While you and I don't have the ability to call in 140+ alleged volunteers to help us shovel out pathways because Code & Compliance says so. Because we don't have access to public works and or equipment to clear out pathways, one has to wonder just what the heck the City thinks they're doing demanding certain property owners remove the snow and ice from their sidewalks, yet today is Friday, February 19th 2010 and the Salisbury Fire Department hasn't done a thing to be compliant with the sames rules and regulations?
If I were you and YOU received a fine for not clearing your pathways, perhaps you should contact me and I'll provide these images taken less than 30 minutes ago. I mean, come on now guys. Firefighters used to set an example. Perhaps you don't deserve that Fire Palace after all.
46 comments:
There you go again starting FIRES !
Mind you Folks, YOU paid some pretty hefty money to put in those aidewalks around the entire Fire Palace. They could give a crap about taking care of it. I'm sorry Guys, this is shameful. Set the proper example and start acting like real men and women. Can you tell this ticks me off!
Hey JT, shove it where the sun doesn't shine.
I'm picking on the Fire Department because they deserve it, not for hits.
Are you DEFENDING them Fat Man? Of course you are. You'll defend, (like a complete idiot) anything I say and represent the opposite.
I rejected his comment, so you all know.
Joe , I have lived here all my life and you will learn the rules do not apply to everyone . It is who you know and some of who you b--w !
Whoops, "sidewalks" from my first comment.
Joe , I thought it was funny !!!
TDP, I was over a friends house on the Site and he has spell check right on Blogger. My computer does not have it, perhaps because I have Vista? Nevertheless, people wonder why my spelling in comments is so bad. #1, no spell check. #2, too darned busy to look. #3 far more important things to do than worry about it.
Oh, #4m fielding and rejecting JT & JR's 200+ comments per day. Oh, and how do I know it's them. Because very few, (and I do mean very few) others complain about their comments being rejected. Now how obsessed do you have to be to sit around all day and write nasty comments on Salisbury News just for the heck of it.
These fire fighters need to get off their lazy butts and start clearing this area immediately. I agree with Joe, maybe they don't deserve to be there. Some example you have set for the rest of the west side community. First you complain about how they act, now look at youself in a mirror. Good work Joe.
if anyone receives a fine in Salisbury, Md they should take it to court with pictures of the fire house . No fine could then be given
Joe, two things, LAZY, and the lack of leadership that tells them to work! How is Hoppes and Bragg doing now ya say, GREAT, because they accept such apathy. Depends on which side your on. You stated the vollies, what about the paid guys that for the last two weeks got paid all those hours doing NOTHING but watching TV and sleeping. I sure wish I got paid to sleep, and then just want more.
I seriously doubt you'll get many comments on this article anyway. Think about it, they must be pretty embarrassed right now with this kind of exposure. What are going to say.
What this points to is some severely lacking leadership. There are enough volunteers (and even auxiliary members) to get out there and have the whole shebang shoveled in less than two hours, and that's dogging it.
And then everybody come in for the hot lunch that they prepared.
These people have lost the idea of what it is to be a volunteer fire company.
Is there any hope for them?
We dont care about this place. Pile up snow as high as you want and we could care less. City's sidewalks and street so let them do it or let it melt. We shoveled it twice and the plow covered it back up.
12:45 Why pick on the volunteers, how about the crews that are paid to maintain the palace in the absense of running emergency calls. In a 24 hour shift, they watch TV 12 hours, why can't they be expected to pitch in? Everyone blames it on the "other side", thats when a real Chief steps up and gets it done. btw, just where is the Chief selection Mr Mayor, another lost cause.
Anon 12:45, WTF, Station 16 has no volunteers, they have TICKS! They don't lift one finger to help with the first house duty! Now, hand out the first freebe, they are in line.
Maybe See and Gordy lied about how many volunteers they actually have.
1;12 Thats a fact, See started a country club membership Dept., lowered every requirement to fill false rolls. Hey Joe, what did the sidewalks at the nearby Police Dept. look like, lets be fair.
I work in another department where we had to not only shovel our walks, but our Chief put us on the road clearing walkways for the elderly and those in need. Try that on for size.
maybe they just don't have a shovel.
This goes right to the top -- Ireton has no leadership-management competence. And Pick and Chambers are worthless.
Joe,
Is there also a code somewhere that requires city streets be cleared in a certain amount of time? For instance, Naylor St going to S. Division still has the turn lane blocked by a mound of snow/ice. When turning on to Naylor St from S. Division, there is only one lane allowing traffic to cross over 13 or turn left or right on 13. If I had to have my sidewalk cleared by midnight of the 18th, shouldnt they also be required to help traffic out by the same time? And what's up with the fire department? Are they going to receive a fine for not complying by the deadline?
1245 The volly's will never do a thing except spend money needlessly and leech off the dept for handouts, live ins do nothing but get a free house and haven't shoveled the first bit of snow, except for one who is away right now, you all wanna talk about lazy?? Don't point your finger towards the paid crew if it wasn't for them the station would fall apart.
They don't have to shovel sidewalks
or the like of! They put out fires and sleep when not. They are heros don't you know! NOT!
The snow is plied so high it has blocked the view , illegal has hell!
the volunteers are too busy watching the new 52 inch flat screen tv they bought to shovel snow. it appears they thought the flat screen in the station was broke so they went to buy a new one. they returned to find the old one working just fine. instead of returning the new one they kept it. with budgets tigth and money hard to come by i just dont see the reasoning.
A little off topic here. Be careful if you are going to the mall and many other places for that matter. They have stacked all the snow at the end of the parking lot and its very hard to see when you are trying to get out onto the road that circles the mall.
So you know, right after I put up this Post I contacted the Mayor and offered to go down there immediately with my snow blower and remove the snow. He said he'd get back to me if they wanted to accept my offer and I have not received a reply.
Does anyone knof if they got out there to clean off the sidewalks?
know
there job is to respond to emergencies not shovel or remove snow.the beef you have should be with the city itself.not the fire dept directly.
Why is it that the state or city don't know which it was hired contractors to clean snow off sidewalks on rt13 in front of the college and were charging the businesses with the bill. Why is it fair that a load of city owned properties are still not cleaned off? Case in point the snow piled up on the road at intersections where they did a piss poor job of plowing it. Further more the businesses on the RT13 would have had the plows come along and throw snow back on the walkways to begin with like the ones we watched on Snowhill Road last week the plows came along and recovered the walks. I don't blame those businesses for not cleaning them off in that case.
No its almost 5.Its dinner time. They watch Tv and then go to bed.Unless they get a call.
258 False.The volunteers don't get to watch the Tv because you all cry when they are watching it and then go tell the AC and comes in and kicks them off.
They could have mounted plows to all those city owned pickup trucks at the Fire house.
I would love to know where you get to lay around all day and watch tv. That is not the Salisbury Fire Department thats for sure. The busy work starts at 7 am and continues into the night. Between maintaining the equipment, station duties, training atleast 1 hr required daily, building inspections, shift projects and physical fitness 90 mins a day allowed. That does not leave much time to lay around and be lazy. Oh yeah and handle any emergencies in the city. So those who believe we have so much time stop by one day and see what occurs during a 24 hr period. Get the vollies out shoveling snow but, I forgot there is no work ethic in the vollies in the city. It's all about getting my tax break and my discount.
To ALL of the Firefighters......
I rejected quite a few comments based on all of your curse words, and there were quite a few.
I don't know what makes you think you're special enough that I would accept such comments but you're wrong. One thing is for sure, I do NOT NEED your comments, especially ones like that.
It tells me you are guilty, angry and aggressive. If you would have removed those curse words they would have been accepted. Now, if you'd like to rethink those comments again you're welcome to participate. Just know we will not stand for that here.
I remember as far back as 2002 that the Salisbury Fire Department both career and volunteer took care of the snow problems. The volunteer had a widow watch that took care of the older members and widows in times like these. I know for a fact Station 2 took care of some older folks in the territory.Everyone pitched in and I mean everyone. But thanks to Brezner and Barry Tilghman you have the new Salisbury Fire Department. I hope everyone is happy with their new Fire Department. I am glad I am away from it.
Retired Member
It just seems to me that the volunteers at this department don't know squat about the comaraderie of being a volunteer. So many of the comments seem like they're coming from people who think they're paid members from a big city, like Boston or New York.
You guys need to have a little more small-town sensibility and sense of responsibility that goes beyond jumping in the pickup when the whistle blows. There's a lot more you could be doing --- and should be doing to make your department and your city better.
You can whine all day, but if you don't do what's right, you're going to be stepped on forever.
it's not their fault they couldn't shovel yet. they ordered special shovels for about $1000 each, but when they arrived last week they weren't the right color. so they had to be shipped out of state to be painted the official fire department color scheme. when the shovels return from being painted, they will begin training personnel on how to use them.
We own a business complex within city limits and received a notice on Tuesday afternoon at 4:30 pm to clear the sidewalks by midnight or we would be cited with a misdemeanor. I called to get an extension of ONE MORE DAY and it was not granted. We quickly made calls and made it happen (very costly as we didn't have the personnel to do it). Even though you could easily walk though our sidewalks and see the pavement, they were not completely clear the way the city "wanted them to be." We made it happen. There is no excuse why the Fire Department didn't follow the City Ordinance when we all had to do it by a deadline and/or pay the price. Where's their citation? Joe, can you please find a copy and post it here?...if you ever find one! Would love to see the city do this to its own for the sake of fairness and stating a point.
The firefighters should be fined and each one of them should have to help split the fee! That way it doesn't come out of taxpayers money but their own pockets since they know the rules and cannot follow them!
Letter to the Editor
So what's with Rick Hoppes bad mouthing Jim Ireton to the men of the Salisbury Fire Department? Did he get his feelings hurt because Jim is intelligent enough to realize Hoppes isn't qualified to be a leader or department head.
Ireton did make a mistake by listening to John Pick about putting Hoppes in the Acting Chiefs position.
Boot Pick next.
Question to Neighborhood Services and Code Compliance.
-------
Tom,
Were any notices/citations/warnings issued for people or businesses not clearing their sidewalks of snow over the last two weeks? Has anyone ever been cited for it, to your recollection?
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Response from Code Compliance
Mr. XXX ....Regarding your inquiry, I offer the following:
Yes, notices of violation were issued to both commercial and residential property owners following the most recent snow event. Given the magnitude of the storm and limited available resources (manpower) we concentrated our efforts on areas that had high levels of pedestrian traffic as well as locations where we received complaints (from Board of Education, Salisbury University, etc.).
Owners how failed to comply were issued citations and the removal work was performed by third party contractors. The city will take legal action against violators to recovery any cost associated with the clean-up work. Unlike other violations, no warning is required, so in affect the posted notice was the warning coupled with a window of opportunity (albeit short) to comply. In simple terms, when a property was inspected it was in violation and could have been cleaned on the spot.
Several press releases were submitted in an effort to remind the public of the requirement. I am not aware of any enforcement action taken previously by the city. I know that during my tenure we have not taken any such action.
The code section is 12.04. The violation is a misdemeanor, subject to a fine of up to $500.00. The requirement states that the snow must be removed six hours after cessation or by 2:00 pm the following day if the snowfall stops between 11pm and 7am. In fact several days were given to comply before the directive was given to proceed with enforcement. Public safety is paramount, thus action was necessary.
I Hope this helps; please let me know if you require any additional information.
Tom Stevenson
We own a family business within city limits. We already had our parking lot and sidewalk cleared professionally. The snow plow came back along and covered the sidewalks over with snow again. The city came along at 4 o'clock and gave us until midnight to clear them. We had to hire another contractor to reclear them. How is this our problem but the city properties do not have to comply?
They city can't fine the city.... Its a city facility. Public works is responsible for piling all the snow on the sidewalks. They had a PW employee at Station 16 doing nothing but moving the snow during the storm. So if the city fines the FH the money comes from the city funds.. To point is mute....
I drove down Lake St last night at 7:30 and the firemen were still shoveling snow. I felt sorry for them and wondered why the public works had not provided some better way to remove the snow. Thats alot of grounds to take care of and I'm sure they would have appreciated the snow blower Joe.
Joe:
The snow has been removed via efforts from career and volunteer personell alike. The issue could and should have been taken care of prior to this thread, but it wasnt and that is "our" fault.
As a side note however, the SFD has been innundated with calls and had an extreme call volume both during the recent storms and subsequent days following the storms. At this time, I do not have the exact number and apologize for not having the data to back up my statement, but I have recently been tasked with attempting to compile rough statistics on just that as well as costs to the department in order to make an attempt to recoup some of the capitol outlay from MEMA. I have not yet finished that task as the criteria continue to change from the State and it has been difficult to figure out exactly what they (State) want. I can tell you it has been difficult to keep up with the service need from both a career and volunteer standpoint. The numbers are quite high.
In any event, we have had a couple of days since the call volume dropped and gave the department an opportunity to clear the snow in question. To be honest, I doubt it crossed too many people's minds secondary to the amount of work that has been done recently and the ownership for that is our own.
However, for those who wish to continue to call us "lazy" and say we do nothing but sit around and watch TV all the time and wait for calls...I challenge ANYONE to come work with my shift for a 24 hour operational period and tell me that same thing after doing so. We do take time during any given shift to relax when the opportunity presents, but that is rare. All that "sleep" that some of your commentors claim we get is most certainly a fallacie. Anyone taking me up on my offer to spend a tour with us will certainly discover that in a hurry.
In fact, I encourage my crew to get some rest between the hours of 7pm and 11pm if they can as I know they will be out running calls throughout the night. I imagine that most civilians would rather have a fresh firefighter or EMS provider taking care of their emergency vs. one who has been working continually for 20 hours. I doubt most folks can fathom exactly what we do unless they've done it themselves.
The career members have certainly worked hard over the last few weeks but so have many of the volunteers. It is true that some certainly work harder than others, but that is on both sides of the coin also and all should not be judged by the actions of a few...
In any event, A/C Bryan Records' shift, along with the help of some volunteer personell, cleared the snow and the sidewalks are now passable as they should be. We SHOULD be setting the example as stated by some of your viewers and will certainly attempt to do much better in the future to that regard. Despite what some folks on this site may think, we are human also and make mistakes. I assure you that a mistake is what has occurred...an oversight on our part. We certainly arent perfect and will learn from this mistake.
However, perhaps some of your viewers could make an attempt to come join our ranks and help to be a part of the solution to a perceived problem. That would perhaps give them a better perspective on exactly what we do rather than sit at home and gripe about what we dont.
In any event, the issue has been addresses and we have noted a weakness that will be addressed in the future.
Thanks for the space...
Respectfully,
Jim Gladwell
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