In my department, until recently we had 3 firefighters on each engine and truck. Only in the last 2 years have we added a fourth to the trucks, but the engines still all have 3 personnel. Again, it can really depend on how many pieces of apparatus are stationed at each house and how each of those rigs are staffed.
I have been to fire stations that have as many as 12 firefighters and have heard about some that have even more. On the other end, there are stations that may be regularly staffed with as few as two firefighters. There are even some stations that are seasonal and are empty during the offseason. In my department, most of the stations have one engine, with three firefighters on-duty at a time. The truck and HazMat Hazardous Materials stations will have personnel, on different rigs.
This seems to be the norm in my area, as many of the other departments near me are staffed similarly. So, in my area, the average number of firefighters in one station is Wildland fires are a different beast entirely. They usually need whole divisions of personnel to manage not just all the firefighting resources, but entire groups of people working on command, communication, planning, food, medical, facilities and a variety of others.
As the incident gets bigger, the number of people needed to manage every aspect grows rapidly. As an example of the extreme, starting on December 4th, , the Thomas Fire began in Southern California. It is one of the most destructive wildfires in California history. It burned , acres or square miles! At one point, there were over firefighters working to fight it. For information and statistics on this fire see this Wikipedia page. Firefighters work in extreme heat, smoke, dust, dirt, wet, and cold.
They work with potentially toxic gases and in tight spaces with very poor or no visibility. We provide the very best protective equipment but firefighters can be at risk for cancer and heart disease as a result of some of the conditions they work in.
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Caution State of Local Emergency declared Minimize. What firefighters do. Respond to fires and emergencies. Respond to medical calls. Respond to vehicle accidents. Provide excellent community service. Job Details. Tell us how we're doing Close. By beginning this survey you accept our privacy policy Did you find the information you were looking for?
Yes, easily Yes, eventually No What would make this page more useful? Send feedback. Website feedback Close. By beginning this survey you accept our privacy policy Overall satisfaction with Calgary. Get information or answers Book, pay or register for a service Report a concern Look for a job opportunity Contact a department, employee or City Council Respond to a City request or message Give input on City investment, projects or development Other. But some cities have started to question the economics of paying firefighters to respond to medical calls.
The county convened the grand jury in as it faced budget issues and complaints about fire departments over-deploying resources in response to non-life-threatening medical emergencies. Of the 37 million calls fire departments received in , almost 25 million were for medical aid. Yet firefighters are paid significantly more than EMS workers or paramedics. Employed by the U. Forest Service, federal firefighters often spend weeks or months away from their families, working hour weeks, sleeping in tents, walking the fire lines.
The pay gap has grown increasingly problematic as wildfires spiral out of control. Forest Service, the same as previous years, according to a Forest Service spokeswoman. In July, Stateline reported that only half of the U. Forest Service fire engines in the California region were fully staffed and able to run seven days a week, and that hundreds of jobs were sitting open.
Still Building Homes With Wood? States like California have also relied on inmates to help fight forest fires, but Calif. The state also had to sideline hundreds of inmate firefighters in after 12 prison fire camps were potentially exposed to the coronavirus through outbreaks in prisons.
A few cities have made adjustments. Tulsa, Okla. Tulsa also stopped using red lights and sirens to respond to lower-priority medical calls, eliminating almost , uses of red lights and sirens over the course of two years. This reduced noise pollution and traffic collisions caused by cars getting out of the way of emergency vehicles.
Sunnyvale, Calif. Though officers bid on their primary assignment, whether it be police or fire, they have to be comfortable doing either. Patrol officers might respond to a big fire and put on fire uniforms that they keep in the back of their SUVs, says Phan Ngo, chief of the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety. It Might Not Be an Aberration.
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