sueg

Rest in Peace, Thoughts and prayers are with the family and BMFD. Having lost my 42 year old father when I was only 5, I can't help but feel for his young children. My words of encouragement for them are that the pain never subsides but life does go on, he will be watching over you with a smiling face as you make the most out of the long lives ahead of you. The tears will turn into smiles as great memories of your father fill you mind and as you continue to honor his legacy.

Great job, guys!
Read More: http://portchester.patch.com/articles/rye-professional-firefighters-honored-for-their-support-of-maria-fareri-children-s-hospital

I thought that too at first..but isn't saving a life or helping someone in need positive whether it's sad or not?

What does your department do when a volunteer firefighter that wants to transfer from there current department to your department. What are your department procedures?
Example what would your company do? Member transferred to your company from another department. Then a year later leaves to go to another company to only go back to his or her original Department from the start. Now wants to come back to your company again with no reason why they left in the first place. What would your company our department do? Sounds confusing doesn't it.

Happened to be in town...only had my iPhone so sorry about the quality. See I/A here.

Just a reminder to set your clocks 1 hour ahead tonight, as well as changing your smoke and CO detector batteries.

This was just a question that I have been wondering about for some time now. It seems that after 9/11 everyone is focusing on preparing for "the big one", as well they should but it just seems backwards to me when:
An ambulance corps has enough MCI equipment to treat 100+ patients, but can't get out the door for an elderly fall victim
A fire department has all of the latest and greatest HAZMAT and WMD gear, but needs to call massive amounts of mutual aid for a room and contents fire
A police department has plenty of tactical and active shooter training, but needs to call the state police or sheriff's office to handle a past burg or larceny

Pretty much what I was thinking. When does the initial impact for an auto/ped EVER happen where those airbags are located?
This would be like putting airbags behind a driver's head, so AFTER they smash their face into the steering wheel, you would not get that whiplash.
Pretty useless IMHO.

I wonder how many injuries those airbags will actually prevent? Yes it will prevent the person from hitting the windshield, but they would still suffer the trauma of the initial impact with the car. 2,000 pounds of metal hitting your legs at 50 miles an hour is going to hurt.

Thanks there NY10570. That is a True Statement. And everyday there are young people out there such as Our Great Military, Police Officers, Nurses, 911 Dispatchers, and EMS workers saving lives across the Country. I recently had a visit to a local Emergency Room and Hospital stay. I could not get over the very young, both male and female nurses, dedicated to saving lives. They did a Great job. And this goes on everyday of the year behind those hospital walls. They have picked up the ball and ran with it. And now its their turn to score the points.
But I do have to say, what was referred to as the "Greatest Generation" truly was the Greatest. They grew up in the Great Depression, fought WWII, and came back to build America. I often refer to the FDNY members that fought the historically high number of fires in NYC, during their so called "War Yeas", as the "Greatest Generation of Firefighters". Many were Vietnam Vets that returned to fight the highest number of fires in FDNY history. I feel, that they certainly were a breed in itself.

Every new generation has had it too good, been too lazy, and will be the end of society as we know it. The greatest generation was great because they were faced with the greatest challenge ever to face a generation. If you have any doubts about todays kids (and I really do mean kids) being able to step up to the plate, just take a look at our military. At the start of the wars in Afghanistan and later Iraq our enlisted men and women entered the military at a time when recruitment standards were low and the military was, at least in my world a fall back. These kids, 18 to 24 years old stepped up and accomplished feats that were nothing short of amazing. Forget the success of the mission, the war, the occupation, whatever was the plan operationally. The day to day accomplishments these men and women achieved is nothing short of amazing. I have always been a firm believer that people perform to the level required of them. Put down a big enough gauntlet and people will rise to the challenge. We had our square rooters then and we will have them tomorrow, nothing will change that. But we also have our every day average people that will always do what must be done.

Hey Master of stupid. I am not as well as many others of my fellow employees are Not A Bunch of Skells. This is the point I think you should get off the the computer. I have been doing this job as a volly & paid longer than you probably been alive. You are no longer insulting a company. You are insulting me. What my fellow employees that care & I bring to the table is good pt care. No matter what uniform we wear. I am sure you could even learn a lesson from us. Oh wait you couldn't. You have blinders on. We are not perfect, but we try & do. If you actually knew who & what you where talking about. Go away cause I'm done with you. You don't call people that do their jobs Skells.

Well, you are correct. This whole situation keeps me up at night and it drives me to keep very active with Merit Matters and to push it's right-sided agenda whenever possible. Previous test prep sessions held by the Vulcan's were attended by all races without serious incident. The events that occurred last night are disturbing and deserve some serious investigation. However, I'm trying to keep the focus on the facts here. We don't really know what happened last night. Lets see what comes out of it, but until then, I'd like to hear what was covered. The next 5 weeks are pivotal in the futures of all the hopefulls taking this exam. It's more important that we keep everyone's focus on the material and not politics. We can address that later.
The point is, I want to bring the discussion back to what's most important at this moment and that's being prepared for the exam, not getting caught up in the whirlwind. Those who don't have a test to prepare for need to do the work to find out what happened.

- Sorry but I have to respectfully disagree with you..... I started as a CFR at 16, and I saw a lot of really awful stuff. And it taught me a lot about myself, the fragility of life and a host of other things.
Was it difficult to bear witness to that stuff?...Of course, some of what we see and experience are things most people wont ever see or encounter in their life. I agree with the fact that some people may not be able to handle it and they either need to mature or be taught about to deal with that stuff and not compartmentalize it like so many people like to do with the thought that it's the right way to deal with emotionally difficult situations. I think that younger members maybe more at risk for ineffective coping mechanisms because a lot of them (like myself at one point) do not want to seem that they 'can't handle it' or are being 'weak'. We as senior members need to help them out and talk to them about it and let them know that it's ok cry/be upset/ or sad about things. And that these feelings are normal and expressing them is far better than suppressing them.

Anyone under the age of 18 is not emotionally equipped to handle some EMS situations.
No, coming here with fellow peers that may have the knowledge and experience is your friend. They has a search engine that displays a multitude of results.Including this site. I've Googled things and then came here for further information and opinions.

We idolized and memorialized Whitney Houston, yet looked the other way concerning her well known substance abuse and tumultuous life with singer Bobby Brown.
Charlie Sheen is 45 and his story is all over the news because he is a
substance abuser, an adulterer, sexually promiscuous and obnoxious.
Lindsay Lohan is 24 and her story is all over the news because she is a
celebrity drug addict and thief.
Something as frivolous as Kim Kardashian's stupid wedding [and
short-lived marriage] was shoved down our throats, While........
Justin Allen 23
Brett Linley 29
Matthew Weikert 29
Justus Bartett 27
Dave Santos 21
Jesse Reed 26
Matthew Johnson 21
Zachary Fisher 24
Brandon King 23
Christopher Goeke 23
and Sheldon Tate 27...
Are all Marines who gave their lives last month for you. There is no
media for them; not even a mention of their names.
Young Men who most likely came from rural America seeking a chance
to better themselves and to serve this county.
Rest In Peace, and THANK YOU,TROOPS.
This was an email i got and wanted to share it

Its a high profile event so the manpower will crawl out of the wood work, for sure. Now, competent manpower becomes a different story.

Many, many condolences to their families and appreciative thanks to those brave men and women who join the armed forces voluntarily and give so much of themselves to try to make the world a better place for us and the people in the places they serve. I wish the news media would not focus on stuff like burning already desecrated Qurans, which did not have to be given to those in custody to be written in and corrupted by them, but were out of the courtesy Americans always go out of their way to show to people. Instead, the media should trumpet and showcase all of the wonderful things our service people do on a daily basis: building schools; helping people with the little things they cannot do themselves; or giving kids and civilians stuff like balls, toys, food and candy, paper and writing utensils, tools, clothing; comforting when they are scared or hurt and protection when being threatened; giving medicine and other care; taking up collections and paying for stuff a family needs but is too proud or unwilling to ask for; helping stray animals who have no one else, and children who only see what they are forced to see, and are amazed to see someone give them a smile or gift just because...; many, many more things. All without doing it for propaganda purposes, without trying to "lure them away from their religion", and opening their eyes and minds to knowing there is more out there than just their town, and more choices than just one view. All because this is what Americans do, because their hearts are huge, their caring is tremendous, their love for each other and freedom drives them; and their distaste for those who use others, abuse others, kill just for body count and fear-mongering, is huge. USA Today publishes the list of who died in service of their country each day on page 7 - God, I wish there was none on that page. They deserve to live, and the cretins who care for only themselves deserve to die in anonymity.

Many, many condolences to their families and appreciative thanks to those brave men and women who join the armed forces voluntarily and give so much of themselves to try to make the world a better place for us and the people in the places they serve. I wish the news media would not focus on stuff like burning already desecrated Qurans, which did not have to be given to those in custody to be written in and corrupted by them, but were out of the courtesy Americans always go out of their way to show to people. Instead, the media should trumpet and showcase all of the wonderful things our service people do on a daily basis: building schools; helping people with the little things they cannot do themselves; or giving kids and civilians stuff like balls, toys, food and candy, paper and writing utensils, tools, clothing; comforting when they are scared or hurt and protection when being threatened; giving medicine and other care; taking up collections and paying for stuff a family needs but is too proud or unwilling to ask for; helping stray animals who have no one else, and children who only see what they are forced to see, and are amazed to see someone give them a smile or gift just because...; many, many more things. All without doing it for propaganda purposes, without trying to "lure them away from their religion", and opening their eyes and minds to knowing there is more out there than just their town, and more choices than just one view. All because this is what Americans do, because their hearts are huge, their caring is tremendous, their love for each other and freedom drives them; and their distaste for those who use others, abuse others, kill just for body count and fear-mongering, is huge. USA Today publishes the list of who died in service of their country each day on page 7 - God, I wish there was none on that page. They deserve to live, and the cretins who care for only themselves deserve to die in anonymity.

Excellent post, sueg.
So, if an elderly or disabled person called your fire department, and asked for help with their smoke detector, how does your department handle it? If they need their battery changed and can't reach their detector, then what?
As far as liability, so what? You can get sued for anything. Err in the favor of service. I would think it would be more of a liability if someone asked for your department's help with a smoke detector and was denied, and then died because your department wasn't willing to help.
Any department should be willing at any time to assist citizens with fire prevention and life saving devices in any capacity.

My Department Chief very much wants to initiate a smoke detector/CO detector program. He would like to have a couple of them and spare batteries on the engines, especially since we now have the batteries from the Duracell campaign, and in light of the Stamford fire fatalities, but there is not much voiced enthusiasm from some of the Line Officers yet, which might mean it will not get past the BOD to purchase some to put on the engines and start making it a regular thing to tell the resident their smoke detector or CO detector needs to be replaced (or just the batteries), and actually hand them something so it will be done. Of course, we would probably have to put it up on the wall, too, (or in the detector) because we have had instances on the EMS side where we walk out and the File of Life is exactly where we put it down in the house when we come back the next time (at which point I fill it out for them and hang it on the refrigerator). We do go to houses to check beeping detectors. I need to ask for permission from some Officers before seeing if we can at least put batteries near the Officer's seat in the engine - the "Liability" spectre has unluckily already been raised in my Company, and I already have gotten in trouble for letting people know about classes and drills "without permission" (long, sad story -Damocles sword swinging over head even now ).
I did think it was fantastic when Sherman VFD came out on a mutual aid EMS call to us last year and noticed the smoke detector in the patient's house was beeping, then produced 9-volts to replace the batteries - and that was from the ambulance crew. It could happen, but may take some time.
Last year there was an article about a southern city that had been doing a free smoke detector program for at least three years, then found out the supplier was selling them counterfeits from China, and they are now trying to replace all of the ones (thousands) they had given out and/or installed with UL legal ones that actually work. That is one thing that scares me - they had a bogus UL rating label on it, so if we buy a large quantity, how do we know they are REAL? Where can a Department with a limited budget get enough CO and smoke detectors to keep the program going and people safe? Our Chief would love to do it, and it would be nice, especially for the older residents with limited budgets themselves.

Good point. One might also ask why a glass won't hold water once it's been dropped. Democracy is a fragile construct and there was a moment there where it could have happened. Once a totalitarian theocracy has the reins, it's pretty much over democracy-wise for centuries. Religious extremists, here or there, have little tolerance for free choice.
My concern is that America has had limited success managing countries in the Middle East. It is a different mindset over there and they have a tolerance for bloodshed that most of us cannot even imagine. I can only claim to have read part of the history because invariably there comes a point where it is so brutal that I can't make my eyes keep reading it. Dropping bombs on civilizations capable of that kind of hatred isn't going to make them any more interested in considering our way of life, or trading with us. It's going to prove we are the great satan they have been told we are and it will fuel generations of young people to even greater hatred and acts of violence towards us.
Someone needs to step up and find ways to solve problems without bloodshed. It's not likely to be them, so it needs to be us. Iran is not Germany. It's neighbors are Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Turkey. There are mountains between here and there that make 'Sound of Music' look like a walk in the park. The greater threat is that they will export their fear and hatred, displacing reason and informed discourse. A violent regime wants more violence, because that is confrontation they understand.
Sanctions and computer viruses don't light up the night sky or make for great moments on TV. It takes time. There is a difference between patience and appeasement.

Good day!
I'm Dan.
29 years active duty (8 Navy, 21 USCG) and yes...still active.
Volunteer FF/EMT on an all paid service.
Quals done at night/weekends including EMT-B, FF1, FF2, EVOC 1,2 and 3 and several HAZMAT and TECH Rescue (all at the age of 41-42) so you young sprouts....dig in! Older folks....come live the dream. I'm living it!!!!
Lost a 10 y/o son to cancer. He was pinned an Honorary FF at our home/Super Bowl 36 Party. Several months later, when he passed, many of my (now) fellow FF's and Medics were there by his/our side.
My son was given full FF Honors.
Needless to say.....I have things to give back! It's with deep pride that I serve my Country and my Community.
Did I mention, Scout Leader too?!?!? It's about our youth (and yes, my son who passed and his brother....both Scouts).
Time costs NOTHING! Make your mark!
Semper Paratus!
CoastieGMCS

I must say I've found myself thinking about this very issue. I subscribe to The Secret List, and in the past month I've counted maybe 3 or 4 Firefighter suicides across the country.
I think the real question we need to be asking is why are our Brothers and Sisters killing themselves, and what should we be doing about it?
Veteran/Police Officer/Firefighter/EMT suicide IS a real issue and we NEED our leadership to start developing some strategies and programs to recognize the warning signs and prevent this sort of thing from happening. It really infuriates me how our society is so hellbent on providing free services to criminals, drug dealers, illegal immigrants, etc but we're not doing enough for those that are doing the right thing and suffering after what they've seen and experienced.
Unfortunately I'm not going to be at the Congressional Fire Services Institute conference this year, but if any of you are, I strongly encourage you to bring this up at the roundtable discussions and to the members of the Fire Caucus.

There has definitely been an increase lately, and there are so many factors to consider. For those that are not aware the NYPD has suffered 4 suicides since Jan 1, 2012 including one in Yorktown. Some of the factors coming into play that I can see increasing stress are the continued economic problems, increase in crime (for police officers), a change in the public's perception of emergency services (civil service employees as well).
Everyone I talk to or know is either struggling to pay the bills every month if they are lucky to have a job. I know two people that have been out of work for almost the last 2 years, and have just gotten jobs, but they say the pay is no where near what they used to make. Personally I went from making anywhere from 35 to 40 hours of overtime a month two years ago to just 4 to 8 hours a month now. Some people got dependent on the overtime to pay the bills, or use as spending cash. Everyday items we use food, milk, gas, etc have gone up in price but our pay has stay the same or been reduced. WE have had no pay increase in the last 2 years and do not see one coming anytime soon.
From a police officer's perspective crime is going up, and our staffing has gone down dramatically in some case yet our higher ups want the same overall numbers, so each cop has to do more each month. A perfect example is my first command. When I graduated in April of 1999 the tour I worked had 1 LT, 8 SGT, and somewhere around 85 cops. Today that entire command has 3 LT, 8 SGT, and around 60 cops spread out over three tours. Getting days off is next to impossible if it is not your scheduled vacation pick (which are guaranteed) . Back then we were expected to do 1 arrest and 10 summons a month, now friends that work in that command tell me they are told/pressured to bring in around 5 or 6 arrests a month. Certain posts must be covered such as the desk and the tunnel security post, which they rotate, but it still cuts down on days where you can go look for activity. When numbers go down the first thing higher ups look to cut is OT. My current command some nights only turns out 1 sector to cover half of the Bronx subway lines, so if you have the car on a night like that you run nonstop. One night i put almost 165 miles on the car just in the Bronx answering jobs, with no meal period. Of course I got yelled at for not bringing in any summonses or arrests. There is a lot of pressure on us from our own bosses. Almost every police command in the city is the same.
We have all seen in the news have civil servants are being scrutinized. Our pay, our pensions, everything. The first thing people call for is "they should lose their job" if we make a mistake. People are campaigning to take away our pensions, reduce our disability pay god forbid you are injured in the line of duty and no longer physical able to perform your job title. Just look at some Cuomo's proposals for the new Tier 6 pension plan. Just on my job new hires do not get the same benefits I get due to Governor Patterson's refusal to sign a yearly extender to allow them to remain Tier II, instead of the Tier III that they got. They must work 22.5 years to retire, opposed to my 20 years. I can take a pension loan if needed, they can not. There are other difference in the disability pensions as well.