EmsFirePolice

 

Why is this always a surprise... The PA answers to NO ONE...never has and never will.....

The Port Authority PD is a joke...yes a complete joke!  Its an ATM for these guys who are glorified security guards who break balls at the airports.  400 K  !!  You have to be kidding.  How many of them go disabled after one of these monster years?  Bet more than 50%!!  What happened to a CAP on these guys and girls?  Pushing idling cars out of pick up lanes is worth 400K?  Come on I'll do it 12 hours a day for 6 days a week for 125K and no benefits.....
 
 

I understand that mutual aid plans around the county (heck, around the state) are either broken or just strange, but there are some good plans out there.  The airport has an overkill plan for an Alert 1 (Light General Aviation Aircraft, generally carrying 4-6 souls): 3 engines, 1 ladder, 2 rescues, 3 ambulances, and 1 tanker, all from the overlapping districts surrounding the aiport.
 
I only point this out because there is a way to make mutual aid work.  It involves working with your neighboring departments and determining what you can do for each other in a myriad of incidents.  Department A has a heavy rescue, Department B has a boat, Department C has a tower ladder....you get the picture.  If you plan your "what if" moments appropriately, you won't get the "Monday Morning Quarterbacking" from everyone else, AND you get the job done!  The above airport response for light GA is because some serious sh#t can happen with what seemingly could be a simple crash but is actually something quite significant (think a single engine Cessna rolls off the end of the runway and hits a fuel truck filled with 9,000 gallons of JetA).  I am by no means saying that we should activate the cavalry on every call or directly upgrading every structure fire to a second alarm to get extra resources, rather just to say to plan appropriately.
 
**Yes, I know the airport does not give mutual aid back to the county, but that is a discussion for another day.**

Closest house but what was the staffing and training of that firehouse? If they only had two guys on the engine, what would be the point of arriving fast over a properly staffed unit arriving a couple of minutes later?

Yes mothballed for now , I put 3 years into the design of this engine .
 
 

You have brought up two different issues.
 
1) is it cheaper to use ot? This one varies greatly. What is the union contract require? I have seen some that pay straight time for prescheduled "ot" others pay double time on Sundays and holidays. In NY some retirement tiers require pension payments for ot, not for other tiers. We have also found that seniority has a factor, if the job has mostly Sr members it is cheaper to hire, mostly Jr members and ot is cheaper, so it's fluctuating over time.
 
2) You must define "peak hours". We are busiest during the day, many of these calls are slip and falls, alarms from workers, cooking, showers, changing co batteries, and so on. At night our volume drops dramatically. But the calls are more likely cardiac, respiratory, (I'd call earlier, but didn't want to bother you, so I waited till 2 am), drugs, serious mva's, and most working fires and almost all fatal and serious injury fires.
 
also in some cases the contract requires 10 - 24 hour shifts.

I am not sure as to what the benefit of a Dash CF would be to the Stamford Fire Department. The new CF has a very obtuse interior cab configuration and offers absolutely no benefit to the application that the Department is looking for or needs. 
 
The Pierce Enforcer is a very practical chassis and offered us everything we needed and nothing that we did not need.
 
Unlike many of the Departments often represented in apparatus discussions on this site, we operate with a given amount of money for a purchase.
 
What we have to spend, is what we have to spend and not a penny more. 
 
This vehicle incorporated several design components that factored heavily into the final price tag. Getting everything to work for the money we had allocated and available was not an easy task. 
 
The truck should be delivered by the end of this year or early 2018. 
 
 
 
 

Update again 2015 KME tower waiting for tow after it broke down again in the travel park that I winter in

O the times we live in.......

Date: 02/13/2017
Time: 14:28
Location: 51 Toms Rd
District: BFD
Channel: Ground 2
Weather: 35 & partly cloudy
Units: BFD: E41,E42,C411 (IC),
         SFD: E6,E7,E1,T1,R1,U4 (DC)
         SPD: 8S4 (Sgt.), 8S2 (Sgt.) 1D30, 3D48, 3B33
Writer:  AFS1970

Description: Initially reported as a tree and wires down in the driveway of middle school just about to release students for the day. E41 arrived to smoke showing from roof, and primaries down in the driveway. Box filled out for smoke condition in school. SPD shutting street down and staging parents in nearby shopping center to wait until clear to pick up students. Eversource (power company) responding priority 2.

http://patch.com/connecticut/fairfield/pine-tree-crashes-fairfield-fire-station
 
 
Luckily no injuries.  Tree entered above kitchen table causing fluorescent light fixture to swing across table.  The crew of Engine 4 went on an EMS call at 1604 and returned at 1645 and found the damage.  Crew were in the kitchen prior to the run.

At one point Arlington had a volunteer Chief, career Deputy Chief and Asst. Chiefs from each of the 4 companies in the District.

What do you so called "experts" know anyway?

It's all how the spec is written. for example if the department wants a specific feature or equipment and that feature is specific to a certain manufacturer then others may not meet the spec. Also if that feature is an option to other manufacturers, it may drive the cost up to the point that they wont submit a bid. Some departments have height, weight, size or departure angle limitations and these may disqualify many manufacturers.  

This was regarding the fire yesterday at the Sports Page Bar:
 
 

Union Vale FD in Dutchess County has gotten a new Spartan/Marion engine. http://www.marionbody.com/recentdeliveries-fe/unionvalefiredist-unionvale-ny-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-1-0
 
In addition, the Mystic FD in Groton/Stonington, CT has also gotten a new Spartan/Marion engine. http://www.marionbody.com/recentdeliveries-fe/mysticfiredept-mystic-ct-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-1-0

Technically the color is Wildberry Red. Always looked maroon to me.
 

There is more positive news to report regarding the Fractured Fire Service of Norwich.
 
A SECOND incident in another Fire District (Yantic FD) brought the Norwich Firefighters to the address of 114 West Town St per the Yantic Fire Commander.
 
The Norwich FD responded as the FAST CO, with a Truck consisting of one Lt and three Firefighters (All Norwich FFs are trained in FAST Co Operations). A total distance of 2.9 miles.  Something that has NEVER happened.
 
This is a FIRST for the Yantic FD and there is no doubt that they did the right thing. Just as another Volunteer Fire District did, the East Great Plains FD, when they had a working fire recently.
 
 I believe full credit goes to Norwich City Manager, John Salamone. He took the time to listen when no other city officials did. He apparently realized that a fire department from some 8 or 15 miles away can NOT be called before the much closer, 24 hour staffed Norwich FD.
 
 This has been two years in the making which involved some very serious incidents. This entire campaign began with a grease fire two years ago at a nursing home located at 93 West Town St. Just down the street from this current incident. In that incident the Norwich FD was never called. However, three other unstaffed, volunteer fire departments were called from farther away.  
 
 I would like to think that this story is over. I hope that the two recent examples involving the East Great Plains and Yantic FDs will end this long on going nightmare. The Citizens of this city need to come first, not how some fire dept feels about each other.
 
 Tonight (2/8/2017), there is reason to be proud of these FDs within the City of Norwich, Ct.

 

Where is Mayor Spano's promise to have Architect Drawings, Final Designs and a Site Selected by October of 2015? Hmmm? We are now looking at February 2017, and nothing on any account.and ZERO updates to the community by either Mayor Spano or anyone from his Administration on the status. Poor Communication and Management on the part of the Mayor of the City of Yonkers

From the Yonkers UFOA Facebook page:
 
 
 
 

City Of White Plains will be replacing Tower Ladder 6, a 2001 American LaFrance Metropolitan/Smeal 85ft rear mount tower with a 2017 Spartan/Smeal 100' mid mount tower ladder later this year.

 
 
Lakeside Engine 533 went to it's new home in Greeley, PA over the weekend.   Guess now we know which company is getting the new engine.   Don't know what it's going to be yet.   

Speaking on "Suburban Firefighting," Chief Jim Silvernail of the City of Kirkwood, Missouri Fire Dept, captivated the audience of approximately 400 firefighters, at yesterday's 17th Annual Lt. Andy Fredericks.
 
Our thanks to all those firefighters who attended and especially those who regularly support our seminar, as well as Chief Silvernail for a great presentation.
 
Proceeds of each seminar are given to four designated charities: the Lt. Andy Fredericks Scholarship Fund, the Lt. Tyler Rush Scholarship Fund, the New York State Firemen's Home and Burncare Everywhere.
 
Andy's company, FDNY Squad Co. 18, was on hand, as always, to sell T-shirts and support the cause.
 
Also in attendance was FDNY Battalion 19, Engine Co. 75 and Ladder Co. 33 to sell memorial T-shirts for Deputy Chief Michael Fahy, recently killed in the line of duty; proceeds going to Chief Fahy's family.
 
Great job done by all!!!
 
From the Elmsford Chiefs and the Seminar Committee....