CLM92982

Rest in Peace First Lieutenant Compton. We've lost another TRUE American hero.

For over a century, researchers have debated whether or not wood exposed to long-term, low-temperature heat sources can exhibit spontaneous combustion. Vytenis Babrauskas, author of Ignition Handbook, argues that ignition is possible for wood building members exposed to temperatures as low as 77oC (170oF) for long time periods (months to years). Due to internal heating (self-heating), a reactive char forms under oxygen-deficient conditions and eventually ignites as oxygen enters newly-formed cracks. Examples that we may encounter in the field include wood floor/ceiling assemblies penetrated by steam/hot water supply pipes or ducts. For the sake of comparison, external heating applies to the ignition of wood exposed to higher temperatures of around 250oC (482oF) for periods no longer than a few hours. Most causes of fire probably fall under this category.
For the fire investigators and chief officers out there, have any of you determined that a fire was caused by self-heating or pyrophoric carbon? Conversely, does anybody think that long-term, low-temperature ignition of wood isn't possible? My knowledge is limited, but I understand that this topic is controversial in the fire investigation community. For more information, click the link below.
'Pyrophoric Carbon' and Long-term, Low-temperature Ignition of Wood

Barry not for nothing but many guys out there do the Job cause their heart is into it and actually enjoy it not so much for the $$$$$, although it is nice to to be fairly compensated for it.

Our policy is to drive cold to all stand-ins. If during the ride we get upgraded to the scene than its the officers discretion as to use of ligts/siren depending on travel distance and traffic. With our district being as rural as it is, we barely have to use lights and sirens at all.
I remember a call when I was in my past department, it was a stand-in, our neighbor was out to a structure fire on the opposite end of their district from us so we were providing station coverage. I was in the jump seat and the driver used the lights and sirens, he blew past atleast three to four cars, and when we got to the station he turned them off, as he was backing in I saw one of the cars he blew by and the driver was just staring at us looking confused. I told my officer and he just said "Screw them, we needed to cover our neighbors area." I was young then, and I wish I could confront that officer now. There is no need for lights/sirens when going to stand-in a neighbors station.
When we are called to stand-by in our station I never even use my blue light, I just drive like it was a drill night and I was going to station for drill, if they call us for help we are already enroute to the station and will get there as fast as we would using lights. Drive Defensively and safely, get there alive and save the taxpayers money from repairing or replacing the trucks from careless accidents.
Stay Safe.

Not to take away from the topic at hand, but although I am no fan of the City of New York as an employer, it was a Federal Judge, not a City Judge, who rendered a decision that the FDNY's hiring practices discriminated against minorities. Therefore, the City's hands are tied because of the Federal Government, not because of a decision/policy made by the City of New York.

God forbid the American public see such realities in the media.

God forbid the American public see such realities in the media.

God forbid the American public see such realities in the media.

God forbid the American public see such realities in the media.

God forbid the American public see such realities in the media.

Training is about complete for us on a new accountability system. It's called E.F.A.S. for Electronic Firefighter Accountability System. To echo what others around our job are saying, it's one of the most well thought out programs in a while. All command vehicles (Batt. and Div. cars) are set-up with the system. It uses our MDTS and opens with a single button push. The system is tied in with each companies riding list for the tour. In other words, each radio has and electronic I.D. number. That number correlates to a company and a position within that company (Nozzle, Roof, Irons, Boss, ect). When each tour starts, the members working are entered into the computer and so are the positions they're assigned. That computer system is tied in with the E.F.A.S.. When on scene, a member will make a transmission and that person information with pop up on the MDT screen as such:
F.F. Smith L099 - Roof (It is also time stamped.
Also, once any member of a company transmits, that company is stored as being on that incident and all of the companies show up in a different on screen box.
The list grows as members make transmissions, however, they remain on the list for the incidents duration. When someone transmits a Mayday, hopefully they push the emergency alert button on their radio. If they do, their transmissions are displayed on the screen in bright red, they also remain on top in another window. If they fail to push the emergency alert button, the member of the FAST truck who is monitering the screen may manually assign them to Mayday status.
A member from the FAST truck is responsible for monitoring this screen for the duration of the job. This includes any instances where the FAST truck may be put to work. The truck will operate without this member, they are married to this screen.
Lastly, the E.F.A.S. system has a roll-call feature. Since the system knows what units are on scene and have transmitted, it also knows how many firemen are there. When the chief hits the roll-call button on the screen, he will ask for all on scene to click their mic button 3 times (to avoid stepping on one another) and the system will record those who transmit as accounted for. Those who are not accounted for will show up in red and then they can be individually called upon to answer. Hopefully they were simply stepped on or did not click initially.
The system isn't nearly as complicated as I may have made it sound. It's fairly fire dept. friendly.

my names Brett, Ive been volunteering in this county for nearly 10 years now.
7 years in Chappaqua fire department and have now been in Mt. Kisco for 3 years, currently serving as 1 assistant engineer for E106.
I have had my EMT for about three years and have been involved with Chappaqua/ Mt. Kisco vac for about 6 years.
I am a member of the county's Technical Rescue Team and have been active with them for about 4 years.
additionally i serve our country as a member of the US Army (68w- combat medic) and look forward to my deployment early next year.
Other than all that i currently go to school at WCC as well as John Jay College majoring in criminal justice with a minor in emergency management.
im new as a poster to this site but a long time viewer. keep it up.

AFA are a giant can of worms. Is it really a potential fire?
Like everything else we do, we need to do a risk analysis.
About 2 years ago I did one for my dept. and was a little surprised at what I found. Over a 25 year period we did over 36,000 AFA's. I removed any call were we also recieved an additional phone call or calls and we also did not count water flow alarms. Approximatly 8 were actual fires. Now from a risk benefit, what I also found was we were more likely to find a fire from driving down the road and spotting flames, than from an AFA. Also we had more actual working fires that occured while we were out at AFA's and a property without an AFA had a fire.
Also, what is the potential for an MVA while responding to the high number of AFA's
I also find it interesting that the Fire Service is in effect financially supporting the alarm industry. They advertise that they will protect you, but all they do is make a call. My annual contribution to ADT is 30% more than what my taxes that for Fire, Police & EMS. The only reason it is worth it to me, is my insurance company reduces my premium by the same amount as my ADT bill, so I'd be paying it anyway.
I am not saying we should not respond to AFA's or even let PD "check & advise" but should we respond to them the same way we respond to a reported fire?

Date correction made to topic title as requested. Please note the new date.

Thank you to all. My wife Helen, who I called "Pumpkin" gave up her battle with lung cancer on Saturday morning Oct 1, 2011. She was such a good wife. Very mellow and low keyed. To this day, she looked the same way she did when I married her on Oct 9, 1976. Even after all those chemo and cancer treatments, she could still pass for a beautiful 25 year old. She just never aged.
Our first date was on Valentines Day, February 14, 1975. We went to see a new movie out about a high rise fire called "Towering Infernio". I told her that I was on the list to get on the fire dept. But I really don't think she was too impressed.
Our second date, I had to stop back home because I had forgotten to take the tickets for the show we were going to see. I invited her in for a few minutes and she talked with my mother. Later when I came home, she said to me "that's the girl you're going to marry". She was right and we would have celebrated our 34th Wedding Anniversary on Oct 9th.
"Pumpkin" was an Angel. She died peacefully at Backus Hospital in Norwich, Ct. Those nurses were the Greatest.

excellent cause to raise money for, I'll be signing up. See you guys there.

I have a few gripes with the way the system currently is, and I don't see it changing in the near future. Feel free to comment/agree/disagree with me.
Gripe #1: I would have no problem making the training the same for both. HOWEVER, since building inspections are not part of our requirements, those 63 hours could be scratched from the program. Also, since we have jobs and other responsibilities, allow us to complete the training over a period of time, say two years. Get the basics out of the way up front, then require the remainder to be completed within a certain time frame. That would better entice folks.
Gripe #2: I don't see Survival and/or FAST as required for either. This is a must.
Gripe #3: Some of these courses could be consolidated, since many classes harp on lessons learned in pre-requisite training. For example, EVOC and Pump Ops could be made into one course for less time, as could Firefighter I and II.
Gripe #4: I'm only lacking the building codes stuff and Wildland Firefighting training. BUT WHEN IS THIS EVER OFFERED TO ANY OF US? I'll never get into these programs locally, which isn't going to attract most of my fellow volunteer brothers.
Gripe #5: Include the CPAT into Firefighter I, this would weed out the guys who may pass, get their FF I cert and go back to their FD barely able to function on the fireground!
For those of you unaware of the state's certification process, in order for a volunteer firefighter to receive the NYS "Firefighter Certification", they must complete the following (first step is Recruit Firefighter II, followed by Recruit Firefighter I, than Firefighter). This "Firefighter Certification" is what the career men accomplish in their 450 hour academy.
Again... some of these courses are rare or never seen here in Westchester (or nearby) except when incorporated into the career academies.
Want piety for all of us? Convince the county to offer the same training to both sides of the fence. It's not like many of us aren't in favor of it!
Recruit II Certification
Firefighter I (87 Hours) OR
Basic Firefighter Training (42 Hours) & Intermediate Firefighter Training (18 Hours) OR
Firefighting Essentials (39 Hours), Fire Behavior / Arson Awareness (12 Hours) and Initial Fire Attack (18 Hours)
Plus Right To Know and Local Rules, Regulations and Laws (No given amount of time)
Recruit I Certification (Must be Recruit II certified)
Firefighter II (27 Hours) OR
Truck Company Operations or Ladder Company Operations (24 Hours)
Apparatus Operator - Pump or Pump Operator (24 Hours)*
Accident Victim Extrication Training (16 Hours)
Hazardous Materials First Responder Operations (16 Hours)**
Firefighter Certification (Must be Recruit I certified)
Inspection Practices of Existing Structures (21 Hours)***
Rescue Technician Basic or Rescue Operations (24 Hours)
Incident Command System (12 Hours)
Basic Wildland Firefighting (12 Hours)
First Aid & CPR
CPAT Exam
* - Prerequisite training is Apparatus Operator - EVOC (18 Hours)
** - Now included in Firefighter I program
*** - Two prerequisites Intro to Code Enforcement Practices (42 hours)

For those of you who don't know, the Federal Communications Commission has mandated that all radios in the bands from 150MHz to 512MHz be narrowband compliant by January 1, 2013.
What this means is that previously all radios, and frequency assignments, were in wideband (typically 25KHz between frequencies). Narrowbanding will "create" new frequencies by authorizing "new" frequencies in between the old 25KHz frequencies.
Example: Wideband - 460.0000, 460.0250, 460.0500
Narrowband - 460.0000, 460.0125, 460.0250, 460.0375, 460.0500
Both VHF-High (150-174MHz) and UHF (450-512MHz) are affected by this mandate.
Low Band frequencies are not required to be narrowbanded.
What this means is that if you are operating radio equipment that is wideband, you will be out of compliance on January 1, 2013. Most radio equipment manufactured after 1997 has the capability of operating in either wideband or narrowband mode. If this is your case, reprogramming your radio equipment for narrowband operation will make the equipment compliant.
Your FCC license also needs to be modified to reflect narrowband operation. You can check this out at the FCC's Database Website. Enter your license callsign, then click on the "Frequencies" tab, then click on the individual frequency. This will bring you to a page which shows the "Emissions" for that frequency. If your frequency is already narrowband compliant it will show an "11K_ _ _" emission designator. Wideband is shown as "20K_ _ _".
Here are some links which go into more detail:
FCC Narrowband transition
Narrowbanding.com
Narrowbanding.com - additional resources

My friend bought this a couple of months ago. Now in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.




Any one have the history on this rig? It is lettered as a Fire Police unit??

A few shots from Peekskill's Riverfront Green FireFiighters Memorial.

It's not TV. It's HBO.

Driving is more about judgment and executive function than anything else. The simple fact is that the prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain responsible for executive function) is still developing up until hit our 30s, so there's the physiological backing to these age limits. Does it mean a "kid" can't do it? Anyone can be taught the basics as long as they are able to reach all of the controls. However, conceptually, a mature and safe driver is at odds with an 18-25 year old (especially male) as we are generally pushing limits and greatly overconfident at that age.
@melillo719: Just because you've done something without incident doesn't make it safe. Can you get lucky 5/6 times playing Russian Roulette? General rules and standards are in place for a reason. If you look to understand the rules and their reasons for existing, you will, when the time is right, be a great driver. This is because behind good judgment is a good understanding of consequences - basic cause and effect. Rules are generally put in place to mitigate situations that resulted in incidents with significant damage to people or property in the past. It's far better to learn from others' mistakes as you can't make them all yourself.

If this is a problem, have you suggested using plain English on the radio to your superiors? The defunct definition of "10-20" in Westchester County is "respond with caution." If you want operators who are no longer trained to use ten-codes to advise your units to "respond non-emergency," perhaps you should tell them exactly that.
In my experience with 60 Control, using the words, "working fire" or "10-75" will prompt the operator to upgrade the incident to the predetermined first alarm assignment, if one exists, in the CAD. It seems as simple as using a couple of magic words after the initial size up.