trauma74

Just curious if anyone knows the average starting salaries of EMTs,Paramedics & Communications Staff/Dispatchers for the commercial EMS agencies that provide services in Westchester County? Empress, TransCare, Westchester EMS & any other service that I may have left out. Also, what about VACs/municipal EMS agencies that have their own dispatchers? Just trying to get an idea for comparison to what services in other areas pay. Thanks in advance for the info.

I have one word for this new Rescue................AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looks like a lot of planning went into this new rescue truck. Great job! Not sure if I maybe missed it, but who made this truck? Where is the plant located?

VERY NICE! I really love the DOT striping on the back! Great Safety Feature! Who did all the work on this vehicle? What are the specs? Lights? Radios? Equipment? Any special bells & whistles? While I am here, I just want to ask a question and if anyone has an answer, please feel free to post it..............Is it stated anywhere, maybe in some federal guidelines, that DOT Style Striping has to be a combination of certain colors? I usually see either blue and yellow or red and yellow on emergency vehicles.

I have a Magic Jack that I use for my home telephone service. It works thru my high speed internet connection kind of like Vonage or Optimum Voice. When I was setting up my service I was directed to a 911 set up screen when I had the option to enter my address. When I dial 911 it does go to my local 911 center and the address information that I entered will show up on the 911 screen. You just have to remember that if you move or you take the Magic Jack device with you to use on your laptop or other computer when you are traveling, you have to make sure that you change the address information. If I lose my internet connection for any reason, my Magic Jack will not work.

I do like the fact that they use A LOT of reflective material on all of their emergency vehicles. The "Checker Board" pattern and the "DOT" style stripes are a nice combination. Many agencies do not like the "Checker Board" patterns, but at some of the most recent EMS & Fire Expos that I have been to, the apparatus makers are starting to add this type of reflective pattern to their new "safer" ambulances and FD vehicles. When it comes to prevention of accidents when on scene, the striping does a lot more for visibility of vehicles than the lights do. The lights often cause more problems because motorists are blinded by them. Think about how much brighter the LEDs are compared to the halogen and strobe lights. Also, you draw less attention to your vehicles when you have less red/white/blue lights on. When people see red/white and blue lights it draws their interest to what is going on. Many studies have suggested that the only colored lights that should be kept on when you are on scene should be amber lights. They say that the amber lights make the members of the public think that a tow truck or a DOT or some type of utility vehicle is working on the side of the road and they are less likely to stop or slow down to see what is going on, like "rubber-necking" on the highway.

Empress is a great place to work, especially if you are a new EMT or new Medic. The experience you will get is very valuable and you will see and do things in Yonkers that you would never see or do in a rural/suburban EMS agency. Over the years, I have thought about going back to work there again, but there is always something going on that keeps me too busy to go back. I have a question for anyone who works for Empress, are they still using the same old UHF radio system from years ago or have they changed to a trunked or digital radio system?? Are the crews still issued the alpha-numeric pagers along with their equipment? I know that pagers are kind of outdated, but I figured I would ask anyway. Are the Nextel phones still used to contact dispatch as a backup to the radios?

RIP MY BROTHER! For your sake, I hope you did not feel the pain of the burning flames and the pain of falling 3 storys. God is with your family and will watch over them!!!!!

129K, THANKS!

I know that many of the members here feel that the topic of blue lights has been beaten to death, but no matter what, there will always be some discussion on it, at least until the law is changed. I do agree with the fact that it was wrong on the part of the NYS law makers to limit rear facing blue lights to police vehicles only. When it comes to the safety of all emergency services/public safety agencies, laws like this should cover all of the services. When the law was changed to allow PD vehicles to have rear facing blue lights, I checked further into the law and who sponsored it and what police organization(s) were behind the change. It turns out that the NYS Sheriffs Association were the ones who made the big push for the change. I found it odd that it wasnt the NYSP who made the biggest push. I also read that the Sheriffs Association, at the time of their push for rear facing blue for PD, brought up having forward facing blue lights for PD. Since there was a big push for rear facing blue for PD, I think the push for forward facing blue will gain momentum and eventually become law. Just like many PDs began using rear facing blue before it became a law, there are the PDs around NY that have forward facing blue. I know that Yonkers PD has had the combination of blue and red facing in all directions for as far back as I can remember. Does anyone know if YPD has been penalized by the State or anyone else for having blue in all directions? Has this ever been brought up in a court of law when a YPD unit was involved in an accident? Is there a City Law/Ordinance in Yonkers that supersedes NYS VTL? I know that the FEDS can have Blue & Red because they supercede NYS VTL. What other PD agencies in Westchester and the surrounding areas have forward facing blue? Is there any FDs or EMS agencies that have forward and/or rear facing blue?? When it comes to FASNY & other fire based organizations not supporting blue lights on FD & EMS vehicles, I believe that its because they are afraid that the laws giving volunteer firefighters the use of blue lights will be taken away. IMHO, this is what they should do........change the law to the following for EMERGENCY VEHICLES : ALL PD/FD/EMS vehicles will have a combination of red & blue facing in all directions. No single colors (i.e. no all red or all blue for emergency vehicles). Clear can be used, but only to the front, to avoid blinding drivers approaching from the rear and/or the sides. Amber can be used in any direction except for the front so there is no confusion to drivers of vehicles you are behind or approaching. All strobe & LED rear lighting should have a way to be dimmed, like an intensity controller. Green lights, will only be used on Incident Command vehicles (PD/FD/EMS) when they are stationary at a scene. ONE green light will be used for this purpose. Also, have ALL emergency vehicles follow the NFPA standard for on scene operations, as soon as the vehicle has been place into "PARK", all white flashing lights will shut off. This will prevent other motorists as well as personel working on the scene from being blinded by these lights. Now, for the POVs of ALL FIRE & EMS VOLUNTEERS: Green lights will no longer be permitted for EMS volunteers since a green light will be utilized by emergency vehicles when they are the IC vehicle. ALL FIRE & EMS volunteers will use forward facing blue lights and/or the combination of blue/clear lights. Rear facing lights on volunteer POVs can be any combination of the following, blue, red and amber. There would also no longer be a limit on the number of blue lights that a volunteer may install for use on their POVs. An airhorn, not a siren, just an electronic airhorn, there is one sold by Whelen, may be used in combination with the blue or blue/clear combination. This will help the volunteer get the attention of the motorist they are behind so that motorist can pull over for them. To go along with all of these changes, the blue lights for volunteers will now be a little more than courtesy lights. Motorists would be required to move over to the right and yield the right of way to the volunteer. Volunteers will still have to operate their vehicles with due regard and obey all traffic laws. When another motorist pulls over to the right side of the road, the volunteer may only pass when it is deemed safe to do so. FASNY and the other FD organizations should find this just fine. It isnt taking anything away from them. As a matter of fact, this law will help out the volunteers. Aside from making it a law that motorists will now be required to pull over for volunteers, the fact that all emergency vehicles will have forward facing blue lights in combination with red will help the volunteers out, motorists will get used to seeing the blue on the FD/PD/EMS vehicles and anytime that they are actually paying attention and they see blue coming up behind them, they will be thinking that they need to give the right of way. To tired to write anymore! Need some sleep! Everyone be careful & stay safe!

STOP or I will keep yelling stop until I lose sight of you and then I will scream STOP so you can hear me as you are running further away from me.

While at the JEMS EMS Today conference last week, I was shown a new EMS website. It has many useful things on it including free training downloads. Check it out. http://www.ems1.com/

Does anyone know if OLM or any other hospital based EMS services are hiring Per Diem EMTs? My First Assistant Chief, who has good experience as an EMT is looking to pick up some per diem work since being laid of from his regular job. Anyone with info, please let me know. Thanks.

Often times the HAMs have better equipment and repeaters than public safety. When public safety systems go down, the HAMs are there to put their systems to work.

A really good friend of mine used to work CBP in the Port of Miami, the s*** he saw was crazy. Not only do they come up with many places to hide drugs, but they also mix the drugs with other substances and manufactor different items out of them. He now works for US CUSTOMS ICE as a Special Agent in the Intelligence Division. He has been involved in some very highly and some never publicized drug arrests. He is also a good person to get info from when a "Terror Alert" comes out. I usually call him and get the full story or as much as he can give me. Many citizens of our great USA think that it is just luck (or whatever) that there has not been another terrorist in the USA since 9/11. I have been informed on numerous occasions that this is NOT TRUE. He said that there have been dozens of attacks that were halted long before they were supposed to be carried out. None of this get published in any newspapers or broadcast on the news.

154.205 is the OC Paging frequency, there is also a department way down in NJ that often comes in loud and clear here in Orange County. The PL Tone is different though, so you only get it if you dont have a PL Tone programmed in your scanner. The PL Tone for 154.205 for OC Fire Paging is 123.0

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I think many were hoping for a Verizon PTT BlackBerry, but I do not see that happening anytime soon. I thought they would have made the Nextel BlackBerry like a hybrid, iDen for the PTT service and Sprint Network for phone calls and for BlackBerry Internet service. At least they made it WiFi capable.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that just because their company name has the word "Paramedics" in it, it does not mean that you have a duty to act as a paramedic if you are not certified at that level and that they are not required to have a paramedic on every single call, especially if the call is a BLS call. I would say it is like in a VAC where you have members who are not certified as EMTs, they are drivers. They wear a "VAC" jacket that says "Whatever VAC" on it, if they are not certified as CFR or EMT, they are not required to act. Also, someone asked about Regional EMS. Regional EMS is handling all of the same areas they handled before with ALS units and they are still providing daytime BLS staffing to the agencies they had contracts before they were taken over by HVP.

I really like the DOT style chevon striping on the rear of the bus! Someone had safety in mind when spec'ing this new bus.

Not to knock the FBI at all, but I have a best friend who is an US Customs ICE Inspector in the Intelligence Division, I understand that he is limited in the info that he can tell me, but I did check with him after the FBI report and he told me that there was no credible or immediate threat to the RR system.

I worked with Tommy Sal back in the day with X129, EMTBravo creator himself (Seth) and BIG RWC130. I learned more in the 2 years at Empress than in my entire time as a Vollie. The chances of seeing sh** up here in Orange County that I saw in Schlobaum and the other ghetto parts of the "Y" are slim to none! Tommy Sal was always there to answer questions and teach you the correct way to do things. God Bless Tommy Sal. He will always live forever in our hearts and minds.

A good portion of the NYSP cars in Troop F now have either roof or trunk lettering. I am guessing that all NYSP units will have it eventually.

I received an official letter from Rockland Paramedics Services CEO Ray Florida today and he assured me that the change of hands with Regional EMS will be seamless and extra steps are being taken to make things go as smooth as possible.

NWFDMedic (Dan), No problem. I like to keep everyone updated with the correct info. When are you going to make the switch and go to the other side? LOL! J/K!

Your question about a public hearing needs to be address with the NYS DOH and the Hudson Valley Regional EMS Council. As far as the use of the Regional EMS name is concerned. I did state in my post that the name "Regional EMS" was part of the deal. The name Regional EMS will stay in place for Orange and Pike Counties.