Alpinerunner

Also this law is referring as worded in the last few lines to the patient being treated and without their or a family member's consent to post the picture of them specifically on a public outlet. It's not written concerning anything about taking scene photos.

This is the key part of the law. It is only talking about taking pics of victims/patients! This should be common sense but obviously needs to also be legislated. This does not stop people from taking pics of wrecked cars or burning buildings.

I think there's a big difference in the requirements placed on a volunteer firefighter versus a career firefighter in a department like FDNY. It is entirely possible that a person could be disability retired from FDNY and still able to perform as an interior firefighter in a small community like mine.

Very true. I think the key issue is that the doctors from his career department made him retire. If he faked something and swore that he was in some sort of respiratory distress or had chronic back pain or something and he was relieved of his duty due to his word, then there is fraud. But if the career department's own doctors kicked him out then they can't tell him how to live his life. How is that fair if it wasn't his call to leave? They can unilaterally retire him AND then dictate what he does for the rest of his life?

I'm not going to pretend to know all the ins and outs of the law here, but it certainly isn't moral fraud and isn't wrong.

Looks good. What kinds of equipment will it have and what duties will it perform?

hahahaha very unsatisfying "money shot" after 3.5 months of teaser posts.

In all seriousness, good luck with it! I would say looks good, but I can't see it.

Excellent video. Very moving!

Those are amazing shots. Very high quality photography.

If I mailed my ticket in claiming not guilty and never heard back again is it my responsibility to contact them to find out why? I was one of the first batch of tickets Greenburgh had lost. The case was eventually dismissed but just curious.

Yes, because using the same logic, it's also NOT the court's fault if the check was lost in the mail. Since it can't be proven where the check/summons was lost, you need to follow up if it's not sent by certified mail.

Sounds good to me. I like the idea of only having the rear-most units have their lights on (at an accident on a divided highway). People always assume "oooh lots of lights and trucks, this must be a good one that I NEED to see". It will probably take a long time to catch on especially with minimal interaction between State police and fire departments, but at least we're moving in the right direction.

Why couldn't the volunteers respond in the suburban? If they had turnout gear and scba with them, they could have been an asset at the scene. Just because they do not have E62 or R66 does not make them useless. If it was a fire, Engine 8 has several pre-connected lines, extra irons, hooks, etc. that may have been available for use by TOR members. TOR members respond in the SUV on medical calls and the like, what makes a fire call any different?

That is a valid point and something that could always be worked out by TOR and SFRD higher-ups. But as things stand the service units don't have room for airpacks, and we haven't gotten any indication that grabbing stuff off an SFRD rig would be OK.

The SOGs are to stay in house and wait for a driver so they can come with the right equipment, or take in a concurrent medical. The service units have all the equipment necessary for medicals only.

I guess I'm still a bit lost. We hear from the supporters of the mayor's plan that volunteers will/do respond from their homes/jobs while the career firefighter will drive the rigs to the call. Here a SFRD rig goes to the call, yet the volunteers don't respond from just down the road in the firehouse?

I already explained that they needed a driver, and that had there been career FFs in house, the first due rig would have had 6 FFs (3 paid, 3 Vol) instead of 3 or 4 total, as was the case at the incident in question. Having career FFs that are also drivers in the house 24/7 allows the volunteer FFs in the station to get out the door immediately. If there aren't FFs in the house, they can respond directly to the scene to meet the apparatus, as opposed to wasting time waiting for a driver to get to the station first, which is what happens now.

Let's be honest. The issue at hand is where these career FFs are coming from, and that's not what I'm arguing or what I want to get into. My point is that the volunteers ARE there and will be an asset in the Mayor's plan.

I'm not saying FFs should not be held to some sort of liablity standard, but I think the reason there is such a difference between EMS liability and FF liability is two-fold.

The first issue is due to the fact that firefighting is less of a science than the human body. The has been a lot of quantifiable studies about how the human body works and what helps and what hurts. For instance, giving nitro when the systolic BP is less than 100 is known to be bad. Giving oral glucuse to a patient without a patent airway is known to be bad. Giving O2 is (almost) never bad, and the times it is bad are clearly defined and understood through physiology (infants and chronic emphysema).

It's less of a hard line between when to vent and not to vent, and when to open the walls and when not to, and how much water is necessary.

The second issue is simply that the human body is more valuable than property, and the effects of negligence can be permanent.

Again, I'm not saying we can't improve, I'm just stating why I think the rules are different currently.

You could have 50 volunteers at the firehouse, but if no one is a driver, what good are they?

They are good when you have a career drivers and FFs, as in a proper combination department.

This crew of three in house without driver all are FF1 and are also considered interior firefighters by TOR? One of the three was also a line officer for TOR?

The more some of you talk about what the downtown dept does and how downtown operates, the more ignorant you sound. For example, cogs stated that career firefighters DO NOT split crews. He stated this because Chief Jacobellis of Turn of River Vol made this argument awhile back in a poor attempt at convincing the BOR that the volunteers get more vehicles to the scene (and as we all know vehicles put out fires and extricate people, not actual firefighters). Last time I checked, E1 splits the crew for water rescue calls to take the engine (with 2 ff) and the pick-up with boat (the other two ff from E1). This same operation would be used for the hose wagon, unlike what cogs stated... Perhaps it is time for the volunteers to stick to their own operating guidelines rather than creating new ones for the career firefighters. As well all know, nobody likes an IKE (I Know Everything).

The following is from the dispatch center. The location is a few doors down from one of the TOR Volunteer Fire Station. It speaks for itself. The question I pose is, at what point does a volunteer chief admit to himself and the public which he serves that the outfit he is in charge of is no longer viable and can no longer do what they are funded to do? Does someone have to get hurt or even die before this happens? Lets hope not... Read the record from bottom up

04/20/2011 19:48:03 : pos11 : AVALBUENA]

FM RESPONDING ETA 20 MINS

[04/20/2011 19:30:34 : pos11 : AVALBUENA]

REQUESTING A FIRE MARSHAL

[04/20/2011 19:30:20 : pos11 : AVALBUENA]

FIRE IS OUT...RECALL E8 CAN HANDLE

[04/20/2011 19:27:50 : pos11 : AVALBUENA]

E8 ON THE SCENE...SMALL FIRE ON THE GRILL..WILL BE USING AN EXTINGUISHER

[04/20/2011 19:27:16 : pos4 : KSCHULZE]

SHE ALSO STATED THAT SHE COULD SEE SOMETHING ELSE ON FIRE....SOUNDED LIKE SHE SAID HER DECK, BUT SHE WAS MORE CONCERNED THAT NO ONE WAS THERE YET THAN TELLING ME WHAT ELSE WAS ON FIRE

[04/20/2011 19:26:44 : pos4 : KSCHULZE]

CALLER JUST CALLED BACK TO SAY THAT THE FIRE DEPARTMENT IS RIGHT DOWN THE STREET AND THEY SHOULD BE THERE BY NOW....SHE WAS ADVISED THAT THEY ARE VOLUNTEER IN THAT STATION AND THAT THE STATION IS NOT MANNED AT ALL TIMES....

[04/20/2011 19:22:42 : pos4 : KSCHULZE]

CALLER AND BABY WILL BE EVACUATING

[04/20/2011 19:22:34 : pos4 : KSCHULZE]

Cross streets: HIGH RIDGE RD//GERIAK RD

FIRE IN THE OVEN....OVEN IS OFF....

Imagine the fright and fustration this poor lady had to go through in the seemingly minor incident! The worst part about this is that with all the rhetoric, these same volunteers have the taxpayers convinced that they are always available and responding 24/365... when will reality hit? This is not a laughing matter people.

I look forward to hearing from other company leaders that have been in similar situations where the company could no longer adequately provide fire protection. What/who prompted those actions?

I try to stay out of this, but have to step in when important information is left out to serve one's adjenda. Believe it or not, there was a crew in house during the DAY at the time of the alarm (I thought that didn't happen?!). However, they needed a driver. I know because I got a text page saying, "crew in house, need driver for oven fire TOR Rd."

Now before everyone jumps up and down and says, "well you should train more drivers" let me point out that that isn't the agrument nor the issue. No one is trying to argue that things should stay the same. The issue is are the volunteers there, and will the mayor's plan work? With the Mayor's plan enacted, the initial engine would have been FULL (6 FFs!), with 3 career FFs and 3 volunteers. This is more than did respond that day.

And FWIW, TOR did get a driver as the recall was put in, thus backfilling for any additional calls, which is an often overlooked benefit of volunteers who can't be at the station for the inital dispatch.

So much effort goes into making it look like the volunteers aren't there, but it's simply not true. Making ~1300/2000 calls a year all-volunteer proves that they are an ASSET to the community. Please remember no one is advocating for an all volunteer department.

Sounds good to me. They are helping the community and learning skills that will help them get a job on the outside, and not wasting away shanking eachother.

Lets throw another wrinkle into this. 1st its not that Pelham will not provide additional taxes, in reality they can't. Because the population is so small, the per capita costs to improve are never going to happen. The real issue for Pelham, Pelham Manor and any other small community FD or understaffed FD (career, combo or vol.) is ISO's plan to change the rating system this year.

Under the new plan, any dept that responds to fire calls with fewer than 6 firefighters (2 in / 2 out, MPO & IC) will automatically become an ISO 9.

What does this mean for Pelham?

Annual insurance premiums for commercial and residential properties in Pelham is approximately $5.1 million. In Pelham Manor the premiums are approximately $5.9 million. Combined, the property owners in Pelham and Pelham Manor pay roughly $11 million per year in premiums.

Both PFD & PMFD are ISO PPC 4's. If the 2 depts do not restructure the way the respond to fire so the have at least 4 interior qulified members + an MPO & IC, Both villages will see the ISO change them to 9 and the insurance premiums will go up by 40% per year. Thats a combined increas of $4.4 MILLION.

This increase is more than the current combined budget of the 2 fire departments.

Meanwhile the Pelham Village Mayor and Board are considering reducing manning.

I suspect nothing will change until the ISO rating does and then the finger pointing at village hall will begin.

VERY interesting info!! My question is how do they count the 6? I assume they aren't requiring this on the initial engine. But does Pelham not send the 6 on the initial BOX?

24 on 72 off = 48 hr work week. This is MORE than the standard 40 hr work week.

But before she did it kicked her 10 year old son out & told him to get help! Sorry but WTF?

This point is contested. Other reports say he escaped out a window

Congrats! What kind of call volume do you guys run?

3. Depending on how the steel beams are secured/ supported within the red brick building on the right, a fire in the white building, or even something (car) striking the building on those masonry columns may lead to a collapse of the second floor into the white building.

This would be my #1 concern. It does look like sketchy construction. But I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the structural engineer that some sound calculations were done. My main concern would be any fire load that could collapse the left building would collapse the while building.

As IC, any fire in the white building would immediately make me evacuate the right building

That is very interesting. I must say the golden hour never made sense to me, being that every trauma injury is different and some patients can last 20 mins and some can last days. It seems VERY arbitrary being there is no "average/typical" type of trauma injury.

Either some people have an adjenda or don't know how to search. Probably the latter...

Why do we have to discuss this every spring? BTW we have better coverage during a parade (5pm-8pm average) then we do during normal workday hours (8am-4pm)

This is a very good point. Parades are on holidays/weekends and we always have better coverage during parades than regular day times. But to answer your question, we usually send an engine and a utility to a parade and leave an staffed engine, ladder and rescue in the house. Many memebers aren't into parades. I personally, have never been to one.

Good, important topic though for sure.

Love the pics! Especially the ones of the firehouses.

We have a small pitched roof to cut pallets on, and we put together a SCBA maze every once in a while with studs to go through. We have access to neighboring departments' full maze though. We also have a long tube to crawl through as confined space practice that is VERY nerve wracking the first time.