Report Audits

We are really glad we are starting to receive a lot of email from our followers. Here is another issue sent to us. Maybe someone will listen to these firefighters, they seem to make some sense.

Some of you may not be aware of the fact that our fire fighters are being taxed with the task of auditing fire and EMS reports that our officer's cannot complete correctly. We are sending the fire fighters, not the officer's, to training on how to correctly fill out reports. Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't our administration promote the most highly qualified individuals to lead our department? Why can't they correctly complete a report? How are they training their fire fighters to be an acting officer? There is nothing better to hear everyday from the battalion chief than "Have my reports been audited yet?" Not to mention that many of the auditors are at some of the busiest stations. So, between running calls, training, doing centrelearn, and RAPIDS it may be 7:00 at night before there is a chance to even look at the reports. I know you folks down at 201 are at home enjoying time with your families at this time, so this may be difficult for you to understand. To the operations and training staff. Why have our highly qualified leaders not been sent to training on proper reporting. Why are we taxing our fire fighters with this responsibility? If anyone has the facts, please enlighten us.  

A "Giant" Problem

We received this email a few days ago, thanks for the tips fellas.

"To 411,

Recently we took a trip to the radio shop and while we were there had a chance to see two of the new trucks. We were able to take the grand tour and if you take into account that they are quints, the concept, the extremely high price tag and the constraints placed on the individuals spec’ing them, they came out good.  No wasted space and very user friendly.  I can honestly say that the individuals took their time and it shows.  One item that was par for our recent course and not a decision of the committee was found in the rear compartment of the 105’ quint.  A Little Giant Ladder now occupies the space of the stokes basket.  This ladder has absolutely no place on a fire ground and was described as being purchased for smoke detector installations.  If you remember these ladders were first purchased for the RFD midi pumpers because after we purchased them we remembered that ladders are an integral part of our job, but normal firefighting ladders were too big for the newly purchased “pick-up” engines.  The space on the quints is limited and the purchase of a ladder made famous by infomercials, is just another example of the complete separation between the Fire Chief and operations.  This open space could have housed another 24 ft. NFPA approved ladder for fire ground operations.  A 3 ft. Lowe's step ladder purchased for $39 would have sufficed for smoke detectors and taken up a lot less space.  I know this may sound like a small issue but it is just one more example of the bigger problem.  We need more focus placed on firefighting operations and less on gizmos and gadgets.  Also on the 75’ they took up an entire compartment until the  apparatus committee (people in operations) caught it and tucked it under the aerial in some unused space.  No more “industry pioneering” gadgets please.  Take the new ladders and store them next to the Segway’s that never get used and replace them with a 24 ft. ladder that may save someone’s life one day. Just a comment I thought you might be interested in.  Thank you for keeping this site professional and giving firefighters a way to be heard. "

The rescue engine experiment

We've had the Quint concept. Now we are working with a rescue engine experiment. RFD is buying a rescue engine with no real plan on where its going or what it is going to do. It seems if its going to be a bandaid for whatever rescue piece is out of service or provide 24 with another piece to jump on based on the call.In other words spending $750,000 on something we don't have any plan for? Whats your thoughts?

Urgent! Close Call in Richmond

This story is still in very early stages but we wanted to get it posted so we can see what we can gather. We seemed to have a close call regarding the dive team which was operating near Dock St. for a car that had gone into the river. It appears that while operating at the scene the underwater communication system either malfunctioned or wasn't working properly. During the search operation one diver to become entangled and had no way to alert the other members that he was in trouble. After several minutes a second diver was sent in and found the entangled diver and assisted him on getting out of the water.



If you have full details of this please email us @ 804v201@gmail.com

Chief Thomas

Does anyone find it interesting that Staff Battalion Chief Tracy Thomas was hired for the position of Battalion Chief of ESU but now currently holds the position of Executive Officer?  At the time the position opened it was stated that there was no officer qualified in the department to run ESU.  Staff Battalion Chief Thomas was hired because of her experience and expertise in emergency services.  She has now been appointed to the position of Executive Officer to the Fire Chief.....  How is this even possible?


The city website defines this as

What does unclassified and classified employment mean?

Unclassified employees serve at the will of the appointing authority. Classified employees have grievance rights following the completion of their probationary period.

 What is going on with this department?  Someone please explain to me how an individual can be hired for a specifically defined position with specifically defined benefits(classified) and within a very short amount of time get a full retirement option(unclassified) and become second(first) in command.