Raz

I am not joining the political discussion on this subject. I am only speaking on practical benefits of Electronic Medical Records....Is big brother watching? It is a cost/benefit judgement. The most important benefit is for my family's records being available during an emergency.

^^^

About time somebody jumped in with that. Crucify Obama all you want (there's enough legitimate problems with his social and economic plans and politics), but this is an area where the rewards outweigh the potential risks.

I love that one comment somebody left... "Must be the chief." Amen to that.

I don't see how this is any worse than those articles that say "Chief hits 60 year mark of service."

Correct me if I am wrong, wasn't there a fire here about 7 years ago?

That fire was one building over.

Thoughts? I find it pretty crazy that they would give out bonuses with taxpayer money. Also interesting that Obama makes 400,000.

What's crazy is advocating placing caps on the taxpayer money that a corporation can give it's CEO, instead of simply not giving a corporation taxpayer money in the first place.

Guess you can add that to the "what is a buff" list..

I'm also just going to assume that he's probably one of the worst EMT's in the country. Call it a hunch.

Red light is a longer wavelength therefore doesn't travel as far.

I agree with everything you said, but that sentence is just not true.

Since that training comment was directed at me, I'll explain and attempt to make others understand my point entirely.

I've posted a couple training threads asking questions and I've gotten 10 replies tops.

I think the reason for the lack of replies to your training questions isn't that they aren't good questions, it's just that they're not controversial. It's not that guys don't care about training, it's just that once an instructor or well respected officer gives his response, that's pretty much it, case closed. I know that I'm not going to argue with anything that Captain Nechis, Chief Flynn, FF Carrol or some of the other guys on here who have paid their dues have to say about tactics or response.

With these other topics, however, someone always seems to have a "but wait...", usually because they don't like the answer that they're given.

If people hate lights so much and think they are of no significance, then why don't we just remove them from all apparatus and just respond normal traffic?

I think you typed "apparatus" where you meant to type "P.O.V."

No matter how much some guys wish, or how many lights they put on it, their SUV/Family Sedan/Pick-Up is never going to be considered an emergency vehicle. Hell, you see it in this thread, some people are looking at laws pertaining to emergency vehicles and thinking that it somehow relates to their car.

Of course, like every problem, I don't blame those guys, I blame the department heads that let the nonsense continue after being made aware of it.

Try reading previous posts....

You didn't quote that it's also illegal for the bar light to be a strobe or LED. Which, coupled with the afformentioned points, makes every light bar I've ever seen on a POV illegal.

You mean like the multiple blue lights on the rear of a police car or even some front facing blue lights on police cars or the blinding lights (red, white, and amber) on the HELP trucks that are so bright you can't see anything when approaching them from the rear?

Blue is the strongest color of the spectrum, making it the hardest on the eyes and therefore the most visible. Many police depts added those blue lights after officers were being killed while doing their job on the side of the road. You'd really wish to deny police officers the added safety and visibility of blue lights because they're supposed to be reserved for volunteers?

LoHud Link: http://www.lohud.com/article/20090124/NEWS/901240399

Any details regarding the fire in Scarsdale. Drake Rd & Route 22.

The firefighters have been released from the hospital. Job well done, guys.

45 Ft?? Our dual axle 110' ladder truck is only 42'!

Sorry, typo. I meant to say 35-38 feet. Like I said, I'm just ballparking it, so I'm probably wrong (hopefully one of the buffs can correct me). The lack of a dual axle in the rear was really the killer. The thing just did not want to turn.

Not sure about the wheelbase, but the whole rig measures somewhere in the 35-38 feet range, if I remember correctly. It went out of service in January of 07. Hard to drive, but fun. The thing has a beast of an engine, and you'd feel every bump in the road.

Hopefully Fair Bluff town planners like wide roads.

Without even worrying about the foreign policy debates that you guys are getting into, I'm worried about what some of these idiots want to do with the economy. After all, a strong economy is the only thing that has allowed the U.S. enough strength to have an effective foreign policy for the last 70 years.

That economy is now in the hands of people like this

What's confusing about it? Fill us in and maybe we can clear something up for you.

Blacking out Mask I put that in bold so anyone reading this thread knows its something I don't think has been touched on yet. I see often during drills and such firefighters who have their protective hoods placed over their heads and over the mask. Always keep in mind that you want to train the way you are going to operate. The hood belongs on their head so they consistently put it on and don it correctly and efficiently. If you need to obscure the mask, wax paper is good, regular white paper will work if you make a template and cut it out to the shape of the interior of the mask. After a good friend and instructor was using an insert he made himself out of those flimsy plastic file folders you find in office supply stores, I also started using them, which worked out well. They are opaque like the wax paper so it makes it seem like dense light colored smoke and they are also reusable which is a plus (as long as you get them back..grrrr) I got about 4 out of one file folder which are not relatively expensive. Keep the hoods where they belong. On your head. Not over your face.

We usually agree, but I've always liked completely blacking out a mask (with a bag or hood, not by reversing your personal nomex hood). You'll always get a little visibility in a fire, so training without that will further hone the skills that you're looking to sharpen in a mask confidence course. I know it's not exactly training as you operate, but it forces you to sharpen your peripheral senses (the kind you're going to depend on more and more as a fire gets worse). Think of it like wearing a weight vest while working out, or those guys that train at high altitudes and then kill the competition in sports. If you train for the worst possible scenario, most of the stuff you'll run into seems par for the course.

Just my opinion, I'm not a teacher or anything.

http://www.eastsideinktattoo.com/

Alphabet City, on Avenue B. Ask for Patrick. Accept no substitutes.

Wait....a person in a position that gets voted on, and could change yearly, is resposible for the hiring process of permanent career staff?

I guess I had never thought of that....as the combo departments around here have career Chiefs (Deputy Chief...but not from lack of trying)....but that could be interesting...and dare I say...somewhat of a concern, given the potential volitlity and inherent ever changing leadership of the volunteer service...

The chief still has to follow the test results of the civil service exam, but that only goes so far.

I'd just like to take a moment and thank DonMoose for posting what he did. Like I've said, a lot of the younger volunteers support us, but can't come out and say it for fear of angering the brass. After all, the Chief has a large (some would say disproportionate) hand in who gets hired, and they don't want to make enemies with those who could be sitting across the table from them when it comes time to fill a vacant position.

I had no idea who he was, and when he PM'd me to show support, I told him "Thanks, but sit tight." He went ahead and posted that anyway, and that took balls of steel. Thanks, man.

All paid fire officers, regardless of title, have to complete first line school. The old supervisors were no different.

"Titles" don't put food on your table, money does. Who cares about titles as long as your fairly compensated for what you do. If people are paid at a higher rate of pay for being the "shift supervisors" then a "title" shouldn't be much of an issue.

Funny, as a volunteer on this site, you've always been one to make the argument that getting a paycheck is irrelevant when it comes to the issue of simple respect. If you're changing your stance on that, can we revisit some of your old posts?

Although I actually agree with you on this, titles shouldn't be such a big issue.

I think the issue for the volunteers that are fighting against this is that a career ff might be able to give them a lawful order. i.e a career Lt. could order a vol. ff to do something (particularly if a vol chief was not onscene) or a career Capt. could give an order to a vol Lt.

This is not the 1st Combo FD in Westchester that has had this fight. The question comes up is why should the volunteers be fighting this? Could it be that they are afraid of the personnel that they hired could make a bad order? Or is it just they do not want to be given instructions.

All valid points, but when you count up all of the chiefs, deputy chiefs, captains, and lieutenants, Peekskill has over 10 volunteer command cars with numbers. Should they honestly be worried that not one of them will show up and assume command?

Clearing up a few points-

It is curious that the City Council and City Manager seem to be following the direction of a segment of the volunteer ranks. What is the impact on the volunteers by such a civil service classification for two career FF?

The classifications are for 5 positions, one Captain and one LT per shift. I only mentioned the two earlier, because they were the ones who filed for reclassification. As for the City Council, they follow the input of their department head, plain and simple. In this case, that's the chief, and when he has a political agenda like this, it's a conflict of interest.

If the issue is command, there really isn't an issue because the volunteer chief is in charge isn't he?

That's why I made sure to include a few of those final sentences in my earlier post. A few of the guys who scream "we're losing our department!" have been spreading lies stating that we're out to run everything. Say something loudly enough times and people start to believe it.

NIMS is irrelevant here because the issue isn't incident management but rather the administrative management of a municipal department. To not have someone in charge is absurd.

NIMS is relevant. Like I said before, we're lower than whale ----, but we're still in there.

To think that hydrant inspections (and service) and code enforcement isn't happening in a city like Peekskill is just plain scary!!!

The building and water departments are still doing inspections and servicing hydrants, but the fire dept is no longer inspecting places of assembly, testing hydrants, or doing preventative maintenance on them.

Izzy, SEJ28 isn't a career ff in Peekskill (as far as I know, I've been surprised in the past), but I'll thank you for your suggestions and field your questions.

Some of your suggestions can now be written down as ancient history, we just don't advertise everything we do on EMTBravo and in the papers. This all started when two of our officers requested that Civil Service reclassify their titles of "Shift Supervisor" and "Assistant Shift Supervisor" to the proper fire service titles of "Captain" and "Lieutenant", respectively. The city manager at the time opposed such a reclassification, and made it known to the Civil Service representative in a letter. The Civil Service rep then interviewed the volunteer chief at the time, who gave a deposition that was mostly true, with some debatable falsehoods mixed in. Yes, I'm biased, I'm not hiding that fact, and if anyone wishes I will go line for line through the document and debate its veracity.

Civil Service concluded that the positions did not warrant reclassification, citing the then chief's deposition, as well as the city charter, stating that only volunteers shall be officers. It should be pointed out that the city charter is well over 100 years old and is treated as unchangeable. Except when the volunteers changed it a few years ago because they needed candidates for chief, and a couple of years after that when they couldn't fill officer positions, and last month because they needed trustees. The final nail in the coffin was the fact that career FF's don't have command at a scene. However, we continue to argue that, while we might be lower than whale ---- in the current command structure, we're still in there, and have been "in command" at scenes.

The issue was further complicated by the fact that, while no reclassification was granted to the officers, they occupied positions that were not recognized by Civil Service, thus constituting an illegal action. The city was forced to remove the officers from their positions. This left nobody in charge of the training of the career staff, the maintenance of hydrants, fire inspections, etc. This also violated the contract between the City and the Union, which the union grieved and won. As part of the deal, the removed officers had to sign up to test for the newly created positions, whatever they might be. The city sought to quickly remedy the situation, and asked civil service to create titles for the officers. They came up with "Principal Firefighter" for the Captain's postition, and "Senior Firefighter" in place of Lieutenant. A test was given, which no firefighters sat for, the general consensus being that the titles were demeaning, considering that the career officers were held to the same standards as others in the state that had been given the proper fire service title. The council then came up with the idea of having a career fire administrator, but the position was opposed by both the career and volunteer contingents.

That pretty much brings you up to speed. Peekskill has had no career supervision for some time now, outside of the positions of MTO, scheduler, and EMS coordinator, which are strictly clerical positions. Training is still not being done (we drill, but it isn't counted towards the 100 hour requirement. Also, the previous city manager and current fire chief floated the idea of volunteer officers being in charge of training, but that was scrapped because only the one chief is a certified instructor), hydrant maintenance and testing is not being done, and code enforcement has not been done, though it will start up again soon as I understand it. The city council has stated that they would be willing to grant our request for new titles, but the volunteer contingent is putting pressure on them. Many volunteers will support us in private, but few in public. Letters have been written, including a humorous one stating that we're just a union out for money, written by a person that's worked in a union shop for most of her career.

I will state, for the record, that the career officers want no oversight of the volunteers. This is a falsehood being spread by malcontents within their ranks. If anyone has any questions, just ASK one of us, instead of getting things third or fourth hand. Oh, and since I know this is going to be on an overhead projector at the next department meeting, hi guys!