No. Fire is safer when considered 'neutral' in law-enforcement environments.
51% (182 votes)
Yes. Firefighters could benefit from law-enforcement training, but it should be up to each chief.
31% (111 votes)
Yes. Firefighters should be armed, no restrictions.
10% (36 votes)
No. It would let officials move to a combination, public-safety model.
5% (19 votes)
Yes. Personnel can be armed only on a SWAT law-enforcement teams.
3% (12 votes)
Total voters: 360
Discuss this poll 23
Another P.O.S.T. certified Fire Chief for a small paid on call Municipal Fire Department. Four years as a Police Chief for a small Municipality and thirty years on a large paid fire department, half of which was on the Arson Squad which required a police commission leads me to believe that there are positions on larger fire departments in which certain members must be L.E.O. trained and P.O.S.T. certified in order to perform their tasks successfully. So, some firefighters must also be cops, most should surely not be and don't want to be
Rescue in the back woods were Bears, Moose, Wolf, are Fire / Rescue Personnel Some times need to be armed to protect themself & fellow responders in this type of situations & Fire Investigators need to be armed as well.
NO! FFs are FFs and NOT cops. Look at the State of PA model, they have Fire Police who respond with FFs and direct traffic, keep roads open and flowing to facilitate additional assets responding to the scene Any other problems are handled by COPS- LEOs, they have the 'boots & guns" and survey for and aprehend perpetrators.
Having been a Chief Officer (Fire) with a Public Safety agency I can speak from first hand experience that it does not work unless top-down-bottom-up everyone believes in the system. I also can say since moving from a PSA that I agree with most respondants that training your Investigations staff and Tactical medics makes sense. I do not agree that all fire inspectors and code enforcement officer's need be full LEO's.
I also think it should be limited to the Fire Marshal, and inspectors or investigators. They already, because of the nature of the job find themselves in situations where LEO training would benefit greatly, and then they could also be utilized to assist the responding company's when needed. However the front line fire and EMS responders should remain neutral and unarmed.
In some areas firefighters are atttacked by one gang for fighting a fire at a rival gangs drug house, or saving a rival gang member etc.
Increase law enforcement, more officers so they can respond on fire/ems runs.
As soon as you get a firefighter shooting someone accidently, or goes off and does something dumb, that will just add to fire service issues.
Your last comment hit the nail on the head. Imagine the headlines that are going to read, "Firefighter Shoots Civilian at Emergency Scene." The outcome, regardless of whether or not the action was warranted will tarnish the reputation of the Fire Service perhaps irreparably. Let's not ever have the reputation of being "The Good Guys" taken from us by the notion that we need to be armed to do our jobs. I've been in this business for 32 years (career) and have never once needed a gun to perform my duties. God help us if it ever comes to that.
I agree 100%, we are firefighters not peace officers. In the fire service I can see us moving to a new level of combat medics and using them like they are used inthe military.
It's interesting how many department have responded, and all of the talk about arming Fire Marshals and Investigators yet many states are so stuck in the back woods about this issue it will never happen. Maybe we need direction out of Washington, or at least the IAFC regarding arming certain members of fire departments?
They are two very different disciplines requiring different training, equipment and priorities. Training should be available to allow fire & EMS personnel to recognize and defend themselves and their crews, but fire & EMS need to stay away from taking offensive action beyond what is needed to defend themselves. Otherwise we, again, get into conflicting priorities.
Does this mean I get BOTH Firefighter pay and Cop pay???? 6 figure salaries sound good to me...The city council may have something to say about that thou...
PSO does not work, it looks great as the perception for public trust, and in having the public think all is well. But I know to many PSO departments that can not give the service (Competent Fighting fires, and providing EMS to the public), if you want great policing and mediocre fire fighting, and EMS then go for it. If you want the best service (which we all should have that goal), then keep police and fire departments seperate.
PSO is not the answer however, certain members of the fire department (Investigators, Code Enforcement Officers, Inspectors) should be armed and respond with suppression personnel for support. I believe the new model Fire Department should include an internal Law Enforcement Division. Municipal police and county Sheriff's agencies are too short staffed to offer the needed support.
Ask DFW airport DPS about this.... It got too expensive and time-consuming to keep up with all the training requirements.
I believe Fire Marshals, Arson investigations and EMS personnel assigned to work with Law Enforcement S.W.A.T. operations should have through POST requirements. But all Firefighters should have a understanding of Law Enforcement their tasks, responsiblies and how to respond to specific incidents such as active shooter, meth labs and crime scenes
I believe that if some firefighters had the basic training they would be able to recognize problems and prevent his fellow fighters from getting shot or walking into a drug lab and etc.. As you know a firefighter only has the emergency call on his mind. I also do not believe any firefighter should be armed
In the world of specialization, it would mean double tasking of fire fighter where in they would lose out all their professional ethics and lands up no where........just a point of my view
Such should be a local decision based upon the risk/benefit analysis of that chief for that department's needs. Not every community is as safe as others (but is any community really safe?). While polling is interesting, it has no bearing on these local decisions. Chiefs make such decisions every day and this one is no different.
And cops are not firefighters. Usually when this happens the BOSS is usually from a police background due to politics, the firefighters like always end up on the short end. On average compare FD vs PD budgets no comparison PD is always higher.
I think the only situations should be for Fire Marshals and their deputies and EMS personnel assigned to work with Law Enforcement S.W.A.T. operations. Other than those scenarios, NADA!
Cross training and arming should only occur if there is a deliberate move to a PSO model.
No, firefighters are not cops!
As a P.O.S.T. certified Fire Chief, I think the time has come for this to be seriously considered.