TimesUp

New Ro was put to the test last night with what looks like their first working fire without the 3rd truck in service. Will the Mayor be able to say there was no lapse in fire protection for his residents. Will the citizens be made aware that city hall is throwing the dice as far as fire protection in the event of a second call for a structure fire?

New Ro was put to the test last night with what looks like their first working fire without the 3rd truck in service. Will the Mayor be able to say there was no lapse in fire protection for his residents. Will the citizens be made aware that city hall is throwing the dice as far as fire protection in the event of a second call for a structure fire?

New Ro was put to the test last night with what looks like their first working fire without the 3rd truck in service. Will the Mayor be able to say there was no lapse in fire protection for his residents. Will the citizens be made aware that city hall is throwing the dice as far as fire protection in the event of a second call for a structure fire?

Sorry Brother, we remembered them in October at our annual memorial service. This really sucks for our job and those members involved. When are the people going to get it!!!! It does not cost that much for police and fire protection. The school budget is 64%, the county budget is 18% and the city budget is 18%. Your taxes do not go to public saftey as much as they go to the schools. please stop lumping us into the same category. This is BS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Read, digest, comprehend and then respond. If you do these things you'll realize that I have a lot more than negativity to bring to this topic. It's called constructive commentary. As for your writing; I'm not trying to insult you. I'm simply pointing out that if you want your point to be taken seriously, you should be able to string a properly constructed sentence together. No one is looking for perfection, but I have to read your post about 4 times to make sense of it. Part of a respectful argument is to address everyone here like well read adults.
As for PCFD/RBFD operation; why should be not discuss that here? Isn't that the point of this forum? What should be do, buff out to apparatus and incident photos all day? Or perhaps we should only give big pats on the back for a job well done after every incident. No, that's not what this is for. We have this forum and it allows us to do many things. We get to share photos, report incidents and most importantly, discuss operations in the hopes of improving them. If all of those things can't be done, than why are Seth and the rest of the staff killing themselves and spending money keeping this site open?
As for the RBFD issue, lets cut to the chase. Everything is not fine. Those guys are in a position of having to do too much with not enough. Sorry, but waiting for PCFD to show up is also not appropriate as a first due means of providing emergency service. How about night time? Do you REALLY think that the lone chauffeur of engine 59 thinks showing up in front of a building fire at 2 A.M. is fine? I DOUBT it. What do you think residents see? They see a big red truck and a guy killing himself to hook up to a hydrant or whatever, but then they have to wait a few LONG minutes waiting for people to arrive to actually fight the fire. That's B.S. for that fireman to be in that position and B.S. for the residents.
There are many ways to skin this cat, but the system as it exists now is in fact NOT working. It is not sufficient and it puts a lot of firemen and civilians in danger, let along property. This is not about the dedication of those who work or volunteer in this two department system. This is about not being provided with the tools or manpower to do the job. Why are you defending this system? Is it because, "this is the way we've been doing it for 175 years", as someone said? Well, I guess we should dust off the hold hand drawn pumpers because they worked fine a century ago, right? Why examine a system to look to improve it?
If this doesn't get through....nothing will. I'm going to put the soap box away for now....

Go to 8:45. It shows a very calm,very orientated Deputy Chief assigning tasks and keeping up with any progress. He has an aid that is helping him with who's up next. But the calm he projects is what is key to me. I've seen it the other way and it makes for a interesting job.

Go to 8:45. It shows a very calm,very orientated Deputy Chief assigning tasks and keeping up with any progress. He has an aid that is helping him with who's up next. But the calm he projects is what is key to me. I've seen it the other way and it makes for a interesting job.

Brand new duty Deputy Chief vehicle placed in service on Tuesday October 18, 2011. This vehicle responds with the Shift Commander (DC) and DC Aide out of Stamford Fire Rescue Headquarters on Main Street. The vehicle is a 2011 Chevrolet Suburban which came through Northwest Hills dealership in Torington, CT and was purchased under the CT State contract. The vehicle features a ton of brand new equipment inside and out as well as a ton of customized components. I have photos from the entire build and plan on posting them very soon. I will also be posting a full list of the equipment that we have in the vehicle as well. This is just a few pictures so everyone can check it out. I should have a post with the specs and all the features in the next day or two.

If they were would they tell you?

If that is all the coordinator can/does do then I don't see the need for the qualifications in the recent announcement. If you only ask for what the IC asks for and nothing more or less I really don't see the need for coordinators.

If they were would they tell you?

If they were would they tell you?

If they were would they tell you?

best time to stop by is between noon and 3 or after five, Have fun!

best time to stop by is between noon and 3 or after five, Have fun!

best time to stop by is between noon and 3 or after five, Have fun!

Because this isn't your bread winning job. You're not Dependant on taking care of your family by having a decent wage, or fairly good benefits when you go to the firehouse. Seriously think about what you said. Career guys might love the job just as much as you love to volunteer but you should volunteer because you love to do it, not because you want to be taken care of somehow. There shouldn't be perks to volunteer (what makes it volunteer if there are perks btw). Do it because you like to help those in your community, and because it gives you personal satisfaction. If people don't want to volunteer because there is no monetary value in it to them, then they are in it for the wrong reasons to begin with, and you need to change your recruitment and retention standards.
"wahhh....I volunteer, take care of me first, I'm better and deserve more then everyone... wahhh." See how that sounds?

Before you submit a letter of this intent to any board, or any formal letter, make sure you have someone proofread your work. Makes you seem very uneducated when you're trying to convey a point, and all that people can stare at are the multiple grammatical/spelling errors.
Would I have agreed with what he was saying, absolutely not regardless of his grammatical mistakes... they may work only 7 days a month, however, they are working 24 hour shifts. 24x7 = 168 hrs/mo x 12mo = 2016 hrs/yr. Take a normal work week of 40 hrs/wk x 52 wks/yr = 2080 "working week day hours" in a year. or a difference in 2.6 work days per normal year. Add in a few company holidays and it appears that the normal buisness man actually works less then the firefighter, and I'm sure he gets his holiday, sick and vacation time as well on top of this...
I'm sick and tired of people attempting to skew data to make it appear what it is not. Present the facts, not your personal agenda.

There has been lots of money spent at wcdes. This money could of been better spent by a fire department that actually responds to emergency's.

While some of you seek to vilify Chief Flynn, please ask yourselves how you can expect anyone to indemnify persons of which they have no control over? With no way to ensure that the people they're covering have had adequate background checks, psyche profiles, medical screening, etc how can you ask to be wholly held harmless?
The issue could have little to do with your actual fireground capabilities. Will the people not hold a career staffed FD to a higher standard than a small town VFD? Honestly, of course they will. The expectation for the dollars paid is that the level of service be better which includes expedient and capable. Are there VFD's capable of this? Sure, but when they aren't they have the fall back position of being "only volunteers". Too often volunteer outfits throw up the "only volunteers" argument to fend off training mandates, response time questions, failure to provide needed services such as EMS, first responder, medical assists, haz-mat response, haz-mat support, tech rescue, and the list goes on.
While it may be unfair to paint all FD's with the same brush be they career or volunteer, you cannot ask for the same brush to be used to hold you harmless.

You make this too easy for me Mike. First of all, you make a statement like "well trained"... "250 hours+ at FTC". Really? Hey, well, yeah, I guess "well trained" is a subjective thing, right? So, if you wish to believe that you are well trained, fine. Just don't expect me to agree with you.
How often do you think a career and volunteer firefighter are ordered to perform a primary search together? Has this happened to you much? Actually if the scenario you describe really did take place I would have no problem with the municipality indemnifying the volunteer, and I highly doubt any government official would make the decision to indemnify the career and not the volunteer in such an instance. Very bad politics if nothing else.
What happens far more often is some 17 or 18 year old volunteer firefighter in his personal vehicle smashes into and kills injures or kills someone. That is a specific example of the liability which I feel strongly no municipality should be compelled to assume.
OK, here's another one. This one also far more likely to occur than the one you describe...An 18 year old Chief Officer of a volunteer department completely mismanages a bread and butter fire and a savable victim dies. Why should any municipality be forced to take on that liability?
Or, how about this...most of the departments apparatus and members are far away at a parade when a serious or fatal fire occurs? Should the leadership of the department be indemnified for this negligence?
What about those times when a volunteer apparatus is loaded with unbelted civilians including children for a holiday or whatever else event and injuries or death result. Should the municipality be forced to indemnify in this case?
And you know what? I am quite certaint that I will not convince you or many of the others who have attacked my posts. Your heads will remain firmly stuck in the sand. However, the many reasonable people, career, volunteer and other who read this forum and choose not to post, will mostly see this for what it is when the facts are laid out for them as I and a few others have done here. Thanks again for the opportunity to educate through debate. Forgive me if I choose not to respond further on this topic as it is losing it's luster for me at this point.
thatthat,

There has been lots of money spent at wcdes. This money could of been better spent by a fire department that actually responds to emergency's.

I don't understand...I am an active volunteer...no, not for a Fire Department, but for a number of other organizations....anyway, for our various volunteer activities, my fellow volunteers and I do not ask for, not do we receive indemnification from lawsuits...in fact, my fellow volunteers and I do not ask for or receive pensions, tax breaks, medical insurance, free pool or gym memberships, clubhouses to hang out in, or anything else in return because we are..."volunteers" (imagine that!)
I am incredibly uncomfortable as a taxpayer taking on the liability for anyone who decides to join the local fire or EMS organization...essentially that is what this legislation is asking taxpayers to do...to be on the hook for the actions or inactions of an organization of individuals who essentially are not under the control of local government and thus, not accountable to the taxpayer who is being asked to take on the liability.
I look forward to hearing the opinions of my fellow EMT Bravo members on this topic.
qtip

There has been lots of money spent at wcdes. This money could of been better spent by a fire department that actually responds to emergency's.

Today, while sitting at the VAC I kept hearing a certain Westchester FD tone out and tone out and tone out for manpower. After 15-20 minutes, they called a neighboring department Mutual Aid. We all know how bad some VACs are, but it is B-A-D when an FD is unable to cover a call.
And, around the same time as this, I couldn't help but notice a 60 Control dispatcher trying to communicate with a unit, and telling that unit he can't hear them because another self dispatched FD was all over 46.26. Don't they have / use a fire ground channel???
I call this two steps forward, one step back as there are plenty of departments that make that extra effort to be as professional as they can be, and then you have departments like the ones mentioned that set us all back in time.
It's 2011 guys. Either get with the times or give up.