gamewell45

What the heck is a "chief driver"? Does he drive the chief around?

Engineers have a title: Engineer. If you want to give them more authority, put it in the by-laws.

when it comes down to it; a title is just that and nothing more; its the job function that really counts and defines the job in the overall picture.

I'm drooling......

You were voted on for Lieutenant and then did 2 years, moved up to 1st Lieutenant for 2 years, then Captain for 2 years (in two companies; Engine and Ladder) then each Captain was eligible to run for department assistant chief. The loser became an "Ex-Captain" which held as much weight and seniority as captain on fire scenes, and you were automatically entered into the asst chief race every year. You then served 2 years as each assistant, then 2 as chief, then your out...you cant run for office again for atleast 5 years and even then you have to get nominated.

Training was taken seriously, qualifications and experience were respected in the firehouse and on the fire scene, if there were no chief or line officers on scene the "Ex-Captains" were IC's and respected, as well as "Ex-Chiefs". Brothers respected brothers, the right person with the right qualifications were chosen for the office no questions asked...then I moved upstate...

That's basically the same system we used in my old department; it brought stability and with training, the knowledge necessary to properly carry out your duties as an officer.

The department that i'm in now (and this is my opinion only, not speaking for my department) has what we call "ping-pong" officers. They bounce in and out of office depending on election results and as a result, there is no consistency, especially with the Line officers. A Lt. will get voted in, spend a year learning the job and growing as an officer and then at the end of the year, get voted out for whatever reason and you start all over again. I think its counter-productive to the fire service personally, but it appears to work for the department. Just my 2cents.

Does anyone else's department offer them insurance through the town. I know in my agency members who are uninsured or self employed can get insurance through the town.

I could be wrong, but I believe that under state law, active Volunteer Firefighters can purchase their medical benefits through the town, village or municipality. It's cost neutral to the town, village or municipality; the individual pays the total cost of the premium.

The Journal News is reporting the Mayor has reversed his decision.

That's what we call damage control.

Fact of the matter is right or wrong, this will be a public relations nightmare for the town, no two ways about it.

That's awesome, now if we can be paid in beer or JD then I wouldn't have to budget a drinking fund.

I'll drink to that!

In Kingston High School they require CPR. One of the phys ed classes they have as a requirement to graduate is swimming. In order to pass the class you are required to take CPR.

Out of curiosity, what about students who are physically unable to swim or perform CPR due to physical limitations?

Neil J. McCabe, who taught me that patience and tolerance were true virtues to have ownership of.

Ernie Davis has no clue I don't why he was elected again as mayor

Most voters don't care about the fire department until they need them, then suddenly they get religion.

We cannot discount the possiblity that it may have been there for some other sanctioned department/district business. Unless someone actually approached the operator of the vehicle and asked questions, there could be a million explanations that we don't know about.

Drove that rig for 9 years

Drove it for years as well. Really fine rig for its time.

I'm surprised that anyone would have any issues when it comes to safety and health, especially in the firehouse where people might spend a majority of their time. There might be more to this story then what we know.

I do enjoy seeing EMT's show up to calls in sport's jerseys, grease-stained pants, or reeking of whatever they were drinking the night before, and looking like hell...

/sarcasm

While I agree that we all should look professional (ie. in uniform when on duty) I'm confident that someone in full cardiac arrest doesn't care much at that point.

$2 raise is some incentive for going to school for almost 2 years

The cost of living down there is a lot less then westchester or for that fact, the tri-state area.

Who cares? Nobody pays any attention to lights anyway. We have effectively dulled the publics sensitivity to them by adding them to every vehicle on the planet. Tow trucks, HELP trucks, funeral vehicles, service trucks, utility trucks, school buses, jolly vollies, and authorized emergency vehicles. You go blind driving through a scene at night these days.

Go back to the Smokey and the bandit bubble light for all I care!

Why not just a lolipop in the grill?

Many of you voted for this clown and made him president. Hopefully your eyes are opening and won't make a similar mistake (Hilary) when the time comes. Maybe he should get another Noble Peace Prize for creating the healthcare system that will cripple the country.

All Presidents are members of the same hypocrisy whether or not we want to admit it or not.

If YOUR fire district that you pay taxes to says "we need to cover volunteers with Obamacare, and your firetaxes are going up XX% to cover it" are you OK with that? And right now no one knows what X% is. Say it is 5-15% on top of the "normal" tax hike? Im just trying to get a feel for what the public may say to that.

I'd be ok with it.

Maybe someone could realize that some people lives depend on health insurance and thousands can't get the health care they desperately need because they can't get health insurance and can't afford it, or go into bankruptcy doing so. Everyone having single payer health insurance is the only equal, ethical and humane option. That's the only solution to this discussion.

Making sure everyone has insurance is much better then without; those without end up going to the ER with Taxpayers footing the bill most of the time. Its cheaper in the long run IMO

I think that many volunteers already have medical benefits through their employers at this time; either way the fire departments could apply for an exemption. Both House's of Congress got exemptions. Stands to reason that VFD's could try the same

Yeah and I bet they were all NYS-OFPC FF1 and FF2 certified...gimme a break! WP is run by cheap bastids who wouldn't hesitate to use free labor if they could

I've been told by a member from White Plains VFD (so your getting this second hand) that the labor contracts prohibit volunteers from doing any firefighting operations and it's been that way for many years. The only thing they do now as volunteers is CERT; they are all that's left of the volunteer fire department aside from the exempt and associate members.

No volunteers are not perfect but no one is. In this current world especially in our situation where we have a large mix of paid and volunteer departments we need to stop fighting one another and work with each other to get the job done.

Believe it or not volunteers will support paid firefighters MORE when they are not A**holes back at them.

The fact of the matter is both services will always have those who sparr with one another for whatever the reason; let the rest of us focus on getting the job done while the others poke at each other with pike poles.

My question is : Where is the brotherhood in career members complaining in one breath about the lack of manpower, but then complaining again when they hire because their overtime is either cut or now nonexistent with the new hires

Reminds me of my job; they guys all complained about work load and too much over time; once the company hired more manpower, the overtime virtually dried up and they almost all to a man complained there was virtually no overtime. They shot themselves in the foot in the long run.

And you my friend are a man who has no values. You have no clue what it means to feed your family from your trade, regardless if it is hanging sheetrock running conduit or leveling pipe. So your willingness to 'help' others is in fact NOT helping anyone but yourself and your ego, and that is a FACT!

Not to be argumentative, but I think it would be safe to say he does have values, just that his values are different from your values/viewpoints.

I was injured due to the city's negligence. Had major neck surgery and a year of rehab. Went out on disability retirement. The City of New Rochelle had been paying all my post-op care until they switched to a new 207-A administrator. 207 Solutions. They are not employee friendly. As soon as the city switched to 207 Solutions my problems started. After 207 Solutions authorized another round of P.T. ( which my injury/surgery will require me to have periodic maintenance for the rest of my life), they started to play games. After I finished 8 weeks of P.T. 207 Solutions unauthorized my P.T. sticking me with the entire bill.

In city hall no one will take responsibility with dealing with this situation. Everyone points the finger at someone else. Mayor Bramson is useless, he can't even answer a simple question without a long political rhetoric. The city manager told me he does know much about 207-A to help me.

The city is trying to save money on the employees, yet I was able to get a few invoices that the city paid to 207 Solutions and Mary Lou Conrow. They were paid a few thousand dollars just in my case alone. And let's not forget the couple of thousands that the city of New Rochelle paid an I.M.E. to write a report of lies stated that there is nothing wrong with me.

From your elaboration, it sounds as if the city abandoned/washed their hands of you once the new 207-A Solutions Administrator took over; if this in fact is true, then it is truly rephrehensible especially if it was due to the city's negligence. Hopefully the union, if applicable, reached out to assist you and perhaps investigate the possiblity of filing a lawsuit to recover funds/benefits.