r/Firefighting • u/statuscaffeinepticus Firefighter/AEMT • Feb 17 '25
Volunteer / Combination / Paid on Call People leaving children at the station semi-unattended at a volunteer station
Hello all,
I am a volunteer firefighter/AEMT for a volunteer fire department. We have a station that is fully equipped for living out of (used to have a live-in program for college students) that a handful of people use. We have a TV room, bunk room, and a gym.
Several times now, I have arrived at the station and found children semi-unattended in the TV room. If it’s only for a short time it’s no big deal, but it does get kind of frustrating when the on-duty crew has to tiptoe around the kids. At previous departments, sometimes members would bring their kids for a tour or something. However, they were not left unattended in the living areas of the crews.
Once all the station duties are done, hit the gym, run calls and do paperwork, training, cook dinner, it’s nice to kick back and relax. It feels disrespectful to be leaving your children in the way of the crew(s). This is a fire department not a daycare?
This is mostly a vent and to see if anyone else has dealt with this.
2
u/Fireguy9641 VOL FF/EMT Feb 17 '25
You def need a policy, because unattended children is a huge liability risk.
I would say that on the flip side though, you don't want to be too harsh because members bringing children can open up opportunities for support members and potentially inspire future members.
Our policy is that if you bring your child, you are responsible for your child, so you either do admin work, or you have a responsible person look after your child. (For example, son, father and grandpa, grandpa doesn't ride much anymore, but still likes to hang out, he can watch the child while father rides)