Alcohol In Long Island Firehouses (Nassau, Putnam: salaries, property tax, safety)

[Pool0890]

Purely from a safety standpoint should alcohol be permitted in Long Island Firehouses. Some actually have built in bars etc. I'm just wondering if this is a wise idea?

[alexei27]

My dad was a firefighter (up in Westchester county...not here) and they had a pretty sweet bar. The firefighters could use the building for christening parties and that sort of thing. They obviously were forbidden to drink while on duty.

[KarenBo]

Considering they are all volunteers, I'm not going to judge....I'd like to think that they are not drinking on duty as Alexei said.

[Interlude]

Why do you care? Is there some sort of epidemic of fire fighters turning up drunk at fires?

[haywood16]

Originally Posted by Pool0890

Purely from a safety standpoint should alcohol be permitted in Long Island Firehouses. Some actually have built in bars etc. I'm just wondering if this is a wise idea?

Li should have paid departments with no alcohol. There are too many vollies and mis management of taxpayer monies. Plus every vollie is receiving a 10% property tax discount which just raises taxes for the rest of us.

[Gpsma]

Originally Posted by haywood16

Li should have paid departments with no alcohol. There are too many vollies and mis management of taxpayer monies. Plus every vollie is receiving a 10% property tax discount which just raises taxes for the rest of us.

And paid departments won't raise your taxes too?

[Buckthedog]

It's not an unwise idea. The beer is bought with the donation money from their fund drives, not taxpayer $$, and if they've been drinking they cant go on a call.

So you want to privatize the FD's and have each firefighter making $105 k with a pension?

[haywood16]

Originally Posted by Gpsma

And paid departments won't raise your taxes too?

It would be cheaper to consolidate and have paid departments
City firemen don't make anywhere near 100k.

[KarenBo]

Originally Posted by haywood16

It would be cheaper to consolidate and have paid departments
City firemen don't make anywhere near 100k.

City cops and teachers don't make anywhere near what LI cops and teachers do and look at how many threads are devoted to complaining about those salaries. When I first moved out here I was amazed that there were no paid firefighters but it seems that this is the same situation as in Westchester, Putnam, and other NY counties. Many of the volunteer firefighters are city firefighters who do this on their off days so I think they deserve every bit of their 10% discount. The opportunity to be a volunteer firefighter is available to all, but few people choose to take it.

[Buckthedog]

Originally Posted by haywood16

It would be cheaper to consolidate and have paid departments
City firemen don't make anywhere near 100k.

City Cops dont either but Nassau Suffolk cops do. You cant honestly use NYC civil service salaries as a basis for LI civil service salaries. You're kidding, right?