Fire Engines Photos

could someone please explain the difference between "wholetime" and "retained"? Does wholetime mean full time (always there) and retained mean part time or call back?

Thanks


Added by Todd on 31 August 2009.

Wholetme means the crews work the 4 shift system i.e. 2 days 2 nights then off. Retained ( like myself ) means we provide cover in between our OWN jobs carrying a pager to alert us to a call. at my station here in 'sunny' scotland, the cover provide ranges from 75 hours of being available through to 120+ hours of availability. the retained tag comes from the 'retainer' fee paid to us.

Added by Stevie Murray on 31 August 2009.

Todd, Wholetime are firefighters who work full time on a shift system covering 24 hours, 365 days per week.
Retained or RDS (Retained Duty System) usually have other employment, they get paid an annual salary and get paid a turnout fee...they respond from home or work to the fire station following activation of a bleeper. They are professional firefighters not volunteers. Hope this makes sense

Added by Barrie Green on 31 August 2009.

Yes, Todd, you are right. Wholetime means the station is manned 24hrs a day 365 days a year. The term 'full-time' is not really used in official circles.

Retained is what you call 'part-time'. Fire services retain the services of everyday town and village folk to respond to calls when required. They are trained and then paid a retaining fee to be 'on-duty', and receive an additional wage when they respond to incidents.

Day-crewed stations are manned by wholetime staff during the day directly from the station. The same staff knock-off around 5 or 6PM and are available on their pagers to respond as retained firefighters.

Added by YelpBullhorn on 31 August 2009.

it is strange for me to see a retained appliance that is newer than the wholetime one.

Todd,

yes whole time fire fighters work shifts at the station and retained firefighters have a different main job and carry a pager.

Added by Andy on 01 September 2009.

Todd, when these two pumps were both wholetime, the retained Water Tender would undoubtedly be the busier of the two appliances. So it makes sense to put the latest buy into the busier role.

I imagine that now, it hardly seems worth the bother to swap all of the equipment over. They may look very similar, but don't forget,they are two very differently equipped vehicles.

Added by YelpBullhorn on 02 September 2009.

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