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All,

I attended a course put on by CSX about Emergency Repsonse to railroad incidents, which was very informative. The CSX guy said that the specially made rail cars that carry garbage are preplumbed in case of fire, and all you need to do is hook up a hose to the FDC on it. I didn't get a chance to ask the guy exactly what fitting was on it? 2.5NH, a Stortz, or ???? Anyone know before I give the guy a call?

The Jeep is my personal Fire Dept, and not taxpayer funded......

http://www.lohud.com/article/20130809/NEWS05/308090087/Tax-cap-falls-1-66-2014

Im still waiting to that 2nd part of that campaign promise, Gov Cuomo... You remember, you called it mandate relief.. Im still waiting on that...... I havent seen one smidge of it in my little part of this state...

Yes, exactly like that, Bnechis!

As for having tools preconnected, why not? We have pre connected handlines, lights, etc.. Why waste time making connections in the dark/rain/snow/under pressure when there are other things to do like stabilize the vehicle and check for other hazards? No one is saying jump off the rig and start cutting before doing a 360 and making a plan, but when that has been done, I see no reason to waste time doing things like making connections that could of already be done before you left the station.

As I stated before, R-38-60 is getting up there in age, and starting to have increased maintenance costs. How our response to MVA's with a rescue pumper would change is being considered. We do pull the jumplines for MVA's for fire suppression. I have seen a few bumpers with 2 tools, 2 reels, and a jump line. If I can figure out how to post it here, I will.

I will add that we also have a portable Hurst/Honda power unit that would also be on the truck as a back up unit. Putting all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea.

good point, Sir. If Im already 30 feet infront of the truck as opposed to the rear where I had 100 previosuly, I dont need that extra 30 feet.... I still need 100 feet of 1.75 hose. Thats not debateable..

All the ones I have seen are covered with a "diamond plate cover" well sealed against the elements. But it is a good point. That tilt bumper rig looks impressive, but is a bit much for my needs. Im thinking a cutter and a spreaders both preconnected to reels and 100 feet of 1.75 hose with nozzle. 100 feet or so of electric cord on a reel would be cool and nice to have, but not a need. The need is the 2 tools and 100 feet of line.

And the hits just keep coming for these guys.... http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130724/NEWS/307240340/-1/NEWS

The only people who will make out of all of this mess are the lawyers when they get paid.

Can you post up some pics, CG?

R 38-60 is 19 years old, and things are starting to nickle and dime us to death. We are in the VERY VERY early stages of looking to see whats out there and what it could be replaced with in the next few years.

All,

Im looking for pictures of rescue trucks front bumpers that contain Hurst type tools to get some ideas on how to spec one. I was told you cant put 2 reels with 2 preconnected tools AND a preconnected 100 foot trashline in a front bumper. Anyone have any pics of their rigs they want to share so we can get some ideas?

I'll put it this way. We need a 2.5 hose worth of training dollars to flow so instructors can get paid to teach MORE classes, but we are getting a booster line's worth. The state runs the pump panel......

Firemoose,

No, is not a joke. Our county says they have very limited hours/money for training. Yes, we have the outreach programs, but there is not nearly enought of them to keep up with the demand (bodies needing training) in the county. This has been brought up in countywide fire district meetings, Battalion meetings, ect. Same story no matter where you go on whatever level.

I have gotten in 12 new members in the past few months in my district due to a great recruting program done both inhouse and by FASNY that want to be/physically can be "interior SCBA wearing, hose weilding, a** kicking FF's" ... I am able to send 2 of them to FFI class due to county rules, which is 2 members per dept per "high demand" class. The other 10 get told, "well, you just have to wait for the next class" That could be several months off, and even then, it may not be non where near local (within a 45 drive one way). So they start to loose interest (and I dont blame them), .. They say to themselves, "You wanted me here, but you cant officially(read as having state certification saying I know what Im doing) train me, so whats the point".. I'd probably walk away also......

Ok, fine. As a district, I will pay (out of my budget for something that the state/county does provide, but its not nearly enough as the demand is for for free) for a state instructor, have them teach the OFPC class to the OFPC standards/doctrine, and would ASSUME that you'd get a state certificate. However, this is not the case. You dont get a state certificiate, you get a "in house" one, which is meaningless outside the confines of the district. If I have my inhouse cert, and I want to take a OFPC taught FF2 class, since I dont have a state issued cert, I cant take FF2.

So as a district, do I pay good money for good training that is meaningless as the state is concerned? What happens when someone gets hurt/killed that had a "inhouse cert" but not a state one? Im sure the lawyers would love that one. It could be a LONG time before I can get my other 10 people thru an outreach class.

Bottom line as a district, I'd pay for the training but the state makes it so I can not do so AND get a state certificate for the training....... So whats a guy to

I'd be happy if I could pay a state certified instructor to teach a OFPC class to the standard and then get a state certificiate for it. I"d write the check in a heartbeat.

That is the exact problem in a nutshell that we are running into, JM15....

The biggest hurdle is lack of training dollars at the state/county level. Fix that, and lots of other problems will go away.

I'd rather chance a back problem using a harness to bail out with than just using gravity..

When was the last fire class taught at Camp Smith? I'll bet it was over 6 years ago..

Being screwed up is one thing NYS doesn't need training in, and can teach at the Federal level, as they are experts....

Im totally for one standard, but the implementation will be the hard part. My county's OEM is already complaining how they don't have enough training hours/dollars to run FF1 classes. While FASNY's "The Fire In You" recruitment program has been a success, the state has not pumped more dollars into training to support the new recruits, so there are a bunch of new members who must wait for classes to open up, and that could be a long time. In my county, we can only send 2 people to each class per dept. That's not even getting into how close the classes are to the dept distance wise, as some classes are over 1+ hour drive away.

If a District says "we will go hire our own state/county instructors and run our own class", the county gets upset and since it isn't a county/state authorized class, you don't get official credit. So while you get the training to the same standard with certified instructors using the OFPC lesson plans, you don't get the certificate saying your trained.. So if later on you want to take a state FF2 class, you don't have a FF1 certificate because you didn't take an county/state authorized FF1 class.... This scenario plays out for any OPFC class. not just FF1.


Until more dollars above the district level are pumped in to training, I don't see how it can be implemented, no matter how good an idea it is and needs to happen.

Twin Oxygen tanks? Perhaps 1 air bottle we mean?

Why the change in location?

1/2 the fun of the event was getting to see the trucks inside the warehouse. My son especially liked the big ARFF trucks because you don't see them at musters/parades.. In other news the Pump Primers muster at Harrisburg was AWESOME!

Document everything!

If they dont want to sit outside a building, I take it that they dont expect someone to do it for them either..... Hopefully nothing happens while they are inside.