FD828

Cogs,
I just hope that more will think along the same lines as you as apposed to fighting this every step of the way. You are correct, the people have spoken, now lets get it done.

Date:10-17-2012
Time: 1855
Location: 10 Forest Lawn Ave.
Frequency: 800 Trunk
Units Operating: E1, E2, E3, E4(RIT), T1, R1, U4, U7, SEMS
Weather Conditions:Clear and cool
Description Of Incident:Fire on first floor roof
Reporters:SFRD372
Reported as smoke coming from the roof of a structure. Units on scene found a fire on the roof of a first floor porch with extension to second floor bedroom and living room. Three (3) handline's stretched and put into operation. Truck crew opening roof and walls. Quick knock-down. No injuries reported.

In NYS we have 3 different systems of public fire representation (there are a few hybreds, but thats not the norm): Fire Protection Districts
Fire Districts
Municipal Fire Depts
All can be made up of 100% volunteer, combination or 100% career.
Fire Protection districts are often private not for profit corp. that are contracted and generally there is almost no public input (take the contract or leave it is about all). They also often do not give the public much info on how they are run.
Fire Distrcits have a publicly ellected board of commissioners and they are only responsible for the FD
Municipal Depts are overseen by local mayor/manager and city/village council.
Cogs your debate appears to be that you want something closer to our fire district model and the proposal is more of the municipal model.
From what I have seen in NY there is no real difference in the level of public input between the two and little difference in the performance between the two. There are good ones and bad ones. The public rarely participates with the districts (thus most commissioners end up being insiders or anti tax members) and the public rarely comments on the municipal dept ops (to the mayor/manager/council).
If this proposal goes thru, the public will still be represented by the Mayor and the financial and other boards. Is this so bad? If it does not go thru, and as you put it the financial board has already said no to the money for a 2nd paid "vol" dept., then your left with the same situation you have now (which no one appears to be happy with) until the financial board changes its mind or the next charter revision.
Based on this, is it really the public who would benefit from having a bigger say (if they really care to get a bigger say) or is this really about protecting the Stamford VFD view of the world?
Most importantly, how can the public decide what is in there best interest when there are so many facts being misheld.

Letter: Vote No To Stamford Fire Service Changes
So much for moving forward huh Cogs? The thing that you seemingly didn't mention is that the only thing that will come of a "no" vote on item #2 is that the mayor will go full steam ahead with the new paid "volunteer" fire dept. Spending countless tax payers dollars hiring 50+ new firefighters. Stamford will not become MD. The only thing that is going to happen is the same old mayor will try to push his ridiculous plan. If you think otherwise you are crazy. Maybe I we will all see a resolution to this mess before we are too old to benefit from it, I'm not holding my breath.
From the Stamford Daily Voice
http://stamford.dailyvoice.com/opinion/letter-vote-no-stamford-fire-service-changes

Turnout gear is usually not acceptable to use once it reaches the 10 year mark. Be careful of liability issues heaven forbid someone wearing it gets injured.

I imagine a good person to start dealing with any issues that come up would be the newly appointed assistant chief in charge of volunteer services in conjunction with the career chiefs. You keep forgetting that the paid staff don't have a say in where they work or who they work with. Some of the career staff may not like where they are assigned or who they are assigned with, but unless they want to find another line of work, they will have to make the best of it. If the volunteers don't like it, well either they can grin and bear it, give it the old college try, or go some place else. And not for nothing, for the most part, the ff's on both sides that are responding on calls (except for a few isolated incidents) are working just fine together. Perhaps instead of being so afraid of the negative "what if's" and spreading fear about the way this is being forced on you, we can all look at all the positive "what if's"? Like what if this really works and lives and property are saved? What if we become one big happy progressive combo dept? Kinda hard to look at all the positive when you drown us with the possible negatives all the time. Lets be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

I imagine a good person to start dealing with any issues that come up would be the newly appointed assistant chief in charge of volunteer services in conjunction with the career chiefs. You keep forgetting that the paid staff don't have a say in where they work or who they work with. Some of the career staff may not like where they are assigned or who they are assigned with, but unless they want to find another line of work, they will have to make the best of it. If the volunteers don't like it, well either they can grin and bear it, give it the old college try, or go some place else. And not for nothing, for the most part, the ff's on both sides that are responding on calls (except for a few isolated incidents) are working just fine together. Perhaps instead of being so afraid of the negative "what if's" and spreading fear about the way this is being forced on you, we can all look at all the positive "what if's"? Like what if this really works and lives and property are saved? What if we become one big happy progressive combo dept? Kinda hard to look at all the positive when you drown us with the possible negatives all the time. Lets be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

I imagine a good person to start dealing with any issues that come up would be the newly appointed assistant chief in charge of volunteer services in conjunction with the career chiefs. You keep forgetting that the paid staff don't have a say in where they work or who they work with. Some of the career staff may not like where they are assigned or who they are assigned with, but unless they want to find another line of work, they will have to make the best of it. If the volunteers don't like it, well either they can grin and bear it, give it the old college try, or go some place else. And not for nothing, for the most part, the ff's on both sides that are responding on calls (except for a few isolated incidents) are working just fine together. Perhaps instead of being so afraid of the negative "what if's" and spreading fear about the way this is being forced on you, we can all look at all the positive "what if's"? Like what if this really works and lives and property are saved? What if we become one big happy progressive combo dept? Kinda hard to look at all the positive when you drown us with the possible negatives all the time. Lets be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

I imagine a good person to start dealing with any issues that come up would be the newly appointed assistant chief in charge of volunteer services in conjunction with the career chiefs. You keep forgetting that the paid staff don't have a say in where they work or who they work with. Some of the career staff may not like where they are assigned or who they are assigned with, but unless they want to find another line of work, they will have to make the best of it. If the volunteers don't like it, well either they can grin and bear it, give it the old college try, or go some place else. And not for nothing, for the most part, the ff's on both sides that are responding on calls (except for a few isolated incidents) are working just fine together. Perhaps instead of being so afraid of the negative "what if's" and spreading fear about the way this is being forced on you, we can all look at all the positive "what if's"? Like what if this really works and lives and property are saved? What if we become one big happy progressive combo dept? Kinda hard to look at all the positive when you drown us with the possible negatives all the time. Lets be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Less than what the 51 new FFs proposed in the SVFD plan would cost 5+ years from now.

I invision a fully paid crew in every fire station 24/7, I also invision that if volunteers are trained (and that training documentation is provided) they can ride on the paid machines, I also invision that if deptartment "X" has a fully staffed crew for a ladder/engine/rescue(and that training documentation is provided) from the hours of ___ to ____ that they call dispatch and be put in service and added to the CAD which will recommend the closest appropriate machine for the call being dispatched. I invision that the career officers will be in charge of their crews and volunteer officers will be in charge of their crews. The SFRD deputy will respond to all calls and be there in case the VFD chief is not, or to provide an extra set of eyes/safety. There will be standards of training across the board for all ranks and positions. But alas, the SFRD ff's have absolutely no say in how any of this will work. The department says you will work here and that's where you work. And as long as the city doesn't violate the union's contact, I believe they have no say in how the forces will be deployed. Unlike the volunteers, career staff have no vote on the issues.
I also invision a lot of feet stamping and law suites........

“While I could see how you may disagree I can say with all candor that we at BFD are working diligently to ensure as smooth a transition as possible should the proposed Charter changes pass, while at the same time working to develop viable cooperative alternatives should it not. As you might expect we will do all we can to bring about the changes we feel are in our residents and our best interests, but as you say the political process will decide and ultimately that will be that.”
Pete:
Is this the smooth transition that you mentioned? Or is it the viable cooperative alternative?
It looks like, and I could be wrong, that since BFD is represented here, that they have no intention of going along with any political solution.
The charter commission met, and all parties had multiple opportunities to give their input for development of at least the framework for where Stamford’s fire service should be going. As proposed, I see no removal of any of the fire districts, but a responsibility given to 1 chief for all of the city. It appears that that independent panel of city residents didn’t entirely agree with any particular side.
As for R&R, the proposal gives the volunteer sector an assistant chief, chosen from their ranks to handle and represent their issues. Sure, there is a Chief above him, is he accountable for every issue? On paper yes, but then so is his boss, the director of Public Safety, and his boss, the Mayor. As it stands now, it appears to me, that the volunteer sector wants NO other bosses.
I believe, that the sense of frustration, as exhibited here over nearly one hundred pages, is also felt on the public side, and pressuring/threatening/coercing/warning – pick your verbiage; of a potential lawsuit is not helping the volunteer position.
http://www.boardofre..._ltr_120709.pdf
115 days to go.

As the husband of a teacher, if people truly want to save on taxes, then go after neither the Board of Education nor the fire or police service: go after politicians.

Under Malloy, couldn't all the volunteer departments have made the same agreement as Glenbrook did? Make sure I get this right... They would still have the volunteer department (building, apparatus and equipment), still have their funding, still be able to respond on all calls, still train, still be in command of all calls in their district (if the chief responds of course), still recruit and retain members AND have a fully staffed crew to respond immediately for ALL emergencies in those districts that they are sworn to protect?????? After all that I can see how Malloy was trying to abolish the volunteers!

Nice story and puts something postive on the losses felt by Worcester fire.
http://boston.cbsloc...r-fire-academy/

Even though Romney is anti union, anti labor, anti firefighters, anti cops, anti teachers you still want him??? Not a chance in hell. He is trashing "Obama care" and it is quite similar to his own healthcare plan he instituted in MA. I don't love the choices, but I am not for anyone who is against the way I make a living. Wisconsin? Hello???? Get rid of collective barganing??? All politicians suck, they all lie, but the Republicans are no friend of middle class, civil service union employees. He wants to take everything away that so many have fought for. Who helped institute a tier 6? Democrats?

Even though Romney is anti union, anti labor, anti firefighters, anti cops, anti teachers you still want him??? Not a chance in hell. He is trashing "Obama care" and it is quite similar to his own healthcare plan he instituted in MA. I don't love the choices, but I am not for anyone who is against the way I make a living. Wisconsin? Hello???? Get rid of collective barganing??? All politicians suck, they all lie, but the Republicans are no friend of middle class, civil service union employees. He wants to take everything away that so many have fought for. Who helped institute a tier 6? Democrats?

Even though Romney is anti union, anti labor, anti firefighters, anti cops, anti teachers you still want him??? Not a chance in hell. He is trashing "Obama care" and it is quite similar to his own healthcare plan he instituted in MA. I don't love the choices, but I am not for anyone who is against the way I make a living. Wisconsin? Hello???? Get rid of collective barganing??? All politicians suck, they all lie, but the Republicans are no friend of middle class, civil service union employees. He wants to take everything away that so many have fought for. Who helped institute a tier 6? Democrats?

Even though Romney is anti union, anti labor, anti firefighters, anti cops, anti teachers you still want him??? Not a chance in hell. He is trashing "Obama care" and it is quite similar to his own healthcare plan he instituted in MA. I don't love the choices, but I am not for anyone who is against the way I make a living. Wisconsin? Hello???? Get rid of collective barganing??? All politicians suck, they all lie, but the Republicans are no friend of middle class, civil service union employees. He wants to take everything away that so many have fought for. Who helped institute a tier 6? Democrats?

It is clear that Pete is only trying to use this thread in order to try and create new friction to the situation. Poising questions to rank and file members of the Stamford Fire and Rescue Department about the future direction of their Department serves absolutely no purpose.
It is akin to asking the average soldier at the Food Court in Afghanistan what he feels about the strategic plan and future US operations with the Karzai government. While he/she may have an opinion, unless they are also a member of the Joint Chiefs or Centcom, it is really irrelevant. As a soldier, he/she will follow the direction and orders of their superiors (i.e. basic military chain of command).
While you can use the term “free exchange”, this forum is not the official word or position of the Stamford Fire Rescue Administration. I am fairly sure that you know how to get to 629 Main Street or the meetings of the Charter Revision Committee at 888 Washington Boulevard.
I would bet that the people serving in their official capacities at those locations would be the proper authority and route for you to find answers for this new “regime” (interesting choice of words). Unless you would rather troll for anonymous opinions from those that have absolutely nothing to do with the strategic decisions of an organization that does not yet exist.

I'd be happier if they just started showing re-runs of Emergency during prime-time in HD!

Bottom line here is that this was something that they were asked to do. It is obviously a rual volunteer department. As we all know, there are manpower issues that we all have to deal with. They did not take the hose out of anyones hands and I am sure they were directed as to where and how the IC wanted that hose stream directed. We are all here for the same reasons, to serve the public we were sworn to protect. Take help were you can when you need it. I am sure that as soon as there was adequate manpower the police officer's were relieved. I think it was even changed to a monitor unless I am looking at the wrong picture. Would we all rather have firefighters manning the line? Sure, but if you don't have anyone, I will take the help from the PD.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/close_broken_traps_rescues_family_80AKsFrKholGJ2Cy3YvSKN
Based on certain peoples sentiments here, I guess they should have just sat around and waited....
Kudos on a great job well done

Bottom line here is that this was something that they were asked to do. It is obviously a rual volunteer department. As we all know, there are manpower issues that we all have to deal with. They did not take the hose out of anyones hands and I am sure they were directed as to where and how the IC wanted that hose stream directed. We are all here for the same reasons, to serve the public we were sworn to protect. Take help were you can when you need it. I am sure that as soon as there was adequate manpower the police officer's were relieved. I think it was even changed to a monitor unless I am looking at the wrong picture. Would we all rather have firefighters manning the line? Sure, but if you don't have anyone, I will take the help from the PD.

Bottom line here is that this was something that they were asked to do. It is obviously a rual volunteer department. As we all know, there are manpower issues that we all have to deal with. They did not take the hose out of anyones hands and I am sure they were directed as to where and how the IC wanted that hose stream directed. We are all here for the same reasons, to serve the public we were sworn to protect. Take help were you can when you need it. I am sure that as soon as there was adequate manpower the police officer's were relieved. I think it was even changed to a monitor unless I am looking at the wrong picture. Would we all rather have firefighters manning the line? Sure, but if you don't have anyone, I will take the help from the PD.