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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135

u/Unwitnessed 7d ago

Not enough radios for every interior firefighter. Not really a policy, but pretty idiotic.

20

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.

10

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

10

u/Fif112 7d ago

He either needs to get to a therapist, or stop taking overtime.

That’s not a healthy way to live on shift.

6

u/sexyfireman289 7d ago

Sounds like pure laziness not burnt out

8

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.

3

u/randomlyanonff 7d 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.

1

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:

1

u/Agreeable-Emu886 7d 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

1

u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 7d 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.

1

u/Agreeable-Emu886 7d 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.

0

u/Mediocre_Daikon6935 7d ago

4 guys? Everyone should be grabbing by a radio.

Some guy goes to another part of the house to get information, a met list, whatever and previously unknown nut job appears.

Someone goes outside to grab something and some crazy ex wife shows up and starts assaulting them.

This kind of shit happens.

As to the west coast, well.

Outside of Seattle Medic 1, I can’t think of any thing positive to say about west coast public safety, be it policing, fire, or EMS. 

But that really is another topic.

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u/Agreeable-Emu886 7d ago edited 7d ago

There’s no reason to, especially in a sense city where most apartments are <1000 sq feet.

You can play the what if game all day. What if I fall through the floor going to fight a basement fire. What if we roll the truck on the way to some useless medical call.

What if I have a stroke sliding down the pole?

The CYA what if game is why so many places struggle. What if the guy with atraumatic back pain for 2 weeks is having an NSTEMI, better wake 6 people up at 4 Am for that because what if.

What if the ambulance crew meets someone scary on the call for a blocked catheter, better send a full engine with them just in case…

Most people also carry cellphones…