Coast Guard Thread

[Wildcard]

CG staffing and response to at sea incidents have little to do with the war. Yes we have CG vessels patroling elsewhere but these are not the same vessels that deal with near shore emergencies. Again, the CG response can be remarkable fast or slow depending on there command policies.
An old fishing joke is that you always carry a quart of oil in your survival gear. If your in trouble, dump the oil and the CG will be right there!
These guys do the best they are able to do given there command guidelines. They have my respect but some of the policies they work under suck......

 

[Cacia]

well, if the three mile thing is so, then that explains why the commercial captains are saying to call the fire department! And if you are floating out here, you welcome them and their toys. I know the water rescue guys with the jet skis do a fantastic fast job.

I wonder what the problems are as encountered by the Coast Guard from the divers, water recreater community?

Thanks for posting, BTW.

Are there any "community based" movements within the Coast Guard? Seems to me that would be really helpful. That way expectations could be clarified.

 

[Wildcard]

As far as local inolvement, there is the CG aux. Rember the CG boat towing the CG sail boat? Out doing training Im sure.
Again, the CG is responsable for all waterways, inland, coastal and out to 200 miles. If you dump oil in a stream 500 miles from the ocean, the CG is supposed to be notified.
"well, if the three mile thing is so, then that explains why the commercial captains are saying to call the fire department!".....The fire department will respond BUT they are the FIRE department not water safety and not the CG. They respond as it fluffs the numbers and allows for a bigger budget. Fire departments nation wide continue to expand there scope, as it gives them a bigger budget. Rember just a few short years ago when Fire Depts were NOT NURSES, why should we go to sick peoples homes? they saw the monitary bennefits of running ambulances and got into that too....OK, Im getting back into my overfunded fire department rant again....Sorry.
Maybe you can call the CG and get straight from them what the local policy is? And hurry up or you will miss your flight!

 

[suthnbelle]

...An old fishing joke is that you always carry a quart of oil in your survival gear. If your in trouble, dump the oil and the CG will be right there!.....

I got a good chuckle off that comment. My exhusband is an officer in the CG and for the past 18 years has worked in the Marine Safety Offices at various duty stations. If there is an oil spill he oversees the clean up. You're right about the oil spills. No matter how minor they seem to hussle for those.

 

[Wildcard]

A few winters back in Alaska, I came across a water truck tip over, He stoped and then slid in the ice into a ditch and rolled. No injuries but he was dumping fuel into a swamp. I made a coffer dam out of a tarp to capture the fuel and called in the FD for diapers. The owner of the water company showed up as I was talking on the radio. He wanted to know who I was calling. I told him and he got huffy. I pointed out that I could call the CG too. Stoped him cold in his tracks. He later came by the station to tell the chief he was sorry and understood how much money and hassel I had saved him. He is one of my friends now and I get lighting fast water delivery when I need it.

 

[Walter]

I'm a member of a dive club here in SW Florida. We invited the Coast Guard to provide a speaker at one of our meetings. He came explained the Coast Guard mission and opened it up for questions and answers. I don't know if you belong to something similar, but even if you don't, you could get a large group of divers together one evening and ask the Coast Guard to provide a speaker for the event. Our local station was thrilled to have a group of divers who wanted to understand the Coast Guard and their role. It was a fun night for us and the Coast Guard representative.

 

[onfloat]

Puddle Pirate---Thanks for the post.

 

[Firefyter]

..The fire department will respond BUT they are the FIRE department not water safety and not the CG. They respond as it fluffs the numbers and allows for a bigger budget..

Here we go with the BS again.... They respond because they're called, and SOMEBODY has to go. You should be thanking them because they're willing, not beating them down with uninformed rants...

Fire departments nation wide continue to expand there scope, as it gives them a bigger budget.

They continue to expand their scope because they have to, and because it's the right thing to do. It may cause the budgets to increase, but can you imagine paying a seperate HazMat team, a seperate rescue squad, a seperate PSD team? What would the overhead for that be? Why would you pay the overheads when you have guys capable and willing to do it. You're ranting about budgets when you really don't have the first clue about responsibly managing the public budgets.

Rember just a few short years ago when Fire Depts were NOT NURSES, why should we go to sick peoples homes? they saw the monitary bennefits of running ambulances and got into that too....

If you call almost 36 years " a few short years ago". LAFD started running paramedic ambulances in September, 1970. They had been running BLS ambulances in LA county for decades before that. EMS has always been a part of the fire service, but the need for advanced prehospital care brought the paramedic program to the forefront. Lives are being saved every day because of it, and who else is gonna do it? You??

If it were truly because of the money, and there was lots of money to be made, there would be more private companies doing it. As it is, most of your private companies are either struggling or are already out of business.

Everything I've written can be backed up by fact, whereas everything you've written is unsubstantiated. It makes me really wonder why you have such a bone to pick with the FDs. Could you not get hired, or did a FF steal your woman? As a 20 year professional firefighter, I've found that one of those two reasons are usually the cause of malicious rants......

Thomas McMonigle
IAFF Local 576

 

[Wildcard]

I have been involved with emergency services since 1979 and I have watched the changes and growth. You on the other had have nothing but personall attacks. Im dealing with a lifetime of first hand information here and from this I have formed my opinoins...BTW, this is a Hawaii thread and dosen't involve you. Do you ever even deal with the CG? Didn't think so.

Do you know why god invented Paramedics? So firefighters can have heros too!....Ive been waiting for some ego stoked hose jock to come along to use that on...Just in fun.
Now I have to fly home and get the wildland engine ready, fire season is upon us.

 

[Firefyter]

I have been involved with emergency services since 1979 and I have watched the changes and growth. You on the other had have nothing but personall attacks. Im dealing with a lifetime of first hand information here and from this I have formed my opinoins...BTW, this is a Hawaii thread and dosen't involve you. Do you ever even deal with the CG? Didn't think so.

Do you know why god invented Paramedics? So firefighters can have heros too!....Ive been waiting for some ego stoked hose jock to come along to use that on...Just in fun.
Now I have to fly home and get the wildland engine ready, fire season is upon us.

You obviously have not been really involved, or your rants wouldn't be so uninformed. As to your first hand info, it's obviously slanted and biased. LIke I said in my last post, my facts can be verified, where you've done nothing but rant. BTW, you still didn't tell us which one of the two causes the rants? or was it both?