ems-buff

Bringing back Photo hunt uh?

Bringing back Photo hunt uh?

Bringing back Photo hunt uh?

To the Membership of EMTBravo,
There comes a time when things must change for the sake of allowing new ideas to come forth. With the recent problems with the forum, we feel that it is time that we as the admins and mods of EMTBravo move on so that the site can progress to the next level.
We have requested to be returned to the regular members list of the site and thank you for all the support you have given us as a Team trying to give you the best public safety forum on the internet. We value the friendships and contacts we have made, the discussions we have given, the different view points presented and the promotion of progress in the public safety sector.
Please feel free to contact us personally at any time and we wish all of you and the founder of EMTBravo the best on this site.
Sincerely,
Joseph Navin (IzzyEng4)
Chris Lieberman (helicopter)
Nathan Robbins (xfirefighter484x)
Jack Bakker (jack10562)
Rob Casasanta(RWC130)
Duane Kuhlow (RescueKujo)

Agreed. And yet that is exactly how we run EMS in NYS, except they get no pension benefit from working the 80 hours+ per week.
Interesting how EMS agencies are not physically safe or healthy for their employees. Which in turn makes it less safe or healthy for their patients.

That would cost $$$.... but I think that either a fire based EMS service or a municipal EMS service would be the best situation for a city of this size.

My take on the wording of the comments made by the YFD website regarding Empress is they are taking a public jab at Empress and their response time, for whatever their reason.
Unnecessary and unprofessional, in my humble opinion.

At last, some GOOD news today....

Nice job Trooper/RN!

For background, that Trooper was an Emergency Dept R.N. prior to joining the NYSP, so he has considerable experiance.

Date:1/12/13
Time: 1517
District: Ossining
Location: 62 North Malcom Ave X Anne Street
Units: [Ossining FD: 2331, 2332, 2334, E-96, E-97, E-98, E- 99, E- 101, Ladder 41, Ladder 42] [Croton FD: 2081, E-119(FAST)][WCDES: Battalion 11, Battalion 12, CC1 ][Ossining PD:][building Department:]
Stand By Units:[sleepy Hollow FD: 2312, Tower Ladder 38] [Millwood: 2253, Engine 247][Croton EMS: 55B1 (Relocate OVAC HQ)]
Frequency:46.26, Fire 12, Fireground 4, OFD Dispatch, OPD
Weather Conditions: Cloudy
Reporters:x4093k, peterose313

Description: Car Fire W/ fully involved structure as extension


1517 - Ossining dispatched for a reported car fire w/ extension
1520 - Croton FD FAST requested, 2332 O/S W/ 10-75
1524 - IC advises fully involved car fire with extension to structure, fully involved garage fire water ops settting up
1525 - Millwood 1 Engine Sleepy Hollow Ladder requested to relocate
1528 - 2 L/S/O knocking down fire, working on vehicle A.T.T.
1528 - Croton FD 2081, 119 O/S
1528 - Briarcliff EMS requested relocate 1 ambulance OVAC HQ
1529 - Briarcliff engine I/R OFD station
1530 - IC Updates 3 L/S/O, additional extension to another building, bulk of fire knocked down
1532 - Sleepy Hollow requesting 1 Truck from Tarrytown to relocate to SHFD HQ
1535 - County Car 1 notified
1539 - IC requesting building department ASAP
1541 - TL38, 2312 out Ossining FD
1548 - Building department O/S
1548 - CEMS 55B1 I/R OVAC HQ, requesting a full crew to stand by in CEMS HQ for Croton
1552 - Five Five B1 out at OVAC HQ
1607 - Overhaul in progress, fire under control
1608 - PD requested for traffic assistance
1612 - All Mutual Aid units released
1612 - 2312 advises Tarrytown units can return to their district
1614 - IC advises Croton FAST also released
PM W/ Further info, thanks.

Thanks Frank for your hard work in covering the emergency services events in the lower Hudson Valley! Your work is always outstanding.

For those that don't know Frank, he has been covering Westchester and beyond as a photgrapher for the Journal News and it's predecessors for over 30 years. He is mostly assigned to breaking incidents and emergency services-involved event. Frank is an ex-chief in North White Plains, and a member of Brewster FD. He is a legend in his own right, and the son of another legend, Frank Becerra Sr who was an artist for the Journal News predeccesors for decades. His dad's art was seen around the world. I can only imagine how proud Jr. makes his dad.

He was assigned by Journal News editors to the Newtown CT incident, where the photos he took were seen around the world, published by Gannet Affiliates worldwide and were also on the AP Wire. Watch what Frank was thinking behind the lens when assigned to this incident.

This must have been one of your toughest assignments yet.

In response to a friend's Facebook comment, in which he stated that the United States should 'take ALL guns away from everyone,' I posted this in his comments:
I bring this topic up in light of the recent event in West Webster, NY where four firefighters were shot at, killing two and injuring the others. And again in Alabama, where firefighters were fired upon...And New Jersey, where a prisoner got hold of a weapon and fire upon police officers. I have always been a firm believer in the Second Amendment, and I exercise that right as a law abiding citizen, and want to know others' opinions on the subject.
Are people on this site un owners? What is your take on gun control? What do you think is causing these massacres? What do you think should be done to make not only our job, but Americans in general, safer?

Great post my Brother, whoever you are, lol- please let me know your identity if you don't mind. Thanks to you and Capt. Smith for the informative posts and to all of our members for not discrediting ourselves or our department by engaging in name calling and nasty, unprofessional language. Of course I would never expect our guys to sink to the level that some others on this thread have sunk to, but thanks nonetheless...
I will add a bit from my perspective- please bear with me as I am exhausted and pressed for time do I will bang this out quickly and it may be a bit rough around the edges....
I am nearing the end of my career, and frankly, I don't really think I will be personally affected if in fact the YFD First Responder Program did end, although I sincerely doubt that will happen for long, if at all, and I will explain why below. In fact, I certainly have more to lose by posting on this topic rather than remaining silent as this will likely piss some people off...oh well...
I have been a member of YFD for almost 25 years, since before we had a First Responder Program. As a very junior Firefighter I was a member of the committee which some at the time said "ruined the job" by convincing first, Local 628, and later, with the backing of L-628, helped to convince the City Fathers that this program was a good idea. The union did not come up with the idea of this program or push for it at first. You see, years ago, YFD only responded on medical runs when there was a confirmed cardiac arrest and Empress Ambulance either was not available at all, or did not have enough personnel available to perform good CPR. We responded on those fairly often. We had only very basic first aid training and CPR. There were numerous times when we performed CPR for very long periods of time before the arrival of the ambulance. Sometimes a Paramedic fly car would arrive and we would wait, and wait....sometimes not even the fly car. The Empress employees were almost always professional, dedicated, and we had a great working relationship. It sure wasn't their fault that the number of ambulances available didn't meet the need at that moment. One day, at Engine 306 where I worked, a family ran in with a baby in respiratory distress who had actually turned blue. A senior man /EMT opened the airway and started Oxygen. The baby wound up being ok. The family was irate that they had called over 20 minutes before and we had not responded (we checked the times and this was accurate). We explained that FD did not get sent to these type of calls unless it was a cardiac arrest and Empress requested us. It was very upsetting to me/us to know that people who we were sworn to protect, particularly children, could be having a life threatening medical emergency that we would be able to assist with, yet we would not be called.
I really never wanted to do emergency medical work back then- I thought of myself as a Firefighter and my idea of a Firefighter was different than what it is today. Nonetheless, because of situations such as I have described above, I agreed with some other Firefighters who advocated for us to go on these runs more regularly as was being done in other parts of the country, and seemingly very successfully. It took a couple of years, but eventually the program began. At the time, approximately 22 years ago, it is my understanding that Empress was charging the City of Yonkers a flat 1 Million per year for their services plus the ability to recoup from billing. Almost as soon as we began the First Responder Program that ccontract was re-negotiated and Empress then waived this 1 Million dollar fee. Also, there was no minimum number of ambulances that were required to be dedicated to City of Yonkers- almost as soon as YFD began going on these runs,it was noticed how very bad Empress' response times were- not due to any fault of the overworked Empress EMT's and Medics, but again, because of a lack of appropriate resources. So, very shortly because of YFD complaints, Empress agreed to keep a minimum number of ALS and BLS units in the city and this was put into their contract. I also think that it was at this time that a certain maximum average response time for Empress BLS and ALS units was placed into Empress' contract which improved things dramatically. I guess if prior to YFD involvement no one was really paying attention to ressponse times, why bother having a lot of ambulances available- the number of billable patients was not dependent on response time- they would all wait as long as it took for the ambulance so why incur the expense if no one was complaining, right?
Admittedly, I haven't gone on a First Responder rum for almost 7 years now, but I did respond on very many over the years. Almost always, I found Empress employees to be fantastic and I thought we had a great working relationship, even if there was a bit of uncomfortability at times- egos and jealousy and just basic human misunderstanding on both sides creeps in of course, however in my opinion we were mostly all regular working people who enjoyed the adrenaline rush and especially, helping people. During the approximately 15 years that I went on First Responder runs with YFD there were very many times that we arrived significantly before Empress ambulance. The large majority of time we arrived at least a couple of minutes before Empress, and often, especially when I worked on the East side of Yonkers, more than 10 minutes prior to Empress. As Captain Smith was, I was involved in 2 successful childbirths (the Moms did basically all of the work of course but they were sure glad that we were there nonetheless) before Empress arrived (not the same ones), and I and my crew initiated CPR COUNTLESS TIMES before Empress' arrival. END OF PART 1 TO BE CONTINUED

With all due respect, that's the essence of the first response, quick response initiating CPR and Defib. Instead of having fire engines doing first response, they will now have a Paramedic doing first response.
Is this why YFD units were asking for EMS's ETA immediately upon the FD's arrival, and noting when it was a flycar on scene?
This is just evidence that the FD is going after Empress as retaliation for them providing what the City has requested.
If Yonkers FD wants to do EMS so bad, why don't they start their own Ambulance service, or put a Paramedic on every engine? And for those deadset on wanting to do EMS, why don't they quit the FD for an EMS career?
The City is the one who asked Empress to come up with the ALS Rapid Response plan. Empress, being a vendor for the City, is not going to breach their contract with the City to go out of business, leaving Yonkers with a subpar EMS service to replace Empress, costing a couple hundred people their jobs, in order to save firefighter's jobs. EMS isn't nearly paid as well as Yonkers FD, nor are they given benefits like the FD does. EMT's and Paramedics have to have a second job to make ends meet, even though Empress paramedics are paid more then most commercial services.
Actually, Empress was asked to come up with a plan, again asked by the City, to replace the first response program. The City has stated that they wanted to reduce the five man engines with four man engines, and will reconize a significant savings in labor costs, as per the city. Empress is a vendor to the City Of Yonkers, which doesn't even pay for the EMS services!
And I think the biggest problem that YFD is afraid of is that their call volume will decrease significantly.
Fight the City, not Empress!

Hopefully NONE of my brothers on YFD will take the bait and attack the many dedicated and professional members of Empress such as this individual has attacked YFD. This is only one persons opinion. I have always felt that YFD and Empress line members work well together and respect each other. Us fighting each other is harmful to us all as well as to those we serve. 628s website post regarding Empress certainly was not an attack on Empress employees and I believe any reasonable, person would read it that way.
It is 628 s job to represent their members interests and this is what they are doing. They have not attacked Empress employees. Those who would try to spin this as an attack on Empress employees, or another union are doing so for their own reasons.
There are a combination of truths, half-truths and much untruth in this persons post. When I am rested I will respond to each point by point. Please my brothers on YFD as well as Empress lets stick to the facts and not get personal or unprofessional. This is what those who wish us harm are hoping for and expecting .

Empress is a union shop (International Association Of EMT's and Paramedics Local 20). I'm suprised that Yonkers FD, having a strong union themselves, would be trashing Empress and threatening the jobs and livelihoods of over 200 people with a company that has served the City Of Yonkers for over 20 years, and is able to provide a large amount of ambulances to the system anytime. While the firefighters recieve very good pay, benefits including a great pension, it's unexplainable why their Union would go after another union where the members of that union don't have nearly the same pay and benefits of YFD members. And while the EMT's and Paramedics are running their butts off covering calls, with down time spent in an ambulance on post, the firefighters have stations they can go back to after they dump patient care on EMS, which then does the meat and potatoes of the work. I didn't think that trashing another union was how they played the game. I guess desperate times call for desperate measures.
I guess if EMS is 80% of your call volume, if the City paid for more ambulances and flycars dedicated to Yonkers in lieu of an FD first response, that would really bring down their numbers, and that would affect staffing and funding. And they must forget how Empress is a vendor of the City of Yonkers, and part of that is delivering what the customer (City Of Yonkers) wants. Must also forget that, even though they claim "For Profit" ambulance, Empress provides EMS to the City Of Yonkers for FREE, and often sacrifices their transport side of the business so they can provide excellent service to the city. Empress also provides, at mostly their own cost, a full service EMS Special Operations unit, with numerous personel extensively trained and very well equipped to support the fire department in Haz-Mat situations. Empress also provides EMD pre-arrival instructions to callers, which has been proven to be lifesaving. Not to mention how clinically progressive they are, such as being the first EMS service around to use RSI. Also, Empress EMS maintains their headquarters in central Yonkers, pays taxes to the City Of Yonkers, and employs numerous city residents. Their dedication to the City is evident.
I find it disgusting that the website implies that due to the EMS provider, that they are "saving lives everyday". Empress has some of the strongest and most experienced EMS personel out there, and you don't see stories about the good they do, because the fire department usually wants to take all the credit, as evidenced on their new website. The EMS employees are the ones saving lives everyday, as EMS is their full time job. Firefighting is YFD's full time job, and the motives of them trashing EMS is sketchy.
I guess true colors are showing.

Just some additions / corrections to the IA.
Date: 12/11/2012
Time: 1323hrs (1:23pm)
Incident Type: Residential Structure Fire
District: Croton Fire District
Location: 96 S Mt. Airy Rd (Between Glengary Rd and Georgia Ln)
Units on Scene:
Croton FD: 2081, 2082, E118, E119, E120, T10, R18
Ossining FD: 2331, 2334, TL42, U51
Montrose VAFD: 2571, 2574, E225
Buchanan FD: 2551, U12
Croton EMS: 55B2
Cortlandt EMS: 88B2
Ossining EMS: 74A1, 36M1
WCDES Units: Battalion 10, C&O Zone 4
Other: Croton PD, NYSP, Croton Water Department, Con Edison
Units on Standby:
Montrose FD: 2273, E121
Yorktown FD: L51
13:23 - Croton Full Department Response for Reported Structure Fire. 2081 responding.
13:24 - 2082 responding.
13:25 - 2081 on location, heavy fire showing from a 1.5 story wood-frame structure, 10-75.
13:27 - Ossining FAST, Buchanan Cascade, Croton, Cortlandt and 36M1 EMS units dispatched along with Battalion 10.
13:29 - Command reports 1.5 story wood-frame dwelling, heavy fire in basement and first floor, all occupants are out of the house.
13:40 - Bat 10 reports heavy fire conditions, 4 L/S/O, requesting E225 from Montrose VA to the scene.
13:46 - TL42 from Ossining to the scene.
13:49 - Bat 10 reports heavy fire conditions, now has 5 L/S/O.
13:50 - Con Ed Electric on scene, killing main. Bat 10 reports unit operating from exterior.
13:55 - Interior operations resuming.
14:17 - 88B2 to Phelps with one for possible smoke inhalation (civilian).
14:34 - Bat 10 reports all visible fire knocked down, probable will hold per Command.
14:45 - Bat 10 reports fire is under control.
15:07 - Ossining FAST & U12 released.
15:35 - TL42 released.
16:01 - E225 released.
16:19 - All Croton units in service, Command terminated.
On arrival, we had heavy fire coming out of the D-side basement windows, the C-side entrance to the basement and fire showing on the first floor. Crews mounted an aggressive interior attack along with a brief exterior attack, using handlines in the basement, first floor and attic as well as the exterior. We pulled the men back briefly to hit it from outside and regroup, then pushed on with coordinated roof ventilation.
The occupants of the home included two elderly parties that were assisted from the home by other family members and a work crew at a neighboring house. I give credit to these guys for getting everyone out of the house, as this fire took off with great intensity and speed.
The report from the occupants and C&O indicate candles in the basement fell and created a fire involving the bed, books, and other combustibles in the room. The gentleman in the basement ran upstairs and got everyone out of the house. (Thank God).
I'd also like to point out the understated usefulness of our Mutual Aid Coordinators - not just ours (Battalion 10). As the IC I was able to worry only about my units on scene, and anything I needed relayed to 60 Control or any apparatus requests, all I had to do was have Battalion 10 handle it. I know a lot of Chiefs and Incident Commanders feel the need to try and do everything, but this way worked SOOOO MUCH BETTER than other times where I tried to juggle both task.
If you have a fire in this county and don't have the luxury of an Aide, take advantage of the MACs (Battalions). That's what they're there for - not to run your call but to help you manage it.
On behalf of the Croton Fire Department, I'd like to thank our Mutual Aid partners from Ossining, Montrose VA and Buchanan for their assistance on scene, as well as the coverage units from Montrose and Yorktown. Also, thanks to Croton, Cortlandt and Ossining EMS for being there.
Lastly, thanks to the men of the CFD that were there today. You guys always make me proud.
Thanks.
Chief John Munson
Croton FD

A rabbi, a con-ed worker, and a priest walk into a bar...............

A rabbi, a con-ed worker, and a priest walk into a bar...............

Every time one of these treads comes up, I'm always reminded how comparatively smooth police mutual aid operates here in Westchester.

Wonder if there is a way, to say the hell with FDNY, and try to go back to health, and hospital? To all my friends on here who work FDNY You guys did one hell of a job.. God bless

Wonder if there is a way, to say the hell with FDNY, and try to go back to health, and hospital? To all my friends on here who work FDNY You guys did one hell of a job.. God bless

Wonder if there is a way, to say the hell with FDNY, and try to go back to health, and hospital? To all my friends on here who work FDNY You guys did one hell of a job.. God bless

It is not Ambulance company "A" and ambulance company "B" its "F & B" ambulance and "Unit" ambulance.

The Westchester County Department of Emergency Services need to have its roof replaced. It has been in disrepair for years, there has been injuries due to slip and fall on wet floors and equipment and gear getting wet from the leaky roof. Tonight the Westchester County Board of Legislators has the replacement of the roof on their agenda. A bond Act was presented to the Board thirteen months ago to fund the replacement and the Board refused to act. It is now said that the BOL want to obtain the funds from the DES operating budget. Operating funds are for training and staff, not capital projects. I'm sure after hurricane Sandy the DES operating budget is stretched to its max. With Bond interest rates at its lowest, it would be appropriate to bond the replacement and its my belief the only way to fund it. I would like to ask my colleagues to contact the Board of Legislators TODAY by email and urge them to BOND this badly need project. This is what I wrote and emailed to them.