This video shows why we need more firefighters...  

Short staffed or not, That was a good stop. Hard working guys.

Interesting to watch. This is wildly different from what we do here in Germany. Your average HLF engine arrives with an 8+1 crew config: Truckie (operates all the machinery on the engine and secures the site) Group lead Runner 2 man attack team, ready to go with SCBA on 2 hose team 2 water supply team. The hose team can later don SCBAs they pull from a compartment on the side of the truck. Pull out the tray, unlock and fold down the carriers, remove tiedowns and you can slip right in and go. They can either join the attack or stay behind as a safety standby in case the other team runs into trouble and needs rescuing. Depending on the fire you can choose between the quick attack line on a reel which is attached to the water tank and ready to be charged or set up a regular line, feed it from the tank and meanwhile establish a water supply from a hydrant. Due to shortages, though, regular engines also might get pulled into a first responder role for a medical case. Which always is cause for great surprise (and sometimes embarrassment) if someone has called an ambulance and suddenly there us a huge truck out there with a bunch of firefighters on board. But one single FF being first due and starting to work…almost unthinkable here. Hell, if a call is projected to last longer than 30 minutes, the VFD is put on standby and starts manning their fire stations to ensure coverage.

Firefighters tied up on EMS runs? Sound like any small dept including mine. We operate on shitluck that everything will just “workout”. I love this video because it highlights the type of department most of us work out and why the training needs to cater towards that. I mean I just got off shift driving a ladder with my captain because we don’t have enough guys to have someone backseat, but we had three on our ambulance.

Insufficient staff is not only dangerous but doesn't allow for proper suppression techniques.

A normal turnout for us guys in Hatley is 3 members responding.

Wausau uses at least 4 or 5 mutual aide departments. your city fathers know that fact. They will continue drag their feet on expanding your department I have made many first engine out solo , hoping for additional responders Mutual aid is a long time coming. Last structure fire we had 5 engines show up with 6 fire fighters over two hours.

All ive heard from wausau is all the fire departments being closed and merged because of budget cuts. Even volunteers walking off the job. And the city is expanding! How can there be less firefighters if shops are merging? Iam from Wis Rapids. We have multiple agencies competing for area. Wausau is stretching the stations too far apart. More fully staffed garages are need. How about training all these refugees Wausau was given. They can do thier part.

Why are there fireman walking in smoke without protection. Tired of hearing fireman die of cancer but don’t take the precautions.

There’s a pretty simple solution to all of this, we don’t expect paramedics to be firefighters, so why are we expecting firefighters to also be paramedics? Cities need to employ these people as one or the other, it’s not that they don’t have enough bodies, it’s that they don’t have the right bodies doing the right job at the right time. Delineate the roles, if you’re a firefighter, you’re just a firefighter, if you’re a paramedic, then you’re just a paramedic. I’ve never understood why we have an ambulance service crewed by paramedics, and a fire truck crewed with paramedic/ff’s both covering the same areas.

Keep up the good fight!!

This seems to becoming a commonality all over the country

God bless the brother chugging up that hill on full TOG. LOL. I got winded watching him

I do realise that comparing the USA with The Netherlands is comparing apples with pears since in the USA every state/city can have different laws and regulations etc. In The Netherlands the Ministery of the Interior and the Ministery of Health are responsible for the laws and regulations for the Emergency Services. The Country has 25 Safety Regions, each with a Central Command Centre coordinating Fire Service, Police and Ambulance Service. Funding comes from different sources, but the Regional Fire Service is funded by the Cities/Towns in the Region. The Fire Service in The Netherlands is for 90% staffed by part time personell who need to meet the same requirements as the full time staff. Some stations may have just one engine. Other stations have specialised equipment to deploy anywhere within the region. When there's an alarm, the Command Centre has a table showing which post can get to the scene the fastest (by law, report ready to roll after 5 minutes and on scene within 15 minutes). Ready to roll means a fully staffed engine. If not, the next nearest station gets the alarm. From there on the Command Centre based on the report from the first Engine Commander on scene coordinates the deployment of other stations or specialised units.

As a former FF in Los Angeles, I think areas like this need to recruit VFF (in select neighborhoods) to be trained in basic hose handling just for exterior structure protection. Basic FF gear, no SCBA. Just lay a 2in or 2-1/2 line, sit on it and get water on the exposed side. Then let arriving FFs do the attack. I know lots of guys that would love to be on call with gear just to sit on a line and spray water. train them to bleed/flush a hydrant in advance, pull a supply hose to snatch a hydrant and charge the line when the engineer is ready. Saves so much time right there.

That's not a good practice and this video just shows how lucky they where including the residents of both homes this could have been a different outcome and the people who make the big decisions need to finance the extra crews needed to safely staff engines. Keep safe.

Would someone who's a firefighter from a different state have to go through another course to meet that state recommended requirements? Though they are Certified

Staffing is going to become harder and harder and damn near impossible before we know it. We have an entitled generation coming up that doesn't want to do anything unless it's amusing to them and an older generation that's rapidly depleting EMS resources constantly. Basically the workload is increasing while the desire to do the job has plunged. The biggest movement in our society today is towards socialism, which is the economic version of "someone else will do it" and that mindset is present in all other aspects of life too.

My UCL is a fire fighter

More training and understanding firebehaivor is what they need. There are many departments who would handle this situation in a better way with same number of ff We need to look more at deprtmants in Europé. They are more effective on scene and very high trained in firebehaivor. In US we do not change and development our tactics or work on scene. We do what we always have done.......

You could have both paid and volunteer firefighters

Private ambulance solves this problem

This is a training issue and go to use a private ambulance

All that talk from a wanna be ski instructor. If you're so "knowledgable" maybe you could join their department and enlighton them. You'd probably piss your bunkers if you had to go inside. LZFD retired.

Get part time ff we can't afford pension for guy that work till 50 years old and live to 90

Most of all this comments are people that think they know something about the fire service that was not gas it was magnesium like a said no nothing say nothing if Europe is so good take a hike USA firefighters kick ass like this guys where them houses are still standing that's something to be said for them guys.

You don't need More firefighters; you need some Competent firefighters. More accurately, you need better leaders and trainers. The USA fire disservice is a worldwide joke. No, blame it on a lack of manpower and the budget. How did I know that this fire fight would be just as bad as all the rest? 1. You deck gun that garage within the first 40 seconds of arrival using tank water. 2. You do NOT use a straight stream at close range because it puts a massive amount of water on a very small area. Notice the flames continuing. Those flames and a 5 gallon can of gasoline don't mix well. 3. 2.5" line for one person on a garage? Shows he didn't know the right tool for the job and the amount of help. Poor planning. 4. That was a three-firefighter fight. Don't make excuses. One at the hydrant, the engineer at the pump and one firefighter on the deck gun and then a booster line to mop- up. The engineer hooks up the supply line. The hydrant FFer pulls a 1-3/4" line with the help of the engineer. Ignorance and incompetence will not be eliminated with more ignorant firefighters. All you have to do is follow UL and ISFSI to the letter and you will be 95% correct and 90% better then you are now.