Quote:
Originally Posted by Amail
I used to volunteer at Deer Springs FD in North San Diego County way back in the day - 1982 or so. I don't know if it's still a volunteer organization or not, but it seemed to work out pretty well. There was definitely a difference, though, in professional paid staff versus volunteers. You can be a lot more choosy with paid. If it were me, I think I'd prefer to have paid vs volunteer protection.
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Deer Springs is actually a state contract station with paid staff now. I know a guy that is an Engineer at that station.
Just like any government (local, state, fed, etc...) employees, some work harder than others regardless if they are on an emergency call or not. IMHO we do need paid fireman. It's very hard to find a job anywhere that will allow you time off to fight a wildfire for 1-2 weeks. Not to mention the additional response time necessary for a volnteer to respond to a station and grab a fire apparatus to respond to a structure fire.