JBE

Reading my mind. Didn't know they were connected. Oh wait, they are by about 10 or so miles of shoreline!! The more I read, the more I don't like what I'm seeing.And, this knucklehead drops the race card. Ponderous, friggin ponderous.

They get assigned to a division. Then, they cover all over the city. I have a friend who has been a BC for about 2 years, and he doesn't have a permanent spot, but covers in the 7th Division primarily. I know another guy who has been covering for longer than that.

Oh, so this is that volunteer Fire Patrol that decided to take a step into the big time. I remember getting phone calls when I was a boss in the Bronx about these jokers. We were told to notify the marshals if we had any issues with them showing up at scenes. I did happen to notice them toodling around in the SUV one afternoon by the old Chateau De Blue Eyes. 238th and Bailey, a bit of a distance from Clasons Point.

Richmond and Oceanic are the only two that are recognized by the City,also the only ones we dispatch. Although I am pretty sure West Hamilton and Broad Channel have either teleprinters or a voice alarm in their quarters. Aviation has had a lot of trouble over the years since the 11th. I remember one of the things they pulled was their rig was damaged. I saw it last year in a private collection, looked ok to me. Their building was condemned/vacated back in 03 or 04 by the city. When it comes to a lot of these other departments, they all were established prior to the FDNY having a presence there. As far as I know there is a good relationship between the FDNY, Richmond, Oceanic(When they turn out), Broad Channel, and West Hamilton. I'm not sure what the deal is with Aviation,. but we were told a few weeks ago not to give them any info on anything going on.

Downed Dirty Birds, Cheese?? Smoked, thank you. No gold rush in San Fran either. Bring on Brady and the Pats!!!

How 80's..

What makes it worse for me is that the job promoted 7 additional bosses in Sept. of 09. Hence, no OT. I was regularly doing 250-350 hours a year in OT. I did 90 in 2010, and I think the same in 2011. Disgraceful, yet again. The only way for my colleagues to get any OT was for ME to tap out.

I looked at how much I grossed in 2011, vs. how much I netted. Disgraceful.

We ALL have to show ID. Come looking for me, I'm usually down there too. Cursing this building to High Heaven.

They should be out either with this paycheck, or the next one.

Oh yeah, just to add, we've had two fires in the equipment at PSAC at 11MT. The most recent was a few hours ago. How's that new system working out for you, Mr. Mayor??Both were on the FDNY side in the VESTA computers.

They are the same folks. They received a few hours of training in taking fire calls, whereas my guys have a month of training to take fire calls. I don't necessarily think the FDNY ARD has the hardest job out of all of us. I've observed the NYPD ACD's and the EMS ARD's. I'd say it's about equal, just different circumstances. One very simple solution, but would add time to alarm processing, is, this is 911, press 1 for the Police, 2 for the FDNY, or 3 for EMS. Another idea, that will never happen, is give the FDNY its own 3 digit number. 211, 811, whatever. PS, we just hired 13 or 14 new people on my side. So there goes any overtime that was available for the FAD's. I can't remember the last time PD hired anyone. Maybe 8 or 9 months ago. I almost forgot, the Mayor is lying when he says that you only have to talk to one person. UCT has been conference calling back into FDNY since November of '09 when they fat fingered an alarm in Queens, and the error may have led to the death of two fellas in the basement of a house in Woodside. They put in 62 Street, and the fire was on 65 Street. The system hasn't really changed. We're just now proofreading the calls to make sure PD isn't screwing it up. We get so many incidents over the course of a tour where the comment from UCT says Previous Incident Address: XXXXXX because they don't properly interrogate a caller. They are also told to take the call at face value and not pry. The UCT folks don't have the leeway that the FDNY Dispatchers do. One for instance, the caller was obviously a Spanish Speaker primarily, and gave the UCT 168 West Broadway. The UCT calltaker, who had a very thick Indian accent, didn't properly interrogate the caller, so the box went out for 168 West Broadway. I'm more than sure the caller was saying 168 West, Y Broadway. It was difficult to understand either person, but the fire was at West 168 and Broadway. Engine 7 pulls up to 168 West Broadway, looking for a caller, while the 13th Battalion put all hands to work for a fire in a Starbucks. You guys really don't want me going on. The bottom line is, the system needed to be tweaked with the call taking, not a complete overhaul.

Sorry, M, they are NYPD. Civilian employees of NYPD. FDNY Dispatching is a little different now, but that is because of UCT. That's the program where NYPD Calltakers are handling Fire Calls. They take the call, get the information, and enter it into the CAD. The CAD link sends it to us, and we act on it with the mostly half cocked information we get. The NYPD UCT then conference calls the caller into us, and the FDNY Alarm Receipt Dispatcher then re-interrogates the caller. This is where we find out where most of the errors are. The NYPD calltakers are not trained in EMD. When an EMS run comes in, they conference to EMS and the EMS folks triage the call, etc. Please understand, that even though we are all on the same floor at 11MT, the command structure is separate. PD has their own chain of command, from the Platoon commander, to Principal Police Communications Technicians, to the Supervisors, to the Dispatcher/Operators. In my Chain, we have one Chief Dispatcher(Civilian) on duty 24/7, then 3-5 Supervising Dispatchers, (1 for each borough and 1 or 2 surplus), then 17 Dispatchers total in the three boroughs. As far as EMS goes, there is at least one Captain on duty, with three or four Lieutenants, and then however many dispatchers they have working. Now, I'm not sure what kind of standards you're talking about. If you mean APCO, and all those national standards, forget it. Come on, this is New York City, where things are done our way. The job doesn't want to pay us overtime as it is, much less bring someone in to get us certified. They actually gave an award to one of my big bosses at Metrotech for controlling the overtime(meaning cutting it). And discovering Dispatch Anamolies, as they put it. You know that means detecting our screw ups and writing people up for it.

Dispatchers on duty: JBE had the tour, 251,253,277,284, and 769(Brand New Probie) We got hit with an all hands, about 5 minutes before this one came in, down on Fort Washington Avenue and W 161 St. Watchline was going till about 4:30 Wednesday afternoon. Temperatures go down, aerial ladders go up. Jinxed myself really good last night.

Got a question. I was state certified EMT from 96-99. I let my certification expire, because I wasn't putting it to use living in NYC. Here's my question. I'm looking to join my local VAC, and since it's been so long, would it be better to go through recertification, or just challenge the state exams?? Thanks.

Well said, Chief. How does one fix this?? Set a policy. If someone shows up in POV from a M/A department, tell them to standby until the rig gets there, with proper manpower,or, have them assist the IC at the Command Post, or, send that person packing. Furthermore, set forth in that policy, maybe countywide, that anyone going M/A MUST respond to the firehouse, and respond with a rig. Just my thoughts.

Just keep it up, Chris!!!

Hey Christopher, keep it up, fighting the good fight. YOU CAN DO IT!!!! The door is open at FDNY Communications if you ever want to visit. God Bless, and enjoy your Christmas. Jimmy "JBE" Raftery Supervising Fire Alarm Dispatcher FDNY COmmunications

The one thing I had heard from guys operationg the new RMA, is that it is slow. Speed wise, and the hydraulics are slow.

I kinda figured as much. Thank you.

Try finding a decent apartment on a cop's salary to start. I doubt this will get passed. I put a bit more than 14 years in the city before I finally said enough is enough, and moved out. It was just too damn expensive.

Yes, they do get the basic info, but it is usually more than FDNY needs. I can understand as a cop, you would need certain things like description of perp, color of car, stuff like that. FDNY really doesn't. All they need is the Box Number, the address, where the incident is in the building. Example, Smoke 3 Flr, Clr 3A. And if there's CIDS you get it on the ticket. It's become pretty ridiculous trying to translate over the past two years. I'm a firm believer in changing the system back to the way it was, so we can properly interrogate callers. Unfortunately, that's not gonna happen anytime soon.

Since my colleague from across the floor at 11 MT won't comment on the new system, I will. IT STINKS!!!! The present NYPD 911 call takers couldn't dispatch themselves out of a wet paper bag. I could go on for a week about all the mistakes they make. That isn't including spelling. POSS HASS MACK!!!! Need I go on?? The BS filter that was the FDNY Alarm Receipt Dispatcher has been removed almost entirely from the equation. So, FDNY units are going out for more and more BS runs, which shows productivity, and keeps firehouses open. PD Radio has one dispatcher for each "Zone", which encompasses 2 or 3 precincts in each borough. The only exception is SI where it's one dispatcher for the borough. That's not including Citywide, SOD, or Transit. EMS has 3 Dispatchers for Manhattan, 2 for the Bronx, 2 for Queens, 3 for Brooklyn, and 1 for SI. They have 2 Citywide, and 2 on the Liason desk. I think EMS has 15 or 20 Call takers, and they are all obviously, EMD certified. The working conditions here are deplorable. No parking, no facilities for us to rest in between tours with people working consistent 16 or 18 hour tours, no kitchen. Overcrowded bathroom. Morale is at an all time low. But, as usual, we make it work. PS, lot of familiar faces in that slide show, Willy.

Great job, guys. Tippin the Mets hat to the crew in Hughsonville.

He's got it out for the teachers, too. My girlfriend refuses to go to the bar that the Mayor owns because of his stand towards the teachers.