gamewell45

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Posts posted by gamewell45

  13. Posted

    Here is a YouTube Video of a Gamewell Diaphone Horn.

    Turn the sound up nice and LOUD lol.

    Long before our cool Portables, Pagers, IPage, CAD, Scanner Phone Apps, Etc the horns

    would blow the rounds of the box that was pulled or a company call.

    One great thing about this was NO DELAY! The minute the box was pulled the horns

    would start blasting the box location.

    I remember as a kid being at the Firehouse when a "General Alarm" as we called it

    would come in. The truck would be out the door before radio dispatch or during it.

    Peekskill FD and Ossining FD had Diaphone Horns. Anyone else?

    Awesome video. I think North Tarrytown used to have one as did Chappaqua on both their stations.

  15. Posted

    You can always tell a system with diaphones / sirens verses a system without. Systems with "horns" run slower so it can pronounce the "blasts" where as a fast running system like in the first video would be utilized at a manned firestation with a watch desk.

    I love to see that there are people who collect the boxes and accessories and get them up and running. It may be an antiquated system but it is STILL THE MOST RELIABLE ALERTING SYSTEM OUT THERE! :D

    Now if I can only find a 477 cog or a 292 number plate for my boxes!

    You might be able to have a machine shop fabricate a plate for you for relatively lost cost if you take a snapshot of a plate on an existing box and provide it to them.

  16. Posted

    Spin the wheels answer solves the issue for the IC, but not the public or the politicians.

    IMO most politicians could care less unless it means votes for them; likewise the public is more concerned with other pressing issues such as quality of education, the library, keeping taxes down to a minimum, etc.

    In discussing our local fire department and lack of hydrants, my neighbor (who is not in the fire service) said that he could really care less, that's why he has fire insurance. Its a common attitude exhibted by much of the public who apparently do not want to be bothered with knowing how many firefighters or hydrants there are; just show up and if the house burns, then so be it. Poor attitude? Perhaps, but a stark reality in todays world.

  17. Posted

    It appears that the original question really refers to Mutual Aid. I can tell you that the IC doesn't want to hear he has an engine or truck coming only to learn upon their arrival that they cannot be used for some of the requisite tasks. If you guys use exterior people in your hometown, all the better, we do too (not career personnel of course). But our mutual aid pact requires engines and trucks respond with 5 Interior qualified personnel. The IC merely knows he has a a company coming and that he can assign them to whatever he needs. As far as we're concerned non-interior firefighters cannot count as company strength. We do not have any other career staffed companies around us, but if we did I'm confident we'd work them into our alarms earlier than closer VFD neighbors for the consistency alone. We have some great volunteer M/A partners, but of the course of time consistent staffed apparatus in a consistent time frame has not been proven to be a reality.

    I think any pumper and/or ladder truck sent on M/A should have the prereqisite amount of trained interior firefighters on board; once they have met that, if they send along exteriors to assist outside performing tasks, such as changing air bottles, assisting the MPO, hydrant operations, rolling hose, etc, there should be no issue whatsoever. I think most incident commanders would welcome the extra help outside on the fire ground.

    x129K and Atv300 like this

  18. Posted

    Good question. Why are exterior members going too? Why not admit there is a manpower shortage, and respond with what you have, or don't go.

    I'd imagine it probably depends on the type of m/a call. Exteriors could be used for brush fire m/a calls (in my department, exteriors are used for brush fires), support work on scene depending on the requirements needed by the department calling for m/a. If your doing tanker operations, why send an interior out of your district to assist the mpo if he's going to be tied to the tanker?

    No two mutual aid calls are the same; I think it depends on what the needs are at the time the mutual aid call is given as determined by the incident commander.

    JetPhoto and Atv300 like this

  19. Posted · Edited by gamewell45

    I was typing the same response, you beat me to it. The other issue I was adding, which goes along with training is, the volunteer rig shows up with six people, of which, 2 are junior members, 2 are exterior only, and 2 are SCBA trained with several courses, that equals a t man rig in my opinion.

    My question is; what are Junior members doing on apparatus responding to a mutual aid call in the first place?

    16fire5, firedude, PFDRes47cue and 5 others like this

  20. Posted

    I also think they would still be working, but I think that any union sponsored benefits, such as health, any Union sponsored annuities and so on, would be suspended. Any benefits paid for by the municipality would remain in effect. If any union delegates or board members are on, maybe they can elaborate.

    I believe you are correct; any union-sponsored benefits, ie; scholarships, social events, union sponsored life insurance, etc would not be applicable to them. But as you mentioned, union delegates or board members should be able to clarify.

  21. Posted

    I know I'm kinda stating the obvious here, but why not go to the top? Make contact with the IAFF 1st district in Brooklyn(or at least I think Brooklyn). I mean this isn't the first time that this has happened, and I'm willing to bet that's probably grounds for having their membership revoked. Or at least I'd like to think it should be...that's just spitting in the face of fellow union brothers. While I don't do it, there are some guys who like to volunteer in their home depts...which if they do, that's their business. But if they do it in another local's shop, then it becomes every dues paying IAFF members business.

    I wouldn't revoke their membership; if you do that, then I believe under the law, they can still work the job, but pay no dues and the union still has to represent them. Better to levy a fine and that way you still have a level of control over them as members of the bargaining unit. Even if they resign their membership and become core members, you will still collect a fee equal to what their dues would normally be.

  22. Posted

    It's my understanding that this newly created police force will be non-union. If this is true, then I think the prudent thing to do by the public sector unions would be to mount an immediate organizing campaign to organize the newly hired employees and let the state know that union-busting will not be tolerated. Better to get them into the fold as opposed to them being non-union with either limited or no rights in the workplace.