bigrig77

To be more precise there was a mutual aid call Where they were call in as Fast team they did not have a tiller man so they responded with the squirt The incident where chief tillered was also a mutual aid call for truck request  You are correct it's not a good plan b 

 
The pin is there for delivery of the apparatus and taking it for maintenance not for responding to an emergency. Without a tillerman, all the advantages of a TDA are lost.

Leaving your (100' ladder) tiller behind and taking the much smaller squirt because you lack a tillerman is not what I'd consider to be an "excellent plan B".

There are Rear mount Sticks  going for 1.5 million too Cliffside Park NJ runs a tiller   They went with a tiller due to some tight streets on the south end of Boro as well as in Fairview where they are Fast team  I have heard of their chief at the time actually tillering so Truck gets out But they have excellent plan B they can respond with thier squirt when short on tillerman 

I'm sorry but if you can not staff a ladder with at least a driver and tillerman, then maybe you should not burden your community with the cost of a fully equipped ladder ($1- $1.5 M). Your ladder needs at least enough staffing to do truck work 

That's a great video showing how pre-planning your area before purchasing a rig is always a great idea. I think that while great, most departments don't have the man power to operate the tiller. In Westchester, most are lucky to get one guy on the rig. Does the Officer drive the front or the back? It sucks to bring up staffing but its the hard truth when it comes to these apparatus.

That's a great video showing how pre-planning your area before purchasing a rig is always a great idea. I think that while great, most departments don't have the man power to operate the tiller. In Westchester, most are lucky to get one guy on the rig. Does the Officer drive the front or the back? It sucks to bring up staffing but its the hard truth when it comes to these apparatus.

Pooler is the City next to where I live now. The Pierce tiller is brand new along with 5 new Pierce engines. The tiller is in their new HQ which just opened last month.
They now have three stations, all new, and a fourth is under construction at this time.  The City has doubled in size over the past 10 years. 
 
When I was checking out their new engines they told me about the tiller coming in. There are a lot of condo and apartment complexes in the City and they wanted a tiller for its manueverability in the tight parking lots.  
 

 
The Officer is still in the shotgun seat.  A TDA just requires a second driver in the rear, and usually the drivers and officer are connected through headsets so they can communicate about upcoming turns/traffic/directions.
 

That's a great video showing how pre-planning your area before purchasing a rig is always a great idea. I think that while great, most departments don't have the man power to operate the tiller. In Westchester, most are lucky to get one guy on the rig. Does the Officer drive the front or the back? It sucks to bring up staffing but its the hard truth when it comes to these apparatus.

The Port Authority PD is a joke...yes a complete joke!  Its an ATM for these guys who are glorified security guards who break balls at the airports.  400 K  !!  You have to be kidding.  How many of them go disabled after one of these monster years?  Bet more than 50%!!  What happened to a CAP on these guys and girls?  Pushing idling cars out of pick up lanes is worth 400K?  Come on I'll do it 12 hours a day for 6 days a week for 125K and no benefits.....
 
 

Why is this always a surprise... The PA answers to NO ONE...never has and never will.....

That's a great video showing how pre-planning your area before purchasing a rig is always a great idea. I think that while great, most departments don't have the man power to operate the tiller. In Westchester, most are lucky to get one guy on the rig. Does the Officer drive the front or the back? It sucks to bring up staffing but its the hard truth when it comes to these apparatus.

If I am not mistaken the Consolidation Plan submitted several years ago consisting of around   10 willing Departments and District would have put as many as 26 men and on the scene in 6 minutes on three engines, two ladders , a heavy rescue and Incident Commander , the location of this fire was a perfect example.
The craziest part of the whole plan would have been the closest firehouse to the call responded, despite municipal boundaries could you imagine that ?????

 
Assuming that another rig with more staffing was on its way, a rig with two is still better than none.  Establishing continuous water supply, throwing ladders to a known point of entrapment, extended walk around and size-up to the remaining incoming units, among many other activities can be completed by a crew of two and if nothing else, they're geared up and immediately fill out the "two in two out" requirement when the next arriving apparatus marks up. 

This is news? The whole County fire protection system is broken. And it's not going to change until all of the elected chiefs and fire commissioners decide to give up their little sandboxs and do what's best for the citizens of the districts they protect.  

 

Thinking it might have been a bit better with a MM than the RM? That front overhang is killer. Of course the MM tailslap is an issue, but I'd bet a MM could make it in one shot. 

"LTFIREPRG", thank you for providing that information. Of course I completely disagree with that decision made and you bring up some very significant facts as well.
 
I would encourage those eight laid off Port Chester Career Firefighters to seek firefighter employment elsewhere. If any of those eight firefighters are interested in doing so, if they would be willing to pass on their email address through a pm, I would certainly do my best in trying to keep an eye open for any career firefighter jobs in the Connecticut area. I had to make a move myself 75 miles away from my home city of Bridgeport because of some affirmative action deal which rob me of the firefighter job I really wanted. Today some 40 years later as a retired firefighter, I think it was one of the best moves that I was ever forced into. Maybe a move for you would be one the best moves as well. "You (PC8) are not alone". Many others have been forced to relocate to do a job they were happy to once do in a place that let them down.
 
In addition Thank You to the members of the Washington Engine and Hose Company and to the members of Fire Patrol and Rescue Co. your support will NOT be forgotten. Many feel that you stood up for what is right and we, as active and retired firefighters respect you for what you've done. I know that I won't forget it and I'm sure many other career firefighters won't forget it as well. I consider you the strongest link in the chain, holding both career and volunteer departments together as ONE. you represent the way a True Brotherhood should be. "All for One and One for All". Unfortunately, for the others the same thing can not be said. They represent the reason why this form of cancer is allowed to grow and do more damage from the Inside - Out. A Brotherhood that turned their backs on eight firefighters and would rather see these guys unemployed. I PROMISE YOU, "we won't forget". We will all be watching your future performance.
 
 I also feel very strongly that these eight laid off firefighters should pursue every legal avenue that they have to get every penny they might be entitled to.  After winning and collecting anything you deserve, tell Port Chester just where they can go and just leave.
 
   I will also look forward to hearing of that Fire Chief who falsified those records for his own benefit. I hope that he is fully accountable to Port Chester for his actions. If there is anybody that should take a hit on here, it is him.
 
 In the long run, it will be the citizens of Port Chester who will pay the price. Every day that goes by is one day closer to a tragic event happening that might very well had been prevented had those career firefighters been on the scene with a quick response. We know very well, that now a quick response may NOT always be possible.

The Port Chester Board of Trustees choose to ignore the over 4,200 signatures of the TAXPAYERS last night and voted 4 to 3 not to reinstate the career firefighters.  One trustee, Dan Brakewood went as far to racialize that even spending $1million dollars to defend legal actions from this decision is a one time cost as opposed to the salaries of the firefighters which are a yearly reoccurrence. One can only hope that in light of the PESHA report that the Attorney General responds the gross violation of law, falsifying public records, ordering the changing of a fire record, lying to state investigators, the list goes on and on, because its obvious the village leadership don't have the pair to do it!  It's a shame we are going to have to wait 3 years to vote them out of office.  Also two of the 7 volunteer companies sent letters to the village board supporting the reinstatement of the career firefighters and voiced their displeasure with not being consulted prior to the decision, Washington Engine & Hose and Fire Patrol & Rescue.  Mayor Pilla and Trustee Didden have been attending all the meetings of the volunteer companies scene their May 2 vote to fire the career firefighters to drum up support for their actions.  It was also stated at last nights meeting that the two of them urged the rescue company not to send the letter and promised them a new rig and fire house! The only response was a wide eyed and red face mayor and trustee!

This is not a new topic...but it hits close to home.  I live in a 6 story, fire-proof multiple dwelling.  This means...there are no fire escapes.  If a fire were to occur on the 4th, 5th or 6th floors, a resident could potentially be blocked from their front door....the only means of egress.  Whats the other way out?  An aerial ladder.  What good is that aerial ladder when its 20 minutes away at a parade?  Maybe farther!  My local FD has several engines and one, single ladder.  Why does that ladder, the only means of high-rise rescue, EVER leave town?  To win a trophy?  To show off?  To look cool?
 
If there were ever a tragedy, I'd expect those responsible to see criminal charges.
 
Im all for parades.  Im all for tradition.  Our volunteers give time and these kind of events are joyful and proper compensation for dedication.  We should have fun and maintain freindly relationships with neighboring dept's through social activities.
 
However, our first mission is life-safety.  If a town has 3 or 4 engines and 1 ladder....um....the ladder doesnt go to parades.  Smarten up, send an engine.
 
 
There wasnt a need to include a dept. name, because this dept. is not unique.  The list of offenders is long, sadly.

 
Maybe that career should have never been started in the first place. 
 
As the saying goes; "You can fool some of the people some of the time BUT you can't fool all of the people all of the time". 
 
Those career firefighters need to get their jobs back, and I hope they go after everything they are entitled to get. 
 
Let the citizens understand exactly who is to blame for this.

After reading the latest, I think somebody's career is ending.

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/rye-brook-port-chester/2016/06/18/state-cites-port-chester-fire-department-violations/86079360/
 
 

Well i thought the meeting went well. Mayor and the Board just kept getting blasted with truth and you could tell it hurt. The board knows they all committed political suicide and that they will not be in office after the next election. A lot of great points were made and the speakers were all well informed and cool calm and collected. The real highlights came from Chief Flynn, Barry Mcgoey, and A Officer from Greenburgh who's name escapes me. They all had there ducks in a row, they came with that cool heads, and most importantly, they let the board know that we as firemen are not going away. We will keep on them till this is resolved.
 
Another highlight was at the end when the Mayor tried to stop two board members from adding a item to the agenda. Tried to say that Trustee Luis Marino could not second Trustee Greg Adams vote to re-instate the Port Chester Eight because he had abstained from the now infamous first vote. After some back and forth the item was added to the next meetings agenda.