FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Common questions about the Greenfield Fire District and this website are posted here. If you have a question and its not listed here, simply contact the fire district.
Greenfield Fire District FAQ
- If I have a question about the Greenfield Fire District or greenfieldfd.org, who do I ask?
- I’m having a graduation party, can we rent your hall/pavilion out?
- You have some nice action pictures and firefighter pictures, can I use them?
- Who Designed Your Website?
- What do I have to do if I want to volunteer with your department?
- What were the motivating factors behind GREENFIELDFD.org?
- If you are a fire department, why do you show up at my door when I call the ambulance?
- What is your district’s ISO Rating?
- How do you get alerted or dispatched when there is an emergency?
Answers
1. If I have a question about this site or the Greenfield Fire District, who do I ask?
District contact information can be found in the contact section. There you will find a description of the offices and who to write to for specific questions. You may wish to leave a message on our answering machine for quicker responses – but remember that the department only drills once a week, so it may take a while for someone to call you back. Alternatively, you can address any question via email to the webmaster.
2. I’m having a graduation party; can we rent one of your halls/pavilions out?
The fire district does not permit the facilities to be rented out to the public due to insurance risks. We recommend using the Elks Lodge located on Route 9 across from Sarge’s Triangle Diner.
3. You have some nice action pictures and firefighter pictures, can I use them?
All photographs are considered property of the Greenfield Fire District and can not be used without expressed permission by the department. If you have a specific request, you may email it to the webmaster. Additionally you should read the site’s disclaimer and terms of use.
4. Who Designed Your Website?
In January 2016 Greenfield Fire District received permission to create a new website with eVision Digital Marketing.
5. What do I have to do if I want to volunteer with your department?
Information about joining our department can be found in the joining section. But as a brief overview, there are actually two ways that you can volunteer with the Greenfield Fire District: you can become a firefighter, or you can join the Auxiliary. Both have their own unique demands, but they are equally important.
There is a fair amount of training that New York State mandates that you must take (all of this is free to you as a member of the company), in addition, our company mandates that you take a few training courses, before you can be qualified as an “interior” firefighter. That is, a firefighter that can wear a SCBA and go inside a house that is on fire. If you do not want to do that, there are many other roles that you can play being a firefighter that are just as important if you don’t want to be a member that is “interior” qualified. You also have to be 18 years old in order to be “interior” qualified (per New York State). Another misconception about being a “firefighter,” is that all we do is “fight fire” – nothing could be further from the truth. We also have an extensive team and tools that allows us to “extricate” people from cars (via the Jaws of Life), which requires an entirely different skill set than fighting fires. We also provide Emergency Medical Service (we have many Emergency Medical Technicians [EMTs]) to our fire district and we also handle Hazmat (Hazardous materials) emergencies as well. So you can see, there are many “hats” that firefighters wear and they do much more than fight fires.
If you don’t want to participate in the fire protection responsibilities as a member, you can join the Auxiliary. The Auxiliary’s responsibility summed up is to support the firefighters: for example bringing food to a scene of an emergency, or having a bake sale to help raise funds for the firefighter’s budget. I think you’ll find that ALL tasks of the fire department are equally important, it is a true “team sport.” Without teamwork, the fire department simply could not function.
For more information about joining the department, visit our joining section or the contact section.
6. What were the motivating factors behind this site?
There were many goals of this site which include but not limited to: marketing the fire district to the general public and taxpayers, provide budgetary information about the district in an easily downloadable fashion, provide the necessary mechanisms to provide transparency of the fire district, create a site to further the fire prevention initiatives of the fire district and establish an environment to further the recruitment goals of the fire district. Also note that there is no New York State law that mandates our fire district to have a website, the Board of Fire Commissioners felt that this would be the best tool to provide transparency to our constituents.
7. If you are a fire department, why do you show up at my door when I call the ambulance?
The Greenfield Fire District provides EMS (Emergency Medical Service) to the residents of the district. This EMS service is Basic Life Support (BLS) to the community. Three companies run EMS: Greenfield Center, Middle Grove and Maple Avenue. Our role is to provide first response treatment for the patient, stabilizing the patient whenever possible so that the patient is ready for transport once the patient arrives. If the ambulance arrives before we do, or at the same time, then we simply assist the ambulance crew with patient care.
Our EMS program also allows us to provide a better level of care to patients involved in motor vehicle accidents.
Even though we are a fire department, we also provide many other services to the community.
8. What is your district’s ISO Rating?
An ISO rating is one factor that determines your insurance premium on your home insurance. The ISO rating approximates how well your property is protected firematically. That is, the lower the number, the better the fire protection in your community. Currently the district’s ISO rating is 4/9.Visit the ISO website for more information.
9. How do you get alerted or dispatched when there is an emergency?
When someone places an emergency call to 911 for fire or rescue services, the dispatcher sends out alerting tones to the pagers each firefighter wears. All available firefighters then have only moments to respond to the stations, get dressed and get the trucks on the road and respond to the call for help.
While our firefighters are on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, we do not have our station staffed – or require “duty shifts”.