problem is knowing how to get involved. i would love to be a volunteer for the fire dept, but how do you go about doing this?
I don't think you can ever have a fire dept or police force that is too big.
Posted by: JA at May 20, 2006 10:47 AM