Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Vote YES to support your local FD/PD

This coming Tuesday, November 4th, many local fire and police departments will be asking their residents to get out and vote yes to support their agencies. There is a good reason you need to vote yes for many of them, but always do your own research and don't just listen to me or them. Some agencies are listed below.
One of the agencies asking you to vote yes is the Rochester Hills Fire Department.  14 years ago the department ran 2 on-duty paramedic firefighters out of 1 station 24 hours a day, they worked in 12 hour shifts. Over the years, they have added personnel and expanded as much as they can.  Unfortunately this is not enough, there have been times where there have been no firefighters available, because of high call volume and they have to call in assistance from surrounding cities. There are days where they run 20+ calls a day. A yes vote will now staff at least 2 firefighter paramedics and 1 firefighter EMT at each of the 5 stations and help with improving the stations to allow firefighters to sleep, shower, etc. at them. The Citizens for a Safer Rochester Hills are looking for volunteers to help them pass out information in the neighborhoods this Saturday, November 1st.  For more information, yard signs, or to volunteer on Saturday please contact them at saferrochesterhills@gmail.com
Another agency is the Orion Twp Fire Department.  Their millage request is to allow the construction and improvement of stations and the purchase of new equipment.  The big purchase they need to make is for a new ladder truck.  Their current ladder truck is 40 years old and as been through at least 2 departments.  They need to get a newer ladder truck that will have many of the newer safety features to reduce the risk of injury to firefighters, but also that they can rely on to make it to fire scenes. A ladder truck is not only needed if there ever was another fire downtown, but also at other structure fires, and new ones can even be used to aid at water and technical rescue scenes.
Another agency that will be asking its voters for a yes vote is the Oxford Fire Department.  A yes vote for them will allow for extra staffing at the stations.  They get critically low on staffing at times, because of their increased call volume and distance to the local hospitals.
Most fire departments are asking for millages for manpower due to increased call volume.  The only way they can provide adequate protection in the event of an emergency is with safe staffing levels.  If you live in a community like those listed above please not only get out to vote yes, but also check with your local fire department to see how you can help. Many departments are actively hiring paid on-call firefighters to help respond to fires or large incidents, this is an important and much needed role in the community.