Anyone who thinks it's a good idea to cut a FF off the apparatus has never fought a fire in an urban setting.
You simply can't do this job safely with 3 guys on a truck unless you sit around waiting for the next in truck. Even then, you still have to wait for them to arrive to be RIT before the first crew can even make entry to perform a search/rescue.
And as has already been mentioned, HFD rotates FFs off the ambulance/squad to the pumper/ladder every few shifts. So, to do away with this system is only going to force more OT somewhere.
Lastly, after having worked in the "private" industry for a company that provided both FIRE and EMS I can honestly state that the training of a municipal service and the training of a private are light years apart. The city I work for now requires training every shift (except on Saturdays/Sundays) as opposed to maybe once a month for the private I worked for.
In my opinion, there's no comparison. And I'm certainly not saying EVERY private is bad. I'm just pro-city.<_<
My department's truck staffing video illustrates the importance of proper staffing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_K-K6o5cGc
We also have mandatory monthly training, as well as inservice and OOS multi company drills. People still think we lounge around all day playing X-box and watching movies though.
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