JohnnyOV

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Posts posted by JohnnyOV

  4. Posted

    Unfortunately Capt they only seem to take forever when they're screwin around with them for whatever reason! There should b no reason why it takes so long the tests are graded with a computer. I have a friend who took an Atlanta PD test and all applicants had their grades before they left the classroom!

    I'm not one for semantics, but does it really matter when they come out, just as long as its before the new list goes into effect? Even if we got them 6 months ago, or even on the date of the exam, we still need to wait for the current list to expire.

    However well you did on the test should not effect your life until your name is called to attend the academy. You might want to be a career firemen (as it is my dream as well) but make sure you have a well thought out contingency plan. Set yourself up with a job doing something different, and settle your life. View the exam as "whats done is done," and totally forget about it. Don't put all your eggs into one basket and be severely let down, when there could have been a better opportunity laid out right in front of you.

    BFD1054 likes this

  6. Posted

    We're currently going over some of our technical rescue procedures, and we're wondering how the scene was handled prior to the arrival of the TRT?

    What tools did you have at your disposal prior to the collapse team arriving?

    -more specifically, did you have plywood to place along the trench walls?

    How deep was the trench the workers were operating in both before and after the collapse?

    How was the victim positioned in the soil?

    What was done to secure against additional cave in?

    Were the medics down in the collapse area prior to it being secured?

    Once TRT arrived with their equipment, everything looked like it went smooth with an easy transition, and it looked like it was going smooth prior to the arrival of TRT as well.

    Kudos to Somers and the TRT for safely removing the victim. This is an operation we can all learn from, and shows that no community is immune to any type of technical rescue.

  9. Posted

    I'd just like to wish the brothers of Somers Fire who were involved in yesterday's accident a speedy recovery.

    From what it sounded like on the radio, an urgent call for assistance came out from 80B3 / 45-Medic ? who was fighting with the patient in the back of the ambulance on Rt 100. Somers dispatch advised the ambulance that SP were enroute and 5 minutes out. Less then 3 minutes later, we overheard a Somers unit stating they had been involved in an accident and needed medical aid on Rt 100. We could only assume that they were on their way to assist the ambulance crew with their patient. If anyone has any other information on the status of their members, please let us know.

    Your bothers to the West wish you guys a quick and healthy recovery.

    Link to IA: http://www.emtbravo.net/index.php/topic/43522-somers-mva-w-pin-10-19-11/page__pid__248861#entry248861

  11. Posted

    Tying off is only beneficial if it can keep you out of the water. Tied off and in the water you can become dragged under. Tied off in the middle of the current you become an obstruction. Water builds behind you and creates an eddy in front of you. This sinks you lower and lower until the water can start over topping you. At this point you have the full force of the river holding you under. This all takes places in seconds.

    Beat me to the punch. I cringe every time I see an operation where rescuers are tied off to the shore line in attempts to wade out into the current. The last LODD that occurred was in NJ during Irene, and that member was tied of to another rescuer who had to eventually cut him loose.

    http://www.firefighterclosecalls.com/news/fullstory/newsid/147219

    Stay Safe

  14. Posted

    In my opinion your Mom is right. Get not only your Bachelors but an advanced degree now before family and work obligations get in the way. Most importantly do not expect that your experiences in firefighting and / or emergency services will be very similar to your predecessors. The one thing you can be sure of is that during your working life, the fire service, and in fact the world, will undergo enormous, and oftentimes, rapid change. A well rounded undergraduate and graduate degree will make you much more capable of anticipating and positioning yourself for the changes you will see. Don't limit yourself to a fire science degree either- you will be studying that stuff for promotion anyway- get the most well rounded education that you are able to- researching and writing, public speaking,government, history, psychology, technology, etc. are just basic skills which are necessary to function as an effective, progressive, fair leader in almost any field of endeavour. Consider a bachelor's in management, organizational leadership or some such with a minor in fire science or emergency management. After that you will have a better idea as to what to study for your Master's Degree.

    Don't believe everyhting any of us in the Fire Service tell you (it's very hard to be objective about yourself)- seek out contrasting opinions, as you have done here. Spend time (such as in college) with people who have no connection to the fire service or emergency services. Learn from them too.

    Realize that as a Firefighter you will be working with many dedicated, hard working people, but you will also be spending your life working alongside many who just want a decent civil service job and who do not have the same pride and work ethic that you do. This can prove to be a big shock and an enormous sense of dissapointment to a "gung-ho" young guy such as yourself. If you think you will be able to motivated these types and change their attitude, I would suggest that you first find a brick wall and bang your head against it as hard as you can a few times and make sure you enjoy that.

    Best thing I ever did was get a college degree, in a field completely unrelated to anything fire. If your civil service tests don't work out, which they haven't so far for me, then you have a degree to fall back on. Taking civil service exams, are like dropping your resume off at businesses; don't limit yourself to just one option.

    ny10570 and voltage1256 like this

  15. Posted

    Our department SOG requires the Incident Commander to dispatch a Mutual Aid FAST to all working structure fires. It also states that the IC shall designate at least two members to act as a "FAST" until such time the Mutual Aid unit arrives. We've established a "FAST" at several hazardous materials incidents, including CO emergencies, over the years to keep a crew dedicated to helping our own within an IDLH.

    Our team began formation in 1997 and went into service June 1, 1998. We currently have several of those original members as well as multiple new ones on our team.

    Team members are all required to have completed the FFI, Survival and FAST courses at minimum. They must have a few years of experience as an Interior Firefighter. The team has one drill every month, ranging from knots/rope rigging to search to firefighter removals to team-building drills in live fire situations. Many of our drills incorporate many of these things to keep our skills sharp.

    We have "members in training" that work with us at drills and will respond to an incident to observe and assist where they can. Once they complete all of the training and make enough drills to show their abilities, our team's leaders will add them on as actual team members.

    We've revamped our SOGs probably 6 times over the years based on NIOSH reports, training standards and lessons learned at calls and drills.

    Our minimal response is one qualified team leader ("Officer") and three qualified members. 9.5 out of 10 times we have no less than six members. As far as response time - if a department near us that wants to use us for FAST coverage has a possible fire - please consider starting us out sooner. Most of us are listening to the radio a majority of the day, and when someone around us sounds like they're going to work, we start texting/calling one another and unofficially start to assemble.

    If we can't meet our own minimum response manpower and/or can't get on the road in a proper amount of time, we will notify 60 Control to advise the IC, and go from there.

    Chief, I'd like to completely ditto this post. verbatim. We work exactly the same way, only with a designated time we allow for us to get on the road with the minimum manpower.

    Calling FAST early has reduced their response times to our district, and I strongly urge other departments to implement policies like this as well. It is probably one of the most proactive, and smart moves we've made in a long time.

    fireboyny likes this

  17. Posted

    I think the concept is being lost on some departments that create special teams for FAST when it should be the function of aany/every FF instead of "special teams" that aren't always available.

    In a large career department every FF can be FAST. In smaller departments and most volunteer agencies it's treated like something special and not everyone gets the training.

    It all comes down to the NYS training requirements which are an absolute joke. Include FF 2, survival and FAST as the basic FF course. If the training is too much, go join the Elks lodge.

    My department encourages everyone who is an interior firefighter to train with the FASTeam and eventually join. However, you cannot put non-FAST trained members on a FAST assignment though, which is why it comes down to a special team in volunteer departments in NYS. Unless you require every interior member to be certified with survival and FAST, then it is going to have to be a special team.

    Bnechis, helicopper, chris and 4 others like this

  18. Posted

    I think those numbers are a little off. Mt. Pleasant has more apperatus then that. Also are you including the parts of Briarcliff,Chappaqua and Sleepy Hollow that are in the town of Mt. Pleasant?

    I was unaware that they were part of the town... That is just Hawthorne, Valhalla, Pleasantville and Thornwood based off of previous posts

    I may have to recant my prior statement.... foot, please meet mouth...

  20. Posted · Edited by JohnnyOV

    NY10570 was there when I left Pleasantville in 2005 and we were all aware of the quad districts, etc. We had just started to share things like the cascade system, and were exploring things like automatic aid for calls. I think NY10570 was hinting more towards why there are still separate departments such as Pleasantville, Thornwood, Hawthorne, and Valhalla as opposed to a Mt Pleasant FD. How much duplication of apparatus, stations, and a reduction in operaring costs could be achieved?

    Mount Pleasant - According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 32.7 square miles (85 km2), of which, 27.7 square miles (72 km2) of it is land and 5.0 square miles (13 km2) of it (15.26%) is water.

    Demographics

    As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 43,221 people, 13,737 households, and 10,522 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,560.5 people per square mile (602.4/km²). There were 13,985 housing units at an average density of 504.9 per square mile (194.9/km²).

    total apparatus (from departments websites):

    10 Engines

    2 Rescue Engines

    4 Tower Ladders

    1 Ladder

    1 Rescue

    2 Utilities

    (not including SUVs)

    Now if you take the city of Yonkers, as strictly a comparable geographical size:

    The city occupies 20.3 square miles (52.6 km²), including 18.1 square miles (46.8 km²) of land and 2.2 square miles (5.8 km²) (11.02%) of water, according to the United States Census Bureau with a population of 195,976 (according to the 2010 Census).

    10 Engines

    4 Ladders

    2 Tower Ladders

    1 Rescue

    1 Squad

    Just because the apparatus residing in Mount pleasant are stationed in different districts, does not mean they are not needed. Sure you can consolidate into one department to increase manpower, while maintaining different companies, but I'm pretty sure the apparatus requirements would stay the same, maybe a reduction in rescues or rescue engines on the replacement cycle, and a reduction of chiefs cars possibly. Mount Pleasant has its fair share of large commercial properties, as well as residential sections. Consolidation may lower or raise taxes from one district to another, and a serious study would have to be pursued on whether or not a true savings would actually occur.

    edit: sure they run a heck of a lot less fire then Yonkers, and their population density is less then 1/3ed that of Yonkers, but response times need to be taken into consideration when reducing the amount of apparatus in a district

  21. Posted

    If you know so much about Mt Pleasant why aren't you aware of the quad districts and tri-districts quad districts are Pleasantville Thornwood Valhalla and Hawthorne and Tri-districts are Hawthrone Thornwood and Valhalla this has been in existence for over 10 years the Commisoners and chiefs have been proactive long before the economy tanked and manpower was the issue it is now they started sharing services and having dual response to make sure they had proper manpower some of the shared services are teh cascade machine state bid fuel different simulators etc etc dual response has been in efffect since around 2000 there is joint drills together training courses that are provided by the commisioners for the joint departments etc the commisioners have worked hard to save tax payers money and still buy the neccesary tools and equipment needed to do teh job right

    holy sentence batman

    ptwatson, efdcapt115 and BFD1054 like this

  23. Posted

    We cannot even get departments to agree on an standardized accountability system that can be used county wide, and everyone wants to jump into completely consolidating 60 fire departments (not including brigades and county teams)? How about we start with basic things like radio communication, accountability, mutual aid staffing and training requirements before we go completely changing the tax lines, which is going to be a complete logistical nightmare.

    On a side note, is it possible to completely remove all districts lines including fire protection, fire district and city limit lines, and create a Westchester County Fire District or Fire protection district? NYS fire laws are pretty stringent, and I'm pretty sure there has to be a majority vote from the tax payers in the fire district to absorb another or dissolve their own.

    waful likes this