MJP399

All of us here have attended a re-pass (yes that is what it is called) after a funeral. A lot of the time a place is rented with food and refreshments served. When you are billed it is itemized aka everything is listed that was purchased. So obviously when the city got the bill they said WHOA WAIT A MINUTE! So do you think that the city is wrong for not paying for the alcohol on the bill? I don't, what city pays for alcohol for events?. But then again if the city said hey we are going to foot the bill, they should have said that no alcohol should be served or paid for by the city.
On the other hand yes the contract was violated but the whole thing should have been planned better. The only people that got BUFFALOED are those involved in this "fight" that didn't cross their T's and dot their I's.

Since I'm one of those guys who has taken multiple companies out of our jurisdiction for training, I can tell you this - every time I do it I can't help but wonder if it's a bad idea. But, every time we've done it, we have two Engines and a Ladder covering us, whether it's all Mutual Aid or a combination of our own units.
As a multi-company department, it is important for us to work together often and keep up our skills. We can only do so many drills in our own area, but we don't have much to use. The Fire Training Center is a great facility with so many options for people to fine-tune their skills. It is of the utmost importance to us, as a department, to drill on a regular basis, especially because our call volume isn't that high. We used to try "Department Drills" using only one or two rigs, and those from the other companies wouldn't come because they remained in town to staff their apparatus for any calls we might have. This is why we now have multi-company drills and department drills involving all companies, and depend on Mutual Aid help to cover the home turf while we improve ourselves.
It's a pain in the a**, I can't lie, because most of us here (volunteer and paid) don't have the proper facilities to do live fire training, so traveling out of town isn't an option, it's the only way we can do it.
We all want to be better firefighters, fire companies and fire departments, so if that means occassionally pulling companies out of service / out of town to train, that's what we have to do. Pulling resources out of town for a parade or other parties and not keeping people behind to mind the shop, that's just begging to get caught with your pants down. I have nothing against parades, I LOVE THEM, but what I hate is how to some people it's nothing more then a chance to put on their uniforms, get hammered and embarass those of us that actually still give a s***.
I've said it before on here, uniforms & booze don't mix. It's these public displays of stupidity that make all of us have to defend ourselves to everyone as not being a bunch of drunken firemen!
Be proud, but be smart. Remember our priorities in the fire service - response, training, prevention and education.

As Grumpy stated in his post # 37 Eric is a Mutual aid coordinator (that is our proper title) the designation of Battalion was created years back, prior to that the deputy coordinators were county car #. THe mutual aid coordinators are battalion 10 to 19 and we all are assigned specific areas. The position of mutual aid coordinator is basically that of a resource officer, to get the IC what they need. This post is titled Mohegan fire 2/8/10, however I will not take a shot at them or any other department anywhere career,vollie or combination. It has been said in this thread and several others about consolidation, when the hell is everyone going to wake up and see that numbers are dwindling both career and volunteer (not all departments, but many). Why isn't consolidation discussed seriously? A one word answer - EGO. Some people in authority need to pull the heads out of their a** and look at what they are REALLY providing everywhere. This is something that should be looked at from the inside before (like a lot of the regualtions & standards we have now) are forced upon us by outside or government agencies. This is all basically a turf war kind of thing from my point of view, personally I don't care what the name of the department is on the side of the truck that pulls up IFO my home as long as they know what they are doing when they get off their truck. ANother area where consolidation might help, look at all the different organiztions in Westchester (volunteer side) and we wonder why the volunteer service isn't heard by our elected officals. How about 1 organization with different branches or divisions, maybe we would get taken seriously. All this would be great, but let's face it fantasy island does not exist!

Great post! Thanks for the info. To the Mohegan career guys- hang in there! For clarification, noone is criticizing the efforts or tactics of anyone, career or volunteer who operated at this or mother recent fires (we're not complimenting them either, we just don't have enough info to speak on that issue one way or another and that is not the real issue anyway). The real issue is the chronically severe lack of an adequate number of qualified firefighters who are able to respond in a timely manner.
Where is the media on this?? I know many local reporters read this site. Where is the Mohegan Union? Again, I'm not being critical of the Mohegan Union- I just haven't heard anything publicly from you guys. Get the word out to the public and repeat is much as possible. Best case someone in charge will show true leadership and fix things before a real tragedy occurs. Worst case those in charge will be forced to fix things after a real tragedy occurs. However, if you don't go on the record publicly and repeatedly about the problems now, when a real tragedy occurs, the same old "we did the best we could" argument will be made, and nothing will change.

If the information provided in the IA is accurate, or even close to accurate, that situation is a darn shame and is just one more in a long line of fires and emergencies in Westchester County recently which beg the cause of regionalization and consolidation.

Typical liberal response. I'm a bit surprised that you didn't include the fact that it was Bush's fault.

Excellent job Croton Falls, seems like a quick knockdown, and use of the tankers, could you elaborate, on the use of the tankers, since many Northern Communities rely on them. Excellent job.

Excellent job Croton Falls, seems like a quick knockdown, and use of the tankers, could you elaborate, on the use of the tankers, since many Northern Communities rely on them. Excellent job.

Excellent job Croton Falls, seems like a quick knockdown, and use of the tankers, could you elaborate, on the use of the tankers, since many Northern Communities rely on them. Excellent job.

Excellent job Croton Falls, seems like a quick knockdown, and use of the tankers, could you elaborate, on the use of the tankers, since many Northern Communities rely on them. Excellent job.

Chris, you make some excellent points here. I have nothing to do with water ops in Yonkers but from where I sit we are as guilty as anyone...everyone has to have their own boat and be in charge...if all of the police-fire agencies on both sides of the river got together and combined resources it seems to me that we could provide 24/7, 365 coverage with good response times, and trained personnel for less $ than everyone is spending now, and we wouldn't even have to pull over every poor slob with a jet ski to justify our existence...I was working the day the cessna went down off the Yonkers shore in November or whenever that was and it really sucked watching those two guys doing the backstroke in the middle of the river through binoculars until NYPD and the Coast Guard showed up and saved the day.
In my mind, this is definiely an area ripe for consolidation and regionalization, including Police and Fire, and perhaps even career and volunteer, as long as all the parties could agree to live up to the same training, medical, and physical fitness standards.

Never considered AFFF, always seen the chains used and/or chimney flares.
We treat it is a structure fire, which means a full assignment is dispatched.
Our Truck has the chains, and we keep metal cans to clear out a fireplace on both the Truck & Rescue.
Everyone gets off the rig for any inside smoke, chimney fire, CO call with PPE and SCBA. The Officer (or someone else at their discretion) brings the TIC and Gas Meter in from the Engine Companies.
Active chimney fire, dry line to the roof. Any smoke in the house or sign of extension, a line to the front door. Why not, right?