BBBMF

Unprofessional would be department's not getting off of 46.26 when everyone else is on a trunk frequency, or there's is an actual run or a job ongoing or getting on the radio to give your noon time test when companies are currently on a run or just finishing up. This guy just decided to man up and say what a lot of us are already thinking!

Unprofessional would be department's not getting off of 46.26 when everyone else is on a trunk frequency, or there's is an actual run or a job ongoing or getting on the radio to give your noon time test when companies are currently on a run or just finishing up. This guy just decided to man up and say what a lot of us are already thinking!

Unprofessional would be department's not getting off of 46.26 when everyone else is on a trunk frequency, or there's is an actual run or a job ongoing or getting on the radio to give your noon time test when companies are currently on a run or just finishing up. This guy just decided to man up and say what a lot of us are already thinking!

Unprofessional would be department's not getting off of 46.26 when everyone else is on a trunk frequency, or there's is an actual run or a job ongoing or getting on the radio to give your noon time test when companies are currently on a run or just finishing up. This guy just decided to man up and say what a lot of us are already thinking!

Unprofessional would be department's not getting off of 46.26 when everyone else is on a trunk frequency, or there's is an actual run or a job ongoing or getting on the radio to give your noon time test when companies are currently on a run or just finishing up. This guy just decided to man up and say what a lot of us are already thinking!

Unprofessional would be department's not getting off of 46.26 when everyone else is on a trunk frequency, or there's is an actual run or a job ongoing or getting on the radio to give your noon time test when companies are currently on a run or just finishing up. This guy just decided to man up and say what a lot of us are already thinking!

Unprofessional would be department's not getting off of 46.26 when everyone else is on a trunk frequency, or there's is an actual run or a job ongoing or getting on the radio to give your noon time test when companies are currently on a run or just finishing up. This guy just decided to man up and say what a lot of us are already thinking!

Is this needed. If you want to really drop to that level some volunteer firefighters should have the title "parade walker" since that's what they ultimately do.
Career firefighters in combo depts. have the same training as the all career depts. and when they arrive on scene with no help, they get to do it all.

How about a dual response??? Or will that compromise the relationship and ego's between Millwood and Yorktown when one or the other arrives first due to a job???

How bout this suggestion.....
Save your silly helmet cam for your next family trip and spend more time focused on getting water on the fire.
All of our new wonders in the service are more focused on crafting the next big fire/rock video for the annual banquet (which probably consumes 50% of the Depts annual budget), than learning the fundamentals of their trade.

How about a dual response??? Or will that compromise the relationship and ego's between Millwood and Yorktown when one or the other arrives first due to a job???

How about a dual response??? Or will that compromise the relationship and ego's between Millwood and Yorktown when one or the other arrives first due to a job???

How about a dual response??? Or will that compromise the relationship and ego's between Millwood and Yorktown when one or the other arrives first due to a job???

Backward, maybe. If it helps get women in medical emergencies to the ED that much quicker and with better care, then not so much.
Just so long as they play nice in the sandbox and dont go screaming up and down the tristate area in unmarked flycars from 40 miles away like some other nameless religion associated agency/organization.

How about a dual response??? Or will that compromise the relationship and ego's between Millwood and Yorktown when one or the other arrives first due to a job???

Interesting conversation...
First and foremost, i do not like mmq'ing and do not know the particulars about this fire. Secondly, the amount of time I have being a firefighter is infinitesimal and I've only been to a handful of real butt-whipping jobs, but do see my share of work from time to time. I don't know how many firefighters are arriving on Hartsdale's initial assignment. I don't know what type of conditions were present on arrival. I don't know if this fire was in the incipient, flashover, or transitioning into the full growth stage. I do not know the smoke condition that was present. And I don't know if a civilian offering information is always 100% correct. From the picture outside it doesn't look to be to to much but i could be totally wrong... If the chief wants to do a 360, that's at his discretion, not that i feel that this is always necessary on the onset with a "known life hazard" but someone should be doing it in the early stages of the operation. What I do know is that pulling up to a fire with a handful of men and trying to bring an advanced fire under control is no easy task! So kudos to Hartsdale FD for making the grab and saving that woman's life. After all, that's our job!
I also know that... The fire goes as the first line goes. However, if and when you are presented with a situation such as arriving to a fire with limited manpower and are presented with a known life hazard, if you do not have the manpower to simultaneously stretch the first line and start a primary, the known life hazard always takes precedence over all other operations and must be immediately addressed. If the house burns to the ground in the process, oh well! If a chief does a 360 and reports fire issuing from a window, it presents a much less volatile environment for us firefighters and makes an aggressive search that much easier because the fire is venting and you won't have worry about that dense turbulent smoke that might otherwise be present, violently waiting to light up and burn your ass. If your first due engine is equipped with a 24 which I'd imagine it is and a known life hazard does exist, you should also be considering entering that window and isolating that room to conduct a primary (P.S. there's a great vid on the internet from a job i think on LI where a fireman does a great job saving a baby VEIS'ing from the 4 side of a peaked cape).
What "everybodygoes" does point out which is an excellent point is knowing your buildings! Besides all the other ranting the probies get when they show up to the fh about shutting their mouths, showing up, and constantly being on the move, I always add in what I believe are a few very important concepts a firefighter should know. Knowing your buildings, their inherent layouts, and reading smoke. If you can do those things very well, everything else will become 2nd nature through drilling, talking shop and plain old experience over time.
There are many different types of building out there but lets focus on PD's cause that seems to be the bread n' butter round here. Due to construction, alternations, additions, and our poor economy, anything is possible (Beware of Taxpayers!!!! cannot emphasize enough!) Knowing the buildings in your first due and outlying area will help you understand their building construction; Legacy vs. contemporary, fire spread, number of beds n baths you need to search, alternative egress and ingress points, height; what portables will reach which floor; windows/roof AND where the interior stairs are!!
Smoke is another biggie. Smoke by color and density amongst a couple other characteristics is going to tell you 99% of the time where the fire is, what it's doing, what's burning, what stage the fire's in, and where it's traveling to. Once you've read the building and the smoke, the engine will know where to stretch to locate, confine, extinguish, and the truck will know where to start their search for not only the victims but the fire, and where to go to when searching for extension.
So Let's turn this conversation a little more positive and hear more from the really salty guys, cause i know there are plenty of old timers on here and they have plenty of untapped knowledge.... Shoot------> oh wait, this is ny, cant do that anymore LOL

Interesting conversation...
First and foremost, i do not like mmq'ing and do not know the particulars about this fire. Secondly, the amount of time I have being a firefighter is infinitesimal and I've only been to a handful of real butt-whipping jobs, but do see my share of work from time to time. I don't know how many firefighters are arriving on Hartsdale's initial assignment. I don't know what type of conditions were present on arrival. I don't know if this fire was in the incipient, flashover, or transitioning into the full growth stage. I do not know the smoke condition that was present. And I don't know if a civilian offering information is always 100% correct. From the picture outside it doesn't look to be to to much but i could be totally wrong... If the chief wants to do a 360, that's at his discretion, not that i feel that this is always necessary on the onset with a "known life hazard" but someone should be doing it in the early stages of the operation. What I do know is that pulling up to a fire with a handful of men and trying to bring an advanced fire under control is no easy task! So kudos to Hartsdale FD for making the grab and saving that woman's life. After all, that's our job!
I also know that... The fire goes as the first line goes. However, if and when you are presented with a situation such as arriving to a fire with limited manpower and are presented with a known life hazard, if you do not have the manpower to simultaneously stretch the first line and start a primary, the known life hazard always takes precedence over all other operations and must be immediately addressed. If the house burns to the ground in the process, oh well! If a chief does a 360 and reports fire issuing from a window, it presents a much less volatile environment for us firefighters and makes an aggressive search that much easier because the fire is venting and you won't have worry about that dense turbulent smoke that might otherwise be present, violently waiting to light up and burn your ass. If your first due engine is equipped with a 24 which I'd imagine it is and a known life hazard does exist, you should also be considering entering that window and isolating that room to conduct a primary (P.S. there's a great vid on the internet from a job i think on LI where a fireman does a great job saving a baby VEIS'ing from the 4 side of a peaked cape).
What "everybodygoes" does point out which is an excellent point is knowing your buildings! Besides all the other ranting the probies get when they show up to the fh about shutting their mouths, showing up, and constantly being on the move, I always add in what I believe are a few very important concepts a firefighter should know. Knowing your buildings, their inherent layouts, and reading smoke. If you can do those things very well, everything else will become 2nd nature through drilling, talking shop and plain old experience over time.
There are many different types of building out there but lets focus on PD's cause that seems to be the bread n' butter round here. Due to construction, alternations, additions, and our poor economy, anything is possible (Beware of Taxpayers!!!! cannot emphasize enough!) Knowing the buildings in your first due and outlying area will help you understand their building construction; Legacy vs. contemporary, fire spread, number of beds n baths you need to search, alternative egress and ingress points, height; what portables will reach which floor; windows/roof AND where the interior stairs are!!
Smoke is another biggie. Smoke by color and density amongst a couple other characteristics is going to tell you 99% of the time where the fire is, what it's doing, what's burning, what stage the fire's in, and where it's traveling to. Once you've read the building and the smoke, the engine will know where to stretch to locate, confine, extinguish, and the truck will know where to start their search for not only the victims but the fire, and where to go to when searching for extension.
So Let's turn this conversation a little more positive and hear more from the really salty guys, cause i know there are plenty of old timers on here and they have plenty of untapped knowledge.... Shoot------> oh wait, this is ny, cant do that anymore LOL

In radio and voice contact is still considered supervision. If you are not comfortable doing a search alone you should resign.

Perhaps all is not lost!
diBlasio set to name retired Chief of Department, Daniel Nigro as F.C.
http://nypost.com/2014/05/08/mayor-set-to-name-33-year-veteran-as-fire-commissioner/

I think that before you take to the keyboard you should get the facts. You make quite a serious allegation of your department being influenced by an outside source, do you know this to be true? Question these types of things in house before going to the all mighty internet.
Now as far as the policy, good job! They are kids in school. Schooling is required for a job, a job is required to feed a family. I don't think my volunteer department had ever bought dinner for my kids.

When was the last time you told the dispatcher your company wasn't responding becacuse of weather conditions? Almost all of those other jobs can be suspended when weather condition are unfavorable.
Think about when material is falling off a highrise in the middle of the night or a sand hog is trapped in the hole who is the first on the scene to help. All these jobs are important Working together we all can make this a better world.

The arbitration board is the DC arbitration board and seems to be pretty lopsided towards management. The current schedule is 24 on 72 off a 4 platoon system. The proposed system is 3-12 hour days followed by 3-12 hour nights followed by 3 days off which is a 3 platoon system. The average workweek will go from 42 hours a week to 56. I don't think DC intends to pay the members for the extra 14 hours. While it may seem that 12 hour shifts will better combat fatigue the reality is that is not true. A member working their 3rd consecutive night tour will be beyond exhaustion. In a perfect world people will believe that everyone is getting 8 hours sleep in between these tours but it's just not true. Our chart in the city is 9 hour days and 15 hour nights and members frequently trade to make them into 24s. From personal experience I am never more exhausted than when I'm working consecutive nights. In reality you will be late getting out of work (awaiting relief, fires near the end of the shift, and regular administrative duties) then you drive home how ever long in my case an hour and then your young kids never got them memo about daddy needing to sleep and you need to eat something....before you know it it's time to get back in the car. So in a practical sense 24s work better on the human body. Also they save money in that there are less times when overtime is incurred for calls overlapping the end of the shift. They result in fewer vehicle trips, less gas usage, and a lower carbon footprint.
This whole thing is much more about thinly veiled racism and an political machine agenda.

While a professionally staffed 24/7 firehouse is the ideal, it is not going to happen any time soon in the smaller towns and villages of New York. The number of 'consequential' fires on a town by town basis will not justify the increase in property taxes to support a paid staff. While responses may be on the rise, many are due to automatic dispatch and most villages/towns have only one or two major fires annually, if any at all that would be considered major, and loss of life is thankfully rare.
That the apparatus goes out with empty seats does not take into account the number of members who, hopefully, will respond directly to the scene rather than the firehouse because of their proximity to the call location and their knowledge that the apparatus is already responding.
Whether from a central location or various locations, time of day, day of week, among other factors, determines your turnout. You never know the number or make up of your crew until it shows up. That's a drawback to the volunteer system, but apparently an accepted drawback in lieu of higher taxes to supplement full time staffing.
Automatic mutual aid could also be considered automatic 'cover your ass' but regardless, the practice increases the probability that a response will occur, either by the home department or the mutual aid department and that resources, ie: apparatus and manpower, will be available to address the nature of the call.
I'm out of it a few years now, but the level of volunteer training required and necessary today is vastly improved over when I began 40 years ago. Then, our physicals were 'turn your head an cough' and now it is a full on physical, soup to nuts and your level of participation is determined by the outcome. Likewise the variety and frequent availability of courses to continue to improve yourself are out there if you want to take advantage of them.
I have lived in two different locations with County Departments. The typical house is an Engine and a Rescue (Ambulance). 3 staff the Engine, 2 staff the Rescue. The number of houses and amount of apparatus pales in comparison to Westchester County but they get it done and done well from the times I have observed them in action.
Consolidation beyond automatic mutual aid needs to be on a case by case basis, as does adding or going to full time staff, depending on the make up of the areas to be protected. I can't see the elimination of the volunteer system any time soon given the onerous taxes already imposed on the citizenry, particularyl in Westchester.
Now, as far as EMS....the volunteer system has seen it's best years. Transition to full time services is the only answer to the repeat dispatches for EMS crews.

Amen. God speed to the brothers we've lost and more importantly to the fathers these men have lost and a blessed and safe career to all

I will be in 30 min lol
Thanks