Serving a community that doesn’t support you
Feeling deflated right now. The town I work for just voted down a new fire station that we’ve been campaigning hard for months for. I work my ass off for this town and it feels like they just don’t care.
Our one and only manned station was built 60+ years ago and is falling apart. We’ve tried for a new station over the past 10 years. The past 2 have been the most serious; building committee, architects, site studies, whole 9 yards. It was just voted down by today’s town ballot. I’m disgusted by it all and don’t know if I should continue my career here.
We already work on a shoe string budget, 4 firefighter/emts for a pop of 13k. We cross staff the engine/ladder/tank and two ambulances. Our volume is 2k+ calls a year. We’ve grown from a call/vol department to a full time/combo over the past decade, but nothing significant has changed. Hell, the ambulance covers wages of 2/4 ffs and still people complain. We’re understaffed and living in a carcinogen-laced station that was only designed for housing apparatus. Yet the town would rather not pay the extra taxes to keep us safe.
Why even bother? There’s hundreds of other towns that treat their firefighters with decency, right? Why should I bust my ass with OT, public education, volunteering and all the fucked up shit I see in this job.
Anyone have similar experiences or insight? I’m heated right now and ready to move across the country to somewhere that cares. Do cities/towns like that still exist?