Training pay??

[iamvff]

Question for the other VF Dept's out there:
If your Dept. is paid a wage when they are called out to emergencies. Does your dept also pay the members if they are on training courses? Ours currently pays for time away training, but we are finding that the ones that want the training couldn't care less if they get paid, and the ones that want the pay couldn't care less if they get trained. I have talked to several of the members and we may be concidering not paying for training any more, and using the money we save to do more training instead.

be safe,
iamvff

[Michael13]

We get paid for calls, meetings, practices, work parties, and mileage if we go anywhere for fire dept business.

[DFCSmash]

Training pay here is $10.00 for the regular training meeting. Out of town courses are reimbursement for meals, accomodations, and .30/km for travel. It's not a lot, but better than it used to be. We found EXACTLY what you mentioned about pay and training when we discussed pay for training time. The keeners are keen, and the slackers are greedy.

[WFD999]

We're a totaly unpaid department but when it comes to trianing we cover all exspenses. fuel, hotel, meals and course's. It's only fair when some one is already donating thier time. We also take the approach that if we can bring someone in and do a course at the hall and open up all extra seats to mutal aid departments on a cost recovery basis. This works well and the guys get to know the other departments off the fire ground on a more personal level.

Have a great one.

[iamvff]

I should clarify that if we decide to change our ways, we would still pay all expenses for training ( mileage, course costs, meals, etc), just not a wage. Sorry, I re-read my post and could see that being misunderstood.

Thanks for the input so far.

Be safe,
iamvff

[daveb]

we get paid for all fire hall business. Meetings (assocation) training Offc. meetings, practice, work party's, fire prevention meetings. we have a rank system (rookie) $10.00 (3rd. class) $14.00 (2nd, class) $17.50 (1st. class) $20.00. And if we go to training outside the hall it's $75.00 + mileage per day. But i personally, still can't believe they actually pay me to do this job!

[wilderness]

We are paid an hourly wage when it time to fight fires, now as for training we get $50.00 a month for two training meetings that we most attend unless working, this check is paid once a year, and our calls are paid monthly...... we are also on call for a one week period that we can't be more then 5 minutes from the hall, and must respond..... if you can,t respond hope that you asked another platoon to cover for you....we aren,t paid for this..........
if we attend the O.F.C we are paid for two courses thats it...if we want to take 6 have at it..but your only paid for two........

[JGallagher]

I say keep the training pay!! It is a insencitive to have members attend the training!!

[wilderness]

I,m not there for the money, when tax time comes i pay way more then i earn ...somehow it doesn't feel right

[DFCSmash]

When I saw daveb's post, I laughed out loud.:D I remeber getting my first fire cheque, and asking the training officer about it. Still remember thinking "Wow, we get to play with ALL these toys AND they pay us too!" Y'know, I still feel like that after 20 years. :D

[heavyduty]

We get paid for calls and meetings. If we attend any out of town training everything is paid for except our time. That is definatly not the reason I am there, its just a perk. We also get a tax break at the end of the year, last year it turned into 300 bucks extra cash.

[iamvff]

Originally posted by heavyduty
We get paid for calls and meetings. If we attend any out of town training everything is paid for except our time.

Heavyduty,
Do you find that anyone minds not being paid for training? Are there guys that don't train as much because there is nothing in it for them, or is it just generally an accepted practice?

Be Safe,
iamvff

[DFCSmash]

I know you asked heavyduty, but I am responding too. Our members understand that we have a very finite budget. We have a reasonable amount set aside for training each year, but if we exceed that amount, it has to come out of another elective area of the total budget. This pretty much means equipment purchase.:( Our members would rather have ugraded equipment than a per diem for training. And we do upgrade equipment each year. This year for example we purchased two Scott 4.5 paks and spare bottles, as well as misc. small stuff. If there is money left over in training at the end of the year, we try to spend it for equipment. But we do try to ensure that the entire training budget gets spent on training. It usually does between local training and the ESC in Brandon in Oct. And because there is no per diem for training, that allows us to send 2 more people per year in there. So there is a definite upside.

[heavyduty]

I belive that some people will not go without gettting paid, I realize it is hard to take work off but if those individuals are dedicated enough they will go without getting paid. In our dept there are 30 firefigters right now. They know there is a large comitment to being a firefighter, they also know that if they dont show up to training, meetings and practices they will be bumped off the list for another individual, I think there are 20 applications right now waitng to become a member. Lots of our dedicated guys will go to any training they can without being paid and nobody has a problem. We have a pretty high budget, oilfield town, but we still do not get paid when we are away at training. Hope that helps a little

[wilderness]

DO YOU REALLY WANT THE GUYS WHO ARE THERE FOR THE MONEY........ AND ONLY MONEY...... ARE THESE THE SAME GUYS WHO CAN,T WEAR A scba??????

RED DEVIL WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TOO ME........................

[iamvff]

I am not sure who said anything about "wanting" the guys that are there for the money??? And quit yelling at me, it hurts my feelings:(

And furthermore...did someone say SCBA??? Who said SCBA???
I did not check the rule book, but I am sure they closed the posts on the SCBA issue. I don't think we are allowed to say SCBA for a while:p

Be Safe,
iamvff

[JGallagher]

Originally posted by iamvff
I don't think we are allowed to say SCBA for a while:p

Be Safe,
iamvff

Cehave now iamvff!!:D

[iamvff]

Sorry there JG, sometimes it is just to hard to resist a little humor.
I'll try a little harder...................next time:D

Have a good weekend,
Be safe,
iamvff

[JGallagher]

Originally posted by iamvff
Sorry there JG, sometimes it is just to hard to resist a little humor.
I'll try a little harder...................next time:D

Have a good weekend,
Be safe,
iamvff

I hope we have a good weekend!! Since Tuesday we have had about 8 calls.

[wilderness]

YELLING WHO IS YELLING, I USE CAP LOCKS AT MY STATION FOR WORK IF THIS IS YELLING YOU WOULDN,T WANT TO BE IN MY OFFICE......................

[firefighter9calt]

Our Department is strictly volunteer. You Volunteer to join you volunteer to go to fires and you volunteer for training. the only pay is a free lunch during all day training sessions and of course the sandwich and coffe meal during fires. We would rather be spend our money on upgrading equipment .

[Kirk]

Our (dare I say, a lot of) Vol FD is technically paid oncall. I think it is important to differentiate the 2. A true volunteer does not get paid for the services they perform be it FF or a Red Cross or at the mission helping the needy. Paid oncall is just that, you are paid for any calls you respond to. Recruits at our station volunteer to be on the dept, but once on, they are required to respond to calls, and must attend a min level of training nights. Staff are paid on a point basis. 2 points for training nights and 1 point per hour on a call, no matter the call.

Amatures train till they get it right, Professional train till the can't get it wrong.

Stay Safe
Kirk

[heavyduty]

I would still say that we are volunteer deptments, we get paid 18 bucks if we make the truck or not. If you are away from work for 10 hours on a call you are not getting paid so they try to componsate by paying you for everything that you show up for. We still volunteer 10 times more hours than we get paid for.

[Kirk]

I see your point HD. We do volunteer our time more than we are paid for it. Good point.
There are arguments either way.... One thing is for certain, we donate a lot of our time for the greater benefit of our commuities.

[JGallagher]

Well for the Bathurst Fire Department it goes like this for the pay scale. This is for the Volounteers. The regular guys get the same rate when the attend a fire call. Officers get a bit more then that. Though I see more Volounteers showing up for a call then the regular guys do when toned out for more people.

$10.75/h for a fire call.
$8.75/h for training.
$6.50/h for storm watch.

[ehetu]

I find it amazing how much variety there is in the word "volunteer".... in our VFD we are paid-on-call but the city considers us part-time employees. Except that we are only employed when there's a 911 call or doing pre-plans. Oh, and formal training too... that's because of the provincial labour code that requires employees to be paid if training is required for the job. Our regular weds. night practice and maintenance sessions, our preparations for fund raisers and socials are not paid.

Edmond
Chelsea, QC