JohnnyOV

Yes, its still not going to New Rochelle

The fire service is not a democracy. It is a paramilitary structured organization. You volunteered to sign up, you are now employed by the department. If you don't like what your leader is doing because it entices change and pro-activeness, and feel that walking out is the best way to make your point; there is the door, don't let it hit you on the way out. Those who walk out, will no longer be able to hold the department back. The department ran long before you joined, and will continue to run and operate long after you, or anyone for that matter, leaves.

The fire service is not a democracy. It is a paramilitary structured organization. You volunteered to sign up, you are now employed by the department. If you don't like what your leader is doing because it entices change and pro-activeness, and feel that walking out is the best way to make your point; there is the door, don't let it hit you on the way out. Those who walk out, will no longer be able to hold the department back. The department ran long before you joined, and will continue to run and operate long after you, or anyone for that matter, leaves.

If each VAC/FD got out of their little Silos, and started to work together, be dispatched together, set the same protocols together, same training, and actually participate in effective county drills with a good post-drill critique at the end (none of this, good job everyone, heres the free food), then I could see some progress take place.
But hey like you said, I'm thinking again. Those 52 PSAP points in Westchester county, and single agency dispatching protocols have been working for 50 years. Why progress now? Hell a consolidation study was even done back in 2001 by the county recommending that all PSAPs be consolidated.
http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/pdf/efop/efo33158.pdf
edit: incorrect PSAP Number change - and google is a wonderful tool

I understand this thread is like Deja Vu. My personal goal is to make EMS in this county, a reliable, well oiled machine before I die. A VERY long term goal of mine. Fire in this county could use a little help too, but lets admit it, EMS is a joke. I admit that EMTBravo is probably not the best place to try and get this accomplished at, but you need to at least start somewhere, gather a group of individuals and actually get something rolling. What better place to start then right here with the conglomerate of emergency providers from around the area.
I've laid low after posting this topic, just to see where it goes and let other roll with it. Like the Capt and others have said, jumping into a massive MCI drill with every agency from the county spells out disaster. Like any other training, start with the basics and work up to professional level. Some agencies have difficulty staging with their own 1-2 ambulances in an area where they can easily leave the scene once the patient is loaded. Start with that, and scene security/accountability, and maybe we can move up to including 3 or 4 other agencies at another time. Once that comes as naturally as pouring milk into your cereal, then we can move up to a larger scale incident.
I think the one thing that everyone who's commented so far can agree on is that the status quo is not acceptable in this county for EMS. It is possible that the only way to actually get some agencies to change their ways, would be to involve the press, take out ads in the paper, and billboards on the side of the road and post facts. Maybe then a fire would get lit under the rear ends of certain individuals to change. Other then that, talking about it amongst ourselves generally yields zero advancement or progression. Getting the public involved and letting them know, "You have a very good chance you'll be waiting 20-30 minutes for an ambulance during your heart attack," or "If your bus crashes right now, we have 30 ambulances around the area that we own, but we can only effectively staff 5 of them total," might entice some public outcry for change.
Handling this in house and promoting positive change without involving the public would be the best course of action obviously, since John Q who has 0 idea about emergency service would offer their 2 cents on every little thing. So before some large scale event happens in this county, why not actually sit down and come up with a realistic plan of action? Make some progressive change that a majority of agencies can agree with, and bring it to the County legislator. Tell them what we'd like to accomplish, and see if it can get done. Will it be one of the most massive undertakings in this counties history, absolutely. But what better time to start then right now, by being assertive, rather then reactive?

I understand this thread is like Deja Vu. My personal goal is to make EMS in this county, a reliable, well oiled machine before I die. A VERY long term goal of mine. Fire in this county could use a little help too, but lets admit it, EMS is a joke. I admit that EMTBravo is probably not the best place to try and get this accomplished at, but you need to at least start somewhere, gather a group of individuals and actually get something rolling. What better place to start then right here with the conglomerate of emergency providers from around the area.
I've laid low after posting this topic, just to see where it goes and let other roll with it. Like the Capt and others have said, jumping into a massive MCI drill with every agency from the county spells out disaster. Like any other training, start with the basics and work up to professional level. Some agencies have difficulty staging with their own 1-2 ambulances in an area where they can easily leave the scene once the patient is loaded. Start with that, and scene security/accountability, and maybe we can move up to including 3 or 4 other agencies at another time. Once that comes as naturally as pouring milk into your cereal, then we can move up to a larger scale incident.
I think the one thing that everyone who's commented so far can agree on is that the status quo is not acceptable in this county for EMS. It is possible that the only way to actually get some agencies to change their ways, would be to involve the press, take out ads in the paper, and billboards on the side of the road and post facts. Maybe then a fire would get lit under the rear ends of certain individuals to change. Other then that, talking about it amongst ourselves generally yields zero advancement or progression. Getting the public involved and letting them know, "You have a very good chance you'll be waiting 20-30 minutes for an ambulance during your heart attack," or "If your bus crashes right now, we have 30 ambulances around the area that we own, but we can only effectively staff 5 of them total," might entice some public outcry for change.
Handling this in house and promoting positive change without involving the public would be the best course of action obviously, since John Q who has 0 idea about emergency service would offer their 2 cents on every little thing. So before some large scale event happens in this county, why not actually sit down and come up with a realistic plan of action? Make some progressive change that a majority of agencies can agree with, and bring it to the County legislator. Tell them what we'd like to accomplish, and see if it can get done. Will it be one of the most massive undertakings in this counties history, absolutely. But what better time to start then right now, by being assertive, rather then reactive?

I understand this thread is like Deja Vu. My personal goal is to make EMS in this county, a reliable, well oiled machine before I die. A VERY long term goal of mine. Fire in this county could use a little help too, but lets admit it, EMS is a joke. I admit that EMTBravo is probably not the best place to try and get this accomplished at, but you need to at least start somewhere, gather a group of individuals and actually get something rolling. What better place to start then right here with the conglomerate of emergency providers from around the area.
I've laid low after posting this topic, just to see where it goes and let other roll with it. Like the Capt and others have said, jumping into a massive MCI drill with every agency from the county spells out disaster. Like any other training, start with the basics and work up to professional level. Some agencies have difficulty staging with their own 1-2 ambulances in an area where they can easily leave the scene once the patient is loaded. Start with that, and scene security/accountability, and maybe we can move up to including 3 or 4 other agencies at another time. Once that comes as naturally as pouring milk into your cereal, then we can move up to a larger scale incident.
I think the one thing that everyone who's commented so far can agree on is that the status quo is not acceptable in this county for EMS. It is possible that the only way to actually get some agencies to change their ways, would be to involve the press, take out ads in the paper, and billboards on the side of the road and post facts. Maybe then a fire would get lit under the rear ends of certain individuals to change. Other then that, talking about it amongst ourselves generally yields zero advancement or progression. Getting the public involved and letting them know, "You have a very good chance you'll be waiting 20-30 minutes for an ambulance during your heart attack," or "If your bus crashes right now, we have 30 ambulances around the area that we own, but we can only effectively staff 5 of them total," might entice some public outcry for change.
Handling this in house and promoting positive change without involving the public would be the best course of action obviously, since John Q who has 0 idea about emergency service would offer their 2 cents on every little thing. So before some large scale event happens in this county, why not actually sit down and come up with a realistic plan of action? Make some progressive change that a majority of agencies can agree with, and bring it to the County legislator. Tell them what we'd like to accomplish, and see if it can get done. Will it be one of the most massive undertakings in this counties history, absolutely. But what better time to start then right now, by being assertive, rather then reactive?

If we do a county wide drill please do it either at 10 am weekday or at 2 or 3 am and see how that goes.

I just found this gem: "Westchester County EMS Mutual Aid Plan - Rev. 2003."
Aside from already knowing that, god forbid, some massive MCI occurs, it will be mass and utter chaos for 99% of the county, when was the last time this plan was even looked at or reviewed? When was the last time, other then a county airport drill, have EMS department hosted or participated in an MCI drill? Do the leaders of VAC's even know about this plan, and has the plan been disseminated down to the EMTs who will be the first on scene of a major incident?
Biggest question is, has this plan ever even been tested? Anywhere? Who will fill the shoes of Medical Command, EMS Operations, EMS Safety etc etc. as listed in the plan? Who in any VAC has this required training?
God forbid there is a plane crash on final, shortly after takeoff from KHPN, the home department is in for one heck of a day...
Time for shameless plug - A county run EMS program needs to happen
MutualAidPlanDec03-v5.pdf

In FL, it used to be a BLS procedure... not to sure why you would want ALS to ride in someone with 2 minor puncture wounds

In FL, it used to be a BLS procedure... not to sure why you would want ALS to ride in someone with 2 minor puncture wounds

For those of you that are concerned about the police having too much "power", this doesn't give us any more "power" than we already have.
When you are a cop that works in a busy area or in a special unit that deals with search warrants frequently, you know what the destruction of evidence sounds like as opposed to " putting up a shelf," and you know what people scurrying around in an apartment trying to hid or escape sounds like as ooposed to people getting off the couch to come open the door."
Let's try to keep this in perspective... we are talking about piece of s*** drug dealers here, the scum of the earth who ruin lives and communities, Who Cares what happens to them... when you live in a community that doesn't have the scourge of heavy drugs in it, it's easy to sit back and say " but we need to preserve their rights too."
If the apartment or the house next door to you had frequent visitors knocking on the door at all hours of the day and night or cars coming up comstantly and there were strange odors coming from the apartment, and you heard rumors that they were selling crack of heroin out of the apratment, the first thing you would do is call the police and ask them why they aren't doing anything about it and when you get the answer of " Our hands are tied and they have rights too," maybe you will rethink your position.
Or if your kids couldn't go to the park becuase the local dealer has taken up residence by the swingset to sell his drugs because the swing set has the best panoramic view to see if the cops are coming.
Or there were drive by's and gang fights on the corner or if your car or your house kept getting broken into becasue the crack heads are staying in your neighborhood becuase your local dealer has the best product.
I am a supporter of the constitution but I am also a supporter of Common Sense

If I was running fox...I would cancel it as well...bottom line..I'm running a business. The show has done a wonderful job and like all things...it just ran its time. How about complimenting fox for running it as long as it did and even putting on such a show back in the early 90's to begin with. Heck of run...and a bunch of people brought to justice. Kudo's fox for what you started and ran for such a long time. Also I thought it was on their Sunday night line up originally with: The Simpsons, In Living Color and Married with Children

Yes, I've heard about this before. Sounds like a great system. Too bad for many of the younger members of the volunteer fire service here in the U.S. that their seniors will never fight for such a system here...imagine if we took all the money spent (wasted) in the volunteer fire service on mega-over duplication of apparatus, fire stations, and equipment, LOSAP, tax breaks, education and recruitment incentives, workers comp and liability insurance, lavish social events, etc.. We could have a truly professional and accountable fire service throughout NYS, and many of the younger members of the volunteer fire service would have a better opportunity to make a few bucks and have access to quality training, someday maybe leading to a fulltime career.
Instead, the myth of how much savings to the taxpayers is provided by volunteer firefighters will continue to be perpetuated by their leaders. Wake up young guys and shake things up a bit!

Tradition in the fire service is how we make firefighters. It is through our senior firefighters that our trade is handed down learned. While we are taught basic and fundamental skills in the fire academy it's the conversations at the backstep after a fire, on the apparatus floor, and in the kitchen where we hand down the tradition. When the rig shows up with a relativly young crew but they perform well at a fire it's because of tradition. So some may see it as a detriment but I see it as fundamental to who we are.

It amazes me that an area, like the Capt, stated earlier, the size of Somers and Yorktown (both about equal size, Somers being slightly bigger) needs 12 different departments with a full assortment of apparatus. Yorktown and somers are pretty much right in line with each other being the most active all volunteer departments in the county (Somers being both EMS and Fire at around 2000-2100, and Yorktown strictly fire at around 600-650) with slightly less population in the combined area then Colonie. Why is it necessary to have 12 departments in an area that 2, or even a well managed 1 could handle? It literally boggles my mind that 12 departments are even able to fit into an area that small. Each department on average only covers 4.6 square miles. I cannot think of a bigger waste of tax payer money, other then burning it for fun, then the situation going on here.
If you want to keep your little fiefdoms, why not keep each department to a single or dual company (engine, truck, or rescue), and dispatch like many counties in Maryland do (Hell this could even work here in Westchester too - OMG BLASPHEMY!). The first due will still be responsible, but you'll be getting auto aid from other departments at the same time. Set the same training standards, the same operational guidelines, the same everything and make it work. Progression while being the most efficient machine you can be is the wave of the future boys. Everyone needs to hop on the train before your customers start pulling rail sections off the tracks to sell for cash........

It amazes me that an area, like the Capt, stated earlier, the size of Somers and Yorktown (both about equal size, Somers being slightly bigger) needs 12 different departments with a full assortment of apparatus. Yorktown and somers are pretty much right in line with each other being the most active all volunteer departments in the county (Somers being both EMS and Fire at around 2000-2100, and Yorktown strictly fire at around 600-650) with slightly less population in the combined area then Colonie. Why is it necessary to have 12 departments in an area that 2, or even a well managed 1 could handle? It literally boggles my mind that 12 departments are even able to fit into an area that small. Each department on average only covers 4.6 square miles. I cannot think of a bigger waste of tax payer money, other then burning it for fun, then the situation going on here.
If you want to keep your little fiefdoms, why not keep each department to a single or dual company (engine, truck, or rescue), and dispatch like many counties in Maryland do (Hell this could even work here in Westchester too - OMG BLASPHEMY!). The first due will still be responsible, but you'll be getting auto aid from other departments at the same time. Set the same training standards, the same operational guidelines, the same everything and make it work. Progression while being the most efficient machine you can be is the wave of the future boys. Everyone needs to hop on the train before your customers start pulling rail sections off the tracks to sell for cash........

This is clearly a waste of taxpayer funds and I'm not sure how anyone can even defend this.

Shady as fudge and a poor excuse to get manpower. If you want career men, hire them as such.

There is enough SALT in the bucket of that Tower to de-ice all of the roads in Dutchess County.

the "trenches" that are cut by the Forest Service tractor plows are what stops a fire, water and/or foam will cool the fuels, take the heat away, protect structures, and stop a small slow moving fire, but bare dirt (mineral soil) is the only sure thing (unless you can safely counterfire in front of the wildfire)

To the soldier who send that fatal bullet on its way, we will never know your name, the look of your face, your race, or your background. But we all will stand behind you as one, as Americans. You will go down as an American and as a World hero. Your faceless actions have freed us all. Thank you, and you will never be forgotten.

To the soldier who send that fatal bullet on its way, we will never know your name, the look of your face, your race, or your background. But we all will stand behind you as one, as Americans. You will go down as an American and as a World hero. Your faceless actions have freed us all. Thank you, and you will never be forgotten.

That hits the F%$# nail on the head. I am not a terrorist. I spent my time on the Pile, and luckily, so far, have only had minor problems (PTSD, and sinus problems) compared to what some of my co-workers are going through. I am really getting disgusted with the way our government is acting. I really am beginning to believe it is time for a Second American Revolution. No more Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Tea Party, but we the voters need to look at what the candidates are about. Elect only those that put country above all else. No more multiple term members, if we can have term limits on the President, then we should have them on Congress as well. Eliminate their pensions and life time health benefits for serving just one term. The current government (not just Obama, but his predecessors, Bush(s) Clinton, etc.) have given away money like crazy, and never once checked the recipients like this. Why start now?

Who cares? Help trucks are on accident scenes to assist with traffic control for us, school buses are dropping off your children to school or home. If red, purple, mauve, blue, cyan, forest green lights provide the best visibility of us or our loved ones, why not equip every truck with them? they're frikken lights people, get a grip.