quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
I know we don't fit the description of " First Responder " and that's cool , but after a natural disaster , utility workers are a welcome sight.

It might be a regional thing, but where I am from the FD and the Utility guys have an excellent relationship. That includes up to the county emergency management level. Part of that is from working on a large number of storms, floods and fires together. Also, a number of our utility guys are also volunteer firefighters or EMS as well.

quote:

Originally posted by icom706:
Yea, the term first responder is not one of my favorites. Officially limited to paid folks with official training and perhaps legal authority, but in my view expanded to non-paid folks with training ranging from official to self-trained.

Read the legal definition PD posted. You will notice the word paid isn't in it.