Mon, 07/14/2008 - 6:38am

I agree with the commenter on 7/12. There are men and woman overseas who have more matureity and responsibilty than most of us. Is 22 young to be a Vice President yes but if it is an elected position the membersahip must feel he is able to handle te job. In a time when fewer people are giving thier time and the members who are out there are getting older we need to start grooming our young people into positions. If any of you who have aproblem with the age of this yung man and think you can handle doing his job join hte company. And run against him but you may lose some of your internet time. I am not afraid to leave my name witht this comment LT. Bill Mulligan Green Creek Vol Fire Company

Sun, 07/13/2008 - 5:34pm

to 1:33PM, every rescue is different, with life and death decisions to be made. A person with 20 years of experience may see something going on in a fire that a person with 5 years may not see. If you were a firefighter, would you want the 5 year experience officer sending you into a fire that a 20 year experienced firefighter wouldn't? Its not all about saving people, its ensuring we come home as well. I have a wife and kids to come home to. Training CANNOT in any way shape or form give you as much knowledge that you can base your decision making on, as experience can.
And your reference to Rt 47 as Delsea Die may be true, but car accidents are just one of the many things firefighters are asked to handle. Also having an experienced officer at extrication's is important as well. Cut the wrong thing, or do something wrong and you just made it hell for the passenger, if not injuring them more. There are so many cars out there, and no accident is the same either, but having experienced officers who may have dealt with a similar accident can be a huge help, and also helpful to the passenger of the car so you can extricate them out quickly and safely.

Sun, 07/13/2008 - 1:33pm

Who cares just how old a volunteer firefighter or EMS person is??? They have had the training and if, God forbid, I needed them, I am not going to ask them their age before I let them rescue me! If you pea-brained *** out there who are complaining, just would wake up, take all this free time that you are wasting by complaining and put it to good use, go and volunteer that time. Besides, Goshen VFD has lots of experience....Rt 47 is not Delsea Drive, but Delsea Die.

Sun, 07/13/2008 - 12:00pm

Would you want that 21 or 22 year old as your general, is he or she the person you would pick to lead your battalion into a fight? These people may and probably are plenty mature enough for most situations, but they are not the people that should be the top of the food chain. I am certian that they are capable of making good decisions, but we are talking about making the best decisions every time and doing it instinctively. I don't question their dedication, I just know that they are not the people that should be leading the pac. There needs to be minimum qualifications before you can achieve such a rank, however in most volunteer fire companies it is based upon who is popular, who shows up for bingo, who cleans the truck with the most vigor. Unitl it is mandated that people have met requirements based upon job requirements this will continue to be a problem.

Sat, 07/12/2008 - 9:10pm

I am actually very disgusted at all the age talk. It's nonsense. Maturity has nothing to do with your age. I served in the Military and I can honestly say that I have met more people at the age of 21/22 that are more mature than people twice their age. Oh, and I hope that everyone here complaining about ages of officers and such have spent at least a little bit of time serving your community, or state, or country. Because if you haven't why don't you do yourself a favor and spend some time doing it before you criticize anyone of any age.

Thu, 07/10/2008 - 10:24pm

I agree with the other poster about the necessity of having older more experienced people filling these important positions with in our fire companies. There is only so much that a fire academy can teach you, the rest is for you to learn through experience. Even then its still a difficult job as no two calls are alike. My position on the young age of the vice president is this: If the president is absent, can the person in the position make a decision entirely on their own with out any outside input, and will this decision be the right one? Well you know what, what if they don't know what to do because they lack the experience? Well, fire fighter's lives aren't something to not be sure about.
I don't know about you, but I'd rather not put any firefighter, emergency service or even a citizen's life in a situation being ran by someone who is inexperienced that might not know the correct decision to make. If they cannot make the decision entirely on their own, and it be the correct one, then maybe the person the are turning to for advisement should be the person in their position.
This isn't being put towards Goshen's fire department, its being put out towards the fire service as a whole. Lives are at risk, they cant be replaced, lets ensure the best QUALIFIED, and EXPERIENCED people are in the decision making roles. The second something bad happens(god forbid) the inexperience of the officer will be in direct scrutiny which will look bad on the fire service as a whole for allowing this to happen.
All you guys(and women) from Goshen are taking this the wrong way. Look at the situation as a whole, look at the risk's and consequences of the situation at hand. Are you going to be the one going to the 18 year old firefighters house to tell his parent's he died because of an officers decision who has less than 5 years experience in the fire service? I sure as heck wouldn't want to be that person. Dont look at this negatively, look at it and maybe just rethink whats going on in you fire companies--no Im not focusing this whole thing on Goshen, its a problem through out many fire departments in our county.

Thu, 07/10/2008 - 5:10pm

No, I would have to say the problem is people like you who fail to see the problem with in your own department. It is obvious that you are a goshen firefighter, that is observed by you intimate knowledge that you have posted and how personnaly you took my comments about someone's age. I will repeat because you are obviously having a hard time getting your mind around this, my comments are not about goshen, open your closed little mind and realize it is a post about the fire service. If it is a fact that you allow people with no experience to be officers in your department than yes it does affect you and yes it is a problem for your department, because I can assure that the problems are no different in your town than they are in every other. Don't think for a second that your members are exempt, they are not. It is this type of thinking that constantly gets people killed. My statements are not bashing any one department. As far as the explorers that lit fires, I stated they were middle township, not goshen, you are the one that stated that, so I guess maybe a littlle more self evulation is needed.

Thu, 07/10/2008 - 7:17am

Well let's see, I read, re-read, and read the post again, and it seems the moron level of comprehension is yours. You did direct your comments toward the Goshen fire co. because you were spouting about the person's age and about thier explorers. I agree with you that the fire service is a mess at this time, but that is because of people like you causing problems, shooting thier mouth off, & sticking their nose in where it doesn't belong. The declline in membership is in part to the time people have available, and because when people do give their time, they don't want to have to deal with people like you. Maybe that is why there is a declilne in membership in your area, while Goshen has so many members now that they can't accept any more right now. The only way that the volunteer fire service is failing the public, is allowing troublemakers like you to publicly bash your fellow firefighters. It is time that you realize that you are not an expert on the fire service as many of these posts show. You also must not be mature enough yet to be an officer either, because you can't understand that the time for you to stop your public bashing of your fellow firefighters was long ago.

Wed, 07/09/2008 - 9:08am

To the spouter below. My comments are not directed at Goshen fire co., re-read the post, not once did I say a word about them. So take your 9th grade education, expand it some more and pay attention. My comments are about emergency services in general, I have seen it with many departments, a few I have been associated with, many I have not. I believe many would agree with my take on this, although you obviously have the comprehesion level of a moron. The volunteer fire service is a mess at this point and time, for many of the reasons I listed. I step up constantly to make things better in my department and many others do at other places, but until the issues I stated are addressed as a whole in the majority of departments we will continue to see decline in memberships which leads to increased response times. The volunteer fire service is failing it's public by allowing people that are not ready to be in charge run the show.

Wed, 07/09/2008 - 8:10am

It Sounds like the poster from 12:02 0n the 8th has a personal problem with the Goshen Fire co. Maybe the person should take up his/her issues with the fire company. It seems like they are an expert on what it takes to do any job there, so why not stop running off at the mouth here, and go to them & straighten them out in person. But I guess the real reason you don't do that is so you can publicly bash them without them knowing who you are. You can bet if you did do this in person, you would be put in your place real fast. So why not stop grinding your petty little axe and stop showing everyone how big of a buthead you can be. I mean come on, if you really know so much about how to run things, then you should know how childish you are looking by doing this. If someone in your fire company was doing this, I am sure that you would tell them stop being such a big ***. And as for reaching a certain level of maturity, let us know when you actually mature and stop being such a cry baby.

Tue, 07/08/2008 - 5:42pm

YAH....

Tue, 07/08/2008 - 12:02pm

There is a big difference between 29 and 22. At 22 as mature as a person may "act" does not truely mean that they are ready to fill the role. When I was 22 I had a whole 4 years of experience, I had training out the rear end, I was a Lt. Guess what, I had no bussiness being an officer. I can say that now that I have a lot more training and a lot more experience. The reason that these younger people are being thrown into these roles is becuase they do not have the families to support so they are able to place more time into these positions, thus their reward is a title with more responsibilites they are not truely ready for. The members with real experince are off tending to their families and other responsibilities, they realize that they do not have the time to dedicate to these roles, but they do not realize what they are doing by putting members into these roles with no real world experince. There are many people that need to wake up and realize that this is not a hobby, not a place where a person should be rewarded becuase they make every meeting and have a high response percentage. People with real world knowledge and actual experince need to be the officers, not 3 or 4 year "veterans". And lets not forget the middle township explorers that ***. I bet they would be officers by now if they had not got caught. It's not age discrimination, it's called common sense, you are not ready for certian responsibilites unitl a certian point of maturity, lets stop playing fireman and actualy be it.

Tue, 07/08/2008 - 11:27am

Why do people always bash volunteer fire fighters? I am surprises the taxes person hasnt commented on this also. Anyway, do we all understand that these guy goive you there time and devotion for nothing! NOTHING....I wouldnt do it but i certainly wouldnt bash those who do. Good job VOLUNTEERS for your time, sweat and devotion.

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 8:59pm

i have been a firefighter for 12 years and have moved up the ranks from LT, Capt., asst chief and now serve as a deputy chief and I am only 29 yrs old. Our fire dept has over 50 members and run well over 500 calls a yr. So are u saying that I am not old enough to be were I am. I must be doing something right cause the members keep voting me to a higher rank.

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 8:43pm

To the commenter who said that we are just another bandaid person, dont go running your mouth. We do a lot with the fire company, we go out on almost all of the fire calls they have. And I am interested in becoming a firefighter, so dont go there.

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 7:13pm

I was also one of the Commentors. I run as well. I make over 125 calls a year, and put in my time at biweekly meetings. I've also been in the fire company for over 15 years, so when you say that I'm a sit-around-do nothing but complain, thats a complete lie. I know our fire company would not allow a person with so little experience to be placed in a position such as vice president. Even though that position may not do too much, as its normally a fill in for the president when he or she is absent, these are the people making decisions that deal with important situations. Would a younger person with little experience have the judgment necessary to make an important decision regarding the company or would they fall back upon another person to seek an answer? Just because they may be trained, and have the time to put in, does not put them in such a position to be vice president. Just because they are mature, does not make them qualified either. But I'm not running the show down there, I was just voicing my opinion about what I think, after all, thats what comments are for. And as the hiding behind a veil thing, if it wasn't for this veil, people wouldn't voice their concerns, ever. It allows for discussion about topics at which people may not feel comfortable discussing openly or in person. As for an analogy to compare your situation at the fire house to:
Heck, with this years presidential race coming up, would you want a person to be president who has been trained, but has very little actual experience in government?
I sure as heck wouldn't.

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 3:55pm

To the local EMS volunteer, you just answered all of our questions by telling us who you are!! Go figure another band-aid head wanting to bash firefighters.EMS when you can't be a FIREFIGHTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mon, 07/07/2008 - 2:19pm

Local rescue Squad member,

Your comments were slanderous, false, and hurtful to many who put their lives on the line. Your chief should suspend you for your lack of judgement. Please think next time before you spout off such stupid comments.

Out of State FF/EMTB

Sun, 07/06/2008 - 6:59pm

I am one of the commenters people are bashing on here and I do Volunteer, However Im not with fire Im with a local rescue squad. So Im not one of the people who just hind from my community. Thank you very much.

Sun, 07/06/2008 - 6:17pm

To the person who thinks this is a circus; At least the 22 year old ADULT has the guts to help the community as a Firefighter and is willing to give up the time needed to be the Vice President as well. Now my suggestion to you is to put your clown shoes back on and walk or take your clown car to the Goshen Vol. Fire Company on Tuesday evening and put in your application. Then maybe if your are old enough and put in alot of time like this person does, you could run for Vice President. I will personally give you your application, a pen to use to fill it out, and see that the membership committee gets it ASAP.
If you have any other comments about the Fire Company or it's members, have the courage to at least say them to our face.
Frank Svitak Asst. Fire Chief

Sun, 07/06/2008 - 10:32am

Very nice comments about people who volunteer to protect and serve their community. You are probably the same coward or cowards who do nothing for your own community and hide behind the veil of the internet..If you have a comment or concern about Our Volunteer Fire Department , instead of serious unwarranted accusations, then, contact myself Al Davis or the Dept Chief from Goshen Fire Company.

Sat, 07/05/2008 - 9:26pm

Goshen's fire company *** have 22 year old kids for vice president's. Now all we need is some jugglers and trapeze artists and the circus will be complete.

Sat, 07/05/2008 - 9:19pm

If you have so much to say regarding the Goshen Fire Company. Maybe you should volunteer your time and see how much they actually do.

Sat, 07/05/2008 - 5:24pm

To 9:26 & 10:53 Just to let you know, This fire was NOT started by any Goshen Firefighters. If you want to start to point fingers at someone, have the guts to put your name to it. The N.J. State Forest Fire units on scene investigated these fires & NO they were NOT arson. BOTH of the fires in Green Creek & the ONE in Goshen were poss. started due to faulty catilitic converters on cars. And SHAME on the Herald for posting these slanderous comments.

Sat, 07/05/2008 - 10:53am

I agree with the 9:26 commenter in a way. However it was probally started by Goshen firefighters, their saying is....Goshen we light'em so we can fight'em.
Green Creek has no need to start fires, they get enough without the help of their own members.

Sat, 07/05/2008 - 9:26am

They were probably started by volunteer firemen so they could go and play.

Fri, 07/04/2008 - 12:21pm

YAH 7410...