With the amount of money to be spent on new fire houses they should each have at least 3 bays not counting the chief. It is ridiculous to have special units parked in the street subject to the weather and possible vandalism.
On one of my visits to L.A. I was told that one of the reasons they are all tillers was that if they switched to rear mounts the bean counters would use that as an excuse to cut the manning. As if the tillerman just helps drive the rig and does nothing else.
There are other "great" and busy fire depts. that are in a lot worse shape with their fleet. We are lucky that there is an ongoing replacement program for the rigs.
I was told by a retired chief that after the fire a lot of guys left the job. It really affected the members that were there, no counseling, debriefing, etc.
This is just the start of the budget cuts unfortunately. There will probably more of a decrease in the manning since it is the least visable to the public unlike closing firehouses and eliminating companies.
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