Emergency Training for the Locals

My fire department and several others nearby get together with NJ Transit every couple of years to go over procedures, as their equipment changes or has modifications. In my area we have an old Lackawanna electrified line that serves as a comuter line so we need to know how to deal with the Arrow cars, double deck commuter cars and dual mode (hybrid diesel/electric- can either run as a diesel unit or draw from catenary power).

That IS a good idea. It's one thing to practice on a mockup and another to get the idea of the size and shape of the real thing.

Back when we still had our collie, Kennel Club had a presentation by Bob Sarver from the Pittsburgh USART team. They were given a remarkable facility to practice in--an abandoned manufacturing plant, complete with giant steel tubes so they could drop scent clues for their dogs without leaving a trail, among other techniques. WPXI ran an expose about how wasteful it was to maintain all their equipment...right before the big plane crash up that way ushered in a whole string of disasters that used almost everything their USART had. The press quit complaining after that.

There have been recent effort from Home Land Security to get local community leaders, in our case, the church pastor to attend seminars on the evils of the world and what can happen with simple stuff that dates to the first world war. We live safe and well, thanks to all those who pay attention. 

There is a huge concern about volunteer first responder service in Pennsylvania.  Numbers are not what they have been. 

Thanks for the replies. Volunteer responders are all we have around here (Washington county covers about 2500 square miles and has less than 5000 population, including the towns) so their efforts are greatly appreciated. Any additional training has to be a good thing, in my opinion, and kudos to these folks for taking time out of their lives to pursue these activities with no reward other than a "Thank you."

first responders, we who live in the rural  areas of our great country get to see these people in action. The local,folks who give time and energy to,help,other people . The people who live in populated area are used to seeing the paid people do,the work, butmusnrural,folks rely that when the whistle blows for help the locals respond.  And that they do.  So when they  have a breakfast, picnic, ect, ect be whatever get,out and help as a way of saying thank,you. I known I have relied on these people for 27 years on the job.

Numbers are down. The training requirements increase every year, while employers keep wanting more and more hours, so people don't have the free time to give.

A lot of people make dumb Barney Fife jokes about volunteer fire and EMS, but truth is, they have the same training as a paid firefighter (and some of ours are working in Pittsburgh or Columbus and coming home on their off days.) Just the EMT course is a full semester's work at the community college. To get the paramedic certificate is another full year (including summer) or two academic years. That's a lot of time, effort and expense when you're paying to do it instead of getting paid for it, and not all departments have the money for scholarships.

I think if a person truly wants to volunteer and serve their community, they will find the time. I understand the point about training, but I do know that departments and organizations are providing flexible schedules now as far as training goes.

The one issue I encounter is that there is a lack of generational community involvement or the compassion to volunteer.  Most folks could care less about volunteering, and assume someone else is going to take up the slack. The whining starts when all of a sudden the 'free' volunteer service disbands and a 'paid' service takes over.

I also love the assumption around here by some residents that the fire department is a paid group. Once, I rolled up on an incident, a woman said 'I bet you can't wait to get back to the station and finish dinner' in which I responded ' no , I'm going home to help my son with homework and finish dinner'  - she though we were at the station 24/7 and I explained that we were volunteer - we don't get any compensation. The thought it crazy that I would do something for free and not be compensated. So theres your current mindset, probably not the majority, but in any case thats what were up against.

I had an angry lady demand to know who I knew to get the job of tending cash register at the weekly fish fry. Hmm, maybe "lady" is an overstatement. 

You're right about younger people not being connected enough to volunteer. Most are not really connected to anything other than a very small piece of their own age group. We've set up the day care and school system that way to keep them "safe." They start with a cohort of six-week-old babies and move along in as tight and isolated an age-matched group as possible. They have very little, if any, contact with extended family and not much more with their parents. When they go to work, they do long, strange hours at a patchwork of fast-food places until they find a job in Cubeville, like it or not. They don't know there's anything else out there. 

Now try to sell them on three hours every Tuesday and Thursday for five months (they can miss two classes) for EMT training, plus running out the door whenever they're needed. More employer incentive would really help, because Ohio was lucky to get a "can't fire EMS volunteers for being late" law. Of course, a lot of the bad companies instantly forbade anyone from volunteering on a squad.