spin_the_wheel

Back in the day dedicated rescue rigs were needed to carry extrication equipment and other "rescue" tools.  How many remember the first generation Hurst tools and cutters?  A lot of space was needed for all this "stuff."  Each community needed such a rig to carry the equipment. 
 
Nowadays a properly spec'd out Ladder or Engine can carry all this equipment plus more.  Dedicated rescue rigs are really not needed in many Nassau Communities agreed. 
 
Once again the root of the problem comes back to history/tradition and leadership afraid of making a change.  Most of the time what you have is a dedicated rescue or patrol company (Westchester/rockland term) with a group of members with a history.  Sometimes a very old history.  That's the rig they use, a rescue truck.  As leadership in a particular department do you just take the rig away, sell it and disband the company?  Tell the membership they have to join other companies?  Nobody wants to be "that guy" to do such a thing.  Not saying its wrong...just putting the facts out there.
 
What you end up with is another form of "consolidation" that the fire service both volunteer AND career are afraid to entertain most of the time.
 
 
 
 

First off I loved riding the back step and would do it again anytime. That said, it's a T-shirt,  a simple T-shirt...it means absolutely nothing unless you're a whacker.  People are free to do as they please no matter how ridiculous they'll look or what it may seem to others. Bottom line... if you don't like it...don't buy it. 

Back in the day dedicated rescue rigs were needed to carry extrication equipment and other "rescue" tools.  How many remember the first generation Hurst tools and cutters?  A lot of space was needed for all this "stuff."  Each community needed such a rig to carry the equipment. 
 
Nowadays a properly spec'd out Ladder or Engine can carry all this equipment plus more.  Dedicated rescue rigs are really not needed in many Nassau Communities agreed. 
 
Once again the root of the problem comes back to history/tradition and leadership afraid of making a change.  Most of the time what you have is a dedicated rescue or patrol company (Westchester/rockland term) with a group of members with a history.  Sometimes a very old history.  That's the rig they use, a rescue truck.  As leadership in a particular department do you just take the rig away, sell it and disband the company?  Tell the membership they have to join other companies?  Nobody wants to be "that guy" to do such a thing.  Not saying its wrong...just putting the facts out there.
 
What you end up with is another form of "consolidation" that the fire service both volunteer AND career are afraid to entertain most of the time.
 
 
 
 

Today saw a ferrara 100 ft. Tower Ladder from Elmont L.I. demoing in Harrison N.Y.

Rye Classic Seagrave

Rye Classic Seagrave

Harrison Seagrave.

Besides Maxim I think Mack made some of the best looking fire apparatus. Some people think the American LaFrance 700 series "bathtub" look is the "definitive" American fire engine, I think the Mack B model is. It had its lines in the right places for sure and was the best looking fire engine model ever, in my opinion. Here is Peekskill Centennial Hose Co # 4 semi open cab. Again this was taken I believe at a parade in Nassau county. No photo credit for this and the White Plains rigs. M.Cap collection.

Gotta love the Nyack antique engine that still works though!

ENGINE 626
Wallington, NJ Fire Department Holiday Parade
November 29, 2014
Photo Credit: Chris Torello
http://cptfiregroundphotos.smugmug.com/


ENGINE 626 will also be in the Washingtonville, NY (Orange County)
Holiday Parade this coming Saturday December 6, 2014

It's been a while since I posted anything about the MACK CF
Below are some recent photos and events.
Tri-Counties Fire Muster
Jamesburg, New Jersey
June 28, 2015
*BEST APPEARING MACK*



Newark FD Muster
Newark, New Jersey
June 7, 2015
*1ST PLACE PRIVATELY OWNED*


Montorse FD Parade
Montrose, New York
June 6, 2015
*ESCORT DIVISION*

If you had to cringe as an officer when the rigs go out the door then I really feel sorry for you. That is a bad, bad situation.

How many calls a year do both departments do?
Also curious....does 60 Control have a dedicated call taker position?
How is the room broken up? North South? Are the departments split about even between dispatchers?
I would imagine New Rochelle has its own dispatcher?

Sending guys to school and sending them to an emergency response is two different things. If the mutual aid response is no lights and sirens with the bus or van or whatever that's ok.
A caged cargo area or planned out design to secure tools fine. My first post in this thread stated that a properly planned rig for transport is great. How about we take the hurst tools off the rescue rigs put them on the engines or ladders and turn all the rescue rigs into "Transports" don't even have to buy new rigs.
Going home in your personal vehicle and coming upon an emergency well....not much you can do I agree.
BUT coming home in a marked fire vehicle from an emergency where the 6 guys all get off with gear and some tools and cant do anything because they left the engine or ladder back home is another thing. Just looks bad. We will agree to disagree.
I agree the big problem is the rigs left behind unmanned. I never argued that. My first post in this thread stated that. That is one of the things consolidation would help in. Each department would now be responsible for 1 or 2 rigs (and a bus for transport) instead of a fleet of 6 rigs where 4 sit during working fires.

In my opinion, if a department had an application where this would be very practical, then you would just have to do it right. If you removed all the seats in the bus and lined the sides with Jump Seats and mounted tools in the rear so they would not dislodge in a wreck, then why the hell not.
When you convert a soda delivery truck into a Haz-Mat rig, you modify it to best suit its new application; When you turn a bread truck into a dive truck, you turn the inside into a dive unit...I would assume that the same logic would apply when converting a passenger bus into a unit dedicated to carrying personnel to a structure fire. If this were a good idea for a department, I doubt anyone is advocating that it be done haphazardly. That's just my thought...

I dont think comsolidation would matter in this case. The number of appratus needed, especially with regard to tankers would be the same. Manpower as well.
BIG difference would probably be the amount of apparatus just sitting in the firehouses not manned.
Instead of 11 deparments responding to the scene it would be 1. Same "stuff" though. In most consolidation plans I hear people talk about for the North part of the county the stations would remain, but the departments would be responsble for 1 or 2 rigs instead of a "fleet."
In this case each department for the most part respomded with 1 or 2 rigs. The same scenario if it were 1 consolidated Northern agency.

I dont think comsolidation would matter in this case. The number of appratus needed, especially with regard to tankers would be the same. Manpower as well.
BIG difference would probably be the amount of apparatus just sitting in the firehouses not manned.
Instead of 11 deparments responding to the scene it would be 1. Same "stuff" though. In most consolidation plans I hear people talk about for the North part of the county the stations would remain, but the departments would be responsble for 1 or 2 rigs instead of a "fleet."
In this case each department for the most part respomded with 1 or 2 rigs. The same scenario if it were 1 consolidated Northern agency.

Spot on.

Spot on.

Spot on.

Spot on.

Spot on.

Spot on.

You know the consolidation of volunteer departments without the addition of any paid personnel could be a significant improvement over the completely arcane system we have now. Everyone immediately assumes that consolidation implies paid but it doesn't! How about merging 4-5 districts that serve the same town? Or the countless villages that rely heavily on each other and are smaller than a postage stamp.
Imagine a River Towns or Sound Shore or North County Fire District with several former departments under one hierarchy. Economies of scale in purchasing, reduction of apparatus numbers (and the ability to have "spares", something virtually non-existent outside the big cities), higher personnel counts, standard training, administration and operations, to name a few.
A member department with strengths in one area can help one weak in that area and so on. Officers can be vetted from a larger pool of candidates improving the quality, competition, and ultimately performance. Chiefs will oversee a bigger department giving them more experience. Budgets can be consolidated perhaps reducing the overall cost to the taxpayer.
There's a lot to be said for consolidating and it doesn't mean adding ONE paid guy.

Looks like a good job by the IC in what (hopefully) will be a once in a lifetime incident.
I hope Critical incident stress debriefing was offered to the first responders and I would hope Metro North would offer something to the passengers as well. By what I have read some very horrific images were witnessed by first responders and civilians.
Chiefs and commissioners...when you swore in the 18, 19 year old gung ho members they put their trust in you. Physically and mentally. So did their parents who probably signed "consent" forms. You don't want them resigning over this, leaving your organization and being forever "broken" over what they witnessed.
Good job guys.