It depends what you mean by oncall.
Volunteer firefighters technically can be considered on call 24/7
Now this dosent mean you have no life and must sit there and wait for every call.
As a volunteer you just try to repsond to every call that you have time for.
It just sucks when your at work and you have your pager and can just listen to a structure fire call come over the radio and you cant leave!!

To become a volunteer I had to go through an 80 hour training course at the community college fire academy.
To become a paid firefighter you must complete a 2 month long fire academy which is 8-5 4 days a week.
The only real difference between paid and volunteer SOME like to say is that paid firefighters do it becasue they have to. Volunteer firefighters do it because they LOVE it!
Plus almost 97% of the countries firefighters are VOLUNTEER!!
One time I was at work after school around 4 I work at a feed store and my dad called me to ask if I had my pager which I didnt well he said there was fire showing from the attic of an apratment complex right down the road from my work not even a mile. Well of course I cant do anything so I got to watch as all the trucks from my city respond as my chief called mutual aid from 5 surrounding towns in our county. So I got to watch truck hall *** pass my work as I stood out front and watched the news chopper fly around the scene I was like great this must be a good fire which it was!

 

As a volunteer firefighter do you have to be at the fire in a specific amout of time if you do go?

Do you just take your truck or do you go to the fire house first, suit up and leave in the fire truck?

is being a payed firefighter family freindly? its 24 on 48 off right?

 

Being a paid firefighter can be different in some areas yes usully its 24 on 48 off. Some areas its different like at Houston fire department they work 9 days out of the month so usually some of the guys I know on our paid day crew work for houston so when they arent working for them they come down to my town and work the shift here so they work for the paid crew at different cities.

Now being a volunteer you dont have to be at the station at a specific time but its your best interest to get there under 5 minutes if you want to make the truck. but thats why I, like others respond and work out of the firestation thats usually closest to your house. My city will not let you be in the fire dept for our town if you live out of the city limits because they dont wont you haulin *** to the station becasue they dont want to make another trip to the accident you get in when you are trying to go to a call. Theres nothing different from being a paid firefighter and a volunteer except for that word "paid" But actually in my city volunteer get $5 bucks for every call we go on.

So yes you respnd to the station so you have a crew to repsond to the fire call. Some real rural areas let certain people repsond POV to a call but usually not in th city. Some places let you use emergency lights in your vehicle and others do not.
Me and my dad sometimes have repsonded POV to calls around our house or maybe just a couple streets away but he sort of has some authority to do that becasue he is captain of our firestation. And hes been in the fire department for over 15 years.

 

im not on the department yet but i will be in a few months here in my town
when i get on this is what we will be responding in


here is a link to a page that has all the info on all the trucks we have

http://www2.pontiac.org/tis/index.ph...ment_apparatus

we also have a private ambulance service with 3 rigs

my town has about 12,000 people in it but thats not including the country people and all the outlying towns that we respond with medical aid to often

 

Well no pictures right now but I respond on Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department Engine 1. Engine 1 is a 2006 Pierce pumper. My staion also houses Booster 1, Boat 1, Ambulance 1, and Ambulance 501. And as for the department, oh lord, lets see.

-Combination department responding to 15,000 calls per year over 180 square miles with nearly 400 members
-12 stations
-12 front line pumpers (also two new pumpers on order)
-2 100' tower ladder trucks
-1 75' aerial ladder truck
-3 technical rescue trucks
-2 water tenders
-9 ACLS ambulances
-5 boosters (new boosters in the works)
-2 rescue boats
-1 bulldozer/transport
-1 rehab
-2 squads
-uncountable chiefs cars/EMS supervisor/support vehicles
I probably missed some things

 

Just to put my .02 in. I'm not a v-fire fighter would love to be but I don't have the time to devote to it. We live in a very small community as we like to call it a one stoplight town. People that live in town respond to the stations, all out of towners usually driver their own vehicles and are allowed emergency lights in them. Some have light bars on their dash, some also have wig wags on their headlights.

 

Picture 1 of 1 from Album fire

wsb 535x346 LVFD+701B

 

 

that is ghetto

 

Just found this thread - Here are a couple of the trucks on my volunteer dept.


SW31
American LaFrance engine with 1250 GPM pump. This engine carries an array of equipment to include MSA thermal imager Camera, MSA 3 gas detector, portable lightboxes, several hand tools, vent saw and the K12. Three 1 3/4 pre-connect attack lines - 200 ft, and 1- 2 1/2 300 ft pre-connect. We carry an additional 300 ft - 2 1/2 for a total of 600 ft. SW31 also carries 500 ft of 5" water supply hose.



SW32 and SW33
American LaFrance engines with 1250 GPM pumps. These engines carry an array of equipment to include bullard thermal imagers, MSA 3 gas detectors, portable lightboxes, several hand tools, vent saws. SW 32 has one complete holmatro tool set. Each engine has three pre-connect 1 3/4 attack lines and 700 ft of 5" water supply hose.



SW61
The "Rescue Squad" is a medium duty rescue truck on a 4x4 chasis. This truck carries numerous pieces of equipment to include: Holmatro tool sets with pre-connect lines, holmatro high and low pressure air bags, saw-zalls, glass cutters, struts, pickett system, ropes, numerous 4x4 cribbing, step chocks, hand tools, medical equipment, backboards, and 6 bottle cascade system.



SW42 and SW43
American LaFrance tankers. They carry 3000 gals of water and have a 500 GPM pump. Each truck has a portable 3000 gal tank. These rigs roll second after the engine or grass rigs clears to supply water for fireground operations.




And here is a link to the descriptions of each:
http://www.swfire.org/apparatus.php



We are getting a brand new ambulance in another month or so custom ordered to our exact specs. Should be pretty neat. Our website is still pretty new in in-the-works. It doesn't show our primary ambulance with is an E-450 chassis.

 

Why is it ghetto that people in rural areas have to use their own POV to respond to an emergency call and possibly saves someones life?

Some small towns can't afford equipment or the area is just way to big for people to respond first to a station then to the call.

For my house for instance the closest paid station is 26 miles.

The closest volunteer station is 4 miles... And has a complete lack of equipment. No ambulance, just a few trucks with lights.

There is another volunteer station with some new stuff, but it is about 13 or so miles out.

Most volunteers, hence volunteer are scattered all over the county, and respond to a call that could be possibly 15 miles or more away.

Light bars, strobes, l.e.ds, they are expensive.

People put what they can afford in their vehicles within what they're allowed..

The purpose of the lights is to warn others there is an emergency and to move the hell out of the way.

I've seen some pretty sick setups, and I've seen some questionable ones that were crap. But, they serve their purpose, to tell people to move over.

------

Honestly, hospitals are so far out, if something happens most people just roll to the ER. We can't wait for EMS to respond, not only do they have to respond 26 miles out, but take us 26 miles back.

My dad would just call the local sheriff make them aware of our emergency, describe his vehicle will be at a high rate of speed up the road, load me up in his vehicle, put the flashers on, and haul *** to the ER.

We've even had sheriff officer meet us on the road, turns his blues on and escort us.

 

City of Roanoke
Population 100,000, 43 Square miles

Engines: 11
Trucks: 4
Medic Units: 9
BC's: 3
EMS Supervisor: 1

Our fleet is pretty diverse, not a specific type of one particular apparatus. The unit is spec'd to provide the best service for the area it will be stationed.

Here are a few:

 

Here is a photo of our Ladder


Here is a photo of our 2009 Engine

 

Whoa, I just stumbled onto this thread. I am part of the team at Crimson Fire that built that truck.

 

Whoa Volunteers get that?! Heck, our VFD's newest and coolest is a 2006 F-450 Squad with a little 250 gpm pump on the back