Welcome to Gaia! ::

After the entire room sat down from the pledge of allegiance chief clark opened the meeting..

"Let me get right to the point here. The rest can wait till later. As you know the mayor of Barton city has been making some serious budget cuts and we've been fighting him on it severely. This time he has given us a proposal that he really wants us to consider which affects all of us financially.

Mason looks over to Spectre then grunts before reading the list.

"1. All primary engine company crew will cut down from six to three or four members per engine.

2. All secondary response crews will move down to two or three firefighters each.

3. All truck companies will go from five to three man trucks! Which honestly puts Ladder 31 in a stickler hence it takes two drivers and an officer to operate the truck! So we will be really fighting this one!

4. All rescue company crews are to go from full time to part time shifts as well as crew shortage to three or four firefighters. Meaning only one paid rescue truck available every 8 hours despite each trucks assigned status. Spectre I know you don't want to hear that so please don't blow a cork

5. Our FD ambulances are to only go out with an accompanied engine. The city is trying to prevent our fire department medical personnel from going out when primary EMS District 124 is not available. Unless of course an engine is aided

6. All fire tender apparatus are to only go our when needed. So station two and three engines are supposed to wait at bay and wait for a rescue engine unless needed!? Station four has a tender and basic pumper and they make it out okay

7. Engine 34-61 is out of date and needs to be replaced. Which I don't see why just because it's an open cab. That engine is meant for wildfires not apartment blazes. If they try to get rid of it then I will look into a tele-squirt or a Class B rescue pumper to make them happy

8. All reserve apparatus must atleast make 20% of yearly calls. Apparently we've only given the reserves 5% or 10%. There's nothing wrong with our primary rigs. Tower 32 is one of our most called out trucks so reserve truck 30 will definitely be strained on and I will be having extra manpower go out with it despite what we are told to do.

9. Rapid Intervention Team. We only currently obtain four RIT certified apparatus. If only one rescue is allowed for a shift then Rescue 32 will not be allowed to go out for 16 hours and will have to be replaced by a RIT engine or truck which is a complete heaping pile of BS to me! If i gotta start paying our men and women out from my own pockets to stay then I will! We 15% of our department are comprised of volunteers. The rest are paid staff personnel.

10. Onto paywages. The mayor would like the department to shift it's paid staff numbers down to 40% and the volunteers to 60%. We'll lose members for sure. No more of this political BS just so we can save money. Oh yeah and paycuts will be cut down to 85% salary. No riots, I am not the one doing this here.

I mean come on now! The police department has chucked 20% of it's force and 50% of it's SWAT team armed responses out the door and crime rates will soon go up cause they can't protect us while going out on calls so if we aren't protected then how are we supposed to do our jobs for the city!?"


Mason clears his throat then hands a copy of what he just read to the secretary to hand out to everyone in the meeting room..

"Deputy Chief Spectre would you like to comment on this matter Sir?"


"As you can see Tower 32 and Tender Engine 32-61 are OOS for a little while. I was told for apparatus rotations but the mayor has complained that we need to refurbish our rigs just because the paint is old, the seat belts are worn out, and there are scratches all over the compartment doors!"

Brian sends a text to Spectre.

"Tell me again why we're primary ems when this city clearly has more staff and rigs? Might as well combine ems 30 with 124 and work rotation shifts"

Spectre texts Brian back "Just the dumbarses that no one really elected trying to get more money. Let their things burn."

"Yeah, I would. If you are going to cut funding, and only rely on Durem County for ALL EMS calls, you are going to kill people. First off, they only have two ALS rigs for their area, as well as this one. Secondly, it takes them about 10 minutes just to get into Barton County alone, plus the additional time to get on scene. If you are going to use them, then use them as a back-up. We have the rigs here, so use them.

Getting to the fire side, cutting staff down DOES NOT WORK! Do it like this, and you are putting everyone in danger. Might not be right now, or tomorrow, but it will be deadly. We have it set up this way for a reason, so don't screw with it!"

Spectre then sat down and facepalmed, while muttering under his breath "If only these stupid politicians would suit up and experience what we do."

Brian texts Spectre again "Let the shouting begin. Might as well get some beer and wings hence they'll be at it all night"

Brian sat back watching the mayor and mason go back and forth.

Mason stood up.. "It's quite alright Lucas. Looks like everyone has had their words in. Well Mayor? Are you gonna cut our gas cards, driving miles, and heli copters too!? After all you used to be a firefighter in this city and former chief of Gambino!!!"

Luke smirked as he kicked his foot up to cross his legs. He turned to look directly at the mayor, grinning slightly. "Tell us, Mr. Mayor, how many of your officers complain for them being told to help on scenes of ours? Ask for a show of hands how many of us officers here at Barton Heights had pulled them aside to help with a medical call, or rolling hose. With our cuts, we're no longer getting two rigs to a structure - were getting one, with maybe a crew of two. A firefighter as yourself should preach two in, two out, right? We cant attack until we get a second crew, and we're waiting at least 10 minutes from a mutual aid department, which, in that time for them to respond, we could lose our guys or a structure. I'm not sure about you, but our engine and ambo being on a cardiac arrest, with the new protocols you helped endorse, takes them out for an hour to decon and clean up, but with the dwindling numbers and cost, it's getting to the point where we need to call for more help - again, 10 minutes away. We were at a three minute response time. After what happened in the tunnel, we learned how badly we needed more crews. If i were you, i'd reverse that. Not all of us are volunteer, either. This is our lively hood. Besides, those cops that you had laid off?" Luke dropped a folder from his office at the academy that read 'Applications'. "They filed with us. Our kids cant afford living on i-o-u forms and declined checks that the city cancelled. As for you targeting spectre, that was a wrong move. He is the best damn hazmat responder this city has, or ever will have. You cant knock our response times, rig or ladder, because YOUR officers slow our response times. We arent 124, we are 30. Would you want a rescue to show up to your house if it were on fire, with people trapped? Or would you want a traffic truck for a vehicle fire? We prepare for the worst. You having experience in the past, you should know that a "kitchen fire" can take the whole house in just moments. So please, tell me again, when you did something else besides hit a hydrant?"

Luke reached over and took a sip from his bottle of water.

"I dont think globe has enough fabric for you, Mr. Mayor, Kevlar would be out of business by they're done with one sleeve."

"Normally, no." Spectre replied to Brian's text. "But, it's the new mayor trying to flex his imaginary muscles. Also, nice belch!"