Fire Chiefs Group Says Volunteers Should Abandon Hard-Drinking Conventions

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBR411CDDE.html

PITTSBURGH (AP) - When about 4,000 firefighters and guests gathered last month at the annual volunteer firemen's convention, they knew what to expect: camping, a parade, and more than a little beer and alcohol.

But what started out as a long weekend of fun ended in tragedy when a fire chief died after a drunken bar fight. Another firefighter is being investigated in a fatal car crash because police said he, too, was drunk.

While fire chiefs across the country have been re-thinking the relationship between alcohol and firefighters, organizers of the multi-county convention insist there's no direct connection between the event and the deaths - so they don't see a need to run the event any differently next year.

"Some things are out of your control," said Paul Sklodowski, president of a volunteer fire company in Cambria County, which is slated to host the next convention. He doubts any changes will be made next year, saying the event already has strict rules.

[Javaman]

1. I was a volunteer fireman years ago, I quit because...

it was more a drunken frat house than anything. many a time those volunteers went to fires drunk. It scared the crap out of me.

When I resigned, my chief asked me why, I told him. He actually called me a P*ssy. I laughed in his face.

[ender]

2. yeh, that is almost universal in volunteer fire houses....

[GregW]

3. Reminds me of the 8 Oregon firefighters killed in 2003

While returning from a fire. The driver was drunk - they went head-on into a semi on the wrong side of the road (they were on the wrong side) rounding a curve.