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Newsflash folks. The volunteer fire departments in New York State are all supported by tax dollars. The panhandling and other fundraising activities go toward buying the beer and assorted "toys" that the membership seems to believe they deserve. All of the equipment, training, facilities and the like come out of your tax dollar. "Volunteer" fire departments in this state are some of the most costly and expensive in the nation to run.
Newsflash folks. The volunteer fire departments in New York State are all supported by tax dollars. The panhandling and other fundraising activities go toward buying the beer and assorted "toys" that the membership seems to believe they deserve. All of the equipment, training, facilities and the like come out of your tax dollar. "Volunteer" fire departments in this state are some of the most costly and expensive in the nation to run.
You make sure you vocalize those concerns one day when you a$$ is roasting in bed alive and some unpaid fireman enters your house and drags you out in your pink polkadot jammies...by now slightly singed.
Giving the volunteers a donation has nothing to do with volunteer departments building McFirehouses and buying equipment they will never use.
I live in a town where the fire and ambulance departments are staffed by volunteers. There is a state mandate that requires these folks to have certain training and certifications, which they acquire on their own time, at hours separate from their jobs where they actually work to earn a living. They carry pagers to notify them when/where there is an emergency. The pagers cost money. They maintain their fire engines and the equipment and turn-out gear (that's the big, bulky suit they wear so they don't get roasted in a fire). Did you ever price a fire engine? They don't, unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, fall out of the sky and land in the fire station. Oh, yes, the fire station costs money, too. The ambulance, with state-of-the-art life saving equipment, stands ready to respond to your emergency and fully-trained personnel are on board to save your penny-pinching a$$. What do you think an ambulance costs these days?
As to why they were conducting a fund drive at the site of an apple-picking tourist site, that's because so many people "invade" their small town that statistics indicate there is a higher incidence of accidents requiring the services of these trained, dedicated volunteers. And you begrudged them the spare change in your pocket to help the cause? Yes, you're right. Shame on them for feeding at the pig trough. Hmph.
I live in a town where the fire and ambulance departments are staffed by volunteers. There is a state mandate that requires these folks to have certain training and certifications, which they acquire on their own time, at hours separate from their jobs where they actually work to earn a living. They carry pagers to notify them when/where there is an emergency. The pagers cost money. They maintain their fire engines and the equipment and turn-out gear (that's the big, bulky suit they wear so they don't get roasted in a fire). Did you ever price a fire engine? They don't, unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, fall out of the sky and land in the fire station. Oh, yes, the fire station costs money, too. The ambulance, with state-of-the-art life saving equipment, stands ready to respond to your emergency and fully-trained personnel are on board to save your penny-pinching a$$. What do you think an ambulance costs these days?
As to why they were conducting a fund drive at the site of an apple-picking tourist site, that's because so many people "invade" their small town that statistics indicate there is a higher incidence of accidents requiring the services of these trained, dedicated volunteers. And you begrudged them the spare change in your pocket to help the cause? Yes, you're right. Shame on them for feeding at the pig trough. Hmph.
What part of the "costs associated with volunteer fire departments come from your tax dollars" don't you understand? The trucks, the ambulances, the station, the training all come from you through taxation. And did we mention a state pension, discounts on college, reductions in property taxes and other similar things? Seems that we're stretching the definition of "volunteer" quite a bit.
You make sure you vocalize those concerns one day when you a$$ is roasting in bed alive and some unpaid fireman enters your house and drags you out in your pink polkadot jammies...by now slightly singed.
Giving the volunteers a donation has nothing to do with volunteer departments building McFirehouses and buying equipment they will never use.
I actually expect the local police to be on the scene first since volunteer fire houses are not manned and their response records on Long Island are among the worst in the nation.
If someone wants to volunteer for something, there should be no expectation of any recompense. The volunteer fire service community has come to expect that the donations it receives will fund its "recreational" activities. How about volunteering just for the sake of volunteering?
Giving the volunteers a donation has nothing to do with volunteer departments building McFirehouses and buying equipment they will never use.
I agree. My father was in a large volunteer fire dept for many years in Nassau and their recent "improvement" brought a huge dining hall, huge kitchen, pool tables, full bar, large flat-screen TVs, etc...
I actually expect the local police to be on the scene first since volunteer fire houses are not manned and their response records on Long Island are among the worst in the nation.
If someone wants to volunteer for something, there should be no expectation of any recompense. The volunteer fire service community has come to expect that the donations it receives will fund its "recreational" activities. How about volunteering just for the sake of volunteering?
Please cite where you get your info about Long Island firemen have the worst response in the nation. I never heard of that.
Were you thrown off the fire dept or not allowed to volunteer in the past? I never heard anyone having an issue with the volunteers or begruding them some perks unless they have something personal in it.
You are all shot...... The trucks aren't maintained by them, if it is then i better stop doing certain repairs i do on all the FD's trucks...
The toys aren't paid for by them either....
None of you know wth you're talking about...
Everything is paid for by the people, except, except there time....
The toys are maintained to a point by them...
They in return get some prop tax relief and some other little relief on education and fed taxes...
It is illegal to stop traffic for ANY reason, you want to get some money have a car show....walk thru the apple orchard and ask for a donation...
Stopping traffic is illegal
I actually expect the local police to be on the scene first since volunteer fire houses are not manned and their response records on Long Island are among the worst in the nation.
Yea the local police will be on scene after they finish hanging out at the local firehouse
I have seen the road side collection many times in PA. Most times it is by underfunded local depts. They set their own budgets and may not have included all the "state mandated items" in it as to not hit up the locals to badly.
Why should they not try to get some funding from the visiting out of towners who use their services for a hangnail or ankle sprain then be outraged that they are transported to a local community hospital instead of a LIJ run megga Hosp.
It's not LI, live by their rules or stay home.
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