What a bunch of whiners

[Just Plain Ruff]

I'd go to the station, change the locks today, right NOW and tell them that their services are no longer needed.

Then I'd contract out with some service who wants to run calls.

http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl...9/NEWS/80519051

[Upton4785]

You can just tell these volunteer FF's are walking around the city right now in their "If you can't take the heat, become a cop" and "I save lives for free" t-shirts trying to convince themselves that without this new truck, they can't do the job they've been doing successfully for a while now.

All I have to say to these boys is, "how does it feel to want?"

[EMS49393]

Cha-ching, as a paid professional paramedic, I suddenly became more valuable, especially in a place like Fulton County, KY, where they no longer have any responders.

Another one bites the dust (no pun intended)... good riddance!

[CBEMT]

Among services the squad offers are river rescue on the Mississippi River, extracting people pinned in wrecked vehicles and weather spotting.

Doesn't sound like they're actually an EMS service. I've seen some areas that have organizations separate from the fire department that do extrication, technical rescue, etc.

[Dustdevil]

Doesn't sound like they are even a VFD, for that matter. Sounds like one of those wanker squads, where a bunch of guys who can't handle the education for EMS, and have already been kicked off of the VFD, form their own "rescue squad" just to get a piece of the action. Also sounds like these guys take themselves way too seriously. I'd be real surprised if their absence makes one iota of difference in the lives of the community.

[celticcare]

89,000 for their new unit? Wonder what it had in it? Where the heck they were buying it from and what did they want in it? And alot of money in a small town for only 13 members,

I agree, prob bunch of wannabe's that actually makes the rest of us actually in healthcare/EMS and fire shudder and distance ourselves from anyway.

Soon see what happens eh

[Tech217]

Hmmm . . . yeah . . . let's go out there and help our community, but only if we have a nice, pretty truck to ride around in.

Not the folks I'd want pulling me from a vehicle. I'd prefer a squad that actually gave a damn.

[katbemeEMT-B]

Okay, so wouldn't these wankers have a contract they have to honor? Maybe the city/county should file suit against them for failure to provide services outlined in their contract. What a bunch of piss-babies.

[CBEMT]

If they are a quasi-vfd/rescue, there usually isn't a contract. They just exist, and their charter probably says they exist to serve community xyz.

Unless they are "owned" by the town, they are almost certainly an independent organization that is free to disband in accordance with their bylaws.

[Dustdevil]

There have been some cases to my recollection where a town simply decided that they were going to take over an independent VFD corporation that did not even belong to them, equipment and all, and successfully withstood the legal challenge of the corporation. That is amazing to me that a little podunk town can actually just decide that they own you and your equipment, and that a judge allows it. But, as this case illustrates, perhaps it is sometimes the best thing.

But really, this case reminds me of what we go through with the firemonkeys. We always wonder why a city thinks it's a good idea to double an FD budget in order to improve EMS instead of just properly funding EMS in the first place. It's back asswards. And it makes about as much sense as funding a free-standing "rescue squad" instead of simply properly funding their fire department in the first place.