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Most people don't care, until.

If any depts in Rockland want to get rid of radios in the 46 MHZ range, Ulster County still uses that range, and there are a lot depts. here that can use them.

I totally agree, but they have said there will be no more 5's made, and no low band version of the 6. Moto has already stopped making base station low band radios. Bottom line, Moto is getting out of the low band business more and more as time goes by. This is another major step in their process..

It looks like I will be keeping my eyes open for Low band 5's at the PA musters this year.. Lots of counties in PA are dumping low band radio/dispatching systems. Last year I bought 6 each working low band 5's in my frequency range, and they still had 4 years left on the warrantee. I also found a bunch of low band in my freq range CDM 1250's for cheap also. My district doesn't have tons of $ to spend, so we save $ where we can. I brought everything to our Moto radio guy, he bench tested them, programmed them, and we made out like bandits as compared to buying new. Everything worked perfectly.

Ulster County is also dispatched on low band, and we are YEARS away from moving to another band. Moto will drop the 5, official announcement or not. They have never produced an "old" pager and a "new" pager at the same time. They make a lot more $ that way. If they did, people would have little reason to buy the new one.

Correct. The 6 does not come in a low band version.

My Motorola dealer just told me the Minitor 5 pager is being discontinued, and the Minitor 6 is coming out soon(in a few weeks) , But Motorola is not making a Low Band version for the 6. I really don't care about all these new features, they do nothing for me. My 5 works well, but they are dropping it.... What will depts. do who are still dispatched on low band? I think Moto is making a mistake not carrying a low band pager.

More info here..

http://www.pwservice.com/pagers/firepagers/motorola_minitor_vi_6_pager.aspx

Thanks Momma Moto for dropping Low Band......

No, you dont HAVE to make a claim on the other districts insurance. In my mind, a lot of it comes down to the district's commissioners and common sense.

Hypothetically, If my district goes mutual aid to another district, and my axe gets broken, my district is just going to go buy another ax out of it's pocket. It's firefighting, things do get broken in the course of their use, and it was probably time to replace the 20+ year old wooden handled axe with a fiberglass one anyway.. No big deal.

However, if my apparatus is responding to a mutual aid call and gets into an accident thru no fault of it's own, and damage is sustained, well "Mr. you called us mutual aid surrounding district commissioner", you need to call your insurance company, and we need to get this worked out. My taxpayers aren't going to eat the deductible and the associated insurance hike. You called us, and once you placed that call, you assumed responsibility, and you knew that ahead of time. It's spelled out in the law. If you aren't willing to take that chance, that's fine, don't call us.

Now, if there was some gross stupidity on my guy's part while driving to the call, well, that is going to come down to specific circumstances and my board will have to think about it and how we would approach it..

No, the VFBL doesn't apply to career FD's.. But the mutual aid "equipment damage law" applies to EVERYONE, volunteer and career.

Here is a better description of the mutual aid "who is responsible for what" law.

§21:30.2 MUTUAL AID RESPONSE

Benefits will be paid in the following situation: while, within the state, personally assisting another fire department, Fire Company or any unit thereof when the active volunteer firefighter has offered his or her services to the officer in charge of such other fire department, Fire Company or any unit thereof and such services have been accepted. If injured, the active volunteer firefighter must file his or her notice of injury and claim with the secretary of the Board of Fire Commissioners of the district in which he or she offered his or her services. VFBL §5 (1-, General Municipal Law § 209-I

§27:70.2 HOME RULE

Under the Volunteer Firefighters’ Benefit Law, coverage for injured or deceased volunteer firefighters remains the obligation of the fire district or municipality to which such injured or deceased volunteer firefighter is or was a member. This is so, regardless of where the volunteer firefighter was injured or killed. This is known as the “home” district responsibility. General Municipal Law §209.1.

§27:70.3 EQUIPMENT DAMAGE

Equipment damage occurring under the mutual circumstances, however, is different. The calling department assumes responsibility for damage or loss of equipment. A fire district that responds to a mutual alarm call, and sustains damage to its equipment or loss of its equipment can make a claim against the calling department for reimbursement.

If there is a mutual aid drill, and only in the case of a drill and not an emergency, the “home” district retains all responsibility for loss of equipment or damage of equipment and cannot make any claim against the fire district or municipality in which the drill is held. General Municipal Law §209.2.

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And WMC is looking to buy St Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie....

Parades are not emergencies or mutual aid events, and the owning district covers them.

I said assets he really doesn't need. If he needs them, call them by all means. Any commissioner who tells the chief what to do for mutual aid is WAY WAY WAY overstepping his bounds legally.

Or perhaps it keeps the incident commander from calling assets he doesn't really need as he(or his district technically) is now on the hook for responsibility for it.

NY state law says that the district REQUESTING the mutual aid is liable for damage to any equipment/apparatus that it requested, and the district GIVING the mutual aid is liable for the personnel. For example the, North Fire District has a worker, and they call the South Fire District for mutual aid. While enroute (or on scene or while returning), the SFD apparatus gets into an accident. The NFD is 100% responsible for the apparatus (cost of repair/replacement/etc) The SFD is 100% responsible (workers comp etc) for their personnel.

You may be too late. Start with the port authority. When my dept picked up our steel 2 years ago, the hanger was almost cleared out of steel.

I wonder how long they kept the truck on and the engine ran without oil??? at worst they need a new engine, not a whole new vehicle.

Last year, we got an EXCELLENT 2 "very full day class" (not a "We say it is 5 hours, but its really 3 hours a day type of deal" class) put on by these guys. http://www.teamlgs.com/ Based right here in the Hudson Valley. They train teams all over the world in all sorts of water/ice based diving/rescue/etc.

What is CFAI?

OFPC puts on a great Ice Rescue class thru the full time instructors they have that travel around the state. It's free, all you need to do is contact OFPC. Great class.

There is no rule for the insurance companies, but the rate the district pays sure reflects 18 year old drivers vs 21 year old drivers.

I have talked to a few insurance companies about emergency vehicle driving. While they all say "as long as they have a NYS license to drive, we allow it" that doesn't mean they DONT hike the premiums up accordingly. Premiums for a dept who says no one under 21 years can drive are lower than a dept that says 18 years old is ok.

So while it technically isn't directly an insurance company "thing", it indirectly is.

100% agreed. No need to move the dead, they aren't going anywhere.. Quickly control bleeding and get them outside/hand off to EMS. Go back and get more/repeat.

What about those that aren't in traumatic arrest, but wind up bleeding out because it takes so long to get to them? Im not saying the teams go in while bullets are flying, but after a SWAT team has gone in an cleared a wing of a building, send in the grab team. No reason to wait until the whole building is cleared.

I think it can be done, but the medical people need to be in a "grab and go" mindset. A "grab team" under LEO protection could save a lot of lives while the building is still being cleared. The initial entry team of LEO goes in, and starts clearing, while the grab team under the cover from additional LEO follows behind. They don't even need to be EMS to be on a "grab team". No doing patient evaluation/vital signs/treatment/etc... Just make contact, get them on a SKED, and get them out. Those patients that the team cant get to, the team may be able to throw a prepackaged kit of bandages to the patients so perhaps they can do self aid until the situation permits the grab team to get to them.

Not that much different that the Pierce...

Our chief driver is the main guy that trains you on driving apparatus, pumping, etc. he tells the chief it you are ready to drive calls or not, after you have done pump ops, EVOC class, etc.