Dinosaur

I understand where you're coming from, but why do EMS personnel and police officers keep entering homes where CO is present when they don't have the proper apparatus to breathe in such an environment? Is it a failure to recognize the situation as a CO incident? Is it a lack of training? Or is the adrenaline just taking over the brain and these service people are ignoring the facts around them? I don't know what the answer is, but there is no need to put an emergency responder at an unnecessary risk.

SCBA should not be on ambulances or police cars, unless the personnel also have all of the other PPE, training and minimum staffing (2 in /2 out) as required by law.
We have enough problems training EMT's to handle EMS calls. Instead of the extra 100 hours of SCBA training, learning MCI management and many other skills would be time better spent.
The reason I say this is such a bad idea is I got to listening to a police officer ask my partner to say goodbye to his wife and children before he was intubated. He donned SCBA (no turnouts) and entered a structure fire to search for victims. His partner vented some windows and the building flashed. The officer did not survive.
The SCBA was issued for hazmat and toxic gases (including CO).

This is definitely one of the largest fires in our area and things happening for the first time are worth noting.
Fire is almost 5 miles long, burning almost 2500 acres or about 5 square miles, and is only about 75% contained. The NYS Incident Management Team (IMT) is managing the fire with NYS DEC and for the first time in NYS history, fixed-wing air tankers from Canada are being used to drop water with the NYS Police helicopters that have been operating already. Homes have been evacuated and roads closed.
Crews from around the region are being called in to help fight it on the ground and, depending on weather, it may be fully contained this week.
http://www.recordonline.com/article/20150505/NEWS/150509715
http://www.recordonline.com/photogallery/TH/20150505/NEWS/505009998/PH/73_169_629_2320_2330_1004088
http://www.recordonline.com/article/20150503/NEWS/150509814

This is definitely one of the largest fires in our area and things happening for the first time are worth noting.
Fire is almost 5 miles long, burning almost 2500 acres or about 5 square miles, and is only about 75% contained. The NYS Incident Management Team (IMT) is managing the fire with NYS DEC and for the first time in NYS history, fixed-wing air tankers from Canada are being used to drop water with the NYS Police helicopters that have been operating already. Homes have been evacuated and roads closed.
Crews from around the region are being called in to help fight it on the ground and, depending on weather, it may be fully contained this week.
http://www.recordonline.com/article/20150505/NEWS/150509715
http://www.recordonline.com/photogallery/TH/20150505/NEWS/505009998/PH/73_169_629_2320_2330_1004088
http://www.recordonline.com/article/20150503/NEWS/150509814

Well in Westchester alone 311 MILLION goes to Social Services.

Worry about the call that is, not the call that could be. Do you not send people you may need to that first call out of fear for the second call? No.

Okay, we went off on a tangent over a staffing comment.
The KEY point I was trying to make is that many small departments have good, dedicated people who are underutilized. I know, I was a volunteer in more than one place, just like that. By combining departments and enlarging response areas, we give those people more responsibility, responsibility that I'd bet they crave. I know I would have.
In doing so, we give people more activity and residents get more people responding on the initial call for service. Win. Win.

^^^^^
Okay....Idon't get it. You're the first fireman I've ever heard defend their understaffed operations. You're taking this personally and that means you're taking it wrong. 1 or 2 rooms of fire, a few grabs and only 5 guys? You're gambling and a lot of things aren't getting done.
If 5 can get the job done, why does my job have
1 Chief
5 Line Officers
and
23 Firemen
ON THE INTIAL RESPONSE FOR FIRE?
We're lucky too, to have the staff we do and we should have more. EVERYONE should have more.
This is not a personal assesment of you or the other brothers you work with. You clearly do a lot with little staffing, but it's an extremly dangerous situation. You don't have enough eyes on the outside and you have NO HELP if anything goes wrong.
5 is FUNCTIONALLY useless and doens't even meet NFPA/OSHA, ect. It is dangerous and the powers that be are careless in allowing you to operate with so little support.

Listen, I hear you, but 5 just ain't enough for anything. I'm not saying that you and your guys don't do all you can and work hard. I'm saying that 5 firemen is scarcely better than 0.
By the books....if you arrive on an Eng. with 5 guys;
1 is running the pumps
1 is an officer (who ideally shouldn't be humping hose)
3 firemen (one of whom has to stay outside with the pump operator to comprise a safety team until a FAST unit arrives)
So...you have an officer and 2 firemen on a line. Who's searching? Who's checking the rear and who's able to coordinate venting from the exterior?
You guys might bust your humps and thats great, but 5 guys just isn't effective and if you're looking to improve your staffing, you should be screaming about safety and effectivness to the elected officials who rarely give adequate value to our safety and operations.

Well said!

Well in Westchester alone 311 MILLION goes to Social Services.

Well said!

Ya know....yeah, it usually is. When you're in Westchester County, you're living in someone's little fiefdom. Someone's little slice of the pie and it's a ridiculous exercise in redundancy. I'm paying my property tax bill (which is insanely high) and wondering why they're always asking for more money, but there are fewer cops and the roads are like the surface of the moon.
Too many Chief's, not enough Indians.....lets streamline the operations around here and put our money and manpower to better use.
It's all about ratio's with the fire service. We DO have some good resources here, so lets expand their scope of coverage and better utilize them. We could use an analogy that would apply to many volunteer departments around here:
Lets say Dept. A has 5, reliable and involved members and that department answers 2 calls a day. Dept. B next door also has 5 reliable and involved members answering 2 calls a day. Well, 5 guys is useless...and those guys would probably jump at the opportunity to do more with their dedication. So, COMBINE those depts. and you've got 10 solid guys handling 4 calls a day. You've doubled your available manpower and simultaneously increased staff utilization by 100%. In the process, you could eliminate half the chief's and their vehicles, probably a firehouse to maintain and a redundant vehicle or two.
But....that'll never happen, because everyone is too interested in protecting their slice of the pie....

Consolidation can be an answer, but you still need everyone to pay there fair share. And under the current MV administration, they do not appear to be willing.

Well in Westchester alone 311 MILLION goes to Social Services.

A lot goes into duplication of services.
We have more engines than the city of New York and they protect 8x the population.
And 90% of them are understaffed or can not get on the road.

Well in Westchester alone 311 MILLION goes to Social Services.

I think the concern about Mutual Aide is less about the frequency of use, or the lopsided nature of M/A (requesting more than responding) than it is about being properly prepared for most incidents.
If Mount Vernon requests M/A twice as often, so-be-it. Maybe they've had a rash of large multi-alarm fires. (This is all hypothetical) That to me doesn't seem like the issue. The real issue rests in whether or not a Fire Department can handle the routine fires without constantly calling outside agencies. If an urban, city fire department can't handle an "All-Hands" or even 2nd alarm fire, without outside help....they're understaffed.
Mutual Aide should be reserved for extenuating circumstances. Multiple serious fires in remote locations, simultaneously or an unusual and extensive multi-alarm fire. Everyday operations or (i hate this term) "routine" fires should be able to be handled by that municipality. The members of FDMV (and any dept.) deserve to be properly staffed.
I'll also note that the # of apparatus responding isn't even remotely as important as the # of personnel. How many engines to you typically need to supply handlines at a private dwelling fire? Probably 1, but we'll say 2, just in case. Ladders? 2 trucks is probably sufficient to provide roof access and a second means of egress. It's the personnel carried by later arriving apparatus that is important, not the vehicles themselves. We'd all like to see more companies and more men, but I'll take more men and fewer companies if forced to choose.....

I think you mean "novel" idea, not "novice". Big difference.
As for YFD calling them out on it rather than severing all ties as you suggest, it's a better move. If they refuse to respond, as you suggest, nobody notices and they move on to the next town until someone does supplement Mount Vernon's woefully understaffed and overworked members. Calling attention to the problem, in the appropriate context, highlights the mayor's disregard for the department and does so at without the expense of safety or fire loss.
For years the county's mutual aid system has been a way of avoiding real responsibility and appropriate staffing. It's been brought out here many times and people have gone to great lengths to explain their position, including Yonkers FD. Some departments have relied on MA to cover their day to day business and MV is guilty of that. This is just the latest round in the battle.

I think you mean "novel" idea, not "novice". Big difference.
As for YFD calling them out on it rather than severing all ties as you suggest, it's a better move. If they refuse to respond, as you suggest, nobody notices and they move on to the next town until someone does supplement Mount Vernon's woefully understaffed and overworked members. Calling attention to the problem, in the appropriate context, highlights the mayor's disregard for the department and does so at without the expense of safety or fire loss.
For years the county's mutual aid system has been a way of avoiding real responsibility and appropriate staffing. It's been brought out here many times and people have gone to great lengths to explain their position, including Yonkers FD. Some departments have relied on MA to cover their day to day business and MV is guilty of that. This is just the latest round in the battle.

I think you mean "novel" idea, not "novice". Big difference.
As for YFD calling them out on it rather than severing all ties as you suggest, it's a better move. If they refuse to respond, as you suggest, nobody notices and they move on to the next town until someone does supplement Mount Vernon's woefully understaffed and overworked members. Calling attention to the problem, in the appropriate context, highlights the mayor's disregard for the department and does so at without the expense of safety or fire loss.
For years the county's mutual aid system has been a way of avoiding real responsibility and appropriate staffing. It's been brought out here many times and people have gone to great lengths to explain their position, including Yonkers FD. Some departments have relied on MA to cover their day to day business and MV is guilty of that. This is just the latest round in the battle.

I'm no where near Putnam County, and had no part in providing that information to Radio Reference. Whatever is there was provided by scanner folks down in that area. You'll have to verify this with someone down there. All I have done is pointed you at a very useful resource.

No information on responses or actual use of any of the equipment showcased in this PR document. Is the use of all these millions a good return on investment or is it just squandered on today's ideas but no long-term planning based on realistic risk assessments or credible, factual information?

Lacks lots of substance!