[quote=sdrealtor]I have a serious question. I often see the local fireman shopping at the local Stater Brothers with their firetruck. I always see 3 or 4 of them shopping together and never understood why they cant just send one of them in a private vehicle. Am I missing something?[/quote]
Yes, in your store, you would see only three of them together — some departments have four-man crews, but all the FDs in SD County do not, at least none that I’m aware of. They work as a crew and every person has a particular job. If they go on a call, every person is needed, so they are not allowed to separate.
Again, the engine/truck is what they use on calls. They are tied to the engine/truck, not the fire station. The store would be in their “first-in” zone, or the closest store to their FI zone. This is what matters as far as response times go. The fire station is just a “base” from which they can work — it’s where they eat, sleep, shower, etc. because they work 24+ hour shifts. The engine/truck is their actual workplace…it is the engine/truck they need to be near, not the fire station.
If a call were to come in while one person is at the store, should the engine drive by the store (which might be in the opposite direction of the call) to pick him up? How many minutes do you think that would add to the response times? They have very strict guidelines WRT response times. That’s a very big deal, and that’s why you see the engines at the grocery store.
Edit: just thought of a good analogy. Expecting firefighters to be in station the whole time is like expecting realtors to be in their offices the whole time. A firefighter’s job is not in the station, it’s outside on calls. Not sure if I’m explaining it well enough, but hope it helps.
