F
fdonthejob
Guest
How do I get on the job down there? Lots of fire duty. Do they take old half cripple retired guys??
I was stationed there when I was in the Navy. Virginia Beach and Norfolk always caught alot of work, it was not uncommon to be on I-264 and see a column of smoke. You would have to ask VBCAPT when I lived there Virginia Beach, Hampton, and Suffolk had volunteers.
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Va. Beach has over 400 career personnel and probably less than 8 volunteer firefighters. Suffolk & Hampton has volunteers however, I do not believe they have many left.
We also provide ALS non-transport service off the Engines & Ladders. All Engines & ladders are ALS equipped, we typically staff at least 10 of our apparatus with Fire/Medics on a daily basis. We do not provide routine transport service as of yet, we do comandere an ambulance now & then when it's busy or when the patient is critical and when we do not want to wait for an ambulance that's coming from a distance. Our Fire & EMS Departments are not merged however, it is inevitable.
We also provide ALS non-transport service off the Engines & Ladders. All Engines & ladders are ALS equipped, we typically staff at least 10 of our apparatus with Fire/Medics on a daily basis. We do not provide routine transport service as of yet, we do comandere an ambulance now & then when it's busy or when the patient is critical and when we do not want to wait for an ambulance that's coming from a distance. Our Fire & EMS Departments are not merged however, it is inevitable.
Is it lack of available volunteers, or is the volunteer end slowly being phased out. I was always under the impression there was a large number of volunteers to supplement the career staff in those three cities, now tha ti think about it Chesaoeake had volunteers also, same story there???? I ask because I've given serious thought to moving back to Hampton Roads now that I have a family.
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Probably a combination of the two along with the high training requirements. I believe Chesapeake does not have volunteers any longer.
Here in the Beach, the EMS system used to be all-volunteer. Currently, there's about 30-40 single role career Paramedics that work for the EMS Department. The EMS system remains predominantly volunteer however, things are slowly changing towards a more career type system. More often, the changes to the system are very subtle and unnoticeable by most of the members. A large portion of our members in the Fire Dept. are patiently waiting for the day we start staffing ambulances. Most of us have accepted that one day it will happen so, we welcome it.
Here in the Beach, the EMS system used to be all-volunteer. Currently, there's about 30-40 single role career Paramedics that work for the EMS Department. The EMS system remains predominantly volunteer however, things are slowly changing towards a more career type system. More often, the changes to the system are very subtle and unnoticeable by most of the members. A large portion of our members in the Fire Dept. are patiently waiting for the day we start staffing ambulances. Most of us have accepted that one day it will happen so, we welcome it.