Dinosaur

For those bleeding hearts including Obama who wants to take away this type of equipment from law enforcement I wonder how many cop's lives this piece of machine saved.

While both written testing and seniority are good barometers to use for promotions, I think there is a third leg to the triangle that is often overlooked, and that is an actual ability to lead. The senior man may be the most experienced and know his way around the fireground and the good test taker the most knowledgeable with a wall full of certifications but that doesn't mean either can actually lead others. Remember too that much of what officers do takes place off the fireground, especially the higher up the chain one moves. Keeping a crew or shift or department working smoothly with the myriad of personalities, pressures and administrative demands in play is no easy task, and it's been my experience that some who are promoted just aren't up to it. Personally, although probably impractical, I would like to see some form of practical testing used to gauge a candidates all around leadership skill, on and off the fireground, coupled with the written and seniority criteria.

There is nothing constructive about this thread . The resources needed were called , the fire was put out . What is the problem?

Is that a full-time salary or part-time salary plus benefits?
Not saying it's a bad idea but what's the plan? Sounds like a smart way to add 125K to their reserve funds while seeming very proactive. And they probably have 125K in their reserve funds already so they didn't need to do this to have the funds available in 2016 (or 17) or whenever this is going to happen.
I am not at all opposed to the idea, I just think it may ultimately be the death of the volunteer department Somers.

Why become an officer if you can't become chief?
Why go to training if you can't become an officer? (not firematic training but higher level, officer type training)
Why should I volunteer if the chief is getting paid?
Will the first paid chief be one of the commissioners or family member of a commissioner?

See? Lots of unanswered questions.

Kicking the can down the road. Another grant buys them a reprieve nothing more.........

1. Where the fire was, appeared to be closer to Vista and Connecticut.
2. Tankers were needed, which Bedford lacks.
3. The IC called a Truck from Bedford Hills, Bedford doesn;t have one.
4. Anyone with a scanner knows Bedford struggles to cover what seems like the majority of their calls. Why take the gamble?
5. Wouldn't this be more appropriate for the Chief or Bedford to contact the Chief of Pound Ridge?

From the plan:
http://emergencyservices.westchestergov.com/images/stories/pdfs/FireMutualAidPlanAdopted12%2019%202012FINAL.pdf

The physical agility will help take care of this but it is indicative of a ridiculous testing metric. With 300 people scoring 100 (or higher), there is definitely something flawed with the test or testing process.

They will stand by for other jurisdicitions if the jurisdicition is making an effort to recall it's own personnel to backfill. If they don't make an effort to recall off-duty/additional FF, then Yonkers will take up and return to the city after a reasonable amount of time.

I am not saying they should rely solely on Millwood for fire protection. I am stating the fact that resources are not being properly used. There isn't a single reason to build an additional substation when there is a firehouse up the block. God forbid someone misses pulling into a job first due and has to give it up to another rig from another department.

The physical agility will help take care of this but it is indicative of a ridiculous testing metric. With 300 people scoring 100 (or higher), there is definitely something flawed with the test or testing process.

Nobody cares! The residents reelected Davis as mayor despite all the shady dealings in his past and his utter disregard of emergency services. Davis doesn't care about the firefighters because they're not voters in his little fiefdom. He will continue to destroy what was once a vibrant department and then cry to the state or feds for funds to fix it after a tragedy occurs.

He's a scam artist and playing his best game!

Nobody cares! The residents reelected Davis as mayor despite all the shady dealings in his past and his utter disregard of emergency services. Davis doesn't care about the firefighters because they're not voters in his little fiefdom. He will continue to destroy what was once a vibrant department and then cry to the state or feds for funds to fix it after a tragedy occurs.

He's a scam artist and playing his best game!

You are implying that this is a sound business in the first place, which it is not at all. Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement is a joke a best. An ambulance could do 30 billable runs a day but if they are all Medicare/Medicaid, no one will know when they will get reimbursement or how much. Could be 30% 2 weeks later, could be 10% 3 months later, literally no one knows, it is all based on Medicare/Medicaid how much reimbursement they are willing to pay for whatever you have done. I know we currently are at 22% of our fee is reimbursed by Medicare/Medicaid. If you are lucky, you have a patient with private insurance, maybe then, after arguing with the insurance company about how much reimbursement they will pay will you actually see reimbursement rate anywhere north of 50%.
As recently as last week, I was told to wait until 2pm on Friday to deposit the paycheck. I had to wait 2 weeks for them to order new defib pads so that they could ensure that they were going to make payroll.
However when dealing with companies that would rather pay $1000 for a tow job 50 miles than take the rig out of service for a day to replace a $150, you can see how in the end, it is all really just F'ed.

NY City is probibited from giving grant money to governmental agencies. They can only provide grants to recognized non-profit agencies to deliver services they are required to provide but don't have the resources or experience to provide. In other words they can't provide grant monies to fire departments

Well, to be fair, the "kinder and gentler" society we live in has made it more difficult to adequately guard inmates today. Used to be that you kept lights on so you could see them 24/7 but they deemed that unfair so now they turn lights out at night. Guards used to come by and check on the inmates with flashlights but that doesn't let them sleep and is also unfair. Hence you have this ridiculous environment where this can go on.

Now I'm not saying there isn't blame at Dannemora! But there is also plenty of blame outside the walls!

Like Lad45der said above, i suspect, despite how much history is within this building, that the cost to renovate and repair the building 100% (and not just a "Patch Job", which makes no sense at all) will be far greater than to tear it down and build a new Fire Headquarters (Station 1). I am sure that given the emotions of the late Patrick Joyce having worked out of this building, as part of Rescue 1 and the memory of FF Joyce being memorialized within this building, will play heavily in the hearts of those attending the rally this evening. But, I feel that it will eventually come down to what will make more financial sense to the city. (Some might say that there was historical sentiments and reasoning why the city should not have condemned and closed Station 2 on Vineyard Avenue back in the 1980's or when they condemned and closed the Old Station 8 on Warburton Avenue back in the 1970's, or when they condemned and closed Station 3 on Riverdale Avenue back in the late 1960's, but I presume that it made sense financially to build new firehouses for Station 3 and Station 8 rather than renovate the existing structures).
Sadly, all of these years of neglect by the City's Building Department, has resulted in what everyone is facing today. If the City had allocated funding, as far back as the late 1970's to help preserve this grand old building, then we would not be in the position that the city is in today.

Not to evaluate, we had many in service, on patrol. The last Camaro's were phased out around 2008 or so.

This was a real car. The NYSP had these, and before this Camaro, Mustangs for pursuit on the interstates. I saw them in the past on both I-84 and the Thruway (I-87).

Lets take it one step farther. The town of Pelham is 2.2 square miles. Approximately 1/2 is the village of Pelham and the other half is the village of Pelham Manor. They have an elected town supervisor and four Town Board members. plus Assistant to the Supervisor, Comptroller and ten departments: Town Clerk, Receiver of Taxes, Assessor, Courts, Town Engineer, Buildings, Senior Advocate, Historian, and Controller/Bookkeeper all in one town hall,
Then the villages have 2 of everything:
2 village managers
2 village clerks
2 village Police Departments
2 village Fire Departments
2 village Department of public works,
2 village Building Inspectors.
2 village attorneys
2 village Mayors and Boards
1 ALS flycar
AND is the only community in Westchester county with NO AMBULANCES.

You can explain to me until you are blue in the face what each radio is for and why it's there, doesn't mean I'll buy in.
This is a perfect example of just how flawed EMS in Westchester is. I've worked for privates, publics. ONE radio. Talk to one dispatch center once you sign on the air. None of this bouncing around, checking in with multiple people, wondering which radio I need to grab when I need help.

Yup. Well done.
I bout spit out my coffee at one part though. THREE radios? He has to carry THREE radios? And calls come from any one of those? WHAT. THE. F$&*??!!
Is this 1980? I live up in cow Hampshire. Bout as rural as you can get. My state issued radio can talk to EVERY dispatch center. All of em. All of our 911 calls are answered in one of two places. Then dropped down to local dispatch centers who tone out crews. There's no WONDERING if I should go on a call. If the voice in the ceiling says go, I go.
You folks need to stop accepting your status quo. Step up and lead. Be that guy. How is it possibly better and more efficient to have to carry THREE radios? Do they do this in NEW YORK CITY? Anywhere?
Rant over. Carry on.

If it were really a chief's test they'd have their head there instead of their hand. LOL

If it were really a chief's test they'd have their head there instead of their hand. LOL

According to the article, OVAC has CO monitors and they were in alarm mode so they knew the hazard existed.
Once they opened the doors to the building, it was hopefully venting and reducing the CO present but the practice of knowingly entering IDLH environments is of great concern.

I'm glad this story has a happy ending but it could just as easily ended differently.