firebuff860

Why should I send my truck to a car accident if it does not carry extrication equipment? Standardize response based on manpower,equipment capability, and training. Let's go back to basics. What does your Dept require to be interior qualified (NYS training classes)? Do you require annual physicals? Do you require annual training? Do you require annual attendance? Do you require older members to update their outdated training certs, or do you grandfather them in? I would rather call in a Dept with 3-4 trained FF's that is 10 minutes away than call in a neighbor who will show up with a driver and 2 exterior firefighters in 4 minutes.
Before you respond to this, think long and hard about which Dept you belong to.

Why should I send my truck to a car accident if it does not carry extrication equipment? Standardize response based on manpower,equipment capability, and training. Let's go back to basics. What does your Dept require to be interior qualified (NYS training classes)? Do you require annual physicals? Do you require annual training? Do you require annual attendance? Do you require older members to update their outdated training certs, or do you grandfather them in? I would rather call in a Dept with 3-4 trained FF's that is 10 minutes away than call in a neighbor who will show up with a driver and 2 exterior firefighters in 4 minutes.
Before you respond to this, think long and hard about which Dept you belong to.

Chief Flynn has an uncanny ability to ruffle the feathers of many on this board every time he posts. As a career fire officer once told me, figures lie and liars figure. If you are going to bash the Chief for his comments, back them up with some facts as he did. I am sure once all of the numbers are out there we can go on and on about numbers of career vs volunteer and number of calls responded to career vs volunteer as well as distance travelled to each call career vs volunteer. The bottom line is, when was the last time you read about a career chief passing another on the way to a call, make fun of that chief on a recorded radio channel for going too slow, and then plow into an unsuspecting driver? The actions of the Chief in this article are beyond defending.
Maybe all involved can post their Department's SOG's and policies regarding drivers: training, minimum time required, courses required, etc. That would prove to be a more educational topic.

Chief Flynn has an uncanny ability to ruffle the feathers of many on this board every time he posts. As a career fire officer once told me, figures lie and liars figure. If you are going to bash the Chief for his comments, back them up with some facts as he did. I am sure once all of the numbers are out there we can go on and on about numbers of career vs volunteer and number of calls responded to career vs volunteer as well as distance travelled to each call career vs volunteer. The bottom line is, when was the last time you read about a career chief passing another on the way to a call, make fun of that chief on a recorded radio channel for going too slow, and then plow into an unsuspecting driver? The actions of the Chief in this article are beyond defending.
Maybe all involved can post their Department's SOG's and policies regarding drivers: training, minimum time required, courses required, etc. That would prove to be a more educational topic.

Why should I send my truck to a car accident if it does not carry extrication equipment? Standardize response based on manpower,equipment capability, and training. Let's go back to basics. What does your Dept require to be interior qualified (NYS training classes)? Do you require annual physicals? Do you require annual training? Do you require annual attendance? Do you require older members to update their outdated training certs, or do you grandfather them in? I would rather call in a Dept with 3-4 trained FF's that is 10 minutes away than call in a neighbor who will show up with a driver and 2 exterior firefighters in 4 minutes.
Before you respond to this, think long and hard about which Dept you belong to.

Why should I send my truck to a car accident if it does not carry extrication equipment? Standardize response based on manpower,equipment capability, and training. Let's go back to basics. What does your Dept require to be interior qualified (NYS training classes)? Do you require annual physicals? Do you require annual training? Do you require annual attendance? Do you require older members to update their outdated training certs, or do you grandfather them in? I would rather call in a Dept with 3-4 trained FF's that is 10 minutes away than call in a neighbor who will show up with a driver and 2 exterior firefighters in 4 minutes.
Before you respond to this, think long and hard about which Dept you belong to.

Chief Flynn has an uncanny ability to ruffle the feathers of many on this board every time he posts. As a career fire officer once told me, figures lie and liars figure. If you are going to bash the Chief for his comments, back them up with some facts as he did. I am sure once all of the numbers are out there we can go on and on about numbers of career vs volunteer and number of calls responded to career vs volunteer as well as distance travelled to each call career vs volunteer. The bottom line is, when was the last time you read about a career chief passing another on the way to a call, make fun of that chief on a recorded radio channel for going too slow, and then plow into an unsuspecting driver? The actions of the Chief in this article are beyond defending.
Maybe all involved can post their Department's SOG's and policies regarding drivers: training, minimum time required, courses required, etc. That would prove to be a more educational topic.

Chief Flynn has an uncanny ability to ruffle the feathers of many on this board every time he posts. As a career fire officer once told me, figures lie and liars figure. If you are going to bash the Chief for his comments, back them up with some facts as he did. I am sure once all of the numbers are out there we can go on and on about numbers of career vs volunteer and number of calls responded to career vs volunteer as well as distance travelled to each call career vs volunteer. The bottom line is, when was the last time you read about a career chief passing another on the way to a call, make fun of that chief on a recorded radio channel for going too slow, and then plow into an unsuspecting driver? The actions of the Chief in this article are beyond defending.
Maybe all involved can post their Department's SOG's and policies regarding drivers: training, minimum time required, courses required, etc. That would prove to be a more educational topic.

Salty Dog,
So FD, PD and EMS should get free airline tickets, cruise tickets along with free tickets to Disney because they have BLS skills or are willing to confront antagonists?? Are the engineers who designed the trains given free rides? Are Doctors, nurses, lawyers invited to ride free because they possess the knowledge to help a situation? If the Emergency Service employees are heading to or going home from duty I might buy it but other than that, pay the $12 like everyone else and shut up.

My third Child left from Purdys NY today to head up to Albany to a 5 year stint in the US Army, she is going to Missouri for Boot Camp and AIT training to become a M P. Her Mother and I are extremely proud of her , she has been a member of Somers FD since she was 16, she has completed EMT and FF 1 and 2 and Safety and Survival. ( She is 20) I want to wish her all the best as well I want to keep her in our thoughts and prayers. I also wish to Thank all who have and are currently serving THANK YOU for all you are doing and have done for this great country we all live in.
Jim and Gina Arena
God Bless America

This guy should join the department. He is at every call about 5 minutes before the FD.

For professionals its all usually done at the start of the tour. For volunteers it is usually done at the chief's discretion. I find that it is much more beneficial for everyone for people who show up to look at what is occurring and to either make suggestions or to do a quick size up before taking an assignment. Obviously getting the line in place and securing water and VES should be paramount but when you have to deal with people who might not be good at ladders or not as aggressive as others it becomes an issue. Probably the hardest thing for a volunteer commander is dealing with what you 'got' when things are to be done. Of course the same problems may occur in a career setting but generally they are not as prevalent.
Seniority above all should take precedent. Doing this for 18 years has taught me a lot, but above all, doing things safely is the most important, if you see someone doing something stupid, like taking the bottom of a window instead of the top, say something, it doesn't happen often but glass will slide down that hook and cut you open, how do I know? I saw it happen! Everything in this job is the way it is cause it has happened to someone else, and unfortunately the amount of unknowns is still so numerous its scary to think about.
Stay Safe!

If anything, it shows a lack of regard to the residents of Fulton County that their local government lets this happen. I would think that firefighters would not blame the Dept for following orders. I am sure that these resident's can not opt out of paying school, police and other taxes, why let them opt out of fire tax? Oh that's right, as the homeowner stated to the newspaper, we never thought it would happen to us.
And to Foreman 1923, how would you feel if you lived in that area, your house was on fire and the Dept was unavailable beacause they were fighting a fire on a property that did not and does not pay the taxes you pay? And it is not like we are talking big bucks here, it is 75 dollars a year which is 1.44 a week or .20 cents a day.

Instead of the department wasting money on tshirts, why don't they donate the money to a breast cancer research fund. Much better PR.

Instead of the department wasting money on tshirts, why don't they donate the money to a breast cancer research fund. Much better PR.

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.

I am not critiquing any specifics of the operation. I do have one question / concern though which I hope will provoke some thoughtful, respectful dialogue...why is it accepted practice that it is necessary for 7 Departments to respond to a private dwelling fire with no exposure issues, and another two Departments are relocated?
This seems to be the norm in Northern Westchester.
Might it not be time to seriously explore some regionalization and consolidation?

Mike,
People who want to take their next deep breath should not be doing what this picture shows. As other members have stated, even IF Con Ed asked them to extinguish the wires, they had the wrong apparatus. Since nobody from the Dept has enlightened us as to why they did what the picture shows, members are stating their opinion.
From an earlier post of yours:
I however think that this being on FF close calls or wherever it was found was enough for this dept and the people involved and doesn't need to be taken on by emtbravo. We don't know the whole story so we shouldn't say omg wtf because as firefighters we have to adapt to the situation and also we really don't need to say he has to own up to everything that he did and take accountability for his actions. No he really doesn't, especially not to anyone on this website.
The member of the Dept certainly does not have to "own up" to his actions on this site. But he most certainly has to take accountability for his actions within his Dept (I hope).

Democrats support unions republicans do not, see Wisconsin. It is funny that the majority of emergency service people lean to the republican side, but their party does not support them.

Democrats support unions republicans do not, see Wisconsin. It is funny that the majority of emergency service people lean to the republican side, but their party does not support them.

Democrats support unions republicans do not, see Wisconsin. It is funny that the majority of emergency service people lean to the republican side, but their party does not support them.

Democrats support unions republicans do not, see Wisconsin. It is funny that the majority of emergency service people lean to the republican side, but their party does not support them.

Democrats support unions republicans do not, see Wisconsin. It is funny that the majority of emergency service people lean to the republican side, but their party does not support them.

Democrats support unions republicans do not, see Wisconsin. It is funny that the majority of emergency service people lean to the republican side, but their party does not support them.

You are correct, what a waste of government money to maintain any antiques (like this 125 year old antique).
Wait. History is important. I really wish My dept had not gotten rid of some of those wonderful pieces of history that all we have left is some pictures.
Since everyone has jumped on DFVAC as being a governmental agency, has anyone considered that they maybe a private not for profit corporation and not an arm of government.