dwcfireman

This is an interesting topic. I remember from the couple of psychology classes I took in college that human emotions were explained, and the dynamic of the human psyche plays out differently for everyone. I never really understood it until I got into the working world, started networking, and just started talking to random people. It's absolutely amazing how different people have different levels of emotion, and more so how different people have different breaking points of when and where anger sets in. I'm not going to say learning all of this makes me immune to not getting hurt on a personal level. EVERYONE gets their feelings hurt at some point. EVERYONE has those moments where you just walk away with your tail between you legs. What I have learned over the years is how to deal with it, ignore the negative criticism, and just move on. I remember a younger me who would lash out a bit too quickly before thinking about the situation, a younger me who though I was a bit more invincible and smarter than I actually was. But, I've slowly figured out (and still learning) how the world works, how people interact with each other, and how even social media molds our personalities. The point I'm striving for is that there is no logical reason to get upset over menial things. There's no reason to get mad because someone put you down, or told you that you're wrong, or even when you get so frustrated with something that you just need to unleash. Just take a deep breath, exhale slowly, and remember that what that DB told you is just another meaningless comment. If you still feel ticked off about it, there's a support group for everybody, and it's called your favorite bar. Your friends will help you get over the anger over a few brewskies. Since this is also mentioned, I would like to bring my post back around to the social media influence (aka cyber bullying). People get so comfortable hiding behind a screen name that they feel invincible enough to say what ever they want. I'm not going to hide the fact that I have fallen victim to this (yes, I used to be young and stupid, too). FFEMT150 is 100% correct that if you want to be negative to someone, if you want to put someone down, be a man and identify yourself! But I'm going to take it a step further...be a bigger man and stop yourself before you say something negative and/or derogatory. Think about your response, change the wording, and make it constructive. The only way anyone can move forward in this world is if we're all constructive with one another, and being negative with other people only prevents the process of forward thinking. EMTBravo.com is created for all of us emergency responders to talk and be constructive with one another to teach the younger members, inform the newer members, and to share information and ideas with eerybody else that does the same jobs that we all do. So, if your feelings are hurt and your ego is bruised, brush it off and jump back on the wagon. You'll get over it. If you're the ones causing the bruises intentionally, you need to reevaluate your intentions of being a member on this site. Justin McGory Edit #1: I just want to add that I'm not mad at anyone in particular and not trying to call out specific people, I'm just pointing out some things that I have learned over the years to better myself and share my opinion with others. Edit #2: Addition of intentionally to my final statement.

Also, lower hose loads lowers the center of gravity of the vehicle (albeit by not much) to make the vehicle easier/safer to drive.

When I became a lieutenant for the first time my father share with me a story of a problem he had to mitigate when he was chief. There were two guys in my fire house, one was a captain and the other a senior firefighter. Both had hot tempers, and got into an extrememly heated debate over something menial, almost to the point of a fist fight. This was happening in front of the entire department, so my father grabbed both of them and dragged them into his office. My father yelled at them, telling the captain that he was in a position of leadership and acting way out of leadership role, and the senior FF that he had been around the firehouse long enough to know how to act in front of the guys. After my father was done with his tirade he sat down in his chair and said, "Well, since you two were about to fight anyway, you may go ahead and do it here in the office." Both the captain and FF were stunned enough by that statement that they actually just ended up settling their differences and were nice to each other from then on. I know this is a strange way to mitigate an issue, but I thought it was a bit hilarious and wanted to share. Sometimes leadership needs to be creative to fix a departments day to day issues.

I would like to refer my answer to the top line of your profile picture.

Ok, I'll bite. I, too, share a similar thought process. It's always a good idea to be proactive to (1) know what resources are around and (2) whether those resources can be staffed properly for all of your "parties." I remember from when I was a young lieutenant upstate that my department regularly met with our surrounding departments to discuss the issues of the day, and created many automatic mutual aid responses to cover the needs of our district and our neighbors. This allowed the first on-scene IC to relax a bit and know that he/she is getting at least an extra engine/ladder/rescue for manpower. Furthermore, all of our large buildings (like schools) got larger AMA responses utilizing at least 2 apparati from 3 districts (3 engines, 2 ladders, and a rescue every time). As far as the actual response time, I'm more in favor of allowing a second dispatch to allow your requested resource to be staffed. Times are tough and sometimes people just need that extra 30-60 seconds to get to the fire house. However, during a major emergency like a multi-alarm fire it doesn't hurt to start the next resource early. So resource XX is dispatched and does respond within the time requirement. Resource YY is dispatched and responds. Let's say after a few minutes resource XX is staffed and responds after YY is already on the road. My thought is that it never hurts to have additional resources staged nearby. I'd rather have additional resources respond and not need them than not have them and need them.

One Year ago (now) yesterday two of our brothers were killed and two more injured in a savage attack by a crazed man with nothing more than the ambition to instill terror into our minds. We will always remember Tomasz Kaczowska and Mike Chiapperini for their selfless efforts to do exactly what they signed up to do...to help others in need. They paid the ultimate sacrafice in an unusual condition, but may their memories never be forgotten. (Photo is not mine. Photographer is Unknown)

Yeah, it's pretty messed up. When my father told me that my first response was, "Haha. Verry funny, Dad!" (with a few added explitives). Thankfully, the town has bounced back from it, although the wounds still show.

I was being a tad ironic with my statement. Having grown up there and seen the many changes over the years, including the thousands of layoffs between Kodak, Xerox, Bausch & Lomb, etc., along with hearing of harder crimes moving into once-nice neighborhoods, it's hard to keep a positive outlook on the city's future. Yes, Rochester is a far cry from Detroit, but it's easy to relate the woes. It would be nice to see the Q/M system brought back. It worked efficiently and all of the guys loved it! But we'll have to see what the future holds.

Aha! There they are. These bad boys are sitting outside the PSTF, last I recall. I brothers in Monroe County tell me these midi's get used at the academy for career classes and when vollie departments cannot produce an apparatus for a class. As far as the RFD returning to the Q/M system, keep dreaming. It'll be a long time before the political structure of Rochester even considers it. They're having a tough enough time trying to NOT become the next Detroit!

This photo popped up on my Facebook, and it was posted by my hometown's FD during the holiday parade last weekend. The photo shows an 1899 Hose cart being followed by the 1999 quint that is the pride and joy of the Honeoye Falls FD's fleet. Who else out there has photos of antique equipment along side newer apparati?

No. About 4 or 5 years ago the RFD went back to the Ening/Ladder system. The ladders are still quints, for the most part. I think only 1 ladder is not a quint. I remember one of the midi's went to the academy, the rest were sold off. On another note, good job to the RFD! That's an old building, and undoubtedly a tough fire to extinguish.

Slick and Simple!

Other than the taxpayers, who wouldn't know the difference of what type of vehicle it is or why it's out of district, the only people who really seem to care are US idiots on EMTB! Everyone who has or has had a take home car has abused the privelidge in some way, shape, or form. Some people take it to the grocery store, others take their kids to soccer practice, and others go to a fancy restaurant in the next county. But, who really cares? The abuse of the take home vehicle, both career and volunteer, has been going on for years, and will continue forever on into the future because the only people who can legally stop it (the taxpayers) aren't going to take the five minutes out of their days to write to the commissioners about the "vehicle" found three counties away! I know some of you here "ovey the rules" of the take home car, but face it, any one that has a free ride is going to use it. I just find it to be a moot point for us to argue over when we're not the people who can fix it.

SWF is owned by the Port Authority, operated by AvPorts (same company as at HPN), and policed by NYSP. Having somewhat recently applied for an ARFF job there, they don't require you to be in the ANG, but prefer that you are, and you have to have the DoD firefighters certificate (this was of 2 years ago, they could have chaged the requirements since then).

As far as I know, commercial service airports are required by TRS 1542 to have some sort of law enforcement personnel on site during normal operating hours. As for Westchester, we do maintain a contract with WCPD to have a squad here 24/7. For arming TSO's, I can't agree with you on that. If every TSO was armed there is bound to be an accident (someone will shoot themselves in the foot, misfires, etc.), and the cost would be astronomical compared to the already budget busting department that it is. Nevermind the fact that some TSO's won't use their weapons, noting the fact that the news agencies reported TSO's who ran and hid. Let's face it, not everyone is cut out to be a police officer. Besides, this type of incident would probably have a near same outcome even if TSO's were armed. The shooter began shooting outside of the checkpoint and continued shooting as he walked through. Armed TSO's would probablt have stopped the shooter at the checkpoint, but I would believe that more bystanders would be injured by the array of bullets coming out of both ends of the checkpoint. The main problem, as I see it, is that not enough security is happening OUTSIDE of the terminal's secure area. TSA over the years has focused most exclusively to the secure areas of the airfield and airfield fencelines. Security also needs to have a focus long before people even reach the terminal. Remote chemical detectors, random car checks increased law enforcement presence in public areas (parking lots, ticketing and baggage areas, common areas/lobbies), and random bag searches. Israeli airports have implimented these ideas long before the 9/11 events, and Israeli airports are amongst the safest in the world. Heck, if you leave your bag unattended for mosre than 10 seconds, you and your bag are both detained by police and you end up in a dimly lit room being interrogated. Does change need to happen? Yes. Does more need to be done? Indeed. The real question should be, "How do we safely secure our nation's airports?"

My option isn't up there...When I forget to reset the pager after a call and I'm too lazy to walk over and reset it.

Is there anyone out there that can answer the orignial question? I'm a bit interested myself.

Hello, All! To start this topic off, the Westchester County Airport will be aquiring a new suburban/tahoe type vehicle as an on-duty chief vehicle. It seems that we are making a move to take the duty chief out of Airport 7 and put him/her into a command vehicle, and the 2 on-duty firefighters will independently operate Airport 7 & 11. In my mind, this is a good move, but we'll stay with originial concern of what to call this new command vehicle. From what I understand, we cannot use a designamtion like "Airport 1" because the vehicle will not have a direct aircraft rescue firefighting capability, and at the suggestion of the county to instead use the four digit chief designation (i.e. 2411, Purchase FD chief). The designation for the airport is 259X. So, here's the question I want to ask the experts: What designation should we use? In my thinking, my manager/airport fire chief would be 2591, since he's the highest ranking officer in our brigade. However, he doesn't respond to aircraft emergencies unless it's an actual crash (which hasn't happend on the field in a LONG time (*knock on wood)). My initial though is to designate our new command vehicle as 2592, much like New Rochelle uses 2302, and White Plains uses 2512, etc. for their on-duty chief/DC. On the other hand, we also want a radio handle that we can use with the air traffic control tower (ATCT), as well. Because the duty chief/supervisor will be using this vehicle for both FAA safety inspections and emergency response, we want to have a callsign that can describe the vehicle in both emergency and non-emergency situations. For example, when I take Airport 11 out for a pump test I still use "Airport 11" as my call sign for the ATCT, and I use the same callsign when talking to 60 Control. Now, here's the kicker, we can't just identify a vehicle to ATC with just a number; it must have a identifying word with it (i.e. OPS 24, jetBlue914, Airport 7, etc.). I want to hear what you guys think, so we can figure out what to call our new car.

For everyone out there, thank you for your responses. The leading response for us right now is to use Car 2592, but there's always the chance that my boss will make up his own anyway. Thank you again, and continue doing what you do best!

The car won't be staffed by the Airport manager or the Operations manager, but by the duty chief/supervisor on shift. And it will be considered AIRPORT COMMAND only until the ICP is activated in the dilapidated trailer that we keep fixing. Once the ICP is activated that unit has to go back to whatever designation we decide upon. As far as the ATC handle, it's extremely important because we don't have crashes all the time, let alone many alerts. We have to have an identifying handle so ATC, aircraft, and other vehicles are aware of our movements. Yes, when a crash does happen our policy is to close the airport, but that's going to be a once in a career event (aviation is so over regulated that it's safer than ever!). And as stated earlier, we're straying away from the FIRE handle because it will cause too much chaos when we have a small emergency. As for the Port Authority issue, that's completely different from the situation of having an operation manager as a fire chief. Their issue fell back on a lack of documentation for training. Plus, your mention of how a fire chief shouldn't be a politician, in my opinion, is false. A fire chief IS a politician.

Unfortunately this will create confusion once the ICP is activated (once mutual aid companies arrive). We thought about that and many other variations of it.

The AFO program is through a certification through a private organization that actually has no bearing to whether a person is a fire officer or not. It's another one of those weird things you find in the aviation industry, but I do like where you headed with the idea. I'm liking this idea...but, I want to refrain from using the word FIRE on the ATC radio. That word panics a lot of people who are not anywhere near involved in airfield emergencies. I would answer, but I'm not the duty chief.

I was thinking more like winter time when the ice cakes over everything. Some panels are actually quite thin.

I've thought about this while looking at different houses (in the hopes that one day I can afford to buy one ). I think it would be a great idea if people could build and open structure in the back yard, and mount the solar panels on that. You'd have a nice covered area for BBQ's when it rains, and you can power your house! But, seriously, I couldn't imagine going up to the roof in winter time, not knowing the panels are there, and accidentally cut into one.

Back left pocket: Gloves Right side Belt: Radio barely holding onto its clip The bag will meet me at the scene.