• MMNT@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    They did at one point set houses on fire though. I listened to a podcast on the history of firemen in the US. Mad stuff. Can’t remember the name of the podcast though.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      2 hours ago

      If you guys wanna defund the fire dept because some GqP says it sounds edgy WHILE saving tax money for the rich, then please let me not live there. Having lived through a devastating house fire, I’d like to not repeat the experience.

    • tetris11@lemmy.ml
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      1 day ago

      There’s a nice scene in Gangs of New York, where rival Fire teams would fight it out whilst robbing the houses they were “saving”

      • thanks_shakey_snake@lemmy.ca
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        14 hours ago

        Firefighting shenanigans go all the way back to ancient Rome: Marcus Licinius Crassus formed Rome’s first fire brigade, which would basically extort the owners of burning buildings to buy them on the cheap. Per Wikipedia:

        The first ever Roman fire brigade was created by Crassus. Fires were almost a daily occurrence in Rome, and Crassus took advantage of the fact that Rome had no fire department, by creating his own brigade—500 men strong—which rushed to burning buildings at the first cry of alarm. Upon arriving at the scene, however, the firefighters did nothing while Crassus offered to buy the burning building from the distressed property owner, at a miserable price. If the owner agreed to sell the property, his men would put out the fire; if the owner refused, then they would simply let the structure burn to the ground. After buying many properties this way, he rebuilt them, and often leased the properties to their original owners or new tenants.

    • Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      When you get paid to stop something bad that is happening, prevention is not in your best interest.

  • Diva (she/her)@lemmy.ml
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    1 day ago

    Like I know firefighter put out fires, but in the US at least departments are often instrumental in making sure city streets are as unsafe as possible so they can drive their enormous trucks down them.

    They will even do shit like narc out renters who have too many roommates in single family neighborhoods to city authorities, like they’re not cops but some of them try really hard.

    Like an order of magnitude more people die in car crashes than house fires, and more often than not fire departments are just responding to some dumbass crashing their car.

    • Dr. Bob@lemmy.ca
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      24 hours ago

      That’s the Fire Marshall. They are the enforcement arm of fire services. Do you think there is a reason so few people die in fires and maybe its tied to a strong regulatory regime? Like make sure occupancy limits are respected and fire exits aren’t blocked?

      • desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        21 hours ago

        Do you think there is a reason so few people die in fires and maybe its tied to a strong regulatory regime?

        we should make houses safer, AND prevent firefighters from interfering in housefires.

        • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          You know how we make houses safer from fire? Fire Code and the IBC. Know how who enforces Fire Code? Fire Marshall.

          And it’s not only fires that require emergency vehicle access. If an ambulance is called to your house, the FD needs to know they can actually get it there.

          And what if there’s a utility outage and an excavator and crane are necessary? What if the street needs repair and a concrete truck has to get access? There’s all kinds of reasons large vehicles need to access homes.

          And none of that makes the streets less-safe. It increases visibility and gives more maneuvering room in an emergency.

          • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online
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            2 hours ago

            I don’t think the FD is responsible for the ambulance getting there. They are often the first responders because the locations are more distributed than ambulance dispatch.

      • Diva (she/her)@lemmy.ml
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        22 hours ago

        Making sure city streets are wide as a highway lane is integral to fire safety, maybe if they narrowed streets they would be responding to fewer grisly car crashes

        • otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          16 hours ago

          Are you high AF? You start off sane enough, but rapidly scatter into wtf territory in multiple irrational directions at once.

          Maybe come back to this thought after a rest. 🤓

          • Diva (she/her)@lemmy.ml
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            12 hours ago

            In America, the fire department chief (unelected) often sits on the committee to determine what the roads look like, they will often be the ones demanding the roads stay as wide as possible and have zero traffic calming. For fire safety.

            My point was that they respond to way more car crashes than house fires, and are in position to influence that, and choose to make things less safe for everyone.

            • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online
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              2 hours ago

              Wider roads make things more safe for everyone. Your ‘fuck cars’ bullshit is no different than all of the annoying stoners saying weed should be legal in conversations where that point is irrelevant.

                • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online
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                  33 minutes ago

                  Nope, I drive a small truck because I do a lot of DIY projects and needed something to haul lumber in. It’s basically a hatchback with a short bed.

                  It’s comical parking next to gender affirming vehicles because it looks like a toy truck in comparison.