tommyguy

White Plains 1959
sta 1.htm

I just aquired these from my father, his uncle took them in and around 1952..... photo credit to Robert Lindgren, FDNY.

July 31st 2013 will mark the 59th anniversary of the death of brothers Bernard Callahan and Salvatore Galasso. They died while performing a search for a reported trapped victim of a fire at 100 Main St. The person was later found unharmed among the spectators. The City of White Plains NY Fire Department lost two brave men that night.
The site of this fire in 1954 is now where the Galleria Mall is located.

Got a real camera finally, Canon Rebel T3 (refurbished), so no more point and shoot for me. I've been playing around with the settings and features, so I took a ride out with a friend to Ellsworth Ave in New Haven, home of the West Battalion.
Car 34 (West Battalion Chief) - 2012 Ford F-350

Squad Company 2 - 2011 Pierce Arrow XT Rescue Pumper

Messing around with angles, tight fit so I wasn't able to get everything I wanted in the shot.

Used a "cheater" HDR editing software for this one, just playing around with different stuff. Emergency 2 is no longer at this station, they're at Howard Avenue with E11 and T2. Has been for years they just never updated the sign. Engine 9 was out while I was there.

Any advice or tips would be welcome, I'm new to the hobby.

One of my vivid childhood memories was rushing in to WPFD Station 3 late one night in 1964 (about 1 00 AM) to report a working fire a couple blocks away. The watchman was on duty and I told him there was a bad fire down the street. I showed him out the window and he could see the glow a couple blocks away. He hurried over to the radio to report it to Fire Headquarters and he sounded the alarm within the firehouse. The two other firefighters on-duty were asleep upstairs and as I watched they both came down the pole to the bay.
Something I'll never forget. The way they did it, smooth and effortless, I could tell they had done it many times.
It was a bad fire. An old carriage house converted to a storage facility for a greeting card company, located on Eastview Avenue near Lake Street (now the site is an apartment building). On my way to school the next morning I discovered Engine 3 was still there!

One of my vivid childhood memories was rushing in to WPFD Station 3 late one night in 1964 (about 1 00 AM) to report a working fire a couple blocks away. The watchman was on duty and I told him there was a bad fire down the street. I showed him out the window and he could see the glow a couple blocks away. He hurried over to the radio to report it to Fire Headquarters and he sounded the alarm within the firehouse. The two other firefighters on-duty were asleep upstairs and as I watched they both came down the pole to the bay.
Something I'll never forget. The way they did it, smooth and effortless, I could tell they had done it many times.
It was a bad fire. An old carriage house converted to a storage facility for a greeting card company, located on Eastview Avenue near Lake Street (now the site is an apartment building). On my way to school the next morning I discovered Engine 3 was still there!

One of my vivid childhood memories was rushing in to WPFD Station 3 late one night in 1964 (about 1 00 AM) to report a working fire a couple blocks away. The watchman was on duty and I told him there was a bad fire down the street. I showed him out the window and he could see the glow a couple blocks away. He hurried over to the radio to report it to Fire Headquarters and he sounded the alarm within the firehouse. The two other firefighters on-duty were asleep upstairs and as I watched they both came down the pole to the bay.
Something I'll never forget. The way they did it, smooth and effortless, I could tell they had done it many times.
It was a bad fire. An old carriage house converted to a storage facility for a greeting card company, located on Eastview Avenue near Lake Street (now the site is an apartment building). On my way to school the next morning I discovered Engine 3 was still there!

One of my vivid childhood memories was rushing in to WPFD Station 3 late one night in 1964 (about 1 00 AM) to report a working fire a couple blocks away. The watchman was on duty and I told him there was a bad fire down the street. I showed him out the window and he could see the glow a couple blocks away. He hurried over to the radio to report it to Fire Headquarters and he sounded the alarm within the firehouse. The two other firefighters on-duty were asleep upstairs and as I watched they both came down the pole to the bay.
Something I'll never forget. The way they did it, smooth and effortless, I could tell they had done it many times.
It was a bad fire. An old carriage house converted to a storage facility for a greeting card company, located on Eastview Avenue near Lake Street (now the site is an apartment building). On my way to school the next morning I discovered Engine 3 was still there!

I am a yfd dispatcher. go to www.fultonhistory.com (its an old newspaper web site) Type in central lanes and you will be able to look at the old Herald Statesman. (Yonkers newpaper). The Fire took place on Tuesbday July 2, 1968 at 3PM There was an arrest for arson. Those articles will be there.

I am kind of surprised that in this day and age a government building would be constructed this way.
Meaning that based on the large overhang, could be an easy target and cause significant damage.

Staten Island is really growing and changing. No longer the sleepy borough it was once upon a time.
I have heard FDNY guys talking about it no longer being the quiet assignment it was once considered to be. Some days they get quite busy.

Is it rare for NYPD to open new stations?

See the flag being raised for the first time, and more about the new precinct:
http://bit.ly/18rOO5e
http://bit.ly/14Jxpje
More: http://on.nyc.gov/18rOVhi

The April 6, 1988 response was handled by Mount Vernon FD with no respnse from other departments. Both trains were carrying just train crew personnel when the first train was rammed by the second that had run a red signal. Coincidentally, this incident was 25 years ago this past April.

White Plains Public Works Department No. 697
1958 Oshkosh
Privately owned

This topic has gotten kind of off track, but just in reference to some of the statements made:
Texas DOES have a fire code, the State Fire Marshals Office uses NFPA 101, the Life Safety Code.
http://www.tdi.texas.gov/fire/fmfsi.html
To be fair, the State of Connecticut doesn't allow municipalities to create their own Fire Codes either, so that's hardly a fair argument to make.
OSHA and EPA laws and regulations exist no matter what state you're in, so to say that there's NO regulation in Texas isn't entirely accurate, they're held to the same federal standards that any other regulated industry is. Also if I recall correctly, this company WAS fined for a violation by Texas' environmental enforcement agency previously, so its not as if nobody is out there enforcing the law.

I don't remember the exact figures I heard discussed but it was a tax loss to the Village of Sleepy Hollow in the neighborhood of $1 million per year. About half the village budget. That's when I lived there and I have to say, everybody criticizes local governments but they took a huge hit and somehow worked their way out of it.
I remember attending village meetings where Mayor Philip Zegarelli said that the village would survive and he did seem to me like a pretty capable guy. And a pretty good politician!
One big problem with the site is they had a battery and paint shop there for decades. If you want build you have to get EPA approval. They go in there and they find all kinds stuff. The clean-up costs really mounted up. Much higher than the original estimates.
I don't remember the NASCAR plan -- maybe I do vaguely -- but in the 1990s Donald Trump made a proposal, a shopping mall and hotel. GM turned The Don down and he was very miffed. (I don't think too many people in Sleepy Hollow cried over that!)
Then all the problems GM had with their near-bankruptcy slowed things down, too. I heard for a while there, nobody could get a decision about anything from GM. I'm not sure they even still have a developer lined up. Roseland of New Jersey finally pulled out I think.
I always felt that the problem with the site was, it was a beautiful piece of residential property because it was somewhat isolated, but that meant it was kind of risky for retail. I don't see it working as a Ridge Hill-style development. It's too far from major roads. Yet all the plans have been for mixed use.

Nice job in the trus Y.F.D. Tradition --Following in the tradition of the Y.F.D. Always looking out for the people of Yonkers. History repeats its self In the late 70's on Ashburton Ave. coming up from Alexander St. A truck from Philips wire lost a large wire spool. I believe it was Lt. Garry Kuehnen (LODD 377 North Bway 1983) who was off duty at the time and used his own station wagon to stop the spool of wire from hitting kids leaving the old Public School 6 on Ashburton Ave.

I lived in Sleepy Hollow for several years and attended some of the meetings about the redevelopment at Village Hall.
There have been many problems. Early on Sleepy Hollow mayor Philip Zegarelli said that New York State was taking a long time to approve the process. That he wasn't worried about getting it approved just that the process was very time-consuming.
At first GM wanted to develop the site themselves. Then after several false starts, they decided to instead sell the site to a developer.
Then there was site remediation. The work was done but NY EPA would not approve it. It had to be revisited.
Then the Tarrytown lawsuit. I think one result of that was the project was scaled down a bit.
By then it was 2008 and the project was no longer financially feasible. A commercial property owner I know in the area said that another problem was, while GM and NYS procrastinated, private developers bought nearby property (one being the site of the old Cooney Bros. asphalt plant) and erected condos. That pretty much changed the atmosphere for the bigger project.
I'm not sure where it stands now but I'm sure that eventually it will get done.

Yes very nicely done. Quick thinking.
Does YFD ever have a quiet day?

Nice job!


Read more: http://yonkers.dailyvoice.com/police-fire/runaway-suv-rolls-down-yonkers-ave-firefighters-thwart-disaster

I saw some grisly photos of the injured at the Marathon. Apparently when the devices went off there were a lot of really bad injuries. Reminded me of those horrible photos you see in the Middle East.
I'll say a prayer tonight for all concerned. Including the first-responders, this must've been a pretty tough job to work.
I'm hoping it's true that at least one of the devices failed to detonate and was recovered. That should give investigators a lot to work with. I'm certain they'll track these perps down.

I can easily understand their feeling this way. As a Viet-Nam vet I look at this as a virtual combat situation these men and women are in.
I also would like to really praise everybody involved in law enforcement with the way they quickly ran these suspects down. It's terrible an officer had to lose his life in the process, but much praise for their dedication and skill. This might sound corny but this entire incident has made me prouder than ever to say I'm an American.
Great job guys, now get the other ********!!!!
edited for typo

Any savings on fuel is a savings on fuel. Having a Spartan go on 250 runs a year as opposed to 1,500 is a big difference. The difference is the cost of parts is tremendous. Plus, they'd have to maintain both anyways, since the minis would be assigned as brush units anyway.
These aren't going to replace engines in all of the city. "Second dues" are usually less then 3-5 minutes away. And for those that are pro-CAFS and have used it PROPERLY at several fires, you should know it's effectiveness. Firefighters were given extensive input on how this works, and they really liked how it worked.

Expense. Plus they won't fit in a lot of areas they need to go. And the Texas Commision on Wildfire Protection prescribes what is needed for a brush truck, and how it should basically be set up, so that all trucks are similar and that makes it easier when responding mutual aid as a task force. I have photos of both the engines and mini attacks for when the photo system comes back up.
Additonally, let me say Fort Worth and most Texas cities really purchase only what they need and will use. Many departments here in the Hudson Valley spend millions on equipment that they will rarely used and is often duplicated several times, and sit around for most of their service life.

Very nice photos. I see YFD was there, too.