25truck26

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  2. Posted

    Hello everyone it has been years since I used this log in name and that's because I resigned from the city of Rye Fire department 5 years ago.  

    I chose to write a response to the above letter.  The letter below was submitted to myrye.com  as well this morning.  And will be to any other media outlets in which Captain Millman sent his letter. 

    The following is my statement and does not represent any former or current members of RFD. I am also not affiliated with any fire department at this time. 

     

     

    From: Richard P Suarino 

               Ex Captain Poningoe Hook & Ladder Company

    To: Letters to the editor,

    I am writing in response to a recent letter that was submitted by Fire Police Patrol Captain Lester Millman in regards to the recent changes that have taken place at the Rye Fire Department.  I would like to start by stating that I was a combined 14 yearACTIVE member of the City of Rye Fire Department. I spent two years as part of explorer post 700 as a junior firefighter.  Then 12 years as a member of the Poningoe Hook & Ladder Company, where I served as first & second Lieutenant and then as Captain before resigning from the department in 2012.  I have a combined 17 years in the Emergency Services.  

    The picture that Captain Millman has painted for the Rye citizens and would have one believe is that this change is a big surprise to the members of the department.  It's not.   Volunteer membership has been on the decline since probably the 1980’s,and since then the bleeding hasn't stopped, it’s only gottenworse. In the late 90’s, early 2000’s, the department voted in several new members and it helped a little to put a patch on the crack in the dam.  In the 2000’s as an active volunteer firefighter, a lieutenant and then captain, there were several ideas that myself and other active volunteers proposed to make some much needed changes to the department structure to help with rapidly declining membership.  Recommendations were brought to the attention of the Board Of Wardens, who at that time, controlled all decision making within the fire department.  The problem was that the Board was consistently controlled by veteran members of the department who were not as active and ignored any and all input by young active members, to the point where some members were turned off and stopped showing up. Others resigned and some went to other departments. Rye’s changing demographics has had the biggest effect on membership. Gone are the blue collar families of Rye.  Many of the old long time Rye names that were connected to the fire department making it generational are no longer in Rye, forced to move because Rye is unaffordable to those that would volunteer.  For every one member gained three are lost.  A member joining as a college kid at 19 has to resign by 23-24 because they are forced to move out of Rye. And it's not just Rye membership that is down, nation wide volunteer firefighters are declining.  Being in emergency situations, dealing with and seeing the things a firefighter may see is not for everyone. It's a calling, and the hours of training involved will take most free nights away, not to mention the required alarm response.  

    Turnout at alarms; even 10 years ago at the most recent height of active membership-. We had 25 interior qualified firefighters and still sometimes we only had 4 volunteers at an alarm.  All working fires required mutual aid from our friends in Harrison and Mamaroneck.  

     

    Leadership was and is non-existent under the Volunteer Chiefs of the department and when a chief did try to implement positive change he was quickly pushed out by older voting block.  At Fire scenes, basic accountability of members was lax.  Meaning,God forbid an explosion or collapse happened at a scene, the chiefs had no idea who had actually showed up at the scene.  Some chiefs had nothing more than basic firefighting training. Most were being relied on because of their 30+ years in the department, yet they had taken no classes to sharpen their skills or update their knowledge.  Any good leader in emergency service will tell you, you will never know everything and you are always learning something new until the day you retire.  This business is always changing and evolving.  

    The Rye Professional firefighters often find that they are the only ones on scene. Sometimes I was the only volunteer on scene with them.  During the winter of 2002 I was the only volunteer on scene for an afternoon house fire. Three career firefighters and I, with one of those professionals manning twopump panels and one ladder.  

    Commissioner Corcoran didn't just come in and decide to shake things up.  He's a very educated man with years of experience and after speaking with numerous people connected to the fire department he saw there was a need for change.  He has a job to lead the men and women of the Police and Fire Departments and the fire department problems are 20+ years in the making,ignored by past Board Of Wardens members and past chiefs of the department who kicked the can down the road.  The public might be surprised that over 100 years of volunteer service are coming to an end but many of the current and past members are not.  

    Regards

    Richard P Suarino

    Past member and Captain Poningoe Hook & Ladder Company

     

    x242Steve, ndpemt519, x635 and 12 others like this

  4. Posted

    that fire building is next to one of the old 7 Santini Brothers Moving and Storage warehouse. Can still see part of the old painted signage on side of the builing. grandfather worked for that company for over 50 years before they folded in early 90's. Another note some of my mothers side of the family lived right there on Jackson Ave back in the day up until the 70's after arriving from Italy. before they were tore down many many years ago. mostly new construction now on that section of block. my foot post until last year was Adams St Marys Project 1 block over. Great Shots

  9. Posted

    Grumpy i love how you listed everything we should have in the RMP trunk. I am still searching the trunk for half of the items on the list. But honestly Grumpy hit the nail on the head in regards to the NYPD. All of the RMPs suck. my partner and I can barely ever fit our bags in the trunk. 4 bags + AED plus spare tire...good luck Impalas suck 2 years old and 3 of ours have no AC. Or doors don't lock- gangs love that. Crown Vic is/was my favorite. I hear the old Chevy Caprice was the best. plenty of room and was a tank!

    210, efdcapt115 and 48 like this

  17. Posted

    "the company is bringing in 20,000 non-union workers from other states to fill in for the striking workers." I am glad the nonunion workers are getting work. Unemployment is over 9% they should be happy they have a job.

    How about since the Union workers are now out of work thats 45,000 workers pretty much in a way unemployed. Maybe my math is a little fuzzy but more people are now unemployed even with the non union workers now working. Correct me if I am wrong someone but his statement doesn't make much sense.

  18. Posted

    I am not sure if I posted this in the right area. Please move to the proper area if I am wrong.

    I found this video on another forum and thought it was interesting enough to share. Whoever filmed this didn't do a bad job just WATCH ghetto LANGUAGE

    The video is of the Brooklyn 4th Alarm on Washington Ave x St John Place that was on June 4, 2011.

    Incident alert by PFDRes47cue: Brooklyn 4th Alarm 06-04-11. I was not at the fire and simply just saw this video and thought it was a good video to show and to see how quickly this fire spread to a 4th alarm. In under 5 min this went from what looks like a small fire to the building fully involved. From my understanding this was a vacant building.

    PFDRes47cue likes this

  21. Posted

    Everyone is right in regards to PD. My PCT was heavy with impact cops and now that is starting to thin as guys are being picked up for crime and conditions teams (IDK how I feel about that). Impact works but has many problems and 1 thing is that rookie cops are not learning. Sectors turn out 3 or 4 cars covering multiple sectors with many jobs holding. The paper is not lying on response times. Assaults or calls for shots fired is coming in but you can't leave your current job at an assault or domestic so you may not get there until 15-20 min later. Sometimes jobs are an hour old. There are many rumors in the city about units or Bureaus being disbanded. Counterterrorism is needed and so are cops on the street. Whats the answer?

    jBE I don't take any offense to what you said about PD