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Fire service: Do you think you'll be better served by one unified county fire department?
Comment: Dig a little deeper and you will find that Chief Perkins NEW Salary will be based on the total Number of Firefighters under his Command. Gee... making all the volunteers come under his Command, what will that do to his Salary when they add all those firefighters to the list of people he controls. I think the volunteers will be leaving Escambia County and going to other agencies in Baldwin County, Escambia AL and Santa Rosa.
Comment: The benefits of a unified,
professional service are too
many and too valuable to ig-
nore. Think of: one communi-
tions center, one training fa-
cility with standardized pro-
grams, one promotional program
non-duplication of services,
specialized units (dive rescue,extrication units, air
rescue, marine units) Insurance rates would surely
diminish while service levels
forge ahead. I base my judgement on having retired
from Metro Dade Fire Dept. One
of the most progressive, pro-
fessional depts. in the world. from Pensacola, Florida by Robin
Comment: As a firefighter I can say that we would be positively affected by the change. Having one unified command structure is key in efficiently coordinating the operations on scene and off. If one district is not operating on the same page as the other, there is too much room for error and way too much room for friction between districts, having one unified chain of command is more simple and everyone knows where they stand. from Pensacola by Jeremy
Comment: Paid fire fighters were put in place to subsidize the Volunteers during the day time hours. Escambia County the community can not afford a full time 24 hour fire service. As is stands the current admin is taking the MSBU that was for the volunteers and using it for their purpose and telling the volunteers that still have good fire trucks they are not going to provide insurance or maintenance which violates the current contracts. I walked to support a local fire department and served combined 27 years and still have a life time status to help my community and elderly. By combining the departments to one chief not only violates each community fire districts volunteer status and charter but will cause unjust hardship on each and every home owner and elderly person that depends on the good heart of the volunteers that prevents them from having to pay high taxes. I support the paid for what they were originally hired for, as for going under one chief anyone who votes for this needs to be voted out of office. The fire service has come along way lets not mess it up now. from pensacola,Florida by David
Comment: It's about time! For too long the volunteer system has been dominated by those who feel they can do whatever they like. This was true during Katrina when a volunteer chief sent equipment before the emergency management assistance compact was issued. This is the national system that allows for the needed equipment sent to the needed areas. It also allows proper supplies to be sent to support these units. One system could have prevented that. In addition, there is a lot of wasted money being spent in the Escambia County fire system.
Without consolidating services, millions of tax dollars will be wasted instead of being spent in response to the fire situation here at home.
Why dosen't Escambia County follow the strategic plan? Because there are too many fifdoms and not a lot of work to coordinate and cooperate. This is true of career and volunteer.
Escambia County cannot survive without volunteers and the career personnel need to understand that. On the other side, the volunteers need to understand that they support the operations of the entire county - not alone.
Many people's egos may be hurt, but they are here for the public good - not the other way around.
I appreciate the work both career and volunteer firefighters do for the community, but this fight has to end. Chiefs Perkins and Whitfield better learn to get along or replace both of them.
Consolidate. from Pensacola, FL by Benjamin
Comment: There AREN'T 15 "Kingdoms", they are 15 cooperative Departments that utilize their efforts and equipment in unison during Box Alarms,
to the Benefit and Protection of the Citizens of Our Counties!! The departments are dependent on County Funds, which Aren't Always equitably Divided. The Fund Raisers that use to happen, instilled recognition of Personnel, and Pride in the Firefighters for the Communities they Protect.
Why are you Trying to "fix" something that Isn't Broken??
Former Ensley Volunteer Fire Dept, Lieutenant Russ Harris from Ensley, FL by Russ
Comment: This was proposed by the volunteer fire service in 2000. The county service did not follow through. The PSD would not agree to the plan put forth by the association. The whole system (paid and volunteer)has not put forth the effort to do the right thing for the citizens that they serve. What do the citizens want? They have to decide what level of service they wish to pay for....
Both career and volunteer have to be held to and play by the same rules as well as afforded the same amount of training time that they could attend due to the fact that they have to work a regular job. from Cantonment FL by John
Comment: There should be only 1 chain of command, it will help keep down confusion. from Pensacola, FL by Carolyn
Comment: we would be much better served under the leadership of one person. from p'cola by h
Comment: Too many "chiefs" during an emergency opens up more opportunities to "blame the other". Every volunteer firefighter should be held to the same standards and follow the same chain of command as a career firefighter. I'm very dissappointed that the commissioners "gave in" and extended their contract. This transistion needs to occur immediately. You're only allowing more time for the animosity to build between the two departments. from Pensacola, FL by Tracy
Comment: I don't know how a govt. entity such as the BCC with a favorability rating of 3.0 can push through the reorganization of the fire service, favorability rating of 4.6, without a lot of thought and study. They make a mess of everything they touch. from Pensacola Fl by Elizabeth
Comment: It would indeed benefit the citizens of Escambia County and improve morale within the volunteer and career ranks !!! from Pensacola by Robert
Comment: I know the county would be better served by one unified fire department. These volunteer fire departments. are out of control, most of them are not state certified firefighters and they also create unsafe working conditions on the fire ground.
If the county became unified they would ensure that these volunteers would become certified. Also it is against the law in the state of florida to fight fire and not be certified. from Pensacola by Jimmy
Comment: It seems funny the fire depts in escambia county did not have this many problems between paid and volunteer, and we did not need a volunteer corodinator, then whitfield comes into the picture. He applied for the position and trying to set himself up to get it. by tom
Comment: I strongly agree with having a unified county fire dept. I feel there are too many "chiefs" and not enough "indians." They should fall under one chain of command. There does not need to be a Chief for every fire district, this is costly to tax payers and creates a top heavy dept. Following under one chain of command and one system would be much more efficient. from Pensacola, FL by Scott
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