Paid Firefighters Essay

558 Words3 Pages
“Firefighters Should Be Paid” Firefighters are the men and women that are running in whenever everyone else is running out. They are the ones that pledge to do whatever they can in their power to save someone that they have never met in their life and will most likely never talk to again. Volunteer firefights risk their lives to save other people, but is it truly worth the risk for them? Volunteer firefighters face more risks on the job than most workers. They need to respond to people in need in a very short period of time and work in very dangerous environments. During a fire, floors can cave in and walls can topple. Flames and smoke can burn or kill. Fire fighters may come in contact with poisonous gases or other hazardous materials. Knowing and understanding this allows me to believe that they should definitely be paid for what they are doing. Volunteer firefighters have the longest response time due to a lack of members responding to a call. If volunteers were paid, there would be an increase in members and member activity. Many Long Island departments often have no choice but to call for “mutual aid”, which is when a firehouse forwards emergency calls to county ambulances or other fire departments in a 10 mile radius, due lack of volunteers responding. Volunteers are not required to stay at the firehouse at all times as opposed to paid firemen. Most are on call at their homes. When they do respond to a call, they need to drive to the firehouse (using their own gas), get on their fire gear, and drive the fire engines to the scene. This adds on extra wasted time before actually getting to the fire. This response time can be the difference between life and death or saving someone’s home. Every year, fires take many lives and destroy billions of dollars’ worth of property. Fire fighters help protect people and property. In my community, a woman passed
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