Wheres Ping and Hartzel? Probably at Charlies in Somerspoint bad mouthing the Dept. like usual. perfect example of the need to keep/hire more firefighters, not reduce the size of the dept.

God bless the poor famlies ....its a shame.

I pray all are well.

glad all are okay!

overstaffed bloated fire department? based on what standards?

Praise the Lord that no one was hurt....
Sharon A.

Great Job OCFD! To the inconsiderate Duffer..there was a fire in marmora and I commend every volunteer firefighter who risked their lives to put out the fire and prevent surrounding homes from catching on fire. Not to mention their loved ones waiting anxiously at home for their safe return. On a very sad note a man perished in that fire. Do we dare put a price on a mans life Mr.Duffer? I guess you do..and your family has to live with you. It seems to me that time is everything with a fire. Perhaps the difference Mr.Duffer is that a paid department can respond within minutes with greater possibility of saving lives of locals and vacationers as well in the so called America's greatest family resort. I live in Upper Township and if I needed the assistance of a state trooper I'd be waiting a long time..my fireman ...who are terrific ...would not arrive as quickly as an ocean city fireman...and our teachers do not get paid as much as the three figure ocean city teacher working ten months a year and my taxes are much higher than Ocean City. The people that come to Ocean City do so for a safe family vacation and as much as you don't like it ... the firemen are one component in making this town America's greatest family resort.

If the good people of OC were seriously concerned with their safety, they would demand a two fold increase in the number of firefighters employed, and a doubling of firefighter salaries. $200 K a year is a fair salary for the hard work these heros do.

To dark sea.. let's keep things in perspective... The average salary for a overworked family physician/pediatrician is about 135,000. This comes at the expense of many years of training and a average $200,000 of debt. Overnight shifts go compensated because there is no way to bill the relentless calls the Dr is expected to answer. These doctors save lives every day. Every year, despite increased costs/overhead, the doctors face/deal with cutbacks while trying to run their offices. Not to sound appreciative, but just another perspective.

As the old saying goes "you get what you pay for." Last night you got an awesome result. I commend our fire dept for a job well done!

I agree with keeping it in perspective. However, you couldn't pay me enough to run into a burning building, have gang green drip on me during a routine EMT call, and miss many Christmas mornings with my children. Our EMS workers sacrifice and risk. And they do it proudly and bravely. Is that worth some of our tax dollars? Personally, I would be glad to pay it.

How quickly that fire spread is the reason why the south-end fire station needs to stay open. Put that same fire at 57th Street and you propbably have double or triple the damage without the south-end station. Remember the desity in this town; setbacks average 5-6 ft on each lot so houses are 10-12 ft apart. Don't ever close that station!

Steve - my post was purely sarcastic - i agree with you. Are our OCFD guys the best- absolutely! But theres basic economic realities and fairness that must be taken into account.

How much money will replacing Firefighters with EMT's really save each individual tax payer? And where are the calls for the police department to look in hiring class II officers on a year round basis this sounds personal to be honest.

"To dark sea.. let's keep things in perspective... The average salary for a overworked family physician/pediatrician is about 135,000. This comes at the expense of many years of training and a average $200,000 of debt"

They're in the private industry. If they really wanted to, they could become an ER doctor and make the state average of ~$250,000 a year. If they're making less doing pediatrics, they're doing it out of love, not because they couldn't make any more elsewhere.

There are several real estate agents making north of $100k a year in this town, and they do nothing but mediate real estate transactions. Do they risk their life doing their job?

We could go on and on about the economics of it all... How much should the soldier get paid that goes to a foreign country to fight for our country? Equally dangerous job with much less compensation... Not a private sector job.. no doubt firefighters have a dangerous job.. but how much can we afford to pay is the question..my comments were not meant to put down the profession but to point out there are always discrepancies in what people are paid vs what they should be paid..

And BTW Bob.. the average ER doctor burns out in 10 yrs so they should make more than other said specialities..

At Duffer, That's a redicules statement. A fire can progress a lot in the 7 to 10 minutes longer or more that it takes a volunteer Engine to get to a fire. That's why Ocean City has a lot of small fires and few large fires as the surrounding volunteer protected communities like Upper Twp. Kudos to these volunteers for what they do but in my town i want a fire engine at my door ASAP if my house is on fire.
At Steve...your argument sounds familiar. Iif you are an elected official why not sign you name to it?