Most people don't know how underpaid and often ill-equipped urban fire departments are across North America.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Firefighters go where they're needed, sometimes ignoring the dangers even when no one is inside a burning building to be saved.
Our volunteer fire departments know their needs better than Washington, D.C. They need more flexibility on spending grant money from FEMA and Homeland Security.
A lot of small towns in Texas have only volunteer fire departments. And even though they're called volunteer fire departments, they are usually very professional and have great training and usually have good equipment.
About 100 firefighters a year die in the line of duty in the U.S. Heart attacks on the job and vehicle accidents on the way to the fires account for about half. The other half are traumatic deaths while fighting fires.
It would be great if firefighters across the country had the guarantee that they would be making enough money to support their family right from the get-go, but that's not the case.
I think that we're so generous in some of our social problems that people are unwilling to get a job outside in the heat. Rather than get 15 dollars to go get roofing, they'd rather get 9 or 10 dollars in benefits.
Firefighters don't go on strike.
One thing that's great about firefighters: If they don't have the equipment they desperately need, they don't have the help, they don't care. They'll do it on their own.
Firefighters are essential to the safety and security of our local communities. We owe it to these men and women to provide them with better training and equipment so they can do their jobs more effectively and safely.
You know, I'm no different from a fireman. You got to run into a fire no matter how big the blaze is.