Bottom of Da Hill

the grand scheme should get what you need there sooner then later kinda like a fast team? thats my experience tells me its not a parade.get what you need ASAP.i dont think the dispatchers should have that kind of power to show favoritism to the dept they belong to.

or maybe just maybe the dispatcher is a member of said FD? thats what it is?you have fairview hartsdale sleepyhollow tarrytown just a few miles away.favoritism with few dispatchers i noticed.

Where was the DES METU? Why have a METU respond from Yonkers when there is one literally up the street?

You hit the nail on the head chkpoint!

I myself stopped checking this site frequently a while ago. When I saw this topic I couldn't agree more. What drove this site in the early years was that buffs (and I say that in a positive way. all of us in emergency service are buffs. Just some little more then others.) was that all fires and big incident were listed. Those of us not near a scanner or too far north or too far south could read updates and get some photos. Now when you have FB and Twitter with up to date fire wires or emergency wire (nyc fire wire, kempter and Westchester fire wire constantly updating from emergency personnel in the field. Especially since smart phones make it easy to check and post on social media, this site died. Majority of people that were here wanted updates on incidents so social media changed that. Then the volly vs career in every topic killed things. Then asking for money and Seth having problems personally and publicly added to it. Many people seem to have a problem with the founder. Many people left and abandoned the site. The list of the usernames is misleading now. A few years ago I messaged and asked to delete my old username and stated why. I got no reply from Seth or any admin after several messages to them. So that sealed it for me and I noticed the decline was in full swing anyway. I created my current name. When I check and see something worth reading maybe I'll post. But more and more to me the site is dead.

I used to check this site more when the incident threads were up to date. There was a time when it seemed like at three in the afternoon or three in the morning emtbravo had good, detailed posts about every fire or pin job (anything significant where mutual aid was called). I work in an office where I can't monitor the pager all day so it was really great to know what was going on in the county. No one ever posts these anymore so I don't bother checking this as my resource. Now I check lohud or my local paper instead.
For me, the threads always turned into one of the following...
1. Career vs. Volunteer arguments
2. Everyone patting each other on the back for no reason
Boooorrrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnnggggggg!
Plus, I kept getting put on moderator watch where my posts had to be approved before they went into the threads for having unpopular opinions. For a past volunteer who is now getting back into it again I have very anti-emergency services views because I think that the volunteer fire system here in Westchester is seriously broken and am in favor of consolidation. That said, just because my opinions are negative and unpopular does not mean that they are wrong. When I sent a note to Seth asking why I was being censored he did not even bother to respond. So i seldom waste my time anymore.

A lot of people have been banned from here, or left on their own, for whatever reasons. That's part of it.
Message boards in general are "old hat" nowadays, with many people choosing Facebook or other forms of social media to share their thoughts, opinions and photos. I am a member of numerous boards, covering various topics, and very few of them are as active as they used to be.

Port Chester , nobody left to do reports ?

Its not about the fine, its about the finding, which will be used against the village in any civil litigation from the families.
The lesson is ignorance of the law is no defense (particularly when DOL can prove you knew the law at some point in the past)

http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2015/January/28/Ttown_worker_death_CoA-28Jan15.html

Another press release
http://readme.readmedia.com/Court-decision-upholds-penalty-in-Tarrytown-worker-deaths/10352659

SQUAD COMPANY (TEAMS)
Valid Prefixes (SQ = Squad)
A vehicle(s) consisting of at least an Engine with or without other support vehicles (i.e.:Rescue, Ladder, or Utility Type), equipped with additional and specific equipment to handle
hazardous materials / WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) and/or technical rescue, that will respond with a minimum of six (6) trained and certified members, included a company officer.
For hazmat and WMD the minimum training level shall be Haz-Mat Technician (as identified under OSHA1910.120) and the squad shall have the equipment necessary to perform air monitoring, level “A” suit and decontamination.
For technical rescue the minimum training level shall be based on NFPA 1670. All members shall be at the technician level for structural collapse, trench rescue and confined space rescue and at the operations level for rope rescue. The squad shall have the equipment necessary to initiate a response, safely size up and identify additional resources required to safely mitigate these incidents.

Maybrook Engine 218
Final inspection was conducted this week. Photo courtesy of Chief Charles D. Woznick

good man sad to see him go,

its about time.

I actually see that as a valid question and not a statement that 60 is in someway incapable of doing the job. A YFD dispatch would probably be better familiar with streets, locations, unit assignment and problems that crop up in certain areas with calls. Based on this valuable added resource a YFD would be a great asset.

Well guys after 43 years as a Port Chester Firefighter [ 18 years very active volunteer working at DPW then getting the dream job getting paid to do what I love to do this is my last day. It didn't end the way I wanted it too but away I go . I was fortunate to catch the war years when we went out every day for a job worked side by side with many dept.'s and made a lot of life long friends on mutual aid. I saw a lot of death and sorrow [ Gulliver's 24 DOA Stouffer's 26 DOA 9/11 world trade center ] and saved a few along the way but my greatest call was closing a large window [ life savers building ] for a 84 year old lady who was freezing because her window was open and she needed help. The next day she baked a apple pie for me and my partner. So I say good bye to it all and hope that I left a small mark somewhere. To my 2 sons that are following or trying to follow in my foot step's keep up the good work in this most rewarding profession . Good luck to the guy's that are left on my job and hope that thing's get better for you and the people we were sworn to protect.
Angelo Sposta [ Retired Local #1971 ]

If I can expand on that and do a comparison;
While I understand that conditions in a major city differ greatly from rural departments, much of what you have mentioned is already provided by the town I live in (and I suspect many of the towns where I live). We have a f/t building inspector, along with a part timer as well and between the two they do code enforcement, inspect properties and enforce the NYS UFP&BC.
While we provide volunteer EMS as part of our mission statement, we also provide ALS service through a commercial agency to meet the needs of the town. those residents whom may require assistance to get them home healthcare, special home equipment and facility placement are referred to the county social services.
Likewise, the county maintains a hazmat team; technical rescue is handled by the various county agencies.
My department also trains with other departments, particularly those charged with providing us mutual aid and visa versa.
I think it's pretty obvious that due to the size of the city you work in, they end up putting much of the workload on the fire department. But then again there is funding for that whereas where I live that would require funding (which the tax payers are not willing to bite into) and of course would mean duplication of services and as I'm sure you'll agree, that would be the last thing most of us would want to see especially in the era of consolidation encouragement.
Training for volunteers in the areas you mentioned that are out of the 4% scope of fire suppression where services already exist to handle that would be superfluous at best.

We can mandate whatever training we want as the "minimum," but what a department does for it's members after that is what truly separates the "men from the boys."
There's departments that take your FF1 and consider it "enough." That's wrong no matter how you slice it.
Training + experience = good firefighters. We all know "that guy" who has taken every class, but rarely shows up on calls and when they do, you wish they didn't.

By that logic you would never drive yhrough Newark or South Central LA due to the fear of being carjacked. And by that logic all cities in Westchester would be equally safe because all PD have the same standards. Fact is its not all about who has the longest academy.
And if my FD is not on other towns 10-75 cards then I guess we will need to work harder and make ourself better which we do anyway.im in a department thats far from perfect but we have made a lot of positive changes

Sarcastic ? and healthcare reform gun control and economicbailouts were a whirling success.

Simple-everyone go back and worry about their own department. Identify what is working, define what is not working, find a solution of how to ovrrcome that and then work as hard as you can to fix them. No matter how hard or how much anyone on here wants to you cannot fix other departments. Legislation will only work so much bc the more the government gets involved the more things get f#/^&d up.

Not for nothing, I'm a member of a 100% volunteer station that (as of December 16th at 1400 hours), has responded to 6,435 alarms in 2014. December 29th will mark 1 year of 100% volunteer service.
Minimum Staffing for the Engine Company: 3
Minimum Staffing for the Rescue Squad: 4
We're averaging around 50 people providing staffing each month, some EMS only but most are Fire/EMS. If you have non Pro-Board FF1 you must attend a bridge class to meet the minimum training requirements.
W do NOT miss calls for service.
If your department is progressive and proactive in approaching your manpower issues, you can solve the problem. Its not easy, but nothing worth doing ever is. But if your department is using the same staffing plan you used in 1950 (with the same training qualifications) then you're going to have some troubles.

Not sure if this qualifies as emotional or not but I for one get tired of coming on this site trying to read what going on only to read the same guys volly bash day after day topic after topic. Go ahead deny it. Face t some municpalites cant handle the expense of a paid FD. get over it. If my taxes go up anymore Im going to live in the YMCA. that said I train like my life depends on it and give my town the very best effort and professionalattitude that I can at the end of the day can only control what I do. Dont be part of the problem be part of the solution.

hey what about that fire in greenville the other night?how meny depts did it take to get enough man power to fight the fire?and how long did it take for the back up co.s to arrive on scene? the volunteers listen to the radio.s to.this has to stop you key board FF.s need better things to do.we can go around and around for months what a waist of time.get up and go train shut down the computer and go check your tools do something good with your time.i dont have the time in my fire house to play key board FF.SMH.AND GREEVILLE did a great job the other night not bashing the brothers at all.stay safe i am done on this.