FFLieu

The US Justice Department also tacitly condones the smuggling of arms from the United States to Mexico, irrespective of the fact that two of said illicit weapons were later used to murder US law enforcement agents. You'd think that in light of things such as Fast and Furious, it would have more important things to do. Behold the powers Hope and Change!

Yet the parking violations people still write for blocking a hydrant with one of those discs on it ... go figure lol.

It was a very interesting exercise, and I think all of the departments involved learned from the experience.

Ray, I can only speak for myself and my statements, which incidently enough, weren't about the fd or the pd or the schools or anything else other than how the City government is being run, and the components thereof. While I can see that you're on the job, I surely hope that you come out unscathed from any proposed cuts. Like I've said, cutting the guys who do the job doesn't solve the underlying problem. It didn't work in NYC, it didn't work in Indianapolis, and it won't work in Yonkers.

I sat and watched that same video on March 4, 2011 when I, myself, was tazed. It's to illustrate the effectiveness of the secondary, non-lethal weapon, and is also used to illustrate that each time it is depolyed, there is a video record for supervisory review.

I'm inclined to agree with ny10570. Let's say for argument sake, you have a career department with 12 guys on duty at any one time. The department has 2 trucks, and the manpower is split, 6 on one truck, and 6 on the other. An alarm comes in that is 5 miles from the station. Each truck will drive 10 miles round trip, for a total of 20 miles driven for just one alarm. Now let's say that you have a volunteer department with the same amount of personnel and the same amount of apparatus. However, the station is not staffed at the time that the alarm comes in, as it is a nice sunny Saturday afternoon. Each member lives 2 miles away from the station. An alarm comes in for a location that is the same distance away from the station, 5 miles. Each member will drive 4 miles round trip to and from the station, which when extrapolated over the amount of personnel, is 48 miles. Then, the trucks will drive 20 miles to and from the alarm, taking the grand total to 68 miles driven for just one alarm. At least in this particular example, volunteers would drive approximately 70% more miles for the same alarm. Therefore, with the increased mileage driven, and the laws of statistical probability being what they are, there would definitely be a correlation between the number of volunteers and vehiclular accidents. The only controlling factor in the equation is due regard. Everyone is taught to drive with due regard and applicable courtesy, regardless of whether they are a career guy or a volunteer. The adjective describing what kind of firefighter the person is, is simply irrelavant.

Career politicians are also part of the problem. There is more waste, fraud, and abuse the higher and higher you go in the public sector, and the stench starts at the top. Duplicative management, unproductive management, nepotistic management, and other forms of "management" is often overlooked and it's the guys on the ground who are often made to take the fall. My question is, why cut 15 firefighters or police officers or sanitation workers when you can cut 5 or 6 people who make north of $185k per year, and actually end up with a better return on your taxpayer subsidized investment? Unproductive management that's currently on the job making that amount per year will end up costing significantly more per year in retirement benefits, which will lead to more of a tax gap and burden, and thus, more layoffs. It's a circle that needs to end, somehow.

I dunno. There's only so much tax and spend that people can take before they start to get fed up. Look at what's been going on in the news with the taxpayer-subsidized GSA junket to Las Vegas. My man took a trip on our dime, made sure that he got himself photographed in a suite, and then had the audacity to take the 5th in front of Congress. Personally, as a Westchester taxpayer, I'd much rather see those in charge cut some dead wood making better than a buck-eighty-five to sit in an office all day behind a computer, being otherwise unproductive, than have them cut the cheaper-but-more-productive version, all while de-valuing my home because it gets bad fire protection coverage.

Well, if they absolutely must cut staffing to meet a budget gap, then they should do it correctly. Cutting the guys on the firehouse level only adds up to a few percentage points worth of savings, and overall, it hurts the community. Response times might increase. Fatalities might increase. Shuttering firehouses or reducing staffing levels doesn't solve the issue, especially since there will be the same issue again, inevitably, in the future. However, cutting duplicative management or reducing the salaries of those who make in excess of $185k per year as of the last publication date, would better serve the community-at-large and would be a better "bang" for the overall taxpayer buck.

Did you not read the first sentence with the word volunteer emblazoned in all caps for all the world to see how we're the scum of the earth? Perhaps not. Top to bottom, left to right. Group words together as a sentence. Many sentences comprise a thought. Maybe they didn't teach you that in elementary school.

Yeah, because no career FF ever drove recklessly, ever, in the history of the world, right?

I wasn't referring to your post. I sent you a PM.

Speak for yourself, pal. FYI, I live around the corner from my fire house and I generally walk down the hill to go a job. Don't paint us all with the same brush, lest you'd like to be painted, too. I'd venture a guess that youre house isn't made of glass, no?

What department(s) are you referring to? Seems pretty specific for some "generalized" terminology in your responses. They wouldn't happen to be the ones north of 287, would they?

This is fodder for the old "slippery slope." How long until the department is dispatched to jobs that mysteriously get cancelled after a couple of people blow by? How long until the department catches on and starts going slower than the posted speed limit, so as to spite the already spiteful Chief? Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't the "Chief" be going to the scene to establish command, or at the very least, to the house to staff a rig? Sounds like a d**k move to me. Btw, if it doesn't have a formalized "ops plan," then it's not an "operation." At least that's what I was taught...