r/Firefighting • u/TigerBack56 • 7d ago
General Discussion Whats your departments dumbest/strangest policy?
So i come from a military background and I know how stupid some policies can be. Our department has a few i can think of but I wanted to here from the community, what is your departments dumbest/strangest legitimate policy?
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u/minorcarnage 7d ago
"After every second bottle rehab with 400 ml of a 50/50 mix of Gatorade and water at 4°C"
- We don't have fridges in our trucks
- There is no magic 400ml bottle to mix the water and Gatorade.
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u/wookiee42 7d ago
400 mL is 15 mL away from halff a 28oz bottle, which is what they sell nowadays.
Are Nalgenes an option? The powder is cheaper and I think it still has slightly better sugar.
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u/ReddutSux69 7d ago
where do you keep the ice and Gatorade?
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u/BanditAndFrog Truck Chauffeur 7d ago
Shit man, that just means you got too much equipment on your rig
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u/fish1552 FF/EMT who thankfully doesn't have to do medical 6d ago
We keep bottled water in a cooler of ice on our rigs. Swapped out every day (or supposed to be - depending on the D/O).
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 7d ago
Well first off. Assume 2 30 min bottles, you probably should be drinking at least a quart. So that is wrong.
Secondly NFPA has required rehab equipment on every fire apparatus for at least two decades. So take off some shit you don’t need, and put a damned fridge on the apparatus.
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u/duckmuffins TX Firefighter/EMT 7d ago
We just fill the coolers on the engines with ice at the start of every shift. No need for a fridge although it would be convenient.
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u/hungrygiraffe76 6d ago
Pretty reasonable, oddly specific. Even funnier if you’re in the US and they still wrote it with metric measurements.
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u/Unwitnessed 7d ago
Not enough radios for every interior firefighter. Not really a policy, but pretty idiotic.
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u/Barabarabbit 7d ago
That is not good at all. I would not be comfortable going interior without a radio.
Radios are also not as expensive as other things like turnouts. If your department is skimping on radios, what else are they cutting costs on?
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u/Datsunoffroad 7d ago
Our radios are $5000, our turnouts are $2800
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 7d ago
For that kind of money that radio had better be able to transmit my gps location, let me do my run reports, be able to transmit simultaneously on CB, AM, FM, Low band, mid band, mid band, high band, 800 mhz, cellular, & satellite. It had better be able to scan all those bands, and automaticly pull me into any frequency transmitting.
And automatic know to let my wife I’m going to be home late and why.
That is a 5,000 dollar radio.
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u/Fif112 7d ago
Our radios are $6500, Canadian, and can transmit gps.
They can, but the department just doesn’t use that function.
For… reasons?
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u/Impressive_Change593 VA volly 7d ago
we have GPS but I've seen it get used once to get coordinates for a landing.
the reason it's turned off by default is it eating battery life insofar as I know.
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u/randomlyanonff 6d ago
Motorola 6000xe. I was told the model number is the price 😂
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u/fish1552 FF/EMT who thankfully doesn't have to do medical 6d ago
Maybe they said that humorously, but our 6000XE and the 8000XE are around the same price.
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u/fish1552 FF/EMT who thankfully doesn't have to do medical 6d ago
Ours are about the same. We run the APX 6000XE from Motorola with standard batteries.
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 7d ago
For some reason, and damned if I understand it. Radios / pagers are one of those things people think ain’t important.
I’ve seen volunteer departments not want to buy pagers. Like. Wtf. How do you think people are going to know to show up?
I’ve seen paid depts skimp on radios, and not have pagers for duty crews, without station alerting. It is wild.
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u/kc9tng Volunteer FF & EMS LT/EMT/FTO 7d ago
But they have the phone app!
And the one guy who lives closer to the station can’t figure out why I beat him there by several minutes. Well when the pager went off I left my house. I was driving past your house before the app went off. Or when the app system is down or delayed. Or they forget to send it.
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u/Powder4576 Cadet 6d ago
In my experience my app goes off before the radio, but still, there’s a lot of times where my app won’t even release the tones at all, especially for structure fires weirdly
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u/Angling_Insights FF1/2, Fire Officer, Fire Instructor 1/2, EMT 6d ago
Our radios are just as expensive as a set of turnout gear. Both are between $4,000-5,000.
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u/fish1552 FF/EMT who thankfully doesn't have to do medical 6d ago edited 6d ago
The average radio for us is now $4500. The average set of our GXtreme turnouts is about $3300 with helmet/gloves/particulate hoods/boots.
Sounds like the dept needs to write more grants. Or start keeping the radios in the trucks and get the dispatching software to alert people to their phone so radios aren't carried home by half the people who aren't showing up 24/7.
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u/BenThereNDunnThat 6d ago
You haven't seen the price of digital radios recently, especially Motorola, have you?
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u/Barabarabbit 6d ago
To be honest I have not.
They used to be cheaper than turnouts.
However I get the feeling that is no longer the case
I think that every FF should have a radio. Especially for interior operations.
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u/Unwitnessed 7d ago
Depending on who you are, you either get turnouts replaced in accordance with the NFPA requirements, or they refuse to replace because "they were inspected and are fine."
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 7d ago
If you don’t have a radio, you’re not interior.
Not on a fire.
Not on a EMS call.
Chief have a portable? Walk up and take it. His ass can run command from the cab of the engine where it should be anyway.
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u/Peaches0k Texas FF/EMT/HazMat Tech 7d ago
There’s a guy in my crew that’s burnt out as fuck. Won’t bunk out for fire alarms, doesn’t take a radio anywhere not even the grocery store, sleeps all day after lunch, doesn’t workout with us, doesn’t wash the rigs with us, nothing
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u/Coffee-FlavoredSweat FF/EMT 7d ago
I’m in charge of programming and issuing radios on my volunteer dept. when our chief wouldn’t buy batteries, I swapped his new one with one that was 5 years old and wouldn’t hold a charge. We had batteries the next week.
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u/randomlyanonff 6d ago
I have saved my oldest worn out uniform for when I can not get replacement uniform. It gets worn when higher ups are scheduled to visit. Guaranteed I'll get fresh uniform no matter what the budget said.
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u/Tasty_Explanation_20 7d ago
My chief likes to leave his radio in the rescue when he goes in for an ems call. :roll eyes:
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u/Agreeable-Emu886 6d ago
There’s no excuse to not have it on a fire. But really everyone needs a radio on a med….??
Also command should be wherever your department wants it. I’m all set with having the deputy down the block, ours belong in front of the building
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 6d ago
Depends how many people are going on a med. If it is 12 dudes (which would rarely be justified) then no.
But if it is a more reasonable number? Then yea. Everybody.
As to command: it was a pretty specific situation. Someone going interior needs a portable radio a hell of a lot more than someone standing outside, regardless of their duty position. Do if the deputy has a portable, and an interior guy doesnt? He can get his ass on a truck and move it to the front of the building if that is where he wants to be.
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u/Agreeable-Emu886 6d ago
I work in a city, we don’t run buses and we’re getting 3-4 guys on a truck. Company officer is the only one who typically carries a radio on non fire calls.
This is one of those the fire service varies drastically, our deputies have their own take home radios that are labeled with their call sign C2, C3 etc.. every riding position has allocated radios and our deputies are dedicated shift commanders. We have spare radios, radios for callbacks… if you’re at a paid department and you don’t have enough radios, I’d suggest finding better employment
The reason I touch on command, is the east coast is known for having command in front of the building. Some of the west coast people park their car down the block and run it that way. It’s a widely divided topic.
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u/KGBspy Career FF/Lt and adult babysitter. 7d ago
We just got issued our own a little more than a year ago otherwise it was 1 at each ride position, of course guys took them accidentally when they’d forget them in their coats. They were shit radio, batteries were crap you’d have to carry 2. Now we got those green ones loaded with frequencies.
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u/Unwitnessed 6d ago
Half the limited radios in our department have battery issues because they haven't been replaced in 20+ years. 1 at each ride position is a good plan, so long as they are properly maintained.
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u/fish1552 FF/EMT who thankfully doesn't have to do medical 6d ago
People don't know the batteries are only good for 5 years FROM THE DATE OF MANUFACTURE. Above the barcode on a Morotola is a 4 digit number, The first two are the year of manufacture, the second is the week of that year it was made. So I have a 2413 I'm looking at so it was made between March 25th and March 31, 2024.
They could sit on a shelf in a warehouse for 2 years before you get them and only be good for 3 more years.
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u/KGBspy Career FF/Lt and adult babysitter. 6d ago
Thx. We went from HT 1000’s to xts 1250’s I think they were and they’d buy knock off batteries from someplace, they were always dying so you’d have to carry extras during the shift. We got the green ones now and they’re new so we get some mileage out of the batteries.
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u/fish1552 FF/EMT who thankfully doesn't have to do medical 6d ago
Ok, those batteries SHOULD be the same type of code. I would make sure to let the person making the purchases know that they need swapped out every 5 years on a life cycle list. Then make up a proposal to only buy 1/5th each year so the oldest get replaced each year. That might help both get it done as well as spread out the payments.
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u/RedditBot90 7d ago
My first department was like this. In retrospect, pretty wild. But that’s just how it was
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u/Unwitnessed 6d ago
How long ago though?
My first department had a radio for every firefighter's riding position in the 90s. My current one doesn't in 2025!
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u/RedditBot90 3d ago
- It was a pretty small, volunteer department. Officers had radios; rigs had a couple radios on the chargers, but if we had a full rig not everyone had a radio.
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u/Unwitnessed 3d ago
Sounds similar. Not a safe situation if someone needs to call a mayday and is separated from the crew.
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u/glinks 7d ago
I’m on the only department I know of that isn’t allowed to work out on shift, even during nonoperational hours. It “increases the risk of injury”. Spoke with the city’s lawyers about it in our upcoming union negotiations, and they’re on our side.
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u/bartleby913 7d ago
There is probably some truth to this. I don't know exact numbers but maybe close to 40-50% of our injuries are during PT. But that's a necessary evil.
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u/Mr_Midwestern Rust Belt Firefighter 7d ago
Totally agree…at the same time, does Firefighter Halfthor need to be moving atlas stones in the stations parking lot on duty?
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 6d ago
….
Um.
Define PT?
Lifting weights or doing cardio on a bike? I don’t believe it.
Doing training (ladders, drags, etc., or sports? That I could believe.
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u/Jumpy_Secretary_1517 6d ago
We’ve got a lot of power lifters and cross fitters that will start a workout, run calls, come back, and jump right back in. Something inevitably tears, strains, rolls, you name it. A lot of our injuries are related to this as opposed to actual training injuries.
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 6d ago
Then. More sensible policy would be informing actual evidence based lifting, and ban bro powering lifting and CrossFit nonsense.
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u/Jumpy_Secretary_1517 6d ago
For sure, I’m not sure any policy would stop people from warming up, starting a lift, coming back, then tearing something because they’re not warm anymore. That’s just nature of the job in combination of getting older and overestimating their capabilities. Simply put, my department is largely so busy that interrupted workouts are just the norm and it is hard to get a real workout in sometimes and guys just fuck up, leading to injury. Even jumping back into a light weight bench or squat after running calls has fucked guys up. I’m all for policy that could fix this, though.
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u/PerrinAyybara All Hazards Capt Obvious 6d ago
This is why we hired an AT. 30-40% of injuries from PT means you have no idea what you are doing. That's insanity
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u/noneofthismatters666 7d ago
Had a BC that believed that shit. Luckily not a policy. But all our flippy tires had to go. We just hid them until he got reassigned for conduct unbecoming.
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u/Dusty_V2 Career + Paid-on-call 6d ago
NFPA 1583 specifically says that allowing firefighters to excise on shift reduces total injuries and reduces costs related to workers compensation.
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u/fish1552 FF/EMT who thankfully doesn't have to do medical 6d ago
Here is the kicker though. NFPA says something, but it is still up to the Chief to implement it. I would wager many volunteer departments don't meet the response times dictated by the NFPA but that is kind of hard to do when half that time is taken up by people responding to the station. SO unless they have 24/7 staffing in the station, it is just hard to meet that in any district that isn't postage stamp sized.
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u/fish1552 FF/EMT who thankfully doesn't have to do medical 6d ago
Our dept had a policy about basketball for a while after 3-4 people sprained ankles in a couple months. So someone was the reason for the (as we said in the Army) reason for the safety brief. :)
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u/Darthbamf 6d ago
This one actually kind of makes sense to me, mostly based on exertion.
Why blow all your already dragging afternoon energy and 2/3 of your caloric intake on a throwup inducing toxic "I can do better fest" for 2 hours.
Those calories and energy need to be reserved for I don't know - a fire...
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u/MeasurementParty4232 7d ago
No cookie monster paraphernalia on city property
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u/MeasurementParty4232 6d ago
To those wondering:
Last December, city council had a meeting for the city budget, to include our wanting to move to a 48/96 schedule. Well, our Union President went to the meeting, as well as many of our members since it was right after our Union meeting. During the meeting, our Mayor said that the schedule change was a non-monetary issue.
So the Mayor said some things that were outright lies, mainly about the schedule change and station conditions. Our President began to be vocal about those things, the Mayor said "You didn't sign up to speak," President said, "I wasnt going to say anything until you just lied about some things," Mayor says, "Well, thats the way the cookie crumbles."
We all left the meeting super pissed off because the Mayor was straight up lying about our issues.
Well, within a couple of weeks, someone had printed off some shirts with a cookie monster wearing a fire helmet with our local on it and the phrase, "That's the way the cookie crumbles." Someone that was on an off going shift, a couple weeks after getting said shirt, was wearing it, a captain saw it and called our assistant chief and complained about it. Someone else also ordered some cookie monster cookies from our local donut shop downtown and had them delivered to the Mayors office and to our Fire Admin.
There was also a cookie monster statue made and said person brought it to their station. It had been there well over 3-4 weeks and Noone at the station had an issue with it. We'll, said captain from before got OT at that station, saw it when he got there first thing that OT morning, called our assistant Chief, said chief went down there and confiscated it. The person who owned said statue got informed of this and filed a police report for stolen property.
We then had a DMS come out that said no Cookie Monster paraphernalia on city property or face punishment for it.
I may have missed one or two things but that's all I know.
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u/jfa_16 6d ago
Is that snitch of a Captain in the union?
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u/MeasurementParty4232 6d ago
Honestly, I dont think so. I know he's part of our Black Union though.
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u/soapdonkey 7d ago
Ahaaaaa I know which department this is. I stand in solidarity with y’all! The fact that the city raided some of y’all’s stations to get rid of the Cookie Monster paraphernalia makes me literally laugh out loud every now and then.
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u/Firemedic9368 7d ago
The fact we have to wear button downs or polos when it’s 100+ degrees and 80%+ humidity durning the summer. I sweat my whole ass off during the summer
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u/PearlDrummer Oregon FF/Medic 7d ago
Nothing says fire service like unnecessary heat emergencies
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 7d ago
I had a command sergeant major say to me, after we had 8 dudes go down for heat…. That a heat casualty is a leadership failure.
None of the dudes in my platoon went down.
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u/fish1552 FF/EMT who thankfully doesn't have to do medical 6d ago
Well, that and the drinking problems some of the guy have. Not properly hydrating the night before shift doesn't help.
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u/KorvaMan85 SCENE SAFE BSI! 7d ago
laughs in department t shirt and shorts
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u/Coffee-FlavoredSweat FF/EMT 7d ago
Speaking of stupid department policies, we have one that says no shorts until May 1st every year.
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u/Paulthesheep 6d ago
Speaking of stupid department policies, we have one that says no shorts.
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u/KorvaMan85 SCENE SAFE BSI! 6d ago
lol. Our official policy is just that the whole crew must be in the same uniform of the day, set by the capt.
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u/fish1552 FF/EMT who thankfully doesn't have to do medical 6d ago
Is that station pants or down time too? I have no issue with wearing pants 365 and I live in the deep south. Only 1 guys on our dept wears them. It's really not that big of a deal as I also wear pants outside work almost all the time. You get used to it.
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u/I-plaey-geetar Probie 6d ago
Mine just doesn’t have shorts. We’re in Arizona and it’s 105 today. Fuckin lame, man.
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u/Eclectic-Eel 7d ago
Reminds me of when I did wildland. It could be 100 degrees out and on a dead section of the fire, and safety would be riding around on their ATV telling everyone to roll their sleeves down and put their gloves back on.
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u/trapper2530 7d ago
Wete supposed to. No one does. T shirts basically all year unless you're going toHQ a chief is stopping by or or doing something "official "
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u/username67432 5d ago
People that push uniforms are almost always the most incompetent people on this job.
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u/946stockton 7d ago edited 7d ago
I know a guy at a department that has violated their “conduct unbecoming” policy because he kept showing up on the “are we dating the same guy” Facebook page. All the girls kept saying bad shit about him from the dating apps. A girl complained to the department that he’s a man whore. The department wanted to fire him after the investigation. His lawyer threatened to counter sue for violating his civil rights. Now the department wants to give him 10 days on the beach. His union is fighting that. Told the skelly officer that the department can’t police his bedroom behavior.
Speaking of conduct unbecoming, their new fire chief a few years ago was arrested for DV.
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u/ShotDeal9 7d ago
A girl complained to the department?
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u/946stockton 7d ago
Yeah. She saw his picture in the news paper saving a dog or something at a fire. She recognize him from that Facebook page.
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u/Material-Win-2781 Volunteer fire/EMS 7d ago edited 7d ago
I had something similar happen due to my participation in some discussion groups some find suspicious. They mined through my posting history and were able to isolate my location, to where it was probably just one agency. There was a discussion with management that basically amounted to, please try to keep any particularly controversial discussion isolated from the department.
This alt was born and I'm alot less specific about my location.
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u/fish1552 FF/EMT who thankfully doesn't have to do medical 6d ago
Oh, 100% you should NEVER include your dept info in your social media or any online location. I voiced my opinion about someone one day and kept my wording VERY unspecific. The Chief somehow saw it and complained in a meeting. One of the BCs asked if he saw a employer anywhere on that profile? Then asked did he mention any names or places? If not, then YOU are only assuming to know who he was speaking about. Then he finished it up with (my name) isn't stupid. He didn't break any rules or policies.
They all knew who I was talking about and I made sure nobody could ever figure out what dept I was talking about. And I make sure to share posts from multiple dept in the area so they can't even use those to guess.
For any management guys reading this, I would jump in front of a bullet for that BC, now an AC, as he's VERY well respected by the guys and they are loyal to him. For reasons like I explained.1
u/Material-Win-2781 Volunteer fire/EMS 5d ago
I would never put out my specific department but sometimes it can be difficult to avoid disclosing a geographic location, give or take 20 mi. That could easily narrow you down to a couple agencies.
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u/TX_Bardown 7d ago
This is an old old policy, no longer in affect, but we used to “have to keep phone calls to 5 minutes or less”. These were obviously written before cell phones but hadn’t been taken out until recently.
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u/Golfandrun 7d ago
Our departments policy is that no vehicle may exceed the posted speed even when responding code 1.
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u/collude Engine company LT 7d ago
We have the same policy but it's universally ignored.
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u/Golfandrun 7d ago
All our vehicles have tracking. I once got a notification for doing 100kph on a 1 mile long bridge at 3 in the morning on my way to a structure fire with possible persons trapped. I was driving my police special SUV.
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u/chuckfinley79 27 looooooooooooooong years 7d ago
I worked for a department that had a policy of full and complete stops at all red lights and stop signs. That’s written by a lawyer purely so they can throw you under the bus and wash their hands of you if you wreck.
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u/RaptorTraumaShears Firefighter/Paramedic 7d ago
Do yall not take full and complete stops at red lights and stop signs?
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 6d ago
Depending on the area? Honestly no.
There are some areas where lights exist because of daytime traffic and you can clearly see the intersections for a long way off. One intersection comes to mind is a long on/off for a highway, with a Walmart parking lot on the other side. At 3 on the morning, there isn’t a reason to stop, unless you can see another car (obviously you shouldn’t blast it at full speed).
Other places have nearly blind intersections you can’t see until you’re at them, and no one can see you until you’re at them. You better stop there and take a good, long look.
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u/fish1552 FF/EMT who thankfully doesn't have to do medical 6d ago
No. But the policy is to verify traffic is stopped and eyes are looking at you to then do that slow roll through. Otherwise, you stop. But no, nobody but an idiot is doing a 60 mph through a red light like they are a Korean bus driver. (You military personnel will know what I mean)
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u/RaptorTraumaShears Firefighter/Paramedic 6d ago
That’s fair. I’d be lying if I said I came to a complete stop even 50% of the time. As long as people are slowing down and making sure traffic is stopped, I see no issues.
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u/ElectronicMinimum724 7d ago
We don’t have any dumb policies, just dumb people enforcing them with their own strange interpretation.
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u/teddyswolsevelt1 Career 7d ago edited 7d ago
Any multi alarm in my city, the chief of our department responds directly to the scene. It’s like his thing. There’s no policy or SOP stating he has to do that. Department Chief is purely administrative. Everyone knows he’s a pencil pusher who hasn’t worked the line in about 20 years. But he won’t go to offer any logistical support. Instead, he uses the opportunity to ask captains why their subordinates aren’t in their button down uniform shirts. Or why their rig doesn’t look like it was washed that day. Or why they aren’t wearing a radio strap. Mind you, he’ll do this like while guys are rehabbing or packing up equipment. He asked my captain during a strategic withdrawal why he wasn’t wearing his hood. So now our Deputies refuse to call a 2nd unless the sky is literally falling, they’ll “special request” additional units for “man power” instead of striking additional alarms. All to keep this pinhead off the fire scene.
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 7d ago
You need a better EMS crew.
Why ain’t they wearing “xyz”
Because I told them to take it off. They are my patients. I call the the shots. Full. Stop.
asshole says asshole things
Sir, Interfering with an EMS provider is a felony. I don’t give a shit about your white hat. You go do fire chief things on the fire ground and get out of my rehabilitation area, or I’ll get off my scene by having State Police drag you off.
Because he won’t like it when I show up to meet the board or the city council, with US Army heat index’s, required work rest cycles, standards of care including on site immersion ice baths for even HIGH School football players, who are presumably in as good if not Better shape then firemen, and ask why he is not only creating a hostile workplace environment but needlessly endangering the lives of firemen, and hoping dept. /city up to massive liability by not following standard practices and ensuring enough personal are on hand.
Because of course, since those standards and resources were not followed, and not on scene, he, has chief, should have upgraded the alarms until they were.
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u/kyle308 7d ago
We're not longer allowed to wear shorts when it's below 60 outside. Because we had people wearing them on calls when it was single digits.
So now we have an official policy on it.
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u/TacitMoose Firefighter/Paramedic 7d ago
I’ve never understood that. Who the hell cares if I’m wearing shorts when it’s cold out.
That’s if I could wear shorts. We’re not allowed to at all. 😭
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u/aintioriginal 7d ago
You get to wear shorts??? We get shut down every time we ask.
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u/JessKingHangers 6d ago
Its dumb but seems reasonable. Why would you wear shorts when its below 60 anyway?
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u/08152016 Volunteer Line Officer | Rescue/HAZMAT Medic 6d ago
Its above 60 in the station. Shorts are comfy. Put on bunker pants for runs.
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u/username67432 7d ago
We have tons that date back 100 years we just don’t follow. Technically still when a run comes in, the man standing watch is to ring the house bells one long continuous ring. All members of the house are to report to the apparatus floor and either be instructed where to respond or be dismissed by their officer. Another one is company officers are to ensure their members are in bed around 2am? Or so?
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 6d ago
Honestly?
I think the bell one should stay.
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u/BenThereNDunnThat 6d ago
Uh, no. Why would you want to have to get out of bed if your apparatus wasn't going on the call?
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 6d ago
Um.
He said he gets rung if there is a call….
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u/BenThereNDunnThat 6d ago
You missed the part where the entire station has to turn out on the apparatus floor and then either go on the call or be dismissed. If it's a call for the Ladder only and you're on the Engine, do you really want to have to get out of bed and go to the bays at 3 a.m. only to be told to go back to bed?
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u/fish1552 FF/EMT who thankfully doesn't have to do medical 6d ago
Not every dept is lucky enough to have station dispatching. We hear all the tones all the time. Only after the initial tone and dispatch is the tone channel unlocked from the main dispatch channel.
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u/username67432 5d ago
Yeah you missed the point, what we actually do is ring a certain number of bells for each rig, we have an engine truck ambo and chief, if we all had to report to the floor for every single run that would be like 50 times a shift. Also no one actually stands floor watch, someone just runs up to the stand to acknowledge the run and ring the bells.
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u/Environmental-Ad-440 6d ago
We are required to wear our uniform from 8am-5pm AND 7am-8am… I find it so strange that they care that we put our pants and boots back on for the one hour between when we wake up and go home instead of staying in the shorts and slides everyone was wearing all evening and night..
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u/ZombieOk3099 6d ago
Years ago, different agency I put together the post fire decon policy. All the standard stuff plagiarized a couple into a new one kinda thing. Only I changed the shower after to a cleansing group shower. Training, Safety, OPs, and the Chief all signed off on it. Not till it hit the shifts was it noticed! It may still be there
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u/aLonerDottieArebel 7d ago
I’m retired now but I always thought it was dumb as hell that we couldn’t wear T-shirt’s, polos, or shorts. We had to wear Cass B’s unless it was 90°
Wearing a pack with a badge isn’t pleasant.
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u/fish1552 FF/EMT who thankfully doesn't have to do medical 6d ago
Our dept moved to patch badges and it is nice. Only class A has the metal badge.
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u/Melodic_Abalone_2820 Firefighter/EMT-B 7d ago edited 6d ago
I live in an area where it's 110 degrees in the summer and 70s and 80s in the winter with humidity. Long sleeves must be worn at all times regardless of the weather if you have any tattoos that can be seen and if you're on the news and a tattoos shows it's an automatic write up.
One dept nearby thier dept policy is no matter what you're doing or where you're at. If you get for OT and you answer your phone you have to go in or if not its a suspension.
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u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 6d ago
….
So they give them all company phones and pay them an on call rate?
Because….that is why the law requires..
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u/Melodic_Abalone_2820 Firefighter/EMT-B 6d ago
Nope, they call their regular phones. So needless to say when someone is off and they're getting called from the dept, they don't answer their phones
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u/BenThereNDunnThat 6d ago
They don't have to give them company phones.
But they can, if they itemize, deduct the portion of the phone bill that can be ascribed to their position as a job related expense. I used to do 40 percent, and would probably do 65 percent today since we now use I Am Responding for calls, callback, overtime, department messaging etc., but the increased standard deduction is better for me than itemizing.
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u/fish1552 FF/EMT who thankfully doesn't have to do medical 6d ago
No. But if you are not writing half your phone off on taxes since you are required by your employer to have one and use it, you are losing $$$$. (Check with your tax preparer) I'll keep letting them use my personal cell even though I have a phone they pay for.
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u/soapdonkey 6d ago
Turnouts must be washed in the extractor after every structure fire. Of 6 stations only 2 have an extractor. One of which was broken for 9 months. We cannot travel to the other stations to wash out turnouts. We cannot ask the other shifts to wash them for us. We do not have an extra set of turnouts. It’s like tard loop.
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u/Ok-Economics-6610 7d ago
We have a policy saying we can’t wear our department issued ball caps unless it’s after 5pm, we’re on a call, and there’s inclement weather…..
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u/RaptorTraumaShears Firefighter/Paramedic 7d ago
Our policy used to be that you could only wear them when doing hydrant testing. That went away about a decade ago.
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u/SpicyKetchup43 7d ago
On duty, we’re allowed to wear station shirts with a pre-approved custom logo, and we’re allowed to wear department issued hoodies.
We’re NOT allowed to wear that same hoodie with the same (already approved) station logos, only official department branding
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u/chuckfinley79 27 looooooooooooooong years 6d ago
Full timers can have visible tattoos (in the contract). Part timers have to keep them covered. Volunteers are allowed.
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u/arrghstrange Firemedic 6d ago
Taken straight from our SOGs:
Employees may not utilize any equipment/ supplies that give the appearance of intent to sleep. Company Commanders have the discretion to allow the individual to sleep for a portion of the shift. Operational readiness shall not be affected (Uniform items removed, sleeping equipment, etc.). Yeah, we had a field day with this one. It’s why I’ve taken on a position now to help review our SOGs because this wording is piss poor.
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u/EverSeeAShitterFly Toss speedy dry on it and walk away. 6d ago
So the intention is “don’t run calls in pajamas” but the effect is-“you cannot use the bed, but you are allowed to sleep” if I’m understanding it.
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u/Venetian_chachi Alberta 6d ago
We have a safe work practice dictating the safe storage of fresh shellfish in the kitchen. Specifically scallops and shrimp. We are located on the southern edge of the boreal forest. Over 1000 miles from any ocean.
Some chief was wanting to keep busy and cut and paste some safe food storage notes from the World Wide Web.
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u/LightningCupboard UK WHOLETIME FF 6d ago
We aren’t allowed to wear shorts no matter the weather. It’s fucking hot in summer man.
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u/fish1552 FF/EMT who thankfully doesn't have to do medical 6d ago
I'm in south GA and wear pants year round. It's really not that bad. Yes, that is 100+ temps and near 90+ humidity. The station gear that breathes is still 100% better than the BDUs with sleeves down in Death Valley at NTC and in the desert of Kuwait in 120-130-ish temps. :)
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u/Legitimate_Sample108 6d ago
No playing cards...guys back in the day use to lose their paychecks gambling.
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u/TakeOff_YourPants 6d ago
Former gig paid 2 bucks an hour between the hours of 6pm and 8am, you’re only on the clock when you’re on a call, which averaged 3-4 calls in that interval. Guess why it’s a former gig.
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u/CapEmDee 6d ago
Banning turnouts from the living quarters when they wont provide laundry service inhouse (gear must be sent to a contractor for cleaning) or properly ensure exhaust extraction or have dedicated gear storage rooms in every firehouse.
You can wear your turnouts in someone else's house, or the store, or a hospital. You can put it in your car or take it home, but god forbid you have your boots and pants next to your rack at night.
The solution to dirty gear is not banning it from the living quarters, the solution to dirty gear is CLEANING THE GEAR..
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u/BenThereNDunnThat 6d ago
Yes, cleaning is the solution. You might want to suggest to chief that there are grants available that will pay for extractors and gear dryers in your stations. (That's how we got ours.) Heck, you could even volunteer to write the grant for him since it seems to be a pet issue.
In the meantime, keeping dirty gear out of the residence is pretty reasonable. My gear sits by the truck and at night I walk out in my socks and jump in it. I don't lose any time by putting it on out there and I gain a large portion of the station where I don't have to worry about carcinogens on the floor, furniture, walls and ceiling.
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u/fish1552 FF/EMT who thankfully doesn't have to do medical 6d ago
Also, get online and find the info to build yourself some PVC gear driers. They can be built for a fraction of the commercial ones if the money isn't there.
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u/ImperfectAnalogy 6d ago
We have laundry machines for regular laundry (in addition to an extractor for bunker gear). The rule for the washing machine is “department issued materials only”. So mostly towels and station wear. But no socks and underwear. No bedding. No workout clothes. Enforcement is based on who the DC wants to harass because everyone washes their undies and bedding in there.
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u/kbull4 6d ago
We're not allowed to exceed the speed limit while driving code 3, and must come to a complete stop at all stop signs and red lights. This is camera enforced. Our local EMS agency is allowed to exceed the speed limit, so EMS beats us to half our calls.
Trying to get that complete stop for the camera on a rain slick road can get dicey, and drivers get confused when we stop, and proceed through the intersections.
Also....no hoodies.
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u/Hungry-Trust-3245 6d ago
A specific policy against masturbation on duty.
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u/Hungry-Trust-3245 6d ago
We also have a policy stating not to put a finger in a dolphins blowhole,
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u/JK3097 5d ago
Please name these departments or post links to these policies! I think a collection of these would really be useful & get a good laugh.
My dept is comprised of many smaller and now defunct departments that consolidated. This was before my time so I’ve only heard stories and read the old policies, but there was one about how to properly load the dishwasher.
Ironically, when the last two moderate sized departments merged, there was a huge clash of culture since one was heavily policy-driven and the other not so much which led to major divisions within the ranks and a lot debates.
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u/Je_me_rends Staircase Enthusiast 3d ago
Up until mid last year, only 1 person per BA team of 2 was to have a radio on them.
Everytime someone asked "what if the BA team gets separated inside and only one of them has a radio?" The answer was always "If you get separated, you've done something wrong" as if that makes a lick of difference.
Once we got the new Motorola APXNext radios they issued them 1 for every BA set on each appliance plus 2, so now everyone has a radio and won't die...fingers crossed.
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u/Apprehensive_Value37 2d ago
not my department but a department near ours had in their sop that no (in a nicer way of saying it) people of color could join the fire department, it wasnt noticed until recently and was quickly removed lol.
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u/slipnipper 2d ago
Every stupid policy tends to be there because of some idiot the policy is unofficially named after.
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u/SubutaiShouldBeKhan 7d ago
We have a few medical labs in our city that do testing on monkeys. We have a written policy in place should we come across one of these monkeys during a call.
We are to discharge a CO2 extinguisher at the monkey, rendering it unconscious. Then we are to place it into a sack or large bag and give it one more shot of CO2 before tying off the bag. The unconscious monkey bag is then to be left in a secure area or with staff who are familiar with monkey procedure.
None of this is a joke.