LFD34

Does this mean that Firefighters who serve as first responders should also get vests. If so would they have to wear as part of station apparrel and then suffer the extra weight and heat caused during firefighting operations, or would this have to be donned strictly for medical calls.

While I believe that we need to issue appropriate safety equipment to properly ensure the best protection for our personnel, we also need to ensure that this equipment does not cause other unintended consequences.

Why not write an SOP that has the safety officer decide when air packs are no longer needed in the suppression effort. That way the safety officer can then research and modify behaviors as new data, technology and knowledge become available. Barry would you please weigh in here.

VMFD actually was called to that fire. They had an engine called to the scene, that encountered water supply issues. I believe their ladder was also on standby.

Their are decisions that are made by the chief of a department both during the preplanning and at the scene of a fire that are the responsibility of the chief and the chief alone as he becomes the person responsible. Some of these decisions include how to fight the fire, and what resources to use to figth that fire. When we give someone that responsiblity we must also give them that authority.

I think as has been reiterated many times in these posts is that if we want all resources considered equal by chief officers we have to ensure that they actually are. This includes many of the points brought here such as training, response time, manning, equipment and I'm sure a few other items.

I think one of the starting points for this would be to have the county take over all in service training in addtiion to the formal training given now. In that manner the training could be tracked and standardized.

Congratulations. Just remember the road of a 1,000 miles starts with the first step. Modernization takes time, start with the easy things.

It sounds like what I've been reading is that you want to help your fire department improve. As such it is not about the problems that currently exist but the willingness of the members to change and listen to your direction. All organizations require good leadership, and one of the most important attribute for leaders is the willingness to lead.

I wish you well

Well deserved promotion

How does Greenburgh handle this. Their medics are sworn police officers.

I'm Glad it looks like Yonkers is going to get a very qualified commissioner. However with a job as deep and professional as Yonkers didn't they have a deep stable of talent internally to pick from?

I agree 100 % with Barry on this. I believe that we need to show the public and hte politicians the benefit of this. This needs to be made a regional effort to overcome the trades. This can't be handled one municipality at a time as then the local laws are to hard to get approved in Albany. This has been seen when municiplaities have passed their own sprinkler ordinances just to get overturned as being to restrictive and not in line with the state building code. This effort needs to be made at actually changing the State building code, to mandate residential sprinklers and other appropriate protection measures.

The idea of using this tragedy to help push tighter regulation is a great idea. Many municipalities have tried to push through sprinkler laws only to have the state overturn them. (In fact Larchmont had a sprinkler that was overturned) In addition I believe it is time to amend building codes forcing both trusses and laminate beams to have fireproofing applied so that a fire can't ruin the structural integrity as quickly.

I believe that this just points out the need to formalize the training needed, before operating emergency vehicles. I bleieve that more than EVOC is needed. New York is one of the few states that still don't require CDLs for vehicles that would require them if not in use by the Fire service. I would go a step further and mandate an Emergency Vehicle Operator endorsement for any operator of any emergency vehicle that would formalize the training such as provided by EVOC

What was the response time to Milford?

This would be the type of system that would be best researched and provided through the county. It doesn't make sense for each department to create their own system and methodology and not have integration, especially when providing mutual aid coverage.

Thermal imaging cameras are a great tool. However they are a tool. They don't replace the firefighter or the inherhent knowledge brought by a person. Any tool misused will create undesirable results.

As per the other article on manpower and response, it always better request and turn back what is not needed than not request and come up short. Every department works up their run card and has their relationships with neighboring departments. Ibelieve we shouldn't try to micro analyze every decision being made.

Great Point. yes we need consistency on every incident!

But before one can expect consistency from mutual aid, doesn't one need to establish consistency within ones own district?

I agree that protocols start internally, but my point is that within district we need to establish same criteria, especially regarding training criteria, minimum staffing and elapsed time for above to ready to respond to any call for mutual aid. This will then need to be audited by an external source such as county dispatch. that would at least then allow for better planning and reasonable expectations of what is available within the district.

IF NYC can ensure such accountability why can't every department that requests mutual aid on a daily basis expect the same. We need to enforce consistency on every incident, instead of just planning for the "big one"

Wouldn't it be a better idea to change teh building code to require residential sprinklers in all new construction. This particular house was only built in 1981 when sprinklers were around. Not only would this help in areas in with limited water but also would help in manpower constrained areas as well.

Is there any information on the last ladder test or the loadings during operations. I think this is one of those incidents that we should wait for the official investigation into cause of failure. All these and many other detailed mechanical questions can than be answered by reading through the report, and I'm sure than we can all learn how to be safer in our communities.

Congratulations. This is an achievment to be very proud of as it is measured by an external agency rating the effectiveness of fire safety in your community in a manner that the insurance companies can guage emperically and create the premium.

This definately shows all the hard work that the members and officers of the TMFD put in to their department.

The apparatus is owned by the Larchmont Historical Society.

Wow, good thing no one was hurt!!! I guess this means either SFRD Engine 10, 12, or 14 will take it's place for now. It's hard to tell if they'll repair it or not, seeing the extent of the damage. They may end up just getting a new one.

Remember always better the rig take the hit than the person. I would like to know if proper apparatus placement prevented injuries so that we can all learn.

Link?

http://www.hilcoind.com/sales/sale.asp?SALE_ID=1739&SALE_REFERENCE_ID=THTOGMBEDC642010164345

I see that their is an auction taking place of quite a bit of inventory and manufacturing gear at American LaFrance. Is this a liquidation or is this part of their reorg plan?