CLM92982

Rombout and Hughsonville worked to extinguish this fire in a residential structure on Redout Rd Saturday January 15,2011 that I believe was caused by a faulty chimney.

Hughsonville firefighters arrive on the scene and get their chimney fire gear together...... They were assigned the fireplace as Rombout Firefighters were busy above the fire.....

Firefighters get their saw ready as interior crews are busy trying to access the fire from the inside....

Given the word from the interior command, the roof crew makes a cut around the chimney..... It was cold..... So cold the saw mans face shield kept fogging up and he could no longer see....

Rombout Asst. Chief Wes Hall gets some one-on-one feedback from the roof crew.....

Brrrrrrr......

Crews opened up the entire run of the Chimney to check for/and extinguish any extension.

Hughsonville works the area around the fireplace....

A Rombout Firefighter gets his chain saw ready for some interior cuts in the floor and wall on the second floor.....

With the floor and wall on the second floor open, the smoke picked up on the second floor interior..... Firefighter now had
completely exposed and subsequently contained the fire and limited the damage....

http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Officials-2-firetrucks-lost-in-crash-saved-lives-945656.php
STRATFORD ---- The Stratford Fire Department is reeling after the sudden loss of two of its fire engines in a crash on Interstate 95 in which one tractor-trailer slammed into Engine 1, and another into Engine 5.
The two crashes occurred almost simultaneously, officials said.
Lampart said the two engines......were parked in a "staggered" configuration on the highway, in order to protect the lives of the firefighters, police officers, EMTs and other first responders to the original car crash. In this positioning of the trucks, one is parked in the right-hand lane and the other in the center lane, in order to both direct traffic around the mishap, and also to provide protection in event an incompetent driver happens upon the scene.
"The system worked," Lampart said. "Even though we lost two trucks, we would have been looking at six or seven fatalities and or very serious injuries had those trucks not been in place."

People, Lets be careful out there

The New Hackensack Fire Department, Town of Wappinger Ambulance/TransCare Medics, and the NYSP - Wappinger were dispatched for a "reported plow truck on fire" I/A/O #1 Martin Drive. Units arrived to find a 1 ton dump body plow truck with the cab fully involved and fire impinging on a ~ 250 gallon tank of unknown contents that was in the dump body...... Crews used a single line to cool the tank and then quickly extinguish the fire w/o incident. The driver was nowhere to be found and the plates were missing too..... Apparently the driver removed the trucks plates and fled...... The NYSP are looking for both the driver and vehicles owner.....

Crews have their line flaked out and prepare to get masked up......

Ya ready?

Using the nozzles reach to cool the tank......

Hitting the running fuel fire as the neighbors watch......

Moving up on it......

Hitting the main body of fire..... The Lieutenants guide a "green" firefighter.....

Now ya got it.....

Fire knocked down........

In the last few hours of this year I want to take a moment to remember the 162 Police Officers that gave their lives in the line of duty this year. These brave and selfless men and women are my heroes and at Midnight tonight when we welcome the new year, these officers and their families will be in the forefront of my mind. You have my love, honor, admiration and respect my brothers and sisters and I thank you for your service and sacrafice. God Bless You

Here are some photos of Patterson's Spartan/SVI rescue truck, 22-6-1 placed into service earlier this year. I took these photos shortly after it was placed into service, so some equipment currently carried is not shown here.For the the specs, 515 HP Detroit Diesel, Allison EVS 4000 transmission, 6 man cab, 250 gpm PTO pump with 230 gallons, AMKUS Ultimate system (4 tools preconnected), 25 light tower, 25kw Harrison PTO generator. It also carries trench rescue panels, various power and air tools, an air cart, ice rescue, low angle rope rescue, Paratech struts, Resque Jacks, petrogen torch, front bumper winch, 250+ speedy dry in hopper with chute, and lots of cribbing

Driver side compartments

Officer side compartments

You must live in either the five boroughs of New York City or in Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Nassau, or Suffolk County.
Do you have to be a New York City resident to be a NYC firefighter?

Interactions between field units and 60 Control operators are generally limited to radio transmissions during an incident. Take a quick look at their role as call takers, all of whom are certified emergency medical dispatchers. Great interviews with 651 and 662, and of course, well-delivered pre-arrival instructions by 637.

Interactions between field units and 60 Control operators are generally limited to radio transmissions during an incident. Take a quick look at their role as call takers, all of whom are certified emergency medical dispatchers. Great interviews with 651 and 662, and of course, well-delivered pre-arrival instructions by 637.

Interactions between field units and 60 Control operators are generally limited to radio transmissions during an incident. Take a quick look at their role as call takers, all of whom are certified emergency medical dispatchers. Great interviews with 651 and 662, and of course, well-delivered pre-arrival instructions by 637.

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/drowning-looks-different-than-you-think-2010225/

Where to start. I am an auto appraiser for my real job, and get to see lots of bags deployed.
The cover on the wheel now is a bad idea. When it first came out you only had steering wheel bag.
With all the other bags in cars now the cover would give the rescuer a false sence of security and may lead them to over look undeployed bags in other tareas of the car.
5-10-20 is the rule to teach and pass along. The most critical skill that MUST be passed along is to EXPOSE EVERYTHING before you cut.. I witnessed an Audi that was cut by a nearby FD that they did not do this and in fact cut thru the tube that expells the propellant from a side airbag canister in a C post. They have no clue at how close they came to cutting into the caniser (1-2 inches on both sides!!!)
Air bags and their parts are everywhere
-steering wheels
- dash
-side of front and rear seats
-Head rails
-A post and in the hinge post
- Dash Knee air bags on alot of cars not just the old Kia Sportage anymore.
-There are also airbags now on the big Motorcycles too
- Ford is also toying with airbags to prevent pedestrian inj on the exterior as well.
Other things to keep in mind are pre-tensoners for the seatbelts, and auto deploying roll over protection as well on convertables. Any we have not gotten to th eHybeds or electrics yet.
Extrication has become increasingly complex and dangerous for the rescuer IF you do not keep up on new technologies you are going to get hurt. And trainning on 15 year old cars is NOT real world trainning anymore.
Contact your local car dealer to see what is new in safey
Aaron Hodge

Here are some of the pictures I took last weekend 6/12/10 while onboard the Fireboat John J. Harvey.



view of port side


one of five motors

two fo the five motors looking aft

Engineer's station below deck



Engine Room Motor Control signaling

corresponding Motor Control signal in Wheelhouse

pump pressure signaling in Engine Room. Note the chain drive above that goes up to the Wheelhouse. This is the same for the Motor Control signaling in the above pictures.

pump pressure signaling in the Wheelhouse

Before the crew started up the motors one of the crew pointed out various points in the Engine Room. One point of interest was that when the boat was built in 1931 German engineering was highly regarded, and some of the valves in this boat are from Germany. The above picture of a water valve clearly shows a German swastika (botom center). From what the crewmember told me the swastika was originally a symbol denoting German craftsmanship.
Another point of interest is that the diesel motors are cylinder opposed, which means that each cylinder has two pistons. Both pistons compress to ignite the fuel, as opposed to single cylinder diesels which a single piston compresses against the cylinder head.

These are some of the water valves leading to the monitors

Bow monitor

Three monitors on "The Tower"


View of "The Tower"

Center monitors with Tower to the left

view of the Wheelhouse

Tower monitors flowing water




Fireboat.org, the website of the John J. Harvey. Lots of info on this site, check it out for the history of this boat.

Looking South at the George Washington Bridge while tied up a the Yonkers Pier

I can't say anything about either company as I have not worked for them.
How long have you been an EMT? I get the feeling that you are on a BLS transport truck for Transcare. I had been an EMT for many years prior to actually working in EMS. When I first started actually working in EMS, I worked for a company that did, at the time, only transport work. Let me tell you, I learned a lot doing that. Talk to the nurses. Look at the charts. Look at your patient. talk your patient. If you want, you will learn alot about diseases, disease processes, pharmacology, and geriatrics. You can also meet some very cool people (I had the opportunity to meet one of the original Tuskagee Airmen).
I also learned, because I had no medic to back me, to be a stronger EMT, to treat patients as effectively as possible with BLS skills and tools.
Now that I work for a 911 company, I still try to learn something new every day. But most of the calls are ALS, and the medic does his work while I drive. Very rarely do I get the chance to get very involved in actual patient care.
Ultimately it's up to you. But if you are happy where you are, learn from what you do and your day to do 911 calls will come.
Good luck in whatever you do.

I've taken both the Intro to Fire Officer and Fire Officer I courses. I am also a NYS Certified Fire Officer Level I. My main concern with the officer training courses is that they don't focus on tactics. You review paperwork, employee management, record keeping, public relations, public eductation and briefly touch on size-up and implementing an action plan. Now, I am not knocking these programs, they have their good points, but to be an effective, more confident officer you need to be taught what to do after getting on the scene.
In our department, we have been debating back and forth for a couple of years as to which courses each position should complete as they move up the ranks. One of our best guys and former officers has stated that for company level officers, it's more beneficial to take courses such as AVET, TCO, etc. instead. I almost agree, but I think the better answer lies with OFPC implementing a better group of courses for officer development. Take the Intro to Fire Officer Class and call it Fire Officer I, make Fire Officer I a Fire Officer II, etc. Make these classes more situationally driven so new officers aren't rolling up to a scene and wondering what to do.
There's a lot of great books and Instructors out there (Salka, Norman, Brunacini, etc.) that help new officers get a grasp of things. I'd love to see courses like the FLIP school availalable to volunteer officers as well. Maybe then we could be given more credit and viewed more closely as equals. I know that a lot of the decisions we will make as officers are derived from a few sources, which include training, experience and the good ol' gut reaction. The election process (see: popularity contest) is antiquated. The days of saying it's someone's turn, or voting for the kid who goes to the most calls are gone.
We can fool ourselves into thinking the current officer classes make us better officers, but we all know how that really goes.
And as far as combination departments and their chain of command - make officer training (and for that matter, firefighter training) as equal as possible for everyone so the playing field is the same and we lose some of the bickering and battling that is only going to destroy the fire service.

I have read your reply, sorry i am going to disagree on a couple of points. A firefighter isnt as good as the tools he has on his back or in his hands it is the tool on his shoulders. This member who did this act of entering the structure, I would hope, as a firefighter, used all his training in evaluating the situation, judged the risk vs benefit, and did what his firefighting background allowed him to do. Turnout gear doesnt make you a firefighter, it is whats inside that makes you a firefighter. This member of the fire service / ems did a hell of a job. And thats what separates us from the rest of the world.
GOOD JOB AND THANK YOU FOR BRINGING A POSITIVE STORY ABOUT EMERGENCY SERVICES.

This is a good topic!
JFLYNN - excellent!
I'm not a career firefighter, but in the volunteer world I live in, I can tell you the difference between the "Senior Man" and the "Life Member."
The SM is a guy who has been around long enough to be trusted with just about any task. They unknowingly guide and lead younger guys at calls and drills. They'll give up the knob so someone with less time can get it. They'll show up to drills and offer to help with the evolutions, run the pump or put the aerial up and show others how to fly it. They're still coming to meeting nights and keeping quiet, only speaking up when the younger guys are missing the point or the older Life Members need a reality check. They quietly go with the flow, and have the respect for the Officers and Chiefs to tell them in private when they made a mistake or did a good job. They never seem to disrespect anyone of rank in front of younger, more impressionable members. They still get up at 2AM and man the Engine for a CO call when the younger guys feel they're too good to get out of bed for it.
Most importantly, in the volunteer world that I know, the best Senior Men always remember how it was, how it is, and how it will be. They respect those that were there before them and hold on to the good traditions, yet they don't put up a fuss when you change SOPs or mandate training because it will mean a safer tomorrow for everyone.
Nothing can replace the guidance of your Senior Man.
As for a "Life Member" vs. a "Senior Man," these are usually guys that "put their time in," and constantly remind you that "I don't have to do that anymore," and can always be found at the firehouse talking to others of "their kind" because the real players in the firehouse are usually out in the Engine Room checking the equipment or at the drill.
I will always feel priviledged to have grown up in a firehouse and a family with so many "Senior Men" who have mentored me and so many others into the members we are today. Their guidance and advice isn't just limited to the firehouse - it helps you in life altogether. These guys (in many cases whom have left this earth) had the sincerity, humbleness and pride that you just can't get out of most people today.
Don't take them for granted, because the day they're gone a piece of your firehouse is gone!

Date: 4/11/10
Time: 22:15 hours
Location: Grand St x Eldridge St
Frequency: FDNY Manhattan
Weather Conditions: humid, light drizzle
Description Of Incident: fire extended from the basement through the roof of a 6 story MD and into exposures 2, 2A, and 4. Companies initially unable to locate source of fire.
Reporters/Writer: ryang
Additional Info:
Chinatown, Manhattan, NY, 4/11/10
Address: 283 - 285 Grand St between Forsyth and Eldridge Sts
22:14 hours
Phone Box 259 - Report of smoke in the area
Engs. 9, 55, 15
T6, TL18
Battalion 4
10-75-259 - 22:16 hours
E28
T20 (FAST Truck)
Battalion 2
Squad 18
Rescue 1
Division 1
22:21 hours
Battalion 4: We're opening up at this time, we're trying to locate the source of the smoke. We're not sure if this is even the right building at this time. We have 1 line stretched, ready to go into operation.
22:25 hours
Division 1: We're going to change the address to 285 Grand St, we have a heavy smoke condition throughout the building, still trying to locate the source. 1 line stretched at this time, start out an extra engine and extra truck.
E7, L11 S/C
7-5-259 - 22:29 hours
DC1: We have a 20x80 mixed-occupancy type 6 story. We're still searching for the fire at this time. All-Hands at this time.
RAC1
Exposures are:
1 - street
2 - similar attached
3 - unknown
4 - similar
CIDs for 283 - 285 Grand St:
6 story 60x75 MD class 3. Rear fire escape. Solar panels on roof.
2-2-259 - 22:34 hours - Duration 20 minutes
Car 6 (AC James Esposito, Manhattan Borough Commander): Box 259, transmit a full 2nd alarm on this box, k. Box 259, right now we're using a 2nd alarm, heavy smoke in the cellar and 1st floor. Undetermined source of fire at this time, Trucks are still opening and searching for fire. This report by AC James Esposito, citywide tour commander.
Engs. 33, 5, 6, 10
E24 acting 9 w/ Satellite 1
TL9, L3 acting 6
Battalion 1 (Safety Officer)
Battalion 6 (Resource Unit Leader)
Safety, Rescue Battalions
Tactical Support 1
FieldCom, Command Tactical Unit
22:36 hours
Car 6: 2nd Alarm Box 259, 10-45 no code.
22:38 hours
Car 6: The satellite, let's get them on Grand St in front of the park on Eldridge, get the manifold set up right in front of the fire building. I want the two trucks into the command post ASAP, with their tools, k, they're going to work. Special call 1 additional truck on the 2nd
TL1 S/C
22:40 hours
The staging area is Grand St and Chrystie St
22:41 hours
Receiving apartment 4H at 45 Allen St reporting smoke.
22:42 hours
Car 6: Special call an additional truck above TL1.
L8 S/C
22:43 hours - Duration 29 minutes
Car 6: 2nd Alarm Box 259, another, 2nd, 10-45 no code
3-3-259 - 22:47 hours
Car 6: 259 box, transmit a full 3rd alarm. I want the entire third alarm to stage at the staging area
Engs. 4, 3, 16, 23 acting 55
L10, T5
Battalion 7
Battalion 35 (Staging Manager)
Battalion 43 (Air-Recon Chief)
Mask Service Unit

22:54 hours
Car 6: Have the 1st due trucks on the 3rd alarm respond in to the Command Post.
22:55 hours
Car 6: Call 2 trucks and have them go to staging.
TL21 acting 1, TL15 S/C
22:59 hours
Car 6: Give me 2 engines and 2 trucks off of staging, have them report in to the Command Post.
Engs. 4, 3, L10, T5 re-directed
23:00 hours
Car 6: Special call two Battalion Chiefs on this assignment, I want them at the command post.
Battalions 8, 57 S/C
23:00 hours
Battalion 31 replacing Battalion 57
4-4-259 - 23:01 hours
Car 6: Transmit a 4th Alarm! Have the 4th alarm report to staging, I have Battalion 35 at staging.
Engs. 8, 1, 54, 14
E262 w/ IMT Unit
TL7, TL12
Battalion 57 (Planning Sections Chief)
Car 4 (Chief of Operations Robert Sweeney)
Car 36B (Department Chaplain)
23:02 hours
Car 12A (Executive Assistant, Safety and Inspectional Services) is responding
Car 17 is 10-84
23:05 hours
FieldCom: 4th alarm Box 259, AC Esposito, Car 6, would like to request ConEd Gas and ConEd Electric to the scene, k.
23:08 hours
Fallback Step III has been implemented in the borough of Manhattan.
23:10 hours
Receiving report of person trapped in apartment 4C on the 6th floor
23:10 hours - Duration 57 minutes
FC: Progress report #6 on the 4th alarm Box 259, the correct address is 283 Grand St. Car 6, AC Esposito reports we have fire in the basement and 1st floor of the fire building, which is 283 Grand St, with possible extension into the 2nd floor. We have extension into exposure 2, which is 285 Grand St, into the 1st floor. They have 5 hands lines stretched and in operation, they are evacuating civilians from the upper floors, and they are getting water on the fire, primary searches are in progress, and the fire remains Doubtful Will Hold.
23:12 hours
Receiving apartment 14 at 285 Grand St reporting a person choking from smoke.
23:13 hours
FC: By orders of Car 6, AC Esposito, special call 2 Battalion Chiefs above the 4th Alarm.
Battalions 9, 32 acting 1 S/C
23:13 hours
Car 12 (DAC Stephen Raynis, Chief of Safety and Inspectional Services) is responding
23:16 hours
FC: Can you put in another call to ConEd, we need a supervisor forthwith and get an ETA
5-5-259 - 23:17 hours
FC: Per Car 6, AC Esposito, transmit a 5th Alarm!
Engs. 26, 226, 34 acting 24, 230 acting 10
6-6-259 - 23:23 hours
Engs. 205, 224, 210, 211
L154 acting 1, L24
23:26 hours - Duration 1 hour 12 minutes
FC: Progress report #7 for the 6th Alarm Box 259, at this time AC Esposito reports, 8 handlines stretched and in operation, fire on the 1st and 2nd floors of exposure 2, fire extended to the 3rd floor of the original fire building. Transmit 2 additional 10-45s, for a total of 4, still evacuating numerous civilians from the upper floors, and the fire remains Doubtful.
23:32 hours
Car 36A (Department Chaplain) is responding
23:34 hours
FC: Special call a 95 foot Tower Ladder, we need them to respond to Eldridge St adjacent to exposure 2.
TL14 acting 21 S/C
23:42 hours
FC: At this time the Chief of Operations, Chief Sweeney, is on scene. We have evacuated all members from the fire building and from exposure 2, and we are in the process of conducting a rollcall.
23:44 hours
Battalion 43 - Air Recon: Can you advise the FieldCom, from our vantage point we have heavy fire through the roof.
FC: Have the Air Recon Battalion switch to channel 5 while they conduct rollcall.
23:45 hours
Car 3 (Chief of Department Edward Kilduff) is 10-84
Car 1 (Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano) is responding
23:54 hours
Car 1E (Commissioner's Liaison) is responding
Car 14 (Chief Fire Marshal) is responding
7-7-259 - 23:55 hours
FC: At this time can you special call an additional FAST Truck, have them report to Battalion 9 on exposure 3. By orders of the Chief of Department, Chief Kilduff, transmit a 7th Alarm.
T118 (FAST Truck) S/C
23:56 hours
FC: By orders of Car 3, Chief Kilduff, we will only special call 2 engines.
Engs. 21 acting 15, 219 S/C*
((7th Alarm rescinded)
00:00 hours - 1 hour 46 minutes
FC: Progress report for the 6th Alarm Box 259, at this time Car 3, Chief of Department Kilduff reports they have heavy fire on all floors of the original fire building, and they have fire on all floors of exposure 2. They have 2 tower ladders set up and in operation: 1 on the fire building, and 1 on exposure 2. They have extension into exposure 2A, and have 3 handlines stretched into exposure 2A, and the fire remains Doubtful.
7-7-259 - 00:05 hours
FC: By orders of the Chief of Department, Chief Kilduff, transmit an additional alarm for the 7th alarm.
Engs 216, 258 acting 33, 271 acting 6, 202
L30 acting 3, TL146 acting 18
00:07 hours
FC: Can you special call an additional Deputy Chief.
Division 11 S/C
00:11 hours
RAC1: You're going to have to dispatch another RAC to the 7th Alarm here.
RAC2 S/C
00:27 hours
FC requests a mixer-off message.
00:33 hours
FC: Can you special call 1 additional battalion chief, have them report to the Command Post.
Battalion 44 S/C
00:46 hours
Receiving report of embers falling on Hester St between Eldridge and Forsyth Sts
00:46 hours - Duration 2 hours 32 minutes
FC: At this time Chief of Department Kilduff reports they have fire in exposure 2A on the 4th, 5th, 6th floors and in the cockloft, they have a tower ladder operation on the fire building, another tower ladder operating on exposures 2 and 2A. They had some extension into exposure 4 but that has been knocked down, and the fire remains Doubtful, k.
00:54 hours
FC: On the original 4 10-45 no codes, 2 of them are going to be code 2s (Red Tag, Immediate) and 2 will be code 4s (Green Tag, Minor).
01:14 hours
FC requests a mixer-off message.
01:25 hours
BC43 (Air Recon): Advise FieldCom we have re-fueled and are ready to take off again, ascertain if they have any special instructions and what handy-talky channel they want us to come in on.
01:26 hours
FC: You can notify the Air Recon as per the Chief they can go back in service.
01:35 hours - Duration 3 hours 22 minutes
FC: Progress report #10 for the 7th Alarm Box 259, the Chief of Department, Chief Kilduff, reports: at this time they have shut down all tower ladders, they have no visible fire in the original fire building, exposure 2, or exposure 2A. They are evaluating the structural stability of the original fire building and exposure 2, they will be going back to a handline operation in exposure 2A, and places the fire Probably Will Hold, k.
01:49 hours
FC: We have a correction on the 10-45s: originally we had a total of 4 1045s, it is now only 3. 2 will be code 2s, and 1 has been upgraded to a code 3 (Yellow Tag, Delayed).
01:51 hours
Rescue Battalion is 10-8 back to Citywide.
01:54 hours
Tactical Support 1 is 10-8 back to Citywide.
02:00 hours
Car 1 is 10-8.
02:12 hours - Duration 3 hours 58 minutes
FC: Progress report #11 on the 7th Alarm Box 259, the Chief of Department, Chief Kilduff, reports: at this time they have 1 tower ladder operating into exposure 2, they have 2 handlines stretched and in operation in exposure 2A knocking down pockets of fire in the shaft and cockloft, he's placing the fire Under Control, k.
Relocations:
Engines: 316/1, 292/3, 280/4, 271/6, 221/7, 24/9, 22/9, 306/22, 230/10, 35/10, 291/14, 21/15, 255/15, 319/21, 34/24, 325/24, 73/26, 237/28, 258/33, 259/33, 23/55, 74/55
Ladders: 21/1, 154/1, 115/1, 3/6, 30/3, 128/6, 163/7, 110/8, 16/11, 22/12, 111/15, 146/18, 119/18, 101/20, 14/21, 23/21, 54/14
Battalions: 32/1, 11/2, 10/4, 45/6, 52/8

This is a good question and I agree that many may choose not to answer because they don't want to offend anyone and / or look in the mirror. I'll jump in though because I think this is an important topic.
In the career fire service a good senior man should have several qualities...calm, confident, lead by example, minimal or no whining, an advocate for the men to the officers and an advocate for the officers to the men. A good senior man praises in public and criticizes in private. A good senior man does not take things personally nor does he make personal attacks.
A good senior man does not need to be the most intelligent, skilled, or physically fit firefighter...he realizes that his years of experience entitle him to respect automatically and this respect will be lost only if he is dishonest, uncaring, a bully,or a loudmouth.
A good senior man rarely, if ever, asks for special privilege due to his senior status. The less he asks, the more it will be given.
Good senior men have many different styles and personalities but I have found the most effective, comforting, senior men to be the type who are more likely to be found quietly observing from a corner of the room than loudly carrying on in the middle of the crowd.
Now, maybe we should talk about what makes a good junior man, because we can have the best Officers and senior men in the world, but if the guy or guys at the bottom and in the middle don't do their job and just want to blame their own bad attitudes and work ethic on those above them, all the best intentions of the bosses and senior men are useless.....

The senior man is a huge problem.....
....he is too few. At least in my neck of the woods. This lack of seniority has, in my limited view from inside the fire dept., been difficult. HOWEVER, the senior men who remain have been instrumental in leading us members of the Juniority in keeping up traditions and being willing to show us johnnies a thing or two at every opportunity. The burden of being in that positions is, no doubt, very great.
In my experience, there are two kinds of senior men. There is the true top senior man who has tons of time and you respect him because, well, he's seen it and done it and you haven't. You take care of him, make sure that his 12x watch is covered and that you ask him what he wants when you are heading to shop for the meal. This guy bears the burden of passing on the firehouse tradition and seeing to it that things continue to run in the well oiled manner that they have since anyone can remember. He is the officer's right hand man, his go to guy. He won't deal with day to day problems directly, in fact, you might find a senior man that doesn't have a lot to say to the proby....ever. He'll pass the word down the chain and feed you to the 10 year jackals! The senior man makes house policy and sets the tone. He is the most important person in the firehouse and his experience is invaluable.
The other kind of senior man is a little different. He isn't necessarily the guy with the most time, although he will certainly have more than most. He is a guy who steps up to lead in the firehouse everyday. He shares his knowledge and runs drills. I believe that the most effective "sub"-senior man is not the guy who breaks your chops all day from the kitchen table or the couch. He's the guy that you see DOING what you should be doing and without a word can make you run to help or steal that task from him. He won't say that you should be doing it, but you should realize that without anything being spoken. This is a guy who can make you want to step-up all of the time.
Thankfully, in all of my 10 seconds on the job, I've been able to work with the senior men who will take advantage of any opportunity to show you a trick or run through the paces of fire tactics at even the most mundane and routine run.
One thing aside from this, but important to note:
I think that the lack of enough senior firemen in a lot of instances has changed the role of the officer, at least temporarily. They do need to step outside of the typical officer's role and to share stories and knowledge to help bridge the seniority gap. Thankfully there have been enough senior officers around in my short career to do this. I think that the 8 officers assigned to the two companies in my house have a combined 140 (2 have less than 10 years so you can imagine what that means about the others) of experience. This is a huge bonus when, of the 4 guys on the backstep, 2 are probies and the other two of us have a combined time of about 6 years!

From the standpoint of an officer in a small department I can tell you that it is often difficult to change the past. In a small FD, everyone knows you, your past successes and more importantly-failures or weaknesses. While most people cannot actually change who they are, some can excel when they get a new start. Sometimes this is at promotion time. I've seen guys who spent to much time as firefighters become bored and subsequently less motivated, who when promoted excelled at the new challenge. Others have been passed over for the same reason. It would be nice to be able to lift a guy upon promotion and place him in a new environment.
At the time of my first promotions testing process, I had already passed on one due to being just barely eligible on time. I had seen many officers and knew what I liked and didn't like in an officer and was determined to use that to mold myself as an officer. Of course seeing and doing are worlds apart. I had to learn many lessons the hard way-by screwing them up! The stuff we study for on testing day is by far the easiest part of the job. I'd go to incidents all day every day, even complete the paperwork, but dealing with people and personalties is by far the most difficult part. Dealing with divorcing firefighters, one who are cheated on, those in bankruptcy, or those who are bored with their job or life are the real challenges in firehouse life.
Treat people how you'd want to be treated. Most of our guys are adults (legally 100%) and should be treated as such. There are more than 5 ways to do almost anything, yet some officers feel the need to micromanage every task to have it done their way. I'd much rather set an expectation level and have the crew accomplish their tasks safely and efficiently. How they get to the end result means far less as long as it was safe and within a reasonable time frame. It's like making sausage, you love the end result but really don't want to see how its made!
As a boss of bosses it's a little different. You're responsible for the leadership of a much greater number of people and tasks and you must rely on subordinates to run these tasks. I tell all Lt's under me that I expect them to be advocates for their people. They must enforce our rules, but should always be looking out for their personnel first. I expect some push back from these guys on some things, it shows they're advocating. I also expect they know when to say when and how to move on and bring the crew along too.
With regard to leadership, I've always liked the model that goes like this:
Tell them the task, clearly explain your expectations, give them the tools and latitude to get the task done, and then get out of the way. If they fail, look at where you failed. Did I set the expectations clearly enough? Did they have adequate tools for the job? Was this within the scope of their abilities? Only if you can answer yes to all three of these should beyond yourself for answers. And in the end, hold yourself more accountable then your people. Similarly a success is their success, not yours. Don't worry your leaders will see you passing the praise as easy as they see you stealing the glory, selflessness benefits everyone, selfishness rarely serves anyone well.

You are so right. It's really difficult to make the transition into a leadership role on the smaller jobs, and I imagine in volunteer departments as well. In the City, they transfer you out of your Battalion, your Division, your Borough in most cases right?
Take a small job with five firehouses and 70 members. Where are you going to go and make the change? Right in your same five houses, with the same 70 members.
Now you go to FLiPs, come back, in my case with two bars on the collar. That went over well at Randall's Island too. There was a guy in Flips from upstate that was a chief. Firefighter to chief. Talk about a leap. I spent half the time I was at the Rock explaining why we didn't have Lieutenants at the time. Now the job has Lts, much better transition for a firefighter to go to company officer then to tour command, than to skip the company officer part. But a lot of us do/did.
Even jobs like FDMV, NRFD; they aren't so huge that you can take a new officer and start over in a whole new environment. You want to practice the book and try to live by it.
But you get back, with all the knowledge you've absorbed from Flips, even though much of the classtime was devoted to FDNY operations, and now your brothers are calling you sir and you have a new level of performance you have to bring to the job every day.
It gets tested, guys have issues, problems arise, how do you handle them, do you help the brothers stay out of trouble, do you become hard nosed, do you want to be loved or feared?
I always took the meaning of my job to protect my guys as just that. Protect them in every possible way I could, so they could go home at the end of their tours to their families. There's a way to ensure bail-out systems get inspected and serviced regularly, and the members get to be trained and retrained. Commanders just have to be enabled with the authority and responsibility to carry it out. Too much micro-management on smaller jobs. Too many times a tour commander will get squeezed between a chief and his squad.
A really good boss will give the tour commander the authority, he'll pass it to company officers and the whole system works like it supposed to.
Good judgement by the commander is neccesary; we can't take our leadership roles to the extremes; laxidical or authoritarian.
In some cases if it isn't going well for a leader, it's because they can't listen and adapt to what is being told to them. A good commander is a good listener, in my opinion.

Sad, sad, sad. So much for that thread about the words "professional" on a vollie rig. This is at least a combination department (can't tell for sure from their website). Chief is at least a career position, and he's laying on the lawn. There are "professionals" and "un-professionals" in both career and vollie ranks. No one has an exclusive on either.

While there are plenty of times I am happy I was not being taped it is the world we live in. So lets learn frome others mistakes. At car fires like this there is very little to gain but much to lose. The dangers at car fires are extensive and the byproducts of a burning car are probably the worst thing we come in contact on a regular basis. Don't rush, wear everything, use the reach of the stream, and approach at an angle. There was a recent article in Fire Engineering by a member of the YFD which hit the important stuff in depth. I did say very little to gain because they are good for training new members. Your nozzle team gets to work as a team on air to put out a fire. Have the forcible entry team work as a team and get the hood (after the fire is knocked down and bumpers and struts cooled) with the irons (it builds team work with the irons).

Had a fire years ago, same situation ( actually same street a block or 2 north), two frames, heavy fire between both. 1st engine strecthed into buidling on left. As 2nd due we stretched 2 1/2 to knock down fire between buildings. Fire did extend into both buildings but the main body of fire was between the buildings.It took a while to knock the fire down because it was front to back and top to bottom in the alley. Lines in the building will control the extension but the fire in between will kept burning unless addressed.The sooner the better. The 3rd line covered the building on the right. Depending on the situation, amount of fire, rescue,ladder Co. placement, etc, lining up the deck pipe with the alley and dropping the booster is a good move. Did that at a fire also with good success. JMO

If you look carefully you see 2 handlines being stretched off E-79 both look like 1 3/4 lines. You can have 2 lines off 1 pumper. The newer 2000 gpm pumpers can handle more than 2 lines if needed, it is always a good idea to have another pumper ready to supply handlines in case of pump failure or hydrant issues.
Cannot tell from video if fire was in a building and spread to exposure or if fire started between buildings, if in a building the first line goes to the fire, the second could be used to give a quick exterior knockdown before advancing into the exposure being careful not to put any water into the original fire building, this could cause problems for members on first handline. It appears that the fire had already extended into the exposure so getting the line into this building was necessary. Ok so 1st line into original building 2nd line to exposure and if possible charge in street to knock down auto exposure otherwise in building, additional lines will be stretched to the area between buildings and other exposures.
1st truck has original fire building, 2nd due should take the exposure in this scenario due to rapid extension of fire. Additional trucks will be used in both buildings to assist.
From what i heard this fire was quickly contained and extinguished with no other extension to any buildings.