boca1day

After serving Westchester County Fire Control (AKA 60 Control) and the Department Of Emergency Services for over 33 years, the legendary Hap AKA 602 is retiring!

He signs off the air after his final shift tonight.

Congrats and best wishes for a happy and healthy retirement!

Article in Journal News: http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/2015/01/24/fire-dispatcher-signing-three-decades/22285861/

For information on attending his retirement party/dinner: http://www.emtbravo.net/index.php/topic/51364-lt-felix-hap-602-hughes-retirement-dinner-2-7-15/

Wonder if the pipe being worked on was part of the sprinkler system ?????

Sliding on ice in apparatus is scary. Been there, done that. All were belted in, and the only injury was to my pride.

Perfect example why these "mega complexes" are scary as can be. They get built super quickly, super crappy, and to huge scale.
Wonder what type (or lack of) fire stops were in place...

You require a CDL if you drive any vehicle with air brakes, a straight truck over 26,000 GVWR which requires a class B as well you can tow up to 10,000 pounds with that. Any vehicle over 26,000 GVWR towing over 10,000 requires a class A CDL. If your truck is under 26,000 you can tow over 10,000 as long as it doesn't go over 26,000 combined truck / trailer. Anything higher requires a class A now. So in your case you are fine without one. Hope that clarifys

Actually what the run numbers mean is we have way to many rigs in Westchester covering 1 - 2 calls a day. And since most depts. can't properly many the rigs they have, all we are doing is fooling ourselves and the public.

Vails Gate Fire District, Town of New Windsor (Orange County)
2014 total runs;
496 (no EMS)
225 of these were daytime alarms (45% of the total)
Average of 19 personnel per alarm
Average response time - 7 minutes 15 seconds
*im working on the breakdown of alarm types

Port Chester , nobody left to do reports ?

I'm sure that the curriculum is much more focused on YFD specific operations. I can't speak from experience, but I'm sure that easy comparisons could be made to FDNY Proby School. The basics are largely eclipsed by Dept. specific operations, such as positions in the ladder, positions in the engine and what each companies responsibilities are depending on being 1st due, 2nd due, ect....
I know from checking my transcript with the State OFPC, I didn't' receive many certs by attending The Rock. From my 6 months (yup used to be that long) in the academy I received:
National FireFighter 1& 2
CPAT
Building Construction (Both Combustible and non)
National Haz-Mat Ops.
When you are sent back for Chauffeur training school you don't even receive an EVOC certificate.
The point is, career academies don't have a great need for state courses. They're just too general and each large department has developed their own SOP's and a curriculum that suits their specific needs.
The Westchester Career academy has the challenge of teaching to a range of candidates who will encounter a wider variety of daily operations when they graduate to their individual departments.

Technically, all a rescue pumper is, is a standard pumper with upper compartments that are double deep. Just because of the design, does not mean they will be used as one.
NRFD Engines 21, 23 & 25 are of this design and only E-25 carries additional equipment, beyond the standard engine. The new engine 22 is of the same design with some very minor modifications will be operated as a squad company.

Thank you all, stay safe go home or the firehouse after every call watch your back always.

We did not have the Foam Unit then (pic is from around 1995). All the foam cans used off the rigs, then FDNY was called in for foam. Our Master Stream Foam equipment was purchased after this incident, and used about a week later on the gasoline tanker crash/fire on CPA by Thruway.

West Point Fd has a foam trailer & has 200 gal's of foam in can's. Also each Engine has 100 gals on broad. 3-6 % AFFF

1) Yes it may or may not be a joke on the local level, but we have no say in the accountability in another agency
2) You clearly do not know our county. Their absolutely is a take it or leave it on many issues. Many are locked in because of the programing of CAD, which can not always be modified to deal with the needs of local agencies.
3) Local dispatchers for the most part can not legally be moved because of the civil service system. When we moved to the county only 1 of our retiring dispatchers went to work for the county and that helped till he retired.
One problem with relying on maps is pronunciation of street names. Many of our streets were named after the family farms that were there in the 1700-1800's and most were French Huguenot names. They get butchered regularly, even with primary dispatchers assigned to us. This is not a slight on the dispatchers, but when you go from 100's of streets to 10,000's you can not expect them to know it.

I will play devil's advocate here and wonder why no one seems to want to acknowledge the downsides of consolidation.
Here are some that I know of, all of these coming from real life experiences with the centralized dispatch point in our county.
1. Lack of accountability. With the local dispatch centers there is better accountability in that if a dispatcher makes a mistake, the fire or EMS chief can go to the police chief and have the tapes pulled and appropriate corrective action taken. With the centralized center, any complaints that are submitted get dropped into the memory hole and you hear the same dispatchers making the same mistakes over and over again.
2. Lack of accountability (part 2). Local dispatchers follow local protocols designed by the agencies they service. Centralized dispatch follows their own protocols. Don't like it? tough, deal with it.
3. Loss of local knowldege: Even with all of the computerized maps and reference sources, there are some situations that you can't beat local knowledge
4. Competition for air time. With budgets being the way they are, this is a very real concern as you could end up with too few dispatchers listening to too many channels. Also could happen because of poorly designed radio systems trying to put too many departments on too few frequencies or talk-groups.
Now, I am not against consoldiation per say. But it needs to be done correctly, and after careful study to see if it is really the best option

1) Yes it would, but a consolidated system needs to include all e911 not just fire/ems. If the cops are not on board, then this will never work properly. And the cops are the ones who set up the e911 system to protect their little fiefdoms.
2) Before we set up our radio system, we met with the county to discus the "proposed" trunk system. We were told the trunk system as designed would a) not cover 100% of our district and unless additional tower licenses were obtained, it would never work properly in the southern part of the county and It was not designed for the day to day use that our department needs of its radio system. So we built our own and for our purpose, ours is vastly superior.

Great how I can read about new rigs here and not at work where they will actually be used.

So lets play devils advocate:
I pay taxes to support my local FD, why should someone who pays nothing to support my protection have the same opportunity? Would that be fair?

Being a volunteer or where you live are not protected classes. Race, religion, sex, etc. are.
The courts will not touch this.

Good Luck to all taking the exam!

I'm still gonna take the test, why not. It's just frustrating to score highly on the exam and watch guys with 80's and even lower get hired because they live in a 4 square mile area. But hey, best man for the job right ?

Well guys after 43 years as a Port Chester Firefighter [ 18 years very active volunteer working at DPW then getting the dream job getting paid to do what I love to do this is my last day. It didn't end the way I wanted it too but away I go . I was fortunate to catch the war years when we went out every day for a job worked side by side with many dept.'s and made a lot of life long friends on mutual aid. I saw a lot of death and sorrow [ Gulliver's 24 DOA Stouffer's 26 DOA 9/11 world trade center ] and saved a few along the way but my greatest call was closing a large window [ life savers building ] for a 84 year old lady who was freezing because her window was open and she needed help. The next day she baked a apple pie for me and my partner. So I say good bye to it all and hope that I left a small mark somewhere. To my 2 sons that are following or trying to follow in my foot step's keep up the good work in this most rewarding profession . Good luck to the guy's that are left on my job and hope that thing's get better for you and the people we were sworn to protect.
Angelo Sposta [ Retired Local #1971 ]

Pat is a great guy who would go great lengths to help a brother in need.
A little more on him:
Full Time Montrose VA FD
Vol FF @ Vails Gate FD
Asst Chief of Orange County Haz-Mat Team
Facilitator at Orange County FTC
Former Huntington, Stewart ANG, & Walden FF
His wife is also a member of the New Windsor Ambulance corps. They have 3 small children at home with the youngest less than 2 years old. As soon as other donation channels are confirmed I will share those as well.

My guys NEVER park in front of a structure at a gas call. The image of that truck company crushed in front of the building still haunts me. I've seen departments who still do, and they really need to review this incident.

Hi all my name is Felix Hughes Jr, some may know me, some might not. My dad has served the county for 33 years. He is last of the first 6 people to get hired. He has also served as Chief in the Village of Mamaroneck. His life has always been about the fire service and I look forward to seeing everyone that he has touched in some way as they pay tribute to him and his career.