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94accord

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I am a new member at a local fire house and while I know that I should not take anything personally, that all probies have to deal with the 1 year period, I find it rather upsetting that I can not get my Alpha and Minitor for some reason. There has been no explination as to why not, just that "someone will talk to you about it". I have a certain number of functions that I have to make during my probationary period and I find it difficult to make those if I have no way of knowing when a call comes in. From my research I have found that the Minitors are not cheap and that could be a reason why they are not willing to let me have one, but still, how do they expect people to make any ems calls or fire calls if they have no idea that one is coming in?

Any suggestions on how to handle this? Perhaps a site that sells similar devices that can be worn on a belt (non of those HUGE bulky scanners).
 
You can usually find used radios on EBAY for less than $200. Program your pager freq in there, as well as your FD freq (if in the same band) and you'll have both monitoring and communicating capabilities. Someone at the station should have the info you need.

Also, do people hang out at the station waiting for calls? If so, you could do that as well.
 
How long have you been a probie? I think it's safe to say that there is a process that they need to go through to get you the equipment, and it may take them a while. I'd be up front with them and see what they say.
 
I've been in this situation before, and to be perfectly honest it always leaves a bad taste in my mouth when the organization I'm joining plays the "we'll get it to you eventually" card. Fitting in to a new group is hard enough, but that kind of thing makes it worse. If they are going to take you on, the organization should have the proper equipment to do so from the get-go and not make you wait. It's tacitly understood that you aren't going to get the newest pager and the brand-new gear, but a complete set of servicable equipment should be a given. While this probably won't do a thing to help your situation, at least you'll know that this does happen elsewhere. Best of luck!
 
That sucks that they are dragging their feet about getting you the equipment you need. I would just keep asking your officer about it, saying that no one has talked to you about it as of yet. Also, ask how they plan on notifying you of functions you must attend until you do get your pager.

Did anyone else join the department at the same time as you? If so, have they received their pagers yet? If so, find out who they talked to in order to get them, and contact the same person.

I agree that your probie year can be difficult enough without things like this to make it more difficult. I feel so fortunate that my crew doesn't give me a hard time. So, should I let them know that they have until the end of today's shift for any hazing? As of tomorrow, I am no longer a probie!
 
Epi-do said:
So, should I let them know that they have until the end of today's shift for any hazing? As of tomorrow, I am no longer a probie!
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Woohoo!! :D
 
I have been a probie for about 2-3 months now. There were two other members voted in with me at the same time. One does not have anything yet. The other has a pager because his mother is in the firehouse and she is paying for his pager, and he got her old minitor seeing as she had just gotten a new one from her other job at the EMS/Fire dispatch center (kent center here, not sure if its the same thing other places). I did speak to the person in charge of the Alphas and the Minitors and he said something along the lines of I can't get one yet and that the fire chief would talk to me about it. Well tonight was bingo night and I have to have at least 12 of them per year to stay active. The fire chief was there and he made no attempt to pull me aside and talk to me about it, so I waited until about halfway through bingo and I pulled him aside and asked him directly. He informed me that they are short on Minitors at the current time due to the fact that previous members that have left the company, had not turned them in like they were supposed to. However, once they get more in, I will be getting one. Also, the Alphas are $77 a year if i want one now. Once I am off of my probationary period, the pagers are paid for as long as I stay active. So it seems that in due time, I will have the gear I need, however, I would have to agree that to not supply a VOLUNTEER!!! with the equipment they need to function in the firehouse, seems a little bit on the disorganized side and is making me believe that the people in charge of making sure there are enough supplies to handle new members is not doing their job properly and might need a change of watch per say. If nothing else, the person in charge of equipment should be in touch with the person doing the interviews, and SOMEONE should be up front and tell the new people that they are short on something and they are working on it.

Side note~~ I actually had to leave 2 voicemails, 1 page, and a few calls to his house, to finally get an answer out of the person in charge of the pagers and the minitors and then he still passed me on to the fire chief. I mean damn, I know we all have jobs and crap but hell, if you can not do your duties to the firehouse properly, you should step down and let someone else handle it. Am I right or wrong?
 
So I guess I am wondering why you would want to associate yourself with a department who can't pull their head out of their arse long enough to supply you with the proper equipment to do your job? Frankly, I would be very wary about placing my life in the hands of people who can't perform the simplest of administrative funtions. Sounds to me like your chief is setting you up to fail already by not giving you the tools to make your required calls. Probie or not, that is no excuse to not have equipment.

Wanna be a firefighter? Go back to school, get your cert and get on with a reputable paid department.

Good Luck!
 
emtkelley said:
So I guess I am wondering why you would want to associate yourself with a department who can't pull their head out of their arse long enough to supply you with the proper equipment to do your job? Frankly, I would be very wary about placing my life in the hands of people who can't perform the simplest of administrative funtions. Sounds to me like your chief is setting you up to fail already by not giving you the tools to make your required calls. Probie or not, that is no excuse to not have equipment.

Wanna be a firefighter? Go back to school, get your cert and get on with a reputable paid department.

Good Luck!
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To some degree, I agree with you. However, I do see how hard certain people work. I can not condemn the whole company because some people want to slack on their jobs. I found out after calling some people tonight (since my last post) that there are SEVERAL people that hold positions on more than 1 (hell more than 5) comities. Not because they want to, but because there are certain people that want to do nothing more thab ride the ambulance, or ride the fire trucks, and do not want to bother with anything on the admin side. This is a shame as it places undue stress on the people that care enough about the company to pull the extra load. I would say we have about 75-135 members. Of those i would say we have 40-60 active members. Of those, I think we have about 20-30 that actually show up to all the meetings and do what they can, when they can.... not great odds, but its a small district... what can you do. I stay with them because for now, I can deal without the pager and minitor, but we had 14 scratches on our ambulance last month, granted almost all of them were second alerts, but still, thats not good, they need people and damnit, if no-one else wants to get out out of the station, at least I am there and willing to help the community.
 
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When I was a volunteer, when a member left the station they would be given ample (>several weeks) to turn in their stuff. That was followed by a couple of phone calls, then a registered letter, then a visit from a cooperative sheriff's deputy to the offender's house reminding them of their equipment, along with a mention that the next step was an arrest warrant. Worked like a charm...
 
I've found that instead of demanding that things be provided to you within a volunteer agency, a better approach is to ask what you can do to make it happen. Would they like you to type up the letter requesting the return of those other pagers? Could you call the volunteers who haven't returned theirs yet?

I mean, bottom line, you want a pager... the problem is.. there aren't any. Solution, either get one yourself (if that's allowed) or assist the department in getting one for you.

In our department there is a rule that no one gets a radio until they have had training in basic radio communications. Depending on the time of year they become a volunteer, there can be some time waiting for that class to be offered.
 
Tincanfireman said:
When I was a volunteer, when a member left the station they would be given ample (>several weeks) to turn in their stuff. That was followed by a couple of phone calls, then a registered letter, then a visit from a cooperative sheriff's deputy to the offender's house reminding them of their equipment, along with a mention that the next step was an arrest warrant. Worked like a charm...
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Ha Ha... i will have to suggest that to my chief... see if he wants to take action lol.
 
It sounds like the ones causing the problems are the ones not turning in their gear. I like 94accord's idea.....
 
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