Bad time for Fla firefighter wanna be's

[boeingb13]

Last year sometime around May, the state of Florida went on a total hiring freeze. Since then we have watched as our politicians have fought over a new home tax reform.

The reform essentially is supposed to make everyones yearly taxes lower, but at the expense of cutting city budgets across the board. Starting with fire/ems and the police, but goes all the way down to areas like libraries and several others.

This tax cut comes mostly from south Florida, where housing is a bit more expensive, i'm not talking about your $ 300,000 homes, im talking about your $ 1,500,000 homes.

These people have complained and rallied about how they should not have to pay all these taxes, so now, we have a " one size fits all" tax reform that will be voted on Jan 29th.

And though you me and our neighbors would instantly think, why are we laying off firefighters and police, and freezing their hiring when their already short handed?

The answer is simple, these are the people where the likely hood of us coming to their homes is slim.

These are the people who have plenty of insurance, who always go to their doctor, and for the most part take care of themselves. They have the new homes with the fire supression systems built in, to limit loss of life and property. Now i'm not saying they never have their problems, and they dont get sick, or their house dont burn, i'm saying the likely hood is alot less than others.

So, looking at that, being they are not likely to need us, why should they care if our stations aren't staffed adequately, or if there are lafoff's looming ahead, simple, they dont.

But the Gov that the fire,police and many others pushed so hard to get into office is on the same page as them.

Through retirement some of our fire dept's have been slowly opening for new recruits, and the problem people are facing now is, though the dept's have been closed to hiring, the schools state wide have still been pumping students out left and right, so right now the market is flooded with firefighter/emt's and fire/medics.

Theres nothing like paying roughly 13,000 in total school fee's to sit at home.

Just another rant!

[spenac]

Just another reason fire should not have EMS. EMS should be seperatly funded required service. People will need emergency medical care at some point. Most of us will never have a fire. Money has been wasted on keeping fire equiped. Time to reform the system and put money where its needed ( EMS) and cut the fat (fire).

[JPINFV]

So you can't get hired because the market is flooded and it is the people who don't want to pay taxes' fault?

Oh, and before anyone tells me that they are "cutting taxes for the rich," let me say, "Of course they are." You have to pay taxes to get a tax cut and the top 50% pay over 96% of all tax income while the top 10% of income earners pay almost 66% of all tax income.

[boeingb13]

First of all JP, I expected people to whine about who pays more taxes, thats standard. Second I have a job working in ems, the point I was making, is that housing tax reform is not a one size fits all, and is damn sure shouldnt be based on the the South Beach Miami residents housing tax.

And as far as Spenac's comment, the rescues here dont take the hits, its the engine and ladder crews, and as much as I dont want to say it I have to, alls I hear, is complaining about fire and ems being combined from the people who dont live here in the south, well save it, we live here and this is how it is. You all live in the north or where ever. So its easy to complain about it.

[Dustdevil]

...alls I hear, is complaining about fire and ems being combined from the people who dont live here in the south, well save it, we live here and this is how it is. You all live in the north or where ever. So its easy to complain about it.

Well, man... you actually had me up to this point. Nobody here complains more about fire-based EMS than I do, and I am proudly from the South, and a former professional firemonkey-medic. More than half the people here complaining about fire-based EMS are from the South too. It only makse sense, since we are the ones suffering the ill effects of it. Don't accuse others of gross generalisations until you review your own unfounded assumptions.

As for the "this is how it is" comment, come on, man. That attitude is exactly why things stay how they are. You can collaborate with the enemy, or you can fight them. Those are your choices. If you want to collaborate, then firehouse.com is where you want to be. If you want to fight, then you're in the right place. But don't expect a lot of support here for the "can't we all get along?" song.

[Just Plain Ruff]

So you can't get hired because the market is flooded and it is the people who don't want to pay taxes' fault?

Oh, and before anyone tells me that they are "cutting taxes for the rich," let me say, "Of course they are." You have to pay taxes to get a tax cut and the top 50% pay over 96% of all tax income while the top 10% of income earners pay almost 66% of all tax income.

and those in the bottom 25% pay 10% of the taxes but consume 75% of the services that are out there available.

[CaneMedic]

Well, man... you actually had me up to this point. Nobody here complains more about fire-based EMS than I do, and I am proudly from the South, and a former professional firemonkey-medic. More than half the people here complaining about fire-based EMS are from the South too. It only makse sense, since we are the ones suffering the ill effects of it. Don't accuse others of gross generalisations until you review your own unfounded assumptions.

As for the "this is how it is" comment, come on, man. That attitude is exactly why things stay how they are. You can collaborate with the enemy, or you can fight them. Those are your choices. If you want to collaborate, then firehouse.com is where you want to be. If you want to fight, then you're in the right place. But don't expect a lot of support here for the "can't we all get along?" song.

Guess they should rename this "privateEMScity.com" Good grief. I've read some very good posts from intelligent people since I've been browsing, but never so much "fire vs private ems" whining.

You want to fight the whole state of GA and FL? Good, go for it. I'll do my job to the best of my ability, learn as much as I can, and provide the best care I can. I'll leave the fighting everybody task up to you guys that want to have ulcers and be constantly "grumpy" and mad at the world.

Geez get out and enjoy life a little.

[JPINFV]

Guess they should rename this "privateEMScity.com" Good grief. I've read some very good posts from intelligent people since I've been browsing, but never so much "fire vs private ems" whining.

You do realize that there are other options out there besides private EMS and EMS based fire suppression, right?

[CaneMedic]

the options are endless. The whining could go on until Al Gore invents the internet part deux!

[frontcrawl]

"fire vs. private"

What the crap?

It's like I've been transported to firehouse.com ](*,)