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Where to begin without being a Monday Morning Quarterback.  Maybe someone with more knowledge of the situation can offer some insight unavailable from simply viewing the video.  Why was Rochelle Parks TL put in service rather than Saddle Brooks? I assume the additional departments were for manpower and relief due to the heat.  I assume it was hot since the one SB Chief was in tennis sneakers and the other in shorts.   This appears to be another example of why I have previously called for the utility companies to maintain 24/7 lights and siren response to emergencies such as this.  Nothing like standing around watching a house burn while the service feeds continue to arc. 

Where to begin without being a Monday Morning Quarterback.  Maybe someone with more knowledge of the situation can offer some insight unavailable from simply viewing the video.  Why was Rochelle Parks TL put in service rather than Saddle Brooks? I assume the additional departments were for manpower and relief due to the heat.  I assume it was hot since the one SB Chief was in tennis sneakers and the other in shorts.   This appears to be another example of why I have previously called for the utility companies to maintain 24/7 lights and siren response to emergencies such as this.  Nothing like standing around watching a house burn while the service feeds continue to arc. 

Date: 07/08/16
Time: 1530hrs
Location: 31 Owen Dr. c/s High St.
District: Monroe
Battalion:
Channel:
Weather:
Units: Monroe, Woodbury, South Blooming Grove, Salisbury Mills, Chester, Warwick (FAST), 36-1, 36-16, 36-108 (FI), 36-109 (FI)
Writer:  BFD1054

Description: Structure Fire
1541hrs-Woodbury Car-3 advising that his Tanker is responding and his E525 is en-route for stand by.
 
1543hrs-South Blooming Grove requested to re-locate (1) Engine to Monroe Station-1.
 
OC911 conducting a 20 minute status check.
 - Command advising (2) lines in operation, fire is knocked down on the 1st floor, crews making a push to the 2nd floor.
 
1500hrs(approx)-2nd call in Monroe; kayaker in distress Orange and Rockland Lake.
 - South Blooming Grove responding.
 - Cronomer Valley Water Rescue Team requested. (Call went unfounded).
 
1611hrs-OC911 alerting Washingtonville; request (1) Engine to stand by in Monroe.
 
1614hrs-Washingtonville's Engine en-route to stand-by.
 
1619hrs-Woodbury E525 requested to the scene.
 - OC911 alerting Greenwood Lake; request (1) Engine to relocate to Monroe Station-3.
 
1623hrs-OC911 conducting 50 minute status check.
 - Command advising still have active fire, several lines in operation, defensive operation at this time.
 
1631hrs-Washingtonville R580 out for stand-by.
 
1633hrs-OC911 conducting a 60 minute status check.
 - Command advising main body of fire is knocked down, starting overhaul.
 
1651hrs-OC911 conducting the 80 minute status check.
 - situation is under control, extensive overhaul, can discontinue the status checks.

Date: 06/27/16
Time:  1445hrs (approx)
Location: 237 Schutt Rd
District:  Mechanicstown 
Battalion:
Channel: FG-A
Weather: 
Units: Mechanicstown, Middletown (1&1), Circleville (FAST), Silver Lake, 36-11, OCFI's
Writer: BFD1054
Description: Working Fire in a single story wood frame
1500hrs-OC911 alerting Silver Lake; request (1) Truck to re-locate City of Middletown Central Station.
 
1502hrs-Middletown advising they're engine is responding.
 
1503hrs-Mechanicstown Car-1 on scene assuming Command requesting 1 & 1 to stand by in Mechanicstown.
 
1505hrs-Command advising that the fire is out at this time.
 - OC911 advising that Montgomery will be the Truck and Howells with an engine for stand by.
 
1506hrs-OC911 alerting Montgomery and Howells; Montgomery Truck and Howells Engine to re-locate Mechanicstown Firehouse.
 
1507hrs-Command requesting Orange & Rockland utilities forthwith.
 
1508hrs-Silver Lake truck en-route to the City of Middletown for stand-by.
 
1516hrs-Command requesting the Red Cross to the scene.
 
1525hrs-O&R utilities on the scene.
 
1526hrs-Montgomery truck on stand by in Mechanicstown.
 
1528hrs-Howells Engine on stand by in Mechanicstown.
 
1533hrs-Circlevilles FAST being released.
 
1544hrs-OC911 advising that State Police are inquiring if they can open Schutt Rd. 36-11 advising negative, hose is still across the roadway.
 
1546hrs-Middletown Car-2 advising his Engine & Truck are in service from the scene.
 
1547hrs-Silver Lake Truck released from stand by.
 
1620hrs-Mechanicstown Car-1 advising situation under control, units picking up and in service.
 

I guess I'll throw in my cents based on a personal experience.  I was in uniform, we were all assembled and then we started looking around and realized that most everyone who would be responding to alarms was going to the parade.  The Chief asked me to stay behind at my station and respond to any calls we received within the district.  My nephew was working up the road from the firehouse and would come down in the event of a call so we would be a minimum of two and of course others may show up but at least there would be one engine responding.  We ended up taking in one EMS call and one AFA during the time of the parade.
 
I think before you send your dept out of town, for any reason, you should make sure you have left behind at least a minimum set crew for one engine, your ladder and your ambulance.  And, depending on the size of your dept. if you leave town for MA or Training Ctr. you should have a crew stand-by in qtrs for your own dept.  If you can't fill out that stand by, you shouldn't be sending your resources out of town.
 
If you need to take your ladder out of town for training, you should have a neighboring dept stand by in qtrs while your out.  If their already in qtrs it will save the response to the FH time.

I guess I'll throw in my cents based on a personal experience.  I was in uniform, we were all assembled and then we started looking around and realized that most everyone who would be responding to alarms was going to the parade.  The Chief asked me to stay behind at my station and respond to any calls we received within the district.  My nephew was working up the road from the firehouse and would come down in the event of a call so we would be a minimum of two and of course others may show up but at least there would be one engine responding.  We ended up taking in one EMS call and one AFA during the time of the parade.
 
I think before you send your dept out of town, for any reason, you should make sure you have left behind at least a minimum set crew for one engine, your ladder and your ambulance.  And, depending on the size of your dept. if you leave town for MA or Training Ctr. you should have a crew stand-by in qtrs for your own dept.  If you can't fill out that stand by, you shouldn't be sending your resources out of town.
 
If you need to take your ladder out of town for training, you should have a neighboring dept stand by in qtrs while your out.  If their already in qtrs it will save the response to the FH time.

After reading the latest, I think somebody's career is ending.

Consider how it'll be interpreted when a chief sits on a witness stand, testifies under oath that his first due aerial or rescue could't respond because it was three towns away at parade or wet down.  Compare that to the testimony of a chief who's same equipment wasn't available because of the "nobler" reasons.  It's a lot better justification to be unavailable because of training or mutual aid rather than squirting water on the neighbors new rescue truck.  "We couldn't get there to extricate that family from their head on collision, because we were waiting for the trophies be announced at the convention parade!"

This is not a new topic...but it hits close to home.  I live in a 6 story, fire-proof multiple dwelling.  This means...there are no fire escapes.  If a fire were to occur on the 4th, 5th or 6th floors, a resident could potentially be blocked from their front door....the only means of egress.  Whats the other way out?  An aerial ladder.  What good is that aerial ladder when its 20 minutes away at a parade?  Maybe farther!  My local FD has several engines and one, single ladder.  Why does that ladder, the only means of high-rise rescue, EVER leave town?  To win a trophy?  To show off?  To look cool?
 
If there were ever a tragedy, I'd expect those responsible to see criminal charges.
 
Im all for parades.  Im all for tradition.  Our volunteers give time and these kind of events are joyful and proper compensation for dedication.  We should have fun and maintain freindly relationships with neighboring dept's through social activities.
 
However, our first mission is life-safety.  If a town has 3 or 4 engines and 1 ladder....um....the ladder doesnt go to parades.  Smarten up, send an engine.
 
 
There wasnt a need to include a dept. name, because this dept. is not unique.  The list of offenders is long, sadly.

Why so slick top? What do you have to get under that's so low?
 
So I went to their web site and sure enough, not much clearance.  Don't bounce going in or out.  It was also nice to see 'old' stations that appear to have had the TLC to keep them so nice.  It's a shame so many of the down County dept's haven't been able to maintain their buildings.  Of course at some point, the buildings can no longer accommodate the new apparatus and technologies, it's just a shame they are so decrepit by the time they are replaced.
 

Innocence lost.  When we practiced years past for an MCI it was a bus accident or plane crash.  Maniacs and Terrorists weren't on the radar then.  Now you never know what you may be rolling up to.

Innocence lost.  When we practiced years past for an MCI it was a bus accident or plane crash.  Maniacs and Terrorists weren't on the radar then.  Now you never know what you may be rolling up to.

Don't forget the funeral homes that are using purple lights.
 
When we first added a blue light on our engine we took some criticism over it, and we had to switch the lense back to red for parades lest we receive demerits for improper lighting.  Now you see blue everywhere.
 
In the end, colors aside, nothing beats white wig wags to get attention.  Not wimpy strobes in the headlight, real dual headlight wig wags.  
 
Has NY ever changed the regs for volunteer firefighters? One (1) flashing blue light of 50 candlepower!  Don't think many paid attention to that regulation.  I don't think you can even buy a light like that anymore.
 

Don't forget the funeral homes that are using purple lights.
 
When we first added a blue light on our engine we took some criticism over it, and we had to switch the lense back to red for parades lest we receive demerits for improper lighting.  Now you see blue everywhere.
 
In the end, colors aside, nothing beats white wig wags to get attention.  Not wimpy strobes in the headlight, real dual headlight wig wags.  
 
Has NY ever changed the regs for volunteer firefighters? One (1) flashing blue light of 50 candlepower!  Don't think many paid attention to that regulation.  I don't think you can even buy a light like that anymore.
 

 
Since I left Westchester I first lived in Palm Beach County, FL. then Marion County, FL. Both these County wide department effectively provided Fire and Paramedic/EMS with standardized equipment and strategically placed stations.
 
Then I moved to a small town outside Savannah with a volunteer department with a paid Chief.  They had an automatic mutual aid agreement with the paid dept in the neighboring city. I saw the neighboring city come into our town on numerous occasions when no local apparatus left the firehouse.  At one working structure fire, a fully engulfed quonset hut storage building about 30x40, only one local engine responded, supported by one engine and a tower ladder from the next city and one engine from the next county which operates a paid countywide department.
 
I was recently informed by one of my neighbors who is on the town council that the AMA agreement has been discontinued due to small town politics, some sort of issue between members of the respective town/city councils that have a personal beef unrelated to their governmental duties. Small town BS politics.
 
They will come MA if called, but not AMA on the local dispatch. He told me they are considering increasing the fire tax, we currently pay $12.00 per month for fire protection (its $21.00 for trash collection), so they can hire a full time paid firefighter to man the station during the day.  The thought process is a paid man can get the truck to the scene and be met by the Maintenance Dept. guys who are members of the FD and can respond from, wherever, as well as other volunteers responding to the scene of the station for additional apparatus.  The department has three engines, no trucks.
 
Will the needs of the public ever be put before the egos of the politicians?
 
 
 
 
 

The thing I think about when I see this photo, and the early episodes of Emergency, is that the Crown fire apparatus is no longer.  Crown had a lock on LA, as Mack had on NY yet they both went out of the fire apparatus business.  I would have thought they could have survived as stand alone businesses just from the respective West Coast and East Coast business.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you are an exterior firefighter when you can still perform duties such as driving, organizing, setting up and supporting fireground equipment and operations but are not physically up to wearing SCBA, advancing an interior line or bailing out if need be, etc.
 
Or to put it another way, you can still help out and be of use even if you are older and maybe too out of shape to go inside to extinguish the fire.  That's not necessarily a knock, there are alot of functions to be performed at a fire and it takes a team effort.  Not every player can carry the ball. Somebody has to set up the play, hand off and block.
 
They didn't have the distinction between interior and exterior when I joined in the early 70's.  It came much later.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you are an exterior firefighter when you can still perform duties such as driving, organizing, setting up and supporting fireground equipment and operations but are not physically up to wearing SCBA, advancing an interior line or bailing out if need be, etc.
 
Or to put it another way, you can still help out and be of use even if you are older and maybe too out of shape to go inside to extinguish the fire.  That's not necessarily a knock, there are alot of functions to be performed at a fire and it takes a team effort.  Not every player can carry the ball. Somebody has to set up the play, hand off and block.
 
They didn't have the distinction between interior and exterior when I joined in the early 70's.  It came much later.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you are an exterior firefighter when you can still perform duties such as driving, organizing, setting up and supporting fireground equipment and operations but are not physically up to wearing SCBA, advancing an interior line or bailing out if need be, etc.
 
Or to put it another way, you can still help out and be of use even if you are older and maybe too out of shape to go inside to extinguish the fire.  That's not necessarily a knock, there are alot of functions to be performed at a fire and it takes a team effort.  Not every player can carry the ball. Somebody has to set up the play, hand off and block.
 
They didn't have the distinction between interior and exterior when I joined in the early 70's.  It came much later.

 
This is the same problem at every level of every government agency from local to national.  We can't seem to find 'leaders' more concerned with the people than with themselves.  Very sad, and I don't see it changing, ever.  
 

 
This is the same problem at every level of every government agency from local to national.  We can't seem to find 'leaders' more concerned with the people than with themselves.  Very sad, and I don't see it changing, ever.  
 

When you listen to the story, he returned to work after the Truck incident and was injured again some time later.  Then they jerk him around for his benefits.  I suppose we should not be surprised given that the City is Mount Vernon and this a firefighter.  Bureaucrats, sharing the bottom rung with Politicians.

I don't think this is a domino effect.  From what I could pick up from reading a few newspaper stories, the Fire Commissioners for the Greenville Fire District and members of the Greenville Fire Department have fallen out of favor with each other.  The Fire Commissioners answer to the problem was to form another Fire Company, Mountain View Fire & Rescue to serve the town and build a new fire station to accommodate the new company.  One story mentions that some members of the Mountainview Company are 'disgruntled' ex-members of Greenville Fire Dept.  
 
I'm sure there is much more, more than I care to spend the time researching.  However, this appears to be, IMHO, a case of the general citizenry taking a back seat to the wants and wishes of a few protecting their fiefdoms and power.

I don't think this is a domino effect.  From what I could pick up from reading a few newspaper stories, the Fire Commissioners for the Greenville Fire District and members of the Greenville Fire Department have fallen out of favor with each other.  The Fire Commissioners answer to the problem was to form another Fire Company, Mountain View Fire & Rescue to serve the town and build a new fire station to accommodate the new company.  One story mentions that some members of the Mountainview Company are 'disgruntled' ex-members of Greenville Fire Dept.  
 
I'm sure there is much more, more than I care to spend the time researching.  However, this appears to be, IMHO, a case of the general citizenry taking a back seat to the wants and wishes of a few protecting their fiefdoms and power.

I don't think this is a domino effect.  From what I could pick up from reading a few newspaper stories, the Fire Commissioners for the Greenville Fire District and members of the Greenville Fire Department have fallen out of favor with each other.  The Fire Commissioners answer to the problem was to form another Fire Company, Mountain View Fire & Rescue to serve the town and build a new fire station to accommodate the new company.  One story mentions that some members of the Mountainview Company are 'disgruntled' ex-members of Greenville Fire Dept.  
 
I'm sure there is much more, more than I care to spend the time researching.  However, this appears to be, IMHO, a case of the general citizenry taking a back seat to the wants and wishes of a few protecting their fiefdoms and power.