Fire24

"County Coordinators are called out any time a cause and origin (aka: arson) investigation request is made, and acts as a liaison between the County and the local department, and provides any additional assistance if requested by the on-scene IC" "The "Battalions" are Mutual Aid Coordinators. They are dispatched anytime Mutual Aid is sent (fire incidents), not including Dual Responses. They're also dispatched whenever a DES resource, such as C&O, Haz-Mat, TRT, etc. is requested to an incident." The official title for the position is Deputy Fire Mutual Aid Coordinator and there are twelve positions of this type. The term "Battalion" came about years ago under former Commissioner Patrick Kelly so as to have an area of responsibility for the Deputy Fire Coordinators assigned to the mutual aid function. Battalions 10-19 serve in this capacity and, as John noted so well, they are dispatched any time mutual aid or other DES resource is sent to a fire department. The other two "Battalions" are Deputy Fire Coordinators assigned to the Cause & Origin Team, however their identifiers are not Battalions, but Cars. Cars 24 & 25 are essentially supervising fire investigators, one each for the northern and southern portions of the county. C&O is requested by the fire chief to assist them in determining the cause and origin of any fire in their jurisdiction. It's not just for arson, although this is the primary aspect in the protocols for the C&O Team. The info on the County's website could be more clear on this matter.

Rest In Peace, Brother

There have been a number of articles like this over the past few years. Thankfully the old-time "myths" of fire investigation have been busted through the years due to better understanding of the science and dynamics of fire. Unfortunately there have been a number of people charged and convicted of arson charges where the facts, and science, of the case did not warrant such a charge. Although there are still some exceptions, the old methodologies that relied on many of these myths is long gone. Too much junk science through the years led to bad investigations and bad results. Most investigators now days, especially those who continue to go for training and take pride in their work, understand the myths and the facts and do a professional job.

Nice! I like the old trucks.

He got lost, found his way to Route 22 and a house there and made a call. BPD contacted North Castle PD and the aprty was given a ride back to his car. Thankfully all worked out okay, thanks to all those involved.

A lot of very good posts here. We need to remember it is about who needs our help, for whatever reason, and not about fighting each other over what jobs we will do. With everyone dealing with reductions in personnel, having people trained to help in a variety of areas helps to make the job go better. Working together is what it's all about. We will all have our service-specific roles and I doubt that you'll ever see a cop putting out a fire or a firefighter taking point on an entry. But when it's something that we can all work on, why not make things more efficient with people from all agencies helping out? I believe, by and large, that we do a pretty good job up here in the northeast in all areas of emergency services. Let's continue to work towards improving our services, collectively, so that we do the best job that we can when the public needs our help.

Boy it's nice to see this truck again! This was a great engine in our company. It's what I learned to drive and pump on years ago - when you really had to know what you were doing. As George mentioned, it served our company well until it was replaced in 1989. I still remember the final ride with it, George driving back up 128 from Armonk - with about 20 guys hanging off the truck. What a blast from the past! One of our great members purchased this truck in 1989 and kept it for a few years before selling it himself. And yes, the 7 meant that it was the 7th engine purchased by the company.

As mentioned above, civility is an issue. Respect is another matter to remember as well. A spirited debate about a matter is welcome and likely to be very beneficial to many on this forum. There are varying levels of experience here and everyone can learn something here. As many have said on these forums, the day we think we know it all is the day that we'll find out the hard way that we don't. Teach, discuss, learn ... if we work towards those goals we'll all be better off.

Thicker skin would certainly help in some instances. However, often the posts are critiquing an incident and rarely do you see anyone offering suggestions or ways to improve upon the response. Better posting of the incident information would help; accurate times, size-up info from the IC, available resources, etc., would paint a better picture of what actually occurred. From what I have read on here, most people are getting upset due to their perception that the "critic" is just asking a question that is generally perceived as an "attack" of the way the incident was handled. Sometimes they may be right in this perception and then the thread becomes a pissing contest. That being said, I was of the opinion that this site was to be used for to improve upon what we do everyday, a forum from which to learn. This may involve some harsh words that may be critical of how an incident was handled. So long as the criticism remains constructive, there shouldn't be a big problem with it. Maybe if the moderators see that a thread is spiraling downward they could redirect it and ask for people to offer suggestions as to how they would handle the same situation. Thus, everyone could try to learn from the situation. Resources and experience are different all over the county and what works in one area may not work in another. Sharing our experiences and trying to foster a learning environment would certainly help more than it would hurt. Isn't that really the goal?

In North Castle all of the Fire Departments (Armonk, Banksville, and North White Plains) have at least one set of tools on their apparatus, if not more. Also, North Castle PD has extrication equipment on both of their ESU trucks. A good system all in all. Multiple tools help when needed and, thankfully, it is a cooperative effort to work to free the victims in the MVA without any drama or territory battles. It has worked for many years thankfully!

Congrats on the promotion John!

You stated that the four bargaining units refused to negotiate their contracts, which is simply not the facts and therefore your statement is inaccurate. Wherever you got your info that all four unions refused to renegotiate was wrong. Hence, wrong info = inaccurate statement. Two of the four unions had recently settled their contracts and the PBA is not one of them. The town did ask those two unions to re-open negotiations and it didn't happen. The PBA contract expires at the end of this year and negotiations are stalled at present, primarily due to the economic times. I'm sure that the PBA would be open to discuss any options to avoid this layoff, however the layoff was never even mentioned by the town until it was a done deal. There is no failure by the PBA to "step to the plate" to help the town or their own members at any time. There are many reasons that led to these layoffs .... blaming the unions is not really fair. The members of our PBA are working to help this young officer find a new job. Thanks RWC130 for the info on PPD - we'll be sure to mention it to him!

Your statement regarding the layoff of the PO is inaccurate so here is correct info. Only 2 of the bargaining units have recently negotiated/settled their contracts with the Town and the PBA is not one of them. The layoff of any employee will greatly effect services to the Town, especially in the police department, and the PBA is outraged at the layoff. Unfortunately the Town's decision seems to be final so the PBA is working to assist the officer with finding a job with another agency - definitely looking out for their own. The whole situation is outrageous and should never have happened.

A little info to help explain it all, and alleviate any potential second guessing. The C&O Team was there on the day of the fire and, after consultation with the IC, had the scene held by Bedford PD all night and through the next day when the Team returned to continue the investigation. There were some pockets of fire that could not be accessed without heavy machinery due to the nature of the steel framed building. This was known by the IC and C&O and all concurred to leave the scene as is until the investigation was completed. Due to the collapse of the structure, the fire was not going anywhere and there were no significant exposures to worry about. Also, you should not demolish any portion of the building prior to the investigation commencing and the C&O Team giving the okay to do things. Otherwise you would compromise the integrity of the investigation. The FD was requested back to the scene by C&O to extinguish these hot spots while C&O was in the nearing end of their investigation. The term "rekindle" was how the call was dispatched by 60, I'm guessing because there is no other accepted terms to utilize to dispatch this out. It certainly wasn't a matter that anyone goofed and didn't do their jobs. It was all an informed decision made by those on scene. All in all, a good job on a stubborn fire that had a large head start on the FD before it was reported.

DEP had two new REPs there that day - seemingly the same as NYPDs. There had to be at least 20 DEP vehicles there. They have definitely upgraded their equipment! Good for them! Stiloski's did a fantastic job from what I've heard too.