bigrig77

1) my neighbor needs help putting out the garbage and mowing thelawn andthere are many others just like them.
2) I agree with you about the "Label" of firefighter. I have a big problem with a dept claiming to the public it has 100 FIREFIGHTERS, when we start counting and find 20 have retired to Fl. but still make the annual dinner, another 10 are in "skilled nursing facilities" and 40 of them are exterior only ("Support Personnel") That means you only have 30 "Firefighters" and 25 of them work out of the area.
I do not mind if a VFD is honest to itself and the public. But Isee deptslike the one above claiming to the public that they are protecting them...Its great to help your neighbors, if you are actually helping them.

wanna help your neighbor and have don't think you need training--- pick up their garbage bring it to the dump-- volunteer at the library-- join the elks. firefighting is a dangerous profession whether you do it for a salary or not.. ask the 19 that lost their live in a forest fire!!!
Train train train when you think you have had enough train more
again just my thoughts

FASNY supporters are too old to use computers.

NFPA 1001 is the industry standard. Period. That's the legal standard you're going to be held to in court when something happens.
Objective certification testing would eliminate the ability of departments to "fake it."
If NYS can pass a gun control law against the wishes of almost every elected Sheriff in the state, I don't see why they can't pass a law setting NFPA Firefighter 1 as the minimum standard for all Firefighters against the wishes of every elected Fire Chief.

Great idea--aint going to happen as long as there are organizations that are still in the dark ages as far as firefighting is concerned.
Lowering standards or worse not having any borders on criminal intent. Having taught some firefighter one classes in the last few years I can tell you one thing--- class starts out with 20-25 in the class. Last session maybe 16-17. Very few are willing to take a National firefighters one test, because departments do not require taking one.
communities do not send in untrained police--they send them for 16 weeks of training. Yet theses communities use their AHJ to say the fire department is doing the best it can with what it has-- not reality. minimum of Firefighter one-- SET A STANDARD work toward the STANDARD. Put money in the budgets for training not one million dollar pieces of fire apparatus. Those that have the training should DEMAND more form their departments .
Standards should be set for becoming firefighters/ fire officers/fire chiefs -- plane and simple. While I am at it STANDARDS should be set for any one driving fire department vehicles.

How many departments are just not doing any thing? OSHA/ Physicals/Mask fit testing (cant tell you how many are send to FF1 with out a mask fit or physical but do have the sheet signed by the chief) Bail out systems/ haz mat requirements/ BBP standards. Turnout standards being ignored.
sorry for the rant but this is a great topic and can get a lot of interest-- just believes it falls on deaf ears sometimes.

While I agree whole heartedly about this topic I feel it's just as important to have some degree of high standards to be able to even join a Dept. whether it be Career or Volunteer. Do we really need to be working next to a highly trained criminal? It's time to raise the Bar and not turn the Fire Service into a handout Job. Better Sceening and an Interview process is just as important! JMO.

Its honestly pathetic. There's a national standard that already exists, but some places still want to live in the stone age and pretend its not necessary for them. If you don't want to EARN the title of Firefighter then I don't want you on my rig.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU. It's about the community you're supposed to be serving and the level of service (and competency) they expect. The fact that they don't know the details is no excuse. They deserve it.

Yes. As an assistant chief, if I call for mutual aid for tankers and manpower...I want that manpower to be ready, able and trained to fight fires. Usually you will get a mix of members; some interior, some exterior, even some who are brand new members that have new turnouts on (but cant use them) and are basically good for "gopher" duties only. And in some cases you get more explorers riding the rig then firefighters.
Same for accident scenes; I shouldnt have to ask if you are trained to extricate someone from a vehicle, if you dont have AVET then you shouldnt be on the rescue truck when it rolls to an MVA.
My bitch for years has been to adopt the same standards as EMT's in our state. They have to go through a certification process involving training (classroom and hands on), and two tests in order to receive your license. Then you have to re-cert every three years. THATS the way it should be for firefighters, but I feel a good re-cert term for us would be five years. Show up, demonstrate you still know the basic skills in the training facility, take a test and your re-certified. Fail...and you have to re-take the training. Lots of people hate the idea, yet they still bitch on these forums that training standards should be taken more seriously state wide for firefighters....I feel this idea is a good option; is it the ultimate cure for the problem? Never. But its a good option that should be considered and revised to suit our needs.
But I agree; same training for every firefighter, paid or volunteer, big city or small rural farm community with one engine and 6 members. Same across the board so every "firefighter" on scene can do every task required of them.

39 years ago I pulled up with Patrol 4 [ now Rescue 40] to find Gullevers fully invovled with engines 58 and 62 ingaged in a full atack on a bad fire. 24 died that night but little was told how over 100 were saved. Many firefighters went down that night going above and beyond the call. Most of us old guys think about this every day of our lives and wished we could have done better with our 3/4 boots two airpacks to a rig and red fireball gloves. There were no paper firefighters and keyboard firefighters that night! .

We were sitting in station 3's kitchen watching the news of the fire in Hackensack before the collapse and we could not believe that they did not know it was a truss building. We saw that is what it was and how advanced the fire was. I remember the descussion that they needed to backout and then it collapsed.
I will never forget.
If you and your dept. did not learn the painful lessons of that day, then shame on you!
If you do not train every member in building construction and how fire effects it (and how it effects fire) you did not learn the leasons of that day.

If you do not do building inspections or at least walk throught and document hazards you did not learn the leasons of that day.

If you do not have seperate fireground and dispatch channels (and use them everytime) you did not learn the leasons of that day.

If you do not do accountability (so you know where your firefighters are operating) you did not learn the leasons of that day.

if you do not operate a command post with enough people to track resources and be able to hear all radio traffic (because the chief is trying to multi task to many jobs) you did not learn the leasons of that day.

If you do not evaluate & reevaluate conflicting condition reports you did not learn the leasons of that day.

If you exceed proper span of control you did not learn the leasons of that day.

If you do not stage tactical reserves you did not learn the leasons of that day.
In Westchester, many of these lessons were never learned or they have been forgotten.
I will never forget.

I've been giving something a lot of thought lately, and decided to post it here for discussion.
There's quite a few departments in Westchester running FAS Teams (or RI Teams). Rarely, unless I am wrong, do any of them train with each other or the department's they routinely run with.
I'm thinking that maybe it's time for those of us running these teams to perhaps get together and start working together towards a common practice. I think we all pretty much use the same equipment, require the same training and have the same mindsets on how we should do our jobs.
Firefighter safety is a very serious topic to me. I've been thinking of ways to increase our safety in my own department, and started to think about ways to help all of us get on the same page - or close to it.
Please note this isn't a debate about how they should run, etc. I just want to open up the discussion of other departments in the WC interested in starting to work together towards - dare I say it - a more standard approach to all of this FAST stuff we do. It all starts with every firefighter recognizing and knowing what to do to avoid / get out of trouble, and maybe as a united voice (all of us running FAST's) we can start helping our own avoid ever needing us.
Just food for thought - I'm more than willing to work on this and to use our station to play host for meetings / training.
Thanks for reading.

With bumper trash lines being spec'ed on so many apparatus nowadays, why spec a booster line for the roof when you can put a deck gun, light tower or casket compartment up top?

That makes me sick too...I have heard hundreds (no exageration) of young firefighters argue that with todays training it makes them equipped to be officer at an early stage...I still say BULL &^*%!!! This just proves my point; they lack the maturity and real life experience to properly lead a fire department or even a company. They may be well trained, yes, granted...BUT...You still need to take that training and apply it in the field to get real life experience, and you MATURE as a result of that experience. To read this article and see that his excuse was "Well company officers and members have been drinking at parades for a long time now and no officer or official have done anything about it..." makes me sick.
He KNEW about the problem and did nothing about it as one of the chiefs. He participated in the infraction himself being drunk behind the wheel, putting him, his FF's, and if his family or someone elses family was with them as well all in jeopardy. You need mature people with experience in the field and lots of training to properly lead a department as chief. Lieutenant...Maybe a younger person (21-25) can take that spot and learn from his/her captains and chiefs and gain some insight to properly run a dept, but any chief spot? That should be someone in the dept for over 20 years, knows the equipment, knows the district blind folded, knows the people, has tons of training and field tested experience on the nozzle or on the roof or crawling down that hallway with a high level of MATURITY to lead.
Luckily, no one was seriously injured or killed...this time. He injured one of his men (hopefully not out of work on disability or anything), and probably destroyed the truck wasting tons of taxpayers money to either repair or replace it. He put his district in danger because now they are down by one truck that they would normally depend on and have to rely on mutual aid. He should have the white hat taken away, and given a hot pink helmet with a bunch of AA stickers and 12-step program stickers on it for a year and have his driving priveledges permenantly taken away. Maybe that will give him the maturity he NEEDED when he took the office.
Sorry...im done now...and I respectfully dont want to hear any younger member say anything to me like "But there are some of us that are mature..." please...just respect my opinion because you will not change it until I see a young chief work miracles...then maybe we can talk...

A 20 yearold chief, drinking on duty, beer at parades...this would never happen here in Westchester would it?! ;-)

A Chief at 20. He must have been a great firefighter. Of course he set a great example for the fellow firemen by drinking then responding to call. That's why kids cant be Officers. They don't have the brains yet to deal with these things. I'm guessing that part were they clear it from his record if he does a stint in a quickie rehab will go over real well with people.

From 9/11 Scam Foundations

Yah but the "Disabled" line fits him perfectly...mentally disabled...

The "NO LONGER ACTIVE" thing cracks me up. Seems legit, right?

If the snow ends up being as bad as Accuweather is predicting, maybe some of the local departments can retro-fit some of their exisitng FD Fleets to help plow some of the snow : ) LOL

I know nothing about the weather, but I do forecast another GIANTS Super Bowl victory!

Then you can buy that new snowplow you wanted and watch the guy driving it while you play on Bravo

They can't even get tomorrow's weather right and we are hanging our hat on their prediction for weather that is months away. You got to admit it is great to have a job that no matter how many times you are wrong you still have a job. It is always partly something.

They are fighting it. As they should

LOOK AT ME!!! LOOK AT ME!!!
I'M IN A FIRE!

I see no difference between footage inside and a news crew posted on the front lawn.