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that's pretty interesting. Reminds me of this statement a coworker of mine said when the California wildfires returned last year. He shared with us that up in O

that's pretty interesting. Reminds me of this statement a coworker of mine said when the California wildfires returned last year. He shared with us that up in Oregon, the state he recently moved to, they recruit a ton of volunteers and local men to go to town on any fire that pops up and take care of business so things don't get out of control. That's a very different response from California where I think everyone waits for the officials to take care of it as far as I can see.

hammock 5y ago
All depends on how rural your area is / the availability of services. Many places don't have fire service of their own, or they have volunteer service that doesn't necessarily work around the clock.
EdwardDiego 5y ago
In NZ, most fire brigades outside of urban areas and bushfire response are volunteer based. Which requires a lot of understanding employers - it wasn't uncommon in my rural town during our high fire risk season for our teacher to sprint out the classroom when his pager went off, then the principal would cover for him.
xoxxala 5y ago
The vast majority (around 67% in 2018) of US firefighters are volunteers[1]. My mother started as a volunteer in her small canyon community in Orange County, CA, and did that for five years before becoming a full-time engineer for the OCFD. She worked several wildfires in the area as a volunteer. 1: https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/Emergency-Responders/US-fire-department-profile https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-too...
stevenwoo 5y ago
I live near Mountain View and one only needs to go 15 miles out in rural areas like La Honda where the local fire service is all volunteer (cause there's not enough taxes to pay for fulltime fire fighters) with a few CalFire outposts scattered in closer for state forest coverage. There's also a combined network of professionals and volunteers who watch for signs of fire in forested areas statewide.
Fatnino 5y ago
A year or 2 back someone did a little arson on the wooden part of the fence around an electric substation in my town (California). The firefighters were standing around with their thumbs up their asses watching it burn because they had to wait for some official to get dragged out of bed to tell them the mean electricity wasn't going to hurt them. I still kick myself for not just grabbing a one of their fire extinguishers off the back of the truck and putting it out myself. From outside the fence where the public are allowed to go at all times and no electricity magically kills them.

hammock 5y ago

All depends on how rural your area is / the availability of services. Many places don't have fire service of their own, or they have volunteer service that doesn't necessarily work around the clock.

EdwardDiego 5y ago

In NZ, most fire brigades outside of urban areas and bushfire response are volunteer based. Which requires a lot of understanding employers - it wasn't uncommon in my rural town during our high fire risk season for our teacher to sprint out the classroom when his pager went off, then the principal would cover for him.

xoxxala 5y ago

The vast majority (around 67% in 2018) of US firefighters are volunteers[1]. My mother started as a volunteer in her small canyon community in Orange County, CA, and did that for five years before becoming a full-time engineer for the OCFD. She worked several wildfires in the area as a volunteer. 1: https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/Emergency-Responders/US-fire-department-profile https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-too...

stevenwoo 5y ago

I live near Mountain View and one only needs to go 15 miles out in rural areas like La Honda where the local fire service is all volunteer (cause there's not enough taxes to pay for fulltime fire fighters) with a few CalFire outposts scattered in closer for state forest coverage. There's also a combined network of professionals and volunteers who watch for signs of fire in forested areas statewide.

Fatnino 5y ago

A year or 2 back someone did a little arson on the wooden part of the fence around an electric substation in my town (California). The firefighters were standing around with their thumbs up their asses watching it burn because they had to wait for some official to get dragged out of bed to tell them the mean electricity wasn't going to hurt them. I still kick myself for not just grabbing a one of their fire extinguishers off the back of the truck and putting it out myself. From outside the fence where the public are allowed to go at all times and no electricity magically kills them.