Comments on: Open Mic Wednesday http://michiganfireservice.com/open-mic-wednesday/229/ Information, News, and Training for Michigan\'s Fire Fighters. Visit www.michiganfireservice.com Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:41:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: mobrian http://michiganfireservice.com/open-mic-wednesday/229/comment-page-1/#comment-1222 mobrian Sun, 18 Jan 2009 01:06:48 +0000 http://michiganfireservice.com/?p=229#comment-1222 Bill Great Statement, I see your position on protection, but we also have a post coming out soon on the protection of the position of fire chief and the way the communities don't seem to care. Is this our own position for us not pushing the issue? Do we need more leadership to continue and get legislation that can protect our firefighters? Bill Great Statement, I see your position on protection, but we also have a post coming out soon on the protection of the position of fire chief and the way the communities don’t seem to care. Is this our own position for us not pushing the issue? Do we need more leadership to continue and get legislation that can protect our firefighters?

]]> By: Bill Everett http://michiganfireservice.com/open-mic-wednesday/229/comment-page-1/#comment-1221 Bill Everett Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:23:40 +0000 http://michiganfireservice.com/?p=229#comment-1221 Why does Michigan contiune to lag behind many other states when it comes to job protection for First Responders? Those of us in rural areas understand the need to have everyone available when the "tones" go off. Yet many are reluctant to answer for fear of losing their jobs if they know they'll be late for work. Most are unable to leave work for a major structure fire during the day. Lord knows none of us do this for the money. But having the ability to serve our communites without fear of job loss, would greatly enhance the recruiting and retaining of FFs/EMTs in rural areas of the state. Why does Michigan contiune to lag behind many other states when it comes to job protection for First Responders?

Those of us in rural areas understand the need to have everyone available when the “tones” go off. Yet many are reluctant to answer for fear of losing their jobs if they know they’ll be late for work. Most are unable to leave work for a major structure fire during the day.

Lord knows none of us do this for the money. But having the ability to serve our communites without fear of job loss, would greatly enhance the recruiting and retaining of FFs/EMTs in rural areas of the state.

]]> By: Mike Eckert http://michiganfireservice.com/open-mic-wednesday/229/comment-page-1/#comment-1143 Mike Eckert Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:40:58 +0000 http://michiganfireservice.com/?p=229#comment-1143 We just had this talk last night at our officers meeting. We discussed a number of issues, including how we staff and respond to calls, minimizing waste, etc. The reality is that we need to plan for economic peaks and valleys every year and as part of our 5 and 10 year planning. I am fortunate because the leadership of my organization has done that for years. In an overall sense, we need to stick to our plan, which if designed correctly can survive these downturns. That doesn't mean we aren't looking to trim fat; we are - but we must make sure that we don't live beyond our means when times are good either. A couple of things we are doing (and have done in the past:) 1) Re-evaluating how we respond to those incidents requiring a single company 2) Reducing paper generation for meetings, trainings, etc. 3) Meticulous attention to preventive maintenance on apparatus and equipment, etc. 4) We keep the temp in bays low in the winter; (no need to heat them to 72 degrees!) 5) Reducing unnecessary trips to conserve fuel. We have made our officers and firefighters aware that we must always be good stewards of our customers' money and not appear to be wasteful. That is a very hard image to overcome once it has been perceived as such. Always looking for more ideas from others! We just had this talk last night at our officers meeting. We discussed a number of issues, including how we staff and respond to calls, minimizing waste, etc. The reality is that we need to plan for economic peaks and valleys every year and as part of our 5 and 10 year planning. I am fortunate because the leadership of my organization has done that for years. In an overall sense, we need to stick to our plan, which if designed correctly can survive these downturns. That doesn’t mean we aren’t looking to trim fat; we are – but we must make sure that we don’t live beyond our means when times are good either. A couple of things we are doing (and have done in the past:) 1) Re-evaluating how we respond to those incidents requiring a single company 2) Reducing paper generation for meetings, trainings, etc. 3) Meticulous attention to preventive maintenance on apparatus and equipment, etc. 4) We keep the temp in bays low in the winter; (no need to heat them to 72 degrees!) 5) Reducing unnecessary trips to conserve fuel. We have made our officers and firefighters aware that we must always be good stewards of our customers’ money and not appear to be wasteful. That is a very hard image to overcome once it has been perceived as such. Always looking for more ideas from others!

]]> By: mobrian http://michiganfireservice.com/open-mic-wednesday/229/comment-page-1/#comment-1139 mobrian Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:29:57 +0000 http://michiganfireservice.com/?p=229#comment-1139 Let me start this ball rolling, in light of Michigan's economic time, what is your community doing to be proactive or reactive to the down-turn in the economy? Let me start this ball rolling, in light of Michigan’s economic time, what is your community doing to be proactive or reactive to the down-turn in the economy?

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