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Margate Firefighter speaks highly of comrades
• Firefighter X commutes 40 minutes to save lives in Margate
Friday,
August 20, 2010
Besides the two Local 3080 bargaining unit personnel, he was the only firefighter attending fire union negotiations at City Hall last week. He drove from Lake Worth on his day off to support his union, he said, and when asked why this six-year Margate Firefighter (Firefighter X) commutes from Lake Worth to Margate to save lives, he said sure the pay and benefits are good, but more importantly in Margate “you know everyone you work with,” he said.
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FireFighter X told MargateNews.net that to him the single most important factor in wanting to come to work in Margate is that he trusts his fellow firefighters.
X said that when applying to Margate six years ago, he looked into larger agencies in West Palm and Broward, and found that because the agencies service such large geographic areas, firefighters there often rely on others who they’ve never met or worked beside to watch their backs in life-threatening emergency situations.
“Even in Fort Lauderdale, you can show up at a burning building and have to take orders from someone you never met,” X said. “It’s not the most reassuring thing.”
Notwithstanding taking orders in any “platoon” type situation is a matter of fact for firefighters, X says he prefers working at the smaller Margate Department. He says he’s been treated fairly over the years and there probably isn’t one person in the Department he hasn’t trained beside or answered a call with.
“I like it here,” said X. “I don’t mind the drive.”
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