Do you believe there is a conspiracy and intent to dissolve our fire and emergency services?

[IHaveRespawned]

There has been an ongoing shortage for years of fire trucks/apparatus and ambulances. In addition, the nation is grappling with a nationwide firefighter shortage. A senator who owns a private ambulance company told me there is also a shortage of EMS personnel.

Nationwide, there has been a 20% drop in volunteer firefighter participation since 1985. 20 percent may seems small, but it is huge.

At the same time, the fire service and EMS has not evolved too much in years, if perhaps, decades. Policymakers and state leaders have neglected fire, rescue, and EMS while everyday citizens haven't noticed much. The 100% volunteer model of service is severely outdated today, and with people having to work multiple full time jobs to stay afloat along with pessimism and nihilism in younger generations regarding the overall state of the country, we can see why no one wants to put in the strenuous training hours and time.

The only branch under the public safety realm that I have seen sustain itself and even thrive in many cases is law enforcement.

Yes

No

See poll

[jshm2]

No kiddo. It's part of the problem of having a shit US head of state.

China produces fire trucks at around $180,000 a pop. The USA produces fire trucks at around $1m a pop - and most of the parts come from China as well.

So the USA doesn't want to fund anything public sector and uses "expense" as an excuse.

As for staff. Most emergency staff were Black, Hispanic, Native or women - aka DEI. By blowing them all out of a job, with no path or budget to recruit, there was always going to be issues.

But a shit head of state doesn't care about such things.

[IHaveRespawned]

Nope. WRONG! Fire and EMS is predominantly white. From my experience in the field, you had very few minorities. It is not like they were not allowed, it is just there isn't a large share of minorities in fire and ems.

[Hagar88]

No but the reason is very simple. Paramedics require a fairly high degree of medical training. Now its one thing going out and helping people in need but far too often now they are getting assaulted and attacked and all those years of training and low money is just not worth it. Fire services and police are in the same boat. You couldn't pay me enough to work those jobs.

[IHaveRespawned]

Paramedic is actually a one year program, if it isn't taken as an accelerated course. But the prerequisite is having Advanced EMT licensure, which is a half year course. Then you have National Registry certification and testing and Continuing Education units and all that fun stuff.

Firefighter training and certification varies widely by state.

Then you have Emergency Vehicle Operations Courses (EVOC)(or CEVO) and TN requires Venessa K Free training.

Then you have BLS for Healthcare Provider for EMS license levels under paramedic. If paramedic, then you have PHTLS., PALS, and ACLS.

[Hagar88]

But do you think getting spat in the face or beaten around is worth it. Used to date an ER nurse and a couple of times she came home with a bust lip, black eye, busted nose. She left after getting her eye socket fractured. I remember having to help two female paramedics who were helping someone whike someone else was trying to assault them. Teachers are the same, I know two ex high school teachers that left after 10 years, theyd been assaulted by pupils and parents. The money doesn't seem worth it as its seems these working conditions are normal
Can't speak for firefighters because I dont know any but maybe their issues are different plus theyd be in good shape and there's a group.

[Anonymous]

This is just in your head. Stop posting about it.

[exitseven]

No, people will not volunteer because there is no sense of community and people might be afraid of being sued. There is no conspiracy about it.

[IHaveRespawned]

The 100% volunteer model is outdated

[exitseven]

Nobody does anything for free.

[IHaveRespawned]

That is becoming even more of the case. God Bless those who still volunteer though, but we need to be looking at other models of service besides relying on 100 percent volunteer.

[Dargil]

There is a conspiracy and intent to ruin everything in this country. Regardless of what the majority of citizens in this country want, Democrats are against it.

[IHaveRespawned]

Yes! Also greed, overregulation, and red tape. What I have also noticed about post-9/11 society is that a fear of lawsuits and the burden of regulation holds people and organizations back, doing more harm than good.

[Buford_T_Justice]

Don't be dissing on Gavin Newsom! So he forgot to fill the fire hydrants, give it a rest! 😄

[msc545]

The only thing I've seen happen is a conspiracy to decrease direct pay because nobody wants to pay healthcare workers and a conspiracy to increase the price of services to the public because everybody wants to increase prices.

[CuriousMufuxka]

What? No! You should have seen how bad response times were in the early to mid 90's!

[Anonymous]

Yes.