Skindependent

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that your the kind of person that hears about the YFD and the union getting totally blasted by the media, and laughs and says, "Serves them right!" The media has every right to know that there is a PROBLEM with the FIRE SERVICE in Westchester, both CAREER and VOLUNTEER. To completely out someone because they are bringing light to a problem, that has been majorly overlooked, because nobody wants to ADMIT that there is an issue, is asinine. You can think whatever you want of certain people, but anyone could have written was JFLYNN wrote, and I bet dollars to doughnuts that you would bash them too.

The first step to solving a problem is.........

Show up to the dock late and you missed the boat, my friend. I'm not bashing the career guys (as a whole), nor would I ever. The moral of my story is "people who live in glass houses". I know our side of things has its issues, and I'm doing my best from the inside to fix them. I take care of my own problems before I say something about someone else's. And if I am on a sinking ship (gotta love the nautical references here), I don't try to drag down others with me. However, I heard about this man in particular within weeks of first joining the service. In my years in, his name continually comes up in stories about his (mis)exploits trying to shut out volunteers. So perhaps I harbor a vendetta. That being said, the media has the right to pound salt. All they do is blow things out of proportion and make changes that much more difficult. And yes, I would bash anyone personally who tries to throw us as a volunteer organization, to the wolves.

PS: "Going out on a limb" is fancy speak for ASSume.

Hello Members of the media (I know you read this)....why not do some investigative journalism into the very serious, life threatening issue of fire department and EMS departments in Westchester County vis-a-vis, oftentimes ridiculously long response times, inadequately trained responders, duplication of resources, lack of transparency in regard to finances and frankly many other issues within lots of departments. This is serious stuff!

Disclaimer- , I must very clearly state....this is not an attack on volunteer Firefighters, EMS workers or their departments! There are many dedicated and knowledgeable volunteer members of emergency services in this region. However, the SYSTEM is BROKEN!

Positive change very rarely comes from inside of an organization, but rather through blunt force trauma from the outside. Well media, how about a little blunt force trauma in regard to this issue? Personally, my own department has been going through some blunt force trauma from certain segments of the media lately, and I'm ok with that- there's nothing to hide, no organization is perfect, transparency and acceptance of change are good things....Why are volunteer organizations who equally hold the fate of people's lives and property (and taxes) in their hands getting a pass from the media?

In closing, I will pre-emptively state that I will not be engaging in a back and forth bicker on this topic, and yes, I do anticipate attempts at deflecting from the issue at hand by attacking myself personally as well as my own department. So, please don't take my non-responsiveness as acquiesence, agreement, or defeat. I'm just too busy to bother with responding to all of it. This post is really just for the media- maybe someday someone in the media in this area will wake up and realize how honest reporting in regard to this crisis would save lives, property and dollars. I'm not optimistic though, because I guess it's just easier to attack salaries, benefits, and pensions, and ignore an almost completely broken system right next door.

stay safe and qtip brothers and sisters!

Yes, please launch a media attack on the volunteer service. (sarcasm) You, sir, are a known enemy of us volunteers. Don't make like we haven't heard of your exploits trying to get volunteers shut out of the service. Deal with your own problems before you attack us. Got a problem with the way things are done? Volunteer and help us out. I'm not saying we are perfect, but I'll be damned if you think you can spread your volunteer hating rhetoric without opposition.

Have a nice day :-)

I looked and found this old Mount Prospect police car. Cigarette lighter seems to be broken though.........

Depending on the position of the truck and overhead clearance, maybe extending the aerial at a negative pitch to go under the structure and use it as the platform to go up through the floor.

Yeah man, you dont see many Roto-rays in our area. Down the coast a bit, into the MD and DC regions, they would look at you funny if your rig DIDNT have one.

FDNY 489,354 total incidents. 213,292 EMS Runs. 26,595 Structure Fires.

FDNY EMS 1,236,819 incidents. 940,712 transports.

You gotta give it to FDNY for answering so many calls every year. Mathematically speaking, just the EMS calls, that breaks down into someone calling 911 for an ambulance once every 25 or so seconds....every day....all year. I know its a big city, with quite a few people, but just wow.

MoCo is always on top of stuff like this. If only PG, which is immediately next door, would follow suit. But I will get to guess again when the plow will come to me

I'll bid $1, Bob. (Drew Carey, while awesome, and very strange looking when skinny, can never really replace Barker).

I thought of this one while reading the posts about the headset that may or may not have been for the spotter in a previous post. In our Engine, every rider has an intercom headset with which to communicate inside the cab without excessive engine noise/siren noise overwhelming the conversation. The headsets for the driver and officer also have the ability to communicate with dispatch and other units without having to use another mic. The discussion that has been brought up has been over the safety of these headsets. Does the attenuation of the noise as a result of the headset of the driver pose a safety hazard by compromising the driver's abilities to hear horns or other noises from other vehicles on the road? Would/wouldn't the siren and apparatus horn drown out those noises anyway, so its a moot point? Could there be extended legal ramifications if the apparatus becomes involved in a collision because of these headsets? Thanks in advance for all of your opinions.

Just to throw it out there, and I think it was brought up at some point already, scannerland could be a good place to be while writing an IA. If you are O/S operating at an incident, you are concentrating on the job you are tasked to perform. You may not be aware of everything thats going on over the radio, because 100% of your attention is not focused on it. Someone sitting at a desk, listening to the incident with the scanner on the other hand, concentrates 100% on each transmission, and most likely can get a good idea of whats going on seeing as major events in the fire timeline will be transmitted over the radio.

I think that for OUR ENGINE, PPE makes operating the apparatus a bit harder, but not impossible. I still feel more comfortable in street clothes, but my PPE is always in the compartment right behind me should I arrive O/S and need it. While I don't think that NFPA has anything to say on the subject of TOG for MPO, the 2009 revision does state that no person in the apparatus should wear helmets while riding in the rig.

I doubt the batteries have actually leaked, they are sealed fairly well. The crust you see on the terminals is corrosion. Just take a flathead screwdriver and scrape it off, put new batteries in, and it should work.

Briarcliff replaced their siren/horn with an electronic equivalent about 2 or so years ago. it was pretty funny when they first put it in, because the timing was extremely off, and it would sound at all hours of the night. and while it does go off for EMS as well as Fire, an EMS siren is a single cycle, and is not accompanied by the horn

Is there a way to automatically update the destination of a GPS so it reflects the location of a call. As in is there a way a GPS to automatically generate a route to a call without having to manually enter it so when the call get dispatched, once you get into the rig, there is already a route?

Maybe if the GPS is laptop based, the dispatcher can use a remote access program to pre-program it.

Wow, thats pretty messed up. But did you click around and see the hit and run in Hartford video? No one did anything, I'm in shock.

Is there going to be much difference between the municipal gas consumption that the CVPIs take vs. the Tahoes?

wonder how long it will take them to realize they screwed up major AGAIN and change it back to Krock AGAIN

Most of the flycar medics Ive seen leave the SUV on with the keys in the ignition. But they take the key remote with them so the doors are locked.

For going out on the Tappan Zee, there is a little side area that "Authorized Vehicles Only" can use to bypass the toll entirely.

I think the best thing is to just wear your contacts as much as possible. If the call comes in the middle of the night, grab the case and your contacts. In the 30 seconds between getting on the truck and it pulling out, put in your contacts. If you've been using them long enough, you should be able to put them in during that time with time to spare.

Good job on the list Truck4 and the rest of the team. That being said, I do have a criticism to make about it. Would it be possible to have the name of the incident be a hyperlink to the IA post? I think it would be a good idea to be able to refresh ourselves about an incident that we may not have read about, or may not remember too well.

Canopy cabs are awesome in the summer.

Nice work CVFD. Also, everyone had their vests on, including the tow truck operator.

WOW, i think this is the first time i've ever seen total compliance to the vest law on a scene. THATS how we do it.

I dont think changing a department's name would have any impact on how people view us. People have come to know the fire department for everything emergency (that you wouldnt call the cops for). The public is well aware that if you smell smoke, gas, see fire, crash your car, get your cat stuck in a tree, or if you are feeling ill, the fire department is the right place to call. I think the title fire department has itself evolved over the years to reflect this need, and the name change would be unnecessary.

Well, thats just my thought on it.

The all red one that I posted a pic of is a mass Casualty unit like it says on the side that's the only red ambulance I could find on there website, the other one the red and white one is a medic . Where did you see the one that you posted was it in the washington or in a suburb just curious ?

well, this is the first time im seeing the MCI rig, and i can see how it gets mistaken for an ambulance. I see the red/white bus and the all white bus all around DC. The only notciable features that ive come across are the difference in unit # Medic (double digit) vs. RA-(triple digit) and ive also never seen the white ones in quarters before. all the firehouses i pass have the red/white units.