efdcapt115

Hello Christopher,
It may not feel like it now, because we all know that you are hurting and in pain, but guess what? You actually have a great advantage over other kids your age! You will grow up to be a stronger person, and it will help you as you pursue your goal of being a firefighter! Yes that's right.
You see, when you are tested like this, it builds courage and strength that few other people possess. Chris, most people don't have the advantage of being so strong in character at such a young age. We know you may not feel that way right now, and we want you to know that all of us here; the firefighters, the paramedics, the police, the emergency technicians, the dispatchers, all of us are pulling for you as you get through the tough fight you have been fighting. We also know you are going to make it! And your dreams of being a firefighter can come true in one way or another.
Guys like you are a shining example of what a good firefighter is made of. Guys like you never cease to amaze me.
Strength.
Honor.
Duty.
All of these qualities you already possess, and we support you and your goals when you get through what you have to do.
Stay strong Christopher as you get through this difficult time. I really look forward to hearing how things are going for you. You're going to be just fine buddy.
Respectfully yours,
Captain George Glover (retired)
Eastchester New York Fire Department
e-mail: efdcapt115@aol.com

Hello Christopher,
It may not feel like it now, because we all know that you are hurting and in pain, but guess what? You actually have a great advantage over other kids your age! You will grow up to be a stronger person, and it will help you as you pursue your goal of being a firefighter! Yes that's right.
You see, when you are tested like this, it builds courage and strength that few other people possess. Chris, most people don't have the advantage of being so strong in character at such a young age. We know you may not feel that way right now, and we want you to know that all of us here; the firefighters, the paramedics, the police, the emergency technicians, the dispatchers, all of us are pulling for you as you get through the tough fight you have been fighting. We also know you are going to make it! And your dreams of being a firefighter can come true in one way or another.
Guys like you are a shining example of what a good firefighter is made of. Guys like you never cease to amaze me.
Strength.
Honor.
Duty.
All of these qualities you already possess, and we support you and your goals when you get through what you have to do.
Stay strong Christopher as you get through this difficult time. I really look forward to hearing how things are going for you. You're going to be just fine buddy.
Respectfully yours,
Captain George Glover (retired)
Eastchester New York Fire Department
e-mail: efdcapt115@aol.com

Hello Christopher,
It may not feel like it now, because we all know that you are hurting and in pain, but guess what? You actually have a great advantage over other kids your age! You will grow up to be a stronger person, and it will help you as you pursue your goal of being a firefighter! Yes that's right.
You see, when you are tested like this, it builds courage and strength that few other people possess. Chris, most people don't have the advantage of being so strong in character at such a young age. We know you may not feel that way right now, and we want you to know that all of us here; the firefighters, the paramedics, the police, the emergency technicians, the dispatchers, all of us are pulling for you as you get through the tough fight you have been fighting. We also know you are going to make it! And your dreams of being a firefighter can come true in one way or another.
Guys like you are a shining example of what a good firefighter is made of. Guys like you never cease to amaze me.
Strength.
Honor.
Duty.
All of these qualities you already possess, and we support you and your goals when you get through what you have to do.
Stay strong Christopher as you get through this difficult time. I really look forward to hearing how things are going for you. You're going to be just fine buddy.
Respectfully yours,
Captain George Glover (retired)
Eastchester New York Fire Department
e-mail: efdcapt115@aol.com

Don't forget Great Britain has been at our side since the wars began in the wake of 9/11. They've suffered tremendous casualties and paid a tough price just like we have. They are a civilized ally in a very uncivilized world, and have had the fortitude to stand up and do what has needed to be done.

Hello Christopher,
It may not feel like it now, because we all know that you are hurting and in pain, but guess what? You actually have a great advantage over other kids your age! You will grow up to be a stronger person, and it will help you as you pursue your goal of being a firefighter! Yes that's right.
You see, when you are tested like this, it builds courage and strength that few other people possess. Chris, most people don't have the advantage of being so strong in character at such a young age. We know you may not feel that way right now, and we want you to know that all of us here; the firefighters, the paramedics, the police, the emergency technicians, the dispatchers, all of us are pulling for you as you get through the tough fight you have been fighting. We also know you are going to make it! And your dreams of being a firefighter can come true in one way or another.
Guys like you are a shining example of what a good firefighter is made of. Guys like you never cease to amaze me.
Strength.
Honor.
Duty.
All of these qualities you already possess, and we support you and your goals when you get through what you have to do.
Stay strong Christopher as you get through this difficult time. I really look forward to hearing how things are going for you. You're going to be just fine buddy.
Respectfully yours,
Captain George Glover (retired)
Eastchester New York Fire Department
e-mail: efdcapt115@aol.com

Being West-Coast based, and associated with this kind of suppression, beyond friends and family working the line, I found literature that looks deeper into the wild land firefighter's psyche and tactics.
The question of altitude over, and substance dropped upon wilderness fires is pretty exacting; scoopers with water make sense sometimes, tankers full of retardent saves lives and property other times. But it is pretty carefully calculated regarding evaporation rate, speed, volume, and viscosity. While the philosophy supporting or denigrating the fight against wildland fire is controversial ($-v-environment), the reality is that lots of young men and women jump at the chance to do so and this implies the visceral connection between urban structural FF and wilderness wildfire FF--its good work.
So, its not really my purview anymore-too old/beat up for a redcard now--but I remain interested in the folks that deploy each year.
Here are three books that look into the tactics and experiences of wildland firefighting:
Fire Bomber Into Hell (ISBN 978-1-60910-436-8--amazon): Good description of use of altitude and aerial tactics in wild land fire suppression (plus entire history of dropping stuff from planes onto forest fires).
Fireline ( ISBN 978-0-226-14408-5--amazon): Solid sociological ethnography of Western wildland FF folks and techniques. The Author did it for real and then built his PhD on the back of the experience.
Jumping Fire (ISBN 0-15-601397-5--amazon): Crazy SOB Murray Taylor who smoke jumped too long and ended up being the oldest guy to do so. Good contrast to the "Hot Shots" who are truly rugged. This guy was a dinosaur in the best sense of the word.
U-Tube: Check out Interagency "Hot Shots" too. Truly gnarly folks. Smell bad. Walk you into the ground.

Hello again brothers and sisters. As many of you know my 'little buddy' Christopher was diagnosed with "Leg Calf Perthies" about 7 months ago. Tomorrow he goes in for his last surgery to have his hardware removed. Christopher has been a long time fan of what we all do day in and day out. He is also SCARED!!!!! Cristopher and his parents have been close friends of myself and my fiance for many years and wishes for nothing more than to be a "normal" kid with the ambition of one day being a firefighter. After my origional post of the photos from a birthday party for Christopher held at HFD in dutchess, the outpouring of support from the members here was overwhelming. I thank you all again for your support for my best little friend and ask that you keep him in your prayers as he embarks on the final leg of his long journey. If I may ask, can you all post some well wishes and words of encouragement here so that his mother can read them to him both befor his surgery and on his road to recovery. Lets show this little guy what it means to be in the emergency service community!
Thank you all in advance. God bless and stay safe!

I know two things about my Class A Uniform.
#1: I will never dishonor it
#2: When I die, should you wish to come and view me in my casket, I'll be wearing it.

From today's NY Times:

And IIRC, the USA had their own memorial during Opening Ceremonies to the 2002 Winter Olympics, but of course NBC was sure to show THAT!
I think its disgraceful as well as all the stupid useless banter the announcers made during the Opening Ceremonies for these games. I would prefer to WATCH and LISTEN to what is going on instead of Matt Lauer, Bob Costas and Meredith Vieyra's mindless scripted commentary!
http://www.examiner.com/article/nbc-commentary-of-the-london-olympics-opening-ceremony-deemed-offensive
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-olympic-tv-review-20120729,0,4655337.story

It's gotten a little loose Bro, lost a lot of weight since retiring. Better than getting too tight, wouldn't you agree? lol

Hey George,
After all this time being retired to the Keys, does your class A still fit ya ?
Just kidding with ya Bro, had to take a stab

Unfortunatley, like many of us, i never got to know Lenny personally. However, i always enjoyed reading his posts because it was obvious that he was an intelligent person, who was truly passionate about what he did.
Watching the tribute video really shows what kind of person he was. It was obvious that he loved being a Paramedic, loved the FDNY and loved life in general. You could see his passion of the outdoors and even get an idea of his sense of humor.
Another life taken to soon, but one that wont be forgotten.
May you rest in peace Lenny.
Thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and his extended FDNY family.

I know two things about my Class A Uniform.
#1: I will never dishonor it
#2: When I die, should you wish to come and view me in my casket, I'll be wearing it.

Rob, thank you for posting this. It is important that we remember these tragedies and those lost.
I assume there will be a service this week?

Respectfully fireguy,
I don't know much about that neck of the woods you guys are talking about, so I won't comment on it. However, I take issue with ANY firefighter referring to fire apparatus as "toys." I recently rode with another firefighter who referred to his apparatus as I believe he said "a shiny red toy."
This isn't a lecture or anything. Fire apparatus are there for a deadly serious purpose. Those ladders, aerials, pumps and hoses might be the tools needed to pull a seriously burned victim from a raging fire, or get water on a fire to hopefully prevent that victim from burning to death, or dying of asphyxiation from toxic, choking, burning plastics, wood, or a thousand other things.
Firefighters definitely take pride in their apparatus. We love to wash them, test them and keep them ready for those times of need. We love to operate them.
Let's just keep our eyes on the objective of the mission. And it is serious, it is deadly, it is why we are/were there. To answer the call to action.
I don't think you'll hear too many cops refer to their weaponry or rigs as toys. Why should we be any different?
Have a safe day Bro.

Ang, you always add a different dynamic to any conversation. I'd like to return the compliment to you, and tell you that you are right again. Retired apparatus I guess does fall into the category of "big boy toys." lol

People go under the assumption (not the original poster of this thread, he's just passing along information) that because agencies go through so much training and planning for catastrophic incidents, that when something horrific such as this MCI happens, things will/should go according to these static plans; drawn on white boards in our planning rooms, presented on Powerpoint and practiced time and again in our controlled environments on the drill field.
When something so horrendous happens, the first in officers are naturally going to be way ahead of the planning curve. Of course when they see multiple people injured, some obviously DOA, they're going to urgently ask for help.
The practiced and rehearsed response to these incidents is going to take time time to catch up to the real time action on the ground.
In this case if officers are possibly pleading for EMS and EMS is probably chomping at the bit to get in there and help; being removed from the scene gives the EMS personnel the ability to reasonably think that they should be waiting for the proper orders; a secure scene advisory to move in, etc.
As in every catastrophe, there are so many individual acts of heroism and valor that occur during and immediately after the event, they are hard to count. I think, with so much focus on sensationalism in media reporting, we should always recognize that none of these events are going to go exactly as they were presented to us on a white board in our training classrooms.
I also think that point has been made many times here on Bravo, but should be mentioned again.
My personal wish is for all emergency personnel who responded into this event to get the follow-up care that they are going to need, and certainly all of the victims and civilians who acted with courage and valor under fire, get the help and care they need as well.
Nobody, no matter how experienced, no matter how fearless and salty they may be, on any of our jobs can walk away from such an incident "untouched."
Once again, the emergency responders of this country, in this case Aurora, Co. did the best they could under extreme duress. I'm quite confident they ALL did an excellent job.

Respectfully fireguy,
I don't know much about that neck of the woods you guys are talking about, so I won't comment on it. However, I take issue with ANY firefighter referring to fire apparatus as "toys." I recently rode with another firefighter who referred to his apparatus as I believe he said "a shiny red toy."
This isn't a lecture or anything. Fire apparatus are there for a deadly serious purpose. Those ladders, aerials, pumps and hoses might be the tools needed to pull a seriously burned victim from a raging fire, or get water on a fire to hopefully prevent that victim from burning to death, or dying of asphyxiation from toxic, choking, burning plastics, wood, or a thousand other things.
Firefighters definitely take pride in their apparatus. We love to wash them, test them and keep them ready for those times of need. We love to operate them.
Let's just keep our eyes on the objective of the mission. And it is serious, it is deadly, it is why we are/were there. To answer the call to action.
I don't think you'll hear too many cops refer to their weaponry or rigs as toys. Why should we be any different?
Have a safe day Bro.

People go under the assumption (not the original poster of this thread, he's just passing along information) that because agencies go through so much training and planning for catastrophic incidents, that when something horrific such as this MCI happens, things will/should go according to these static plans; drawn on white boards in our planning rooms, presented on Powerpoint and practiced time and again in our controlled environments on the drill field.
When something so horrendous happens, the first in officers are naturally going to be way ahead of the planning curve. Of course when they see multiple people injured, some obviously DOA, they're going to urgently ask for help.
The practiced and rehearsed response to these incidents is going to take time time to catch up to the real time action on the ground.
In this case if officers are possibly pleading for EMS and EMS is probably chomping at the bit to get in there and help; being removed from the scene gives the EMS personnel the ability to reasonably think that they should be waiting for the proper orders; a secure scene advisory to move in, etc.
As in every catastrophe, there are so many individual acts of heroism and valor that occur during and immediately after the event, they are hard to count. I think, with so much focus on sensationalism in media reporting, we should always recognize that none of these events are going to go exactly as they were presented to us on a white board in our training classrooms.
I also think that point has been made many times here on Bravo, but should be mentioned again.
My personal wish is for all emergency personnel who responded into this event to get the follow-up care that they are going to need, and certainly all of the victims and civilians who acted with courage and valor under fire, get the help and care they need as well.
Nobody, no matter how experienced, no matter how fearless and salty they may be, on any of our jobs can walk away from such an incident "untouched."
Once again, the emergency responders of this country, in this case Aurora, Co. did the best they could under extreme duress. I'm quite confident they ALL did an excellent job.

The 2012 Summer Olympics are off and running. Many of us here probably watched the Opening Ceremony. Danny Boyle who directed "Slumdog Millionaire" put it all together.
For some reason the National Broadcasting Company decided there was a segment of the ceremony that would be edited out, and while it was happening we here in America got the treat of a Ryan Seacrest/Michael Phelps interview.
That segment it turns out was a tribute to the victims of the 7/7/2005 London bombings; Great Britain's 9/11.
Here's a link to view it. It's quite a beautiful and moving performance.
http://deadspin.com/...want-you-to-see
Never Forget.

Ang, you always add a different dynamic to any conversation. I'd like to return the compliment to you, and tell you that you are right again. Retired apparatus I guess does fall into the category of "big boy toys." lol

The 2012 Summer Olympics are off and running. Many of us here probably watched the Opening Ceremony. Danny Boyle who directed "Slumdog Millionaire" put it all together.
For some reason the National Broadcasting Company decided there was a segment of the ceremony that would be edited out, and while it was happening we here in America got the treat of a Ryan Seacrest/Michael Phelps interview.
That segment it turns out was a tribute to the victims of the 7/7/2005 London bombings; Great Britain's 9/11.
Here's a link to view it. It's quite a beautiful and moving performance.
http://deadspin.com/...want-you-to-see
Never Forget.

The 2012 Summer Olympics are off and running. Many of us here probably watched the Opening Ceremony. Danny Boyle who directed "Slumdog Millionaire" put it all together.
For some reason the National Broadcasting Company decided there was a segment of the ceremony that would be edited out, and while it was happening we here in America got the treat of a Ryan Seacrest/Michael Phelps interview.
That segment it turns out was a tribute to the victims of the 7/7/2005 London bombings; Great Britain's 9/11.
Here's a link to view it. It's quite a beautiful and moving performance.
http://deadspin.com/...want-you-to-see
Never Forget.