bigrig77

If you have space to spare like that, you spec'd the rig poorly. I can't say I agree with it being all too difficult to simply stand or kneel on one hose load to pack another.

I'm not really looking to have a discussion but if one insues, so be it. I have noticed in a few threads recently that some people aren't able to take criticism or jest very well anymore. I would like to take this opportunity to bring back an acronym that was used by many on this site. Q.T.I.P. Quit taking it personal. Guess what kids, this is the emergency service. You are posting on a forum that is dedicated to us. If you say something out of line or just plain stupid, you will get your various parts busted. That's just how it works. Thanks for your time guys and gals. As always, stay safe.
Wisker
P.s. If you are going to be a keyboard tough guy, sign your name.

Bring back Johnny and Roy and Station 51!!!!!!

From the trailer it looks like another BS show, Can't have a nose cup in the mask it blocks their face, why have rope protection on the hand rail, I know our drivers always yell some motavating comment. Guys with no shirts, drama, BS. They should show what it is really like. Practical jokes off set by conversations on how the city is laying guys off and taking away benifits. I agree bring back emergency.

I'd be happier if they just started showing re-runs of Emergency during prime-time in HD!

Perhaps David Lee Roth can be here partner...

Even a multi-million dollar budget with no staffing is not a stretch anymore, Insurance, LOSAP, and buying a rig or 2 or bonding a station can easily do it.
Also comparing costs needs to look at services delivered and per capita costs. A few years ago a volunteer district put out a bond proposal to renovate its fire station. They felt the additional $200-$300 per home was reasonable (the voter approved it). I looked at their budget and found the average taxpayer was paying about $700/yr before the addition. Then I calculated my fire cost and found I was at the average tax for my city and I paid at that time $430/yr.
So their million dollar budget looks cheap compared to my $26m, but since mine is covering 77,000 people and they are covering 2,000 - 3,000 my $26m is cheaper.
What I would really like to see as a comparison is an annual mandated report (to the state comptroller) detailing response info (average times, minimum staffing at different times/days, training, meeting standards, how often each vehicle responded, etc.) Then the PUBLIC would have a way to know if their FD (& EMS, PD) was doing as good a job as they claimed they are.

I guest FASNY didn't donate enough to the campaign.

What would that have to do with the Spring Valley FD? They are not "taking jobs" form union people. How could that be if there were never paid positions to begin with?
I guess if your a union guy (for the record I am also, and also volunteer) when you have work done on your home you always use labor from union locals to do the work. Not electricians, plumbers or carpenters that are not in a union right? Good man.

So far that's almost 8 million in replacement cost and there are only 9 out of 59 depts. listed. Good thing the tax payers are willing to keep digging deeper to pay for rigs that in many cases have difficulty getting out the door with proper staffing.
How much $$$ are we going to spend before we agree that every square mile in Westchester does not need 3 engines a tower ladder and a rescue?

More than likely these employees were being allowed to leave work to go on fire calls without loss of pay rather than actually being "paid to leave work to go on fire calls".
It's very similar to the "get paid to sleep" assertions regarding paid firefighters. I don't get paid to sleep. Like the vast majority of career firefighters, I get paid to be at my fire station, available to immediately respond to calls during my shift along with being paid to respond to those calls, maintain my station and equipment, perform inspections and other tasks. It just happens that if not on a call, sleeping at night during a 24 hour shift is allowed.
Call it semantics if you want, but I think they are important distinctions.

Does the bank teller in town get to run out the door when the pager goes off at 11am? How about the teacher who is teaching a lesson in the elementary school? I do t think they do. If your job is dpw get then that's your job not being a ff. When your done at work then you can play ff. But when the town is paying you to serve the town get to work!
Would you still go if your job stopped paying you?
Stop crying

Bottom line is they are village employees and he is the mayor. Their employer. We can complain about it all day long but in the end it is his prerogative to deal with his employees and their budgets. Whether it is 5 calls or 500 calls really doesn't matter really.
He may be making this an issue to force an apathetic FD to take action to correct its own staffing problems that have been ignored because they rely on village employees.

"TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the labor law, in relation to prohibiting an employer from terminating an employee who also is a volunteer firefighter or a volunteer provider of emergency medical services when that employee misses or is late to work because of an emergency to which the employee was dispatched"
Doesn't say anything about leaving work. IMO the mayor is right.

He is their boss, he is ultimately responsible for the work they get PAID to do. They have a JOB to do, and that comes before volunteering at an organization. I can't tell my private employer that I want to be paid to go fight fires. That would be considered walking out of your JOB.
I mean hell, if people are going to go on calls while on the clock for the town, why not just PAY them to BE FIREFIGHTERS, not water/highway/parks workers.

So which is it? After an incident we very often hear "great job by all" or words to that effect. What makes it a good job? Or a great one? How do we in the emergency services measure our performance and decide that our work was good or great? Other industries have peer reviews, grand rounds, quality improvement/assurance programs, critiques, but we in the emergency services (with the possible exception of EMS but that's not what it used to be) do not.
We say great job even when someone has lost their life or their home and property. What makes that a great job? Is there an objective measure of performance that we use to say it?

When it's not a great job (even though we usually say it anyway) how do we evaluate performance and identify areas for improvement?
How do we improve our services?

Looking at your post above and going to your profile all we see is that you're a male from Yonkers, so what's your beef if you're not even doing what you've stated above?

Reading some of the comments and posts here makes me smile, I am curious how many have no issues taking rigs to parades as far as Lake George for a weekend, it's parade people, some of these I am sure these rigs are valued over 1 million+ and paid for by the taxpayers of their districts, justified for purchased, yet this is ok? Personally I do not see how any fire district can justify taking any of their apparatus to a parade unless it's to a neighboring department, that just me as we are continually being asked or forced to do more with less.
Above it was posted that this vehicle is not a Chief staff vehicle and a fire district vehicle and perhaps just maybe the operator was in attendance at the Fire District conference that was the same weekend, are we really debating this topic without even having any facts other then this photo?

I would agree he was on his way to the Districts convention in Ellenville and that is a perfectly good use of the vehicle in this case as it is directly on the way up. In the private sector the boss in nearly every corporation is given not only take home privileges, but have drivers. And to say I pay taxes and a corporation is private is not true, I own many corporations through shares of the company and very concerned about how the corporation spends it (my) dollars. My previous employer CEO earned 11 million a year, had a driver and got a 19 million dollar pension...so whats fair??? Some FD's (not mine) allow the use of the car as a reward for doing the job for NO PAY. I can see that as a nearby FD pays several career chiefs over $200k salary, very good benefits, best of pensions, expenses, etc. and they all have a take home vehicle. His counterpart in the very next FD gets no pay, very little or no expenses. So if you look at it can you justify allowing the chief who puts in a LOT of time (both career and volunteer) some perks just like corporations do?? While I fully understand taxes and everything else (perceptions, jealousy, bad hair day, etc), most people outside of the FD pay little or no attention to the chiefs vehicle as they assume he is the CEO of a small/medium//large "corporation" and that is a perk of the job. (My GOD he is the chief!)

There is no public perception IMO one way or another. the public does not really care. Nor do the public officials.
We are the only ones who care. Usually some bitter member is the person who makes it a problem.
Yeh, I know... 9 years as a chief officer and I never had a problem taking my town issued car to work ( grant it was in the next town and I did respond to when I could. Ya know who made it a problem, a member that was disgruntled. He went out of his way to document via photos the 3 chiefs cars at work, at shopping etc. Needless today, one car sits in the chiefs driveway while he is at work the other two sit in the FD parking lot 18 hours a day and only used when a member wants to go to the pizza joint.
As one of my mentors and favorite Chiefs once said..." WE have met the enemy and WE are them".

I thought I did but let's put it into a different context:
If you filled up your personal vehicle at the districts pumps and traveled to far away places for personal reasons would that be legal? What is the difference if you use the same gasoline but now in a district vehicle where as now you are not paying any vehicle expenses (insurance, registration, wear and tear, etc) for personal reasons?
Granted I am not a lawyer but it sounds questionable when tax payer money is used for personal reasons.
Agreed. Every year taxes go up and every year something like this raises more eye brows.
Over the last 5+ years, many government agencies (police, highway, etc) have severely limited take home vehicle use even when they are required to respond during off hours. While I am not suggesting that chief's vehicles be stripped away, their non firematic use should be under scrutiny.
Granted, this vehicle in question is not a chiefs vehicle as per the Jerrico FD's web site the chief designators are 9401, 9402 and 9403. Not 9413 as is pictured. The public doesn't know the difference and realistically, there is no difference.

Welcome to Bill de Blasio's NYC. Just wait to see what comes next!

I need to know.. Does anyone actually think the public care about this when they see it? We all see it because we are on the job and notice it. I bet if you asked anyone in a parking lot when we come across these vehicles, they would A. have no clue where the Town is in the state and B. Not really care. Now i am not talking about just this one instance. I am talking about any time it happens. The public do not care until it is a big deal (ie. a accident or something). John Q public is going to be more worried about his shopping, getting to work, (why aren't my darn kids here where i said i would pick them up) then even care about this. Plus nothing will ever happen to change it. You can make rules that you cant go out of town with it but so what. What if he needs to go see a few chiefs or need to make a pick up somewhere of some gear, is he going to check in with mommy to ask if he can leave the block? Exactly. He is the chief, he is the boss. you might not like it but he has the authority to go where he wants. If on the other hand he takes a apparatus then ya we need to know every mile you are gonna take.
Now let the man shop and stop stirring up a ruckus.

Other than the taxpayers, who wouldn't know the difference of what type of vehicle it is or why it's out of district, the only people who really seem to care are US idiots on EMTB! Everyone who has or has had a take home car has abused the privelidge in some way, shape, or form. Some people take it to the grocery store, others take their kids to soccer practice, and others go to a fancy restaurant in the next county. But, who really cares? The abuse of the take home vehicle, both career and volunteer, has been going on for years, and will continue forever on into the future because the only people who can legally stop it (the taxpayers) aren't going to take the five minutes out of their days to write to the commissioners about the "vehicle" found three counties away! I know some of you here "ovey the rules" of the take home car, but face it, any one that has a free ride is going to use it.
I just find it to be a moot point for us to argue over when we're not the people who can fix it.