Public safety is quite a bargain in OKC!

[Kerry]

Firefighter head count in OKC is 929 and dropping as we speak due to retirement of 25 yr + guys.

Why are they retiring? Don't thy care about public safety? That is a kind of - take my ball and go home - attitude. If firefighters care so much about public safety, shouldn't they be willing to take a pay cut to keep more of their fellow workers on the job?

[Wambo36]

Apples to oranges.

OKC = 871.5/sq mi.
Wichita = 2,602/sq mi.

Nice try though!

Exactly where did you come up with your numbers? Way off from what I can find.

[fuzzytoad]

Apples to oranges.

OKC = 871.5/sq mi.
Wichita = 2,602/sq mi.

Nice try though!

???? That's population density... All that data does is further prove Aron and Wambo's point..

[fuzzytoad]

Why are they retiring? Don't thy care about public safety? That is a kind of - take my ball and go home - attitude. If firefighters care so much about public safety, shouldn't they be willing to take a pay cut to keep more of their fellow workers on the job?

ok, by your logic, you must not care about public safety at all.. If you did, you'd be a fire fighter...

[okcsmokeandfire]

Why are they retiring? Don't thy care about public safety? That is a kind of - take my ball and go home - attitude. If firefighters care so much about public safety, shouldn't they be willing to take a pay cut to keep more of their fellow workers on the job?

If they didnt care about public safety, they wouldnt sacrafice holidays, birthdays, relationships, life and limb for 25 + years of their lives for unappreciative, unhappy people such as yourself. They retire with 25 + yrs on because there bodies cannot hold up to the job forever. You act like being a firefighter is an easy job. You would be very suprised to know, how many ex collegiate as well as professional athletes are in the fire service. There is no other business or industry that requires their employees to take pay cuts to hire additional employees. Do you even read some of the garbage that you post? Unbelievable

[Mikemarsh51]

Kerry arent there any big problems for you to solve where you actually live. Why dont you give then all of your attention.

OKCpulse, my bad, I am often directionally dyslexic, now its starting with the numbers.

Betts, Ive never seen jealousy from you like that last post. Like smoke said, there is wear and tear and risks involved that desk jobs never see.

[Kerry]

ok, by your logic, you must not care about public safety at all.. If you did, you'd be a fire fighter...

I don't care about it as much as a firefighter does, but it is far from "not at all".

[Kerry]

If they didnt care about public safety, they wouldnt sacrafice holidays, birthdays, relationships, life and limb for 25 + years of their lives for unappreciative, unhappy people such as yourself. They retire with 25 + yrs on because there bodies cannot hold up to the job forever. You act like being a firefighter is an easy job. You would be very suprised to know, how many ex collegiate as well as professional athletes are in the fire service. There is no other business or industry that requires their employees to take pay cuts to hire additional employees. Do you even read some of the garbage that you post? Unbelievable

Cry me a river - you think you are the only one that sacrafices holidays, weekends, birthdays, etc. Grow up.

[Kerry]

Kerry arent there any big problems for you to solve where you actually live. Why dont you give then all of your attention.

Put me on ignore. You will never hear another word out of me.

[metro]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz another Mikemarsh diatribe on the poor firefighters and policemen.

[okcsmokeandfire]

Cry me a river - you think you are the only one that sacrafices holidays, weekends, birthdays, etc. Grow up.

I never said that we were the only ones that sacrifices anything.
"Cry me a river". lol Now that is a grown up response.
Is that the best you can do? Dont disappoint me.
Surely you can do better than that. lol
Its obvious that you are not the grown up in this conversation.
One day when you grow up, we will let you be in charge of something.

[Kerry]

I never said that we were the only ones that sacrifices anything.
"Cry me a river". lol Now that is a grown up response.
Is that the best you can do? Dont disappoint me.
Surely you can do better than that. lol
Its obvious that you are not the grown up in this conversation.
One day when you grow up, we will let you be in charge of something.

Umm - you were the one whining.

[Midtowner]

Exactly where did you come up with your numbers? Way off from what I can find.

Wikipedia. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me to use on an internet message board.

Why is it relevant?

Wichita has nearly twice the firemen per square mile as opposed to OKC. That makes sense. Wichita is also smaller and more densely populated than OKC. Almost by a factor of three.

If we have that many more square miles than Wichita and that much more total population, it'd make sense that we don't have as dense a coverage as Wichita for covering all of the rural square miles of OKC.

The numbers are really irrelevant and don't prove anything. Average response time matters. Ability to provide adequate services matter. Where services are located matters. Those are the things to look at, not amorphous quick and dirty factoids which don't take into account the location of the population, which matters.

Response times to rural OKC should be in line with response times of rural fire departments elsewhere, not in line with response times within the city core. You live in the boonies, you accept the consequences of dealing with the boonies.

[warreng88]

Mods, any chance we can get this and any other FD/PD post moved to the "Police/FF Needs" Thread? I don't think it's fair that every time a new post is started about Devon, it is moved to the Devon Tower thread and these repetitive threads are not. It would just make things a lot easier to read and avoid, if necessary.

[Swake2]

Ok, so using the corrected population numbers, Wichita has 1 firefighter for every 837.6 people and spends $109.28 per resident for fire protection. Oklahoma City has 1 firefighter for every 593.9 residents and spends $168.54 per resident on fire protection. What’s more the average firefighter costs Oklahoma City $100,108 while Wichita spends $91,533 per firefighters. So, is Wichita understaffed? Not if you go by national numbers, according to the link below there are 1,148,850 firefighters in the US serving 310,000,000 people, or one firefighter per 270.1 residents.

Why does Oklahoma City have more than twice the national average of firefighters?

http://www.nfpa.org/categoryList.asp...&cookie_test=1

[pickles]

There is no other business or industry that requires their employees to take pay cuts to hire additional employees. Do you even read some of the garbage that you post? Unbelievable

Municipal fire and police departments are neither businesses nor industries. Given that they subsist on the public trust, and that tax collections may either rise or fall according to changing economic fates, how can there be any sound philosophical argument against potential reductions in pay?

[LordGerald]

Kerry arent there any big problems for you to solve where you actually live. Why dont you give then all of your attention.

OKCpulse, my bad, I am often directionally dyslexic, now its starting with the numbers.

Betts, Ive never seen jealousy from you like that last post. Like smoke said, there is wear and tear and risks involved that desk jobs never see.

Wear and tear? Marshall, I thought you said that workout sessions were mandatory. You should be in better shape than anyone on this board.

[LordGerald]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz another Mikemarsh diatribe on the poor firefighters and policemen.

Metro, Marshall is a great ambassador. He actually got you and me to agree on something!

[Mikemarsh51]

Hey, LG, I gave you the oppertunity on here to find out what kind of shape I'm in. You could of made a couple hundred bucks for a days work. I never heard back from you.

[LordGerald]

Hey, LG, I gave you the oppertunity on here to find out what kind of shape I'm in. You could of made a couple hundred bucks for a days work. I never heard back from you.

Marshall, I've never doubted your physical prowess. Even I acknowledge that washing trucks is hard work.

[Mikemarsh51]

LG, I made my last promotion 16 years ago, I dont wash the trucks, clean the toilets or mow the grass. It may not be the best paying job. It does have certain perks, rank does have it's priviledges.

[Wambo36]

Marshall, I've never doubted your physical prowess. Even I acknowledge that washing trucks is hard work.

LordHeadUpMy, if you consider washing trucks hard work, you just answered alot of questions about yourself. Thanks.

[LordGerald]

LG, I made my last promotion 16 years ago, I dont wash the trucks, clean the toilets or mow the grass. It may not be the best paying job. It does have certain perks, rank does have it's priviledges.

Marshall, it's always a priviledge to hear from you.

[so1rfan]

This is pure comedy gold. Funnier than anything on TV. I just picture in my head Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory wearing suspenders and an oversized firefighters hat saying "Bazinga" everytime Mike Marshall posts something on here.

[okcsmokeandfire]

This is pure comedy gold. Funnier than anything on TV. I just picture in my head Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory wearing suspenders and an oversized firefighters hat saying "Bazinga" everytime Mike Marshall posts something on here.

It is hilarious, I do agree with you. I cant believe that people actually risk their lives for other people only to be punchline of their jokes. Man this is good stuff. Makes me feel very appreciated to say the least. lol. Too bad the opinions of these guys in no way shape or form dictates the level of professionalism that public safety employees dedicate to their jobs.