HFD

[Guest Guest]

Only thirty percent of all fire Departments in the United States are paid Departments. The 70% of volunteer departments work great, most even provide better service than a paid FD could ever do. It's because the volunteer members minds are on getting the job done and helping people. Paid FD's are predominately full of nepotism and patronage related people who's main function is high salaries and finding ways to get even higher salaries and benefits, no matter what the cost to the residents. In my opinion and observations they just don't care. Pay me, that's all. Every Police Department in the U.S. is paid because is a specialized function that requires only certain individuals that can master the occupation. Some Officers are better than others and their are appointed slugs in towns with chiefs tests like Secaucus. You see how honest that Mayor was. If you can think of a better way to pass out pistols to volunteers and set them loose let everyone know. Then you can have volunteer PD's.

Paid Fireman should only be allowed by the Federal Government in large cities like New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and a few others. The members salaries should be capped at around $60,000.00. Most of these small towns with paid depts. turned into volunteer depts. would flourish with the extra cash and there would be no difference in service. That is my opinion.

[mrmike]

Sorry for the late reply, I lost track of my posts

Yes Doc I do think a fully staffed FD is a good thing people don't realize that as the times have changed our duties have increased, we do things now and have equipment and duties that were never even thought of 20 years ago.

No matter how you slice it once you deviate from the set protocols in hiring you are circumventing the list. Over the years the Towns have approached us at every turn looking to add steps and lower the wages of new hires in order to lessen the impact on budgets, we have done this on several occasions.

However this is a two edged sword, if you have a low paying job your not going to attract the professionals your looking to keep for their entire career,one example would be the Sheriffs Dept. many of their hires are only there as a stepping stone to better paying jobs in other Depts. even here in Kearny we've hired and trained firefighters only to have them accept positions in other Depts and leave thereby causing the additional expense of hiring replacements and paying for their training this has also occured in Harrison.

There are paid professional firefighters currently laid off in the state I believe if we hire anyone they should be first after that there is an existing list available and the rules still apply.

Now as far as my posts,the comments I post to "guests" threads are my way of showing the Emperor has no clothes, I wind him up and he shows his ass, that said I also provide a basis of fact in those comments. It's also free entertainment for me,lol.

I've NEVER represented myself as the KFD public relations rep., I'm just another guy with an opinion albiet perhaps a bit more insight than the citizen on the street.

Go back to the early part of the year and read my beginning posts, I will always respond respectfully and intelligently to the same however in "guests' case if your going to act like an ass you'll be treated likewise.

jus sayin

[Guest Guest]

To anyone reading this post, what has changed so much in 20 years? A fire is a fire. Thats it. What duties have changed? Any terroristic type of activity is clearly outlined in NJ to be handled by the Police. The fire dept. just stays at a safe distance in case something goes wrong. Thats probably 1% of the time. In my opinion, a fireman is not a career, it's just a job. It's similar to delivering pizzas but less work. Once again some fireman posted that he has more insight than people on the street. Always the EGO, always the MONEY.

[doc13mets]

Sorry for the late reply, I lost track of my posts

Yes Doc I do think a fully staffed FD is a good thing people don't realize that as the times have changed our duties have increased, we do things now and have equipment and duties that were never even thought of 20 years ago.

No matter how you slice it once you deviate from the set protocols in hiring you are circumventing the list. Over the years the Towns have approached us at every turn looking to add steps and lower the wages of new hires in order to lessen the impact on budgets, we have done this on several occasions.

However this is a two edged sword, if you have a low paying job your not going to attract the professionals your looking to keep for their entire career,one example would be the Sheriffs Dept. many of their hires are only there as a stepping stone to better paying jobs in other Depts. even here in Kearny we've hired and trained firefighters only to have them accept positions in other Depts and leave thereby causing the additional expense of hiring replacements and paying for their training this has also occured in Harrison.

There are paid professional firefighters currently laid off in the state I believe if we hire anyone they should be first after that there is an existing list available and the rules still apply.

Now as far as my posts,the comments I post to "guests" threads are my way of showing the Emperor has no clothes, I wind him up and he shows his ass, that said I also provide a basis of fact in those comments. It's also free entertainment for me,lol.

I've NEVER represented myself as the KFD public relations rep., I'm just another guy with an opinion albiet perhaps a bit more insight than the citizen on the street.

Go back to the early part of the year and read my beginning posts, I will always respond respectfully and intelligently to the same however in "guests' case if your going to act like an ass you'll be treated likewise.

jus sayin

The problem isn't the wages of new hires at all. They get paid peanuts. It's the wages of those that are at the top steps.

And I agree with you that laid off firefighters should be at the top of all hiring lists.

I know you never represented yourself as a PR guy. But as you know once you identify yourself from a specific department and speak publically you automatically get labeled as such (even if that's unfair). I was just trying to point out sometimes you may say something which sounds odd (just because of the way you approach the matter or phrase it) but you are always on point.

I'm sick of "guests" comments as well. They hold little weight.

[mrmike]

Ahhhh, There you are.

Yes fire is still fire and in response to your comments in other posts as a rule "most" of the time fires usually begin as "small" fires, it's keeping them that way where it can get tricky.

What additional duties?

Ok I'll bite... Mass casulty decontamination, confined space rescue, Haz-mat incidents and EMS are just a few that come to mind.

It's only natural that a firefighter would have more insight into the inner workings of his Dept. as opposed to the ordinary citizen in the street.

Just like a mechanic does in relation to the inner workings of your car.

If that were not the case you wouldn't have had to ask "what additional duties?", you would have already known.

Right?

jus sayin

[Guest Guest]

You ask how things got this way so fast? Have you been up in the space shuttle for the last 30 years? Sorry to put it that way, but just look at the salaries Harrison have been paying the Fireman year after year for putting out like 3 fires, someimes less, a year. The Harrison Fire Department is the number 2 line item cost on the Harrison yearly budgets forever. No city, town, or even state in this country has a fire department paid so incredibly high and NONE higher than the Police budget. This isn't all of a sudden. It's architect planned it exactly that way so certain people and families could maximize their income until the Ponzi scheme went bust. Now it busted. It is not just the Fire Department either. I would have to see the number, but my guess is that there are as many over $100,000.00 job packages in Harrison as there are in Newark, NJ. Harrison is 1.1 square mile. You haven't noticed that a very, very high percentage of town employees have 2 or 3 homes and are retiring as millionaires from the tiny town of Harrison. Please don't pretend to be naive, it's not your strong suit.

Civil Service was created to pacify certain minority groups, including women, that had complained that they weren't getting a fair shot at the highest paying jobs. They were right and still are not getting a fair shot. It was never on the level from day 1. In my opinion and if you look at who has all of the highest paid jobs in say, Hudson County, the scores and ultimate results have been getting manipulated since the inception of Civil Service by local politicians and is a complete farce of a grading system. It's so apparent that you cannot miss it. How do you explain 12 to 14 members of two families all being on JC Fire Department at the same time all hired off one list? They did not come out on the list as #1, #2, #3, and so on. They are being hand picked from the list no matter what the score due to political alliances and favors. I cannot see how anyone can dispute with that.

The residents keep electing and re-electing the same people that have turned Harrison into a broken toilet and were informed of this prior to voting, but Hey, Ray's a great guy. He's a very wealthy man, you are not. Do you think that just happened by accident? You need a businessman to turn the town around but it may be too late at this point. Taxes may double. You shall see.

[Guest Guest]

Somebody named "guest" comments hold little weight? Sounds kind of humorous from some apparently broke *** guy whose taxes are skyrocketing like the Fourth of July every year. Being retired before the age of 50 with enough money to last "guest" the rest of his life must make him a real loser. "Guest" pays way less property taxes than you percentage wise and much less than you in income taxes. "Guest" has always, and always will, donate generous sums of money to charities to help find cures for diseases and vaccines that could prevent someone from getting sick. THAT is not a money issue. If you send even one dollar to a few charities each year you wouldn't even notice it gone, but the charity would notice it and in almost all cases send you a thank you card because it all adds up. It not how much philanthropy you have in your heart, but just the act of sending $5 to help the blind, to fight cancer, or other diseases makes you a winner in life and a very rich man in your heart. Be that man. Don't think about doing it, just do it. You will be a champion in life to every child who needs food and clean drinking water or senior that nedds medical assistance and doesn't have the money. I know I went off track on the issue of you insulting me, but insult me all day long if you have it in your heart to make that donation. That's what a bad guy I am.

[Guest guest]

What amount of money constitutes peanuts concerning a new Firemans salary and have many steps are there before this small amount of peanuts becomes a giant serving? Also, if you are a Fire Captain or Deputy Chief and get layed-off then picked up by another department, you should start at the lowest rank no matter what rank you had and get paid from the new dept. as a new first year guy. If you don't like that, then stay unemployed. That will keep costs and pensions down.

[Guest guest]

What has the HFD done to earn $1.7 million dollars in salaries so far in 2011? I call it how I see it, and the answer is nothing. They are just begging to be shut down for good. Lets oblige them.

[Guest Guest]

One thing is certain the Harrison FD’s days are numbered. It’s really sad. They were a great department and still to this day have a number of great firefighters. Unfortunately the economy has shifted and the town continues to make cuts across the board. The FD being one of the biggest line items gets cut multiple times a year. Harrison is not safe without a fully funded/paid fire department. Harrison residents deserve and need at least 1 Engine, 1 Ladder and 2 EMS crews protecting them at all times. They are a service orientated department and do a lot more than just fight fires.

I keep hearing about how health insurance costs are going to skyrocket and a number of guys will retire and there is no plan to replace any of them.

They need to be replaced somehow and someway and volunteers in Harrison aren’t the simple answer. It’s not an overnight process.

One thing I’ve learned in my West Hudson days is that East Newark provides similar services to Harrison except cheaper. Think about their respective police departments. Do you feel safer with 2 cops always on duty in a .1 square mile town, yes POINT ONE (that’s one tenth of a square mile for our Harrison High graduates). Relax the Harrison High comment was a joke, now back to business. Or do you feel safer in Harrison with the 2-3 patrol officers on duty? I’ll take East Newark any day of the week. Both are paid police departments that offer the same service. See what I mean? Ok so here it is. I’m not saying Harrison should merge with East Newark for fire protection services, but I believe they should consider contracting them to offer a fully paid engine or ladder company to supplement the retirees that they will not replace. Harrison would pay a lump sum to East Newark to offer this protection. (It’s not unheard of tons of towns all over the country are contracting their neighbors to offer fire protection) With this lump sum (which would be lower then what Harrison would pay for a fully manned engine company) East Newark could hire and staff one company 24/7. East Newark would benefit because they could make some money off the deal (as they would pay substantially lower salaries than Harrison, an example ENPD vs HPD salaries) and save Harrison money at the same time. Also you get local residents who care about the communities and still live around here to be paid firefighters, who could also be volunteers still in their off duty hours.

No service reduction would happen in fact coverage would increase at a lower cost then what it is today.

The end result would be keeping HFD running out of one station with EMS and say a Ladder and East Newark paid guys running out of their HQ or Cleveland Ave. They would be automatically responding to any call in Harrison as that’s what they are contracted to do.

This is not a suggestion to replace any Harrison Firefighters job, nor a plan to replace the paid guys with volunteers. This is merely a suggestion to increase the amount of paid firefighters in the area and at a substantially lower cost.

You all keep shhoting your big mouths off about the lay off but I don't see it happening! Is is all just gossip as everything else you say or when is this going to happen?

[doc13mets]

You all keep shhoting your big mouths off about the lay off but I don't see it happening! Is is all just gossip as everything else you say or when is this going to happen?

Two more guys retired in the beginning of May. I hear more are retiring come June and then some more come July.

I never once said anyone would get laid off. I've actually multiple times said that they aren't layoffs that they are reducing through attrition. Guys are retiring and they are not hiring anyone to replace them. That is a reduction in staff, it's already started.

I've never said anything on this board that hasn't come true. Sometimes I share my opinion on matters and give thoughts on what I might do. But that’s not gossip. Go back, tell me where I stated something was going to happen and it didn't happen.

The fire department will still be here come next year. Just not like it was last year or even right now for that matter. Staffing needs to be at the very least 1 engine, 1 ladder and 1 EMS (with a second EMS and taking the ladder out of service). HFD has called mutual aid many times the past few months when they had a second EMS ambulance sitting in HQ but didn't have the manpower to send it out. That’s what needs to be corrected.

[Guest Guest]

In the past 20 years Firemen have had their so - called jobs made easy to the point where getting hurt or burned is just human error. The clothing they now wear is so flame and heat resistant that the chance of getting a small burn can almost be ruled out. No fireman goes into a burning building anymore unless is it so water soaked that there is no chance of danger. Don't start mentioning 911 either because that was one isolated incident in the last decade. 10X more civilians lost their lives than the fireman from just going to work but no one seems as to this day to care. Only the firemen were mentioned over and over. The fireman did no more or no less than they signed up for. They did their job, that's it. Same as anyone else, Period. When a fireman is injured in the line of duty seriously enough to have to retire the incident is often portrayed as a monumental event. Why was the career ending on or off duty injury of ex-fireman felon Greg Ellis kept a secret until he was exposed as a felon who cheated the pension sustem. If the firemen had been reporting these frauds, or in my opinion, fake injuries all these years that the pension system would have saved millions. I personally know of at least 12 firemen who faked these on the job injuries and had Doctors that worked with them to get their 2/3 that it's sick. I have consistently reported this to every agency I can right down to describing the job they are currently doing which requires them to clearly using their so called disabling injury to do and nobody investigates it. Blame that for part of your pensions woes. Clean your own house before you compain about others.