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If you live in a town that typically hosts some sort of 4th of July activities, is your town doing it on the 4th this year given that it falls on a Friday?
My town is having their fireworks display tomorrow. People are wondering why/who scheduled it for June. The mayor announced that the volunteer fire department requested that it NOT be done of the 4th of July so the firemen could spend time celebrating with their families.
This has raised some eyebrows - all in the direction of the FD's.
What's making it worse is that the firemen are overly defensive and even overly sensitive that they were even questioned as to how/why they would do that to the community at large. Some questions have been "don't you sign up knowing that 4/4 is a big day?" "it's volunteer...if you don't like the schedule, don't volunteer" and "why not the 3rd, the 5th or the 6th?". The comebacks are "what do YOU volunteer for" and "don't you know what we do? Show some respect" and "we deserve to spend time with our families too".
I'm not understanding how the actions and motives of volunteers shouldn't be questioned but that seems to be what a lot of people are saying.
I'm in the middle on this one.
But I do wonder where these volunteer firemen spend every other 4th of July. The fireworks are NEVER,and least from what I remember, held in this town on the 4th - and until the recent past, there hadn't been fireworks in this town for a good 10 years or so. I'm not understanding or at least having a hard time with understanding their request.
Any comments?
Last edited by Informed Info; 06-26-2008 at 12:27 PM..
Reason: I cant spell
As a former volunteer FF, the day didn't matter - if you were covering the fireworks (we had 4 squads, one squad on duty per month, responding or covering certain events, other three for calls of significance), you were covering the fireworks. It rotated each year, so it didn't really matter.
Wow! That stinks sawdust. Personally, I think the firemen will regret that decision and here is why:
The 4th of July is notorious for the "backyard Bobs" setting off pretty dangerous fireworks on their own. Since your town will not have "professionals" handling them, I bet dollars to donuts, you're gonna have MORE "backyard bobs" doing their own thing thus, accidents, unintentional fires, etc... So....the firemen celebrating with their families will be called out anyway. Ironic!
You are never gonna stop the "backyard bobs" but to have nothing on the actual holiday is just inviting trouble.
One year in California, my hubby was in the hot tub and a bottle rocket came within inches of his head and exploded in our backyard. Scary!
Wow! That stinks sawdust. Personally, I think the firemen will regret that decision and here is why:
The 4th of July is notorious for the "backyard Bobs" setting off pretty dangerous fireworks on their own. Since your town will not have "professionals" handling them, I bet dollars to donuts, you're gonna have MORE "backyard bobs" doing their own thing thus, accidents, unintentional fires, etc... So....the firemen celebrating with their families will be called out anyway. Ironic!
You are never gonna stop the "backyard bobs" but to have nothing on the actual holiday is just inviting trouble.
One year in California, my hubby was in the hot tub and a bottle rocket came within inches of his head and exploded in our backyard. Scary!
Shanny
P.S. No offense to BobKovacs
Even the non-backyard bobs have issues. I use to work for an engineering firm many moons ago and one of our client's was the guy who lights the fireworks for the netcong fireworks festival... well he had two fingers on one hand and only a thumb on the other... even the "professionals" can get hurt and possibly burn down the neighborhood.
My town never does the official fireworks/Independence Day celebration on July 4th. This year it will be June 28! Even though I do not attend because of the crowds, I have to say I find this stupid & offensive. July 4th is not just a BBQ & fireworks day, it is a celebration of the birth of this nation. It is called Independence Day because that is the reason for the holiday. I firmly believe it should be celebrated on the proper day. BTW, I have never heard an official explanation for the weird choices of dates each year in my town, but if it because of the volunteer firemen, I'm afraid I don't have that much sympathy. This is part of the job. Besides, how long can a municipal fireworks display last? You have the rest of the day & most of the night to be with your families. And isn't the fire department on call anyway along with the police and EMS (who are also volunteers?)? Backyard firework fools are very likely to need some sort of help.
Do none of you take into consideration that these men and women are VOLUNTEERS -- volunteering their time and risking their lives to keep your town safe every other day of the year?? They are every day people -- they work full-time jobs in addition to volunteering, have families, and also deserve to enjoy a day off on the birthday of our nation.
If this was a PAID position, or a full-time JOB, I could understand your frustrations, but it isn't -- they are VOLUNTEERS.
Why this sense of entitlement that they should have to work on a national holiday for YOUR amusement??
How many layers of dust did you have to go through to get to a seven year old thread?
But thanks for adding to the discussion. Really clarifies things.
...and to create an account for the sole purpose of complaining/talking about July 4th. People never cease to amaze me.
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