News flash: Most of us have walked into more crack houses at three in the morning w/o LEO or come close to getting hit on the side of the road working a wreck than any FF has run into burning buildings in this age of fire prevention.
If your sick of hearing those terms then go spend your time on a fire based forum and quit trolling several of ours with the IAFF talking points.
Really? These are but three that we had in the past couple of weeks. There were more, but these are the ones that were filmed and submitted.
http://www.thebigeyeinfairfax.net/
I'm not sickened by those terms. I actually find them cute and amusing, like that's the best anyone can do in poking fun at the FD. Corny. Often I hear about how EMS should seperate from fire, and that fire should be downstaffed. If that were to happen (which it won't otherwise I would have stayed single role EMS and knocked out an RN or RRT degree) I would be unemployed. If forum members are basically advocating that my family and I end up on the unemployment line, then I have no problem giving a little bit of that "love" back their way. Like when I say that I play for the winning team, make serious bank and such. That kind of stuff hopefully irritates one as much as wishing someone unemployed. I don't boast about such things in real life, but I like to break chops here when I'm getting mine broken in kind.
I also don't believe in FD takeovers of EMS, except in the case of gross mismanagement of the existing service. But, if the general attitude is that my job should be dissolved, then I don't feel so bad when another FD absorbs EMS. When I hear things like "All EMS should be seperate from fire" and "fire doesn't run as many calls as, or generate revenue like EMS, so they should be downstaffed to reflect call volume", that's actually the reverse of a FD absorbing EMS. You have one side that wants both services merged, sometimes displacing workers (some keep medics single role, many do not). You have the other side who wants to split the operation, and downstaff fire, also costing jobs. Who's right? It's a case by case basis, dependent on the real reasons why the FD took over EMS, and how they're running it. Depts in my region have been combined since they started hiring paid personnel for the first time.
I've went into many a shady residence, dealt with quite a few junkies, and have been by myself (and my partner) working many an MVA with a more than a few close calls. I did NYC EMS, I'm no stranger to that. Running into a burning building that could collapse at any time, or flash on you, is quite a bit different than beating back a crackhead or braving the highway. And I wasn't implying that EMS isn't important and at times dangerous, it was the FF's specifically that were under scrutiny, so I used the fact that we run into burning buildings to say "cut us some slack, and pick some more important battles". Taking an apparatus to the store isn't a big deal, and it's not breaking the bank.
I like FH.com. I go there from time to time. Contacts there helped me with the hiring process. When I first joined this forum, I wanted to shoot the bull with others that do EMS. Yes, I am also a paramedic, same as before I went fire. So it isn't "your" forum, but rather it's"our" forum. I quickly found out that there were a bunch of FD haters, envious or whatever, like I said seeking to put me out of work. That got me a little hot, so I go back at the mutts now and then. I was also taken aback by the education nazis. I, like many others were told that we're ignorant, unintelligent, piss poor providers for not having a degree. So I went back with situations where the individual would be better off financially in going a quicker route, especially if they can't afford to be in school for three or four years.
For crying out loud, one of my first threads was asking for tips and tricks on the ALS level to help us with the job. I posted a simple shortcut for dopamine math. I was attacked by the education nazis about why we shouldn't use shortcuts, don't be lazy, do it the traditional way, blah blah blah. I should have expected as much. In each of my EMS jobs, I noticed plenty of attitudes, posturing, backstabbing, throwing each other under the bus, general frustration and disgruntlement. Although each of things will go on to some extent at any employer, it is much, much less evident where I am now.
Worked for me when I lost my job several years ago and I now have a carreer I love.
