spin_the_wheel

Good luck to the 60 Control dispatchers. As evidenced by some of the above posts this is not something that is unanimous. If this is something that the Board of Fire Commissioners have decided on their own and did not involve the membership to a certain degree it's going to be a bumpy road indeed.
From experience there will be a portion of people not in favor of the move, probably the majority that will be looking for any reason to slam 60 and go back to self dispatch. "The procedures were not followed correctly, half the departments pagers did not go off, the transmissions are very low, we never get answered, etc...."
Maybe not. But I'm sure 60 control dispatchers have experienced this before. The thing that sucks is that the dispatcher is caught in the middle of this BS.

Port Chester Seagrave tiller. This rig must have seen a lot of fire duty in its time. It just went out of service a few years back correct? Gotta love the open tiller cab and to think the tillerman was still tooling around the village in an open tiller cab in the 2000's Cool. Photo by Mike Martinelli

Next time Pleasantville "patrols" and some more Macks.

You have a point if there is a history from Tarrytown, Central Nyack and Nyack with not getting out for "bridge incidents" both above and below.
If not then there is no argument in my view. Why should'nt these first responders have the best equipment available at their disposal?

I don't know what makes you think that the cops of Orange County are better than those anywhere else but if they were facing a potential sniper, they wouldn't be able to go in and extract the down officer either.
It's tragic and I'm sure they will be spending a lot of time trying to figure out how that time could have been reduced. Snipers change the battlefield dramatically. Ask anyone who ever served in the military!

Mack Factory photo Port Chester Hook and Ladder.

Well said.

Honestly from what it sounds like, you have no idea what you are talking about when it comes to this whole project and the issues we are soon to face out there. And, no one is trying to buy anybody out. That equipment would be used fairly often and the training wouldn't go to waste. We are talking about being able to save lives and do a job the right way. If you can't understand that then you need to get your facts straight and start from the beginning. I don't know what you have against this whole thing but other departments aren't going to be left out. Nyack should definitely look into getting stuff and same with the departments that send fireboats to TZ calls. There is nothing wrong with applying for a grant to get new apparatus and training. I don't see you bagging on the FDNY for all the stuff they got for Sandy. Is that because they are the FDNY and they are more deserving? Look, we all do the same job and want to do it in a safe and excellent manner. Stop hating and just be glad that if you ever find yourself in a tight spot, that hopefully one of these apparatus will be able to come and help you out.

BINGO.

Actually the trend on LI seems to be to do away with the traditional dedicated rescue truck, unless its for specialized equipment hazmat, TRT, dive team truck. Many departments are replacing them with a Rescue Engine. Plenty of room to store extrication equipment and other "every day stuff".
Lots of things have changed on LI including much tighter accountability on how money is spent.
Also note many of the required classes commissioners need to take now are required by law. What's wrong with taking a district vehicle to one of the seminars and stopping at a mall on the way?

Actually the trend on LI seems to be to do away with the traditional dedicated rescue truck, unless its for specialized equipment hazmat, TRT, dive team truck. Many departments are replacing them with a Rescue Engine. Plenty of room to store extrication equipment and other "every day stuff".
Lots of things have changed on LI including much tighter accountability on how money is spent.
Also note many of the required classes commissioners need to take now are required by law. What's wrong with taking a district vehicle to one of the seminars and stopping at a mall on the way?

There is no public perception IMO one way or another. the public does not really care. Nor do the public officials.
We are the only ones who care. Usually some bitter member is the person who makes it a problem.
Yeh, I know... 9 years as a chief officer and I never had a problem taking my town issued car to work ( grant it was in the next town and I did respond to when I could. Ya know who made it a problem, a member that was disgruntled. He went out of his way to document via photos the 3 chiefs cars at work, at shopping etc. Needless today, one car sits in the chiefs driveway while he is at work the other two sit in the FD parking lot 18 hours a day and only used when a member wants to go to the pizza joint.
As one of my mentors and favorite Chiefs once said..." WE have met the enemy and WE are them".

So if a department only has one command vehicle the chief should drive it 20 miles each way to work when they won't respond? I disagree. Leave it for who ever will be command. Plenty of places are forced to share the vehicle because that's what's economically feasable. Too much sense of entitlement for some.

I would agree he was on his way to the Districts convention in Ellenville and that is a perfectly good use of the vehicle in this case as it is directly on the way up. In the private sector the boss in nearly every corporation is given not only take home privileges, but have drivers. And to say I pay taxes and a corporation is private is not true, I own many corporations through shares of the company and very concerned about how the corporation spends it (my) dollars. My previous employer CEO earned 11 million a year, had a driver and got a 19 million dollar pension...so whats fair??? Some FD's (not mine) allow the use of the car as a reward for doing the job for NO PAY. I can see that as a nearby FD pays several career chiefs over $200k salary, very good benefits, best of pensions, expenses, etc. and they all have a take home vehicle. His counterpart in the very next FD gets no pay, very little or no expenses. So if you look at it can you justify allowing the chief who puts in a LOT of time (both career and volunteer) some perks just like corporations do?? While I fully understand taxes and everything else (perceptions, jealousy, bad hair day, etc), most people outside of the FD pay little or no attention to the chiefs vehicle as they assume he is the CEO of a small/medium//large "corporation" and that is a perk of the job. (My GOD he is the chief!)

It is ALWAYS a person with an ax to grind that creates problems.
Opinions are like a$$holes, everyone has them but do we really need to hear from them?

Bedford Hills 69 FWD/Young The heyday of the "snorkel" craze. photo by Glenn Vincent

Most departments have multiple alarm preplanned procedures dispatchers will follow. If the incident is that big and goes above what's written, a Chief or IC can just say "cover my station with 1 and 1 from wherever" and then its the dispatch center who can move around what's needed.
The dispatch center should be next in line to assign units. When incidents get that big even the best Chief or IC running the show has no idea what's going on elsewhere in the county, who's available and who's not. The dispatcher will know what's out of service, what dept. is at a funeral, what dept. has had a problem all morning covering their own alarms, etc...

Another great looking Maxim tiller. White Plains Ladder 1. I believe this pic was taken at a parade in Nassau County. I guess back in the day rigs from Westchester and Nassau would attend each other parades more then they do today. Love the "bubble" window in the tiller cab.

Harrison Seagrave.

Interesting that is a throw back. Its hard enough to get the public to understand the audibles for an emergency in this day and age, try explainig why the all clear horn has to be sounded.
My dept. had one diaphone and 15 sirens around the district in the 'day" Most were 2 1/2 and 1 horse power federals. There is only one pole mounted street siren left....it does not work but its still on the pole. They stopped using audibles about 1983. The Gamewell boxes were pulled in 1986. AAhhh the days of counting the horn codes on a box call and riding my bicycle to the box location.

Harrison Seagrave.

Lake Mohegan Young Crusader. My Dept had a Snorkel with this cab. Ahead of its time for the 60's in window design and visibility.

North Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow another classic Mack C Glen Vincent photo

Interesting that is a throw back. Its hard enough to get the public to understand the audibles for an emergency in this day and age, try explainig why the all clear horn has to be sounded.
My dept. had one diaphone and 15 sirens around the district in the 'day" Most were 2 1/2 and 1 horse power federals. There is only one pole mounted street siren left....it does not work but its still on the pole. They stopped using audibles about 1983. The Gamewell boxes were pulled in 1986. AAhhh the days of counting the horn codes on a box call and riding my bicycle to the box location.

The repair crew must love doing work to this Diaphone!

Harrison Seagrave.