re: Fire fighting needs to be rethunk

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In many places, if you cut yourself with a knife in the kitchen and call 911, they send police, ambulance, and fire truck. The fire truck is definitely not needed on that call.

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They're called first responders for a reason. Plus depending on the type of call, they don't always send the truck on those calls. If the Expedition/Suburban vehicle is available, they use that.

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I would say the waste in money is due to sending too many people and vehicles out to calls. In many places, if you cut yourself with a knife in the kitchen and call 911, they send police, ambulance, and fire truck. The fire truck is definitely not needed on that call.

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This is exactly right, but the fire districts love this system. When it comes time to justify their existence, they trot out the number of calls they respond to, when, most of the time, a fire truck was not needed. If you ask them how many fires they handled, the number drops dramatically.

I wonder if we really need a chief and administrative staff at every district. Why not consolidate and lower the overhead?