Flashpoint

I thought I had heard a while back that Pelham didn't have any more volunteers due to the lack of interest of the community, and that carrying the volunteers was too expensive for their insurance.

http://www.westchestermagazine.com/Westchester-Magazine/April-2015/Are-Volunteer-Ambulance-Corps-A-thing-Of-The-Past-In-Westchester/#.VR_DDkUZuOw.twitter

Article: http://www.newstimes.com/printpromotion/article/Proposed-cuts-to-regional-training-schools-have-6110835.php

Date: 2-13-15
Time: 16:24hrs
Location: 85 Titicus Rd, Purdys Train Station C/S Route 116
District: Croton Falls
Weather: Clear, 18 degrees
Channel: Fire 13, Fireground 2 "Titicus Rd Command"
Units:
Croton Falls FD Engine 149, MA-16, Rescue 28, Car 2071 (I/C)
Somers FD Rescue 20 (For additional plywood and shoring resources)
Metro North FD Car 2641, Car 2642
South Salem FD Engine 168, Car 2452 (Relocate Croton Falls FD Station 2)
North Salem VAC 72-B-2 (Scene standby ambulance)
Somers FD*EMS 80-B-1 (Transport to LZ ambulance)
WEMS 45-M-3, 45-14
Lifenet Air 2
NYSP Patrol, BCI
MTA PD Patrol, ESU
Metro North RR Ops Trainmaster
WCDES County Car 4, Car 2001, Car 2007, Battalion 16, WC Technical Rescue Team Rescue 77, Utility 77, Collapse/Shoring Trailer

Description: Confirmed subject entrapped under a train "still alive at this time". Command requesting Westchester County DES Technical Rescue team. MA-16 requested to cut down chain link fence so incoming units can gain closer access to scene. Medic requesting helicopter, Lifenet Air 2 giving 20 minute ETA. Landing zone being established by Engine 149 at Westchester Exceptional Children's School on Route 22 near Route 116.
Updates:
16:42hrs Somers Rescue 20 being requested mutual aid for additional plywood and shoring resources. Advised to expedite, responding driver alone.
16:52hrs Car 2071 reporting subject has been extricated, cancelling WCDES Technical Rescue resources.
17:01hrs 60 Control advising Metro North Trainmaster on scene as a liaison with track and third rail operations. Lifenet Air 2 has landed.
17:12hrs Lifenet Air 2 enroute to Westchester Medical Center with 8 minute ETA, hot offload. Reporting stable patient with minor injuries.
17:30hrs Car 2071 reporting MTA requiring no further assistance, all Fire and EMS units back in service.

Date: 2-3-15
Time: 18:35
Location: Commerce St at the Metro North Harlem Line grade Crossing (adjacent to the Taconic State Parkway)
District: Valhalla
Channel: Fire 11, Fireground 8
Weather: 20 Degrees, Partly Cloudy, Light Wind, with snow and ice covering ground from storm yesterday
Units: (See Below)

Description: 5:45PM Metro North Harlem line train to Southeast from Grand Central struck SUV standing at gated grade crossing. Estimated 850+ people on board train, and at least 12 injuries and 6 fatalities. MCI declared. Train is an "M-7" electric and powered by 3rd rail. Both car and train reported to be on fire.
Units:
Valhalla FD Engine 82, Engine 83, Engine 84, Tower Ladder 49, Rescue 9, Utility 59
Hawthorne FD Engine 154
North White Plains FD Engine 74, C-2321
Elmsford FD Engine 237
Thornwood FD Engine 88, Tower Ladder 1
Briarcliff FD Rescue 37 (Cascade)
Ossining FD Engine 99 and Tower Ladder 42 (Relocate Valhalla)
Somers FD Utility 88, Car 2445 (Rehab Unit)
Pleasantville FD Engine 91 (Relocate Hawthorne FD)
Metro North FD
Valhalla VAC 82-B-1, 82-B-2
White Plains EMS (Transcare) 31-A-2
Mount Pleasant Medic (Transcare) 37-M-1
Empress EMS 87-A-1
Hawthorne FD EMS 63-B-1, 63-B-2
Pleasantville VAC 76-B-1, 76-B-3, 7605 (Rehab Unit)
Chappaqua VAC (Relocate)
Westchester EMS 45-M-1 (Relocate), 40-A-9
Cortlandt VAC 8805 (Rehab Unit)
Mount Pleasant PD
Greenburgh PD
Yonkers PD METU (MCI Bus)
MTA PD
Westchester County PD Patrol, ESU, Aviation, SOD, Commanders, LT1
NYSP Patrol, BCI
Westchester County ME Medical Examiner
WCDES Battalion 11, County Car 1, County Car 4, EMS 10, Utility 106 w/ Light Tower trailer and ARFF cans,
WCDES Technical Rescue Team Rescue 77, Utility 77, Car 2001
Notes:
19:56 Multiple Bee-Line buses enroute to transport stranded commuters
20:01 60 Control advising units not to use the term "bus" for ambulance as they have actual buses enroute and it is causing confusion
**Please reply to this thread with assigned units, additional information, corrections, and or updates if you have them**

In effort to move this forum back towards discussing actual firefighting stuff...
What hose loads are on your apparatus for attack/supply? What's the rationale behind them?
Rescue Engine 827 (Morningside, MD) - Has a 500 gallon tank
Crosslays:
(2) 200' 1 3/4" preconnected attack lines with TSM-20 fog nozzles (wrapped), packed as a minuteman load. One off the Driver's side, one off the Officer's. Each section is 100'. (1) 250' 2" preconnected attack line with a smooth bore stacked tip nozzle (wrapped), packed as a minute man load. Runs off the Officer's side. Nozzle section is 100', backup section is 150'. Bumper Trash Line:
100' of 1.5" preconnected line with a TSM-10 fog nozzle. First 50' are rolled, last 50' are folded with ears out for quick deployment. (This is sometimes falsely referred to as the Kentland load, but a ton of companies down here use it) Off the rear:
1600' of 3" supply line. Last 50' set up as a "Layout Pack": Accordion folded with a 2.5" double-male, 2.5" female to 1.5" male reducer, and a 1.5" blind cap. That pack is wrapped with a halyard rope that also has a hydrant wrench. Layout man pulls this and typically drops it at the hydrant or the entrance to the complex. The reducers allow us to extend attack lines into the courtyards of garden apartment complexes or into large commercial occupancies if we are not using it as a supply line. 200' of 2.5 packed as a minuteman load with a gated wye, to two 1.5" threads. Each section is 100'. An alternate solution that allows us to extend attack lines if the layout pack is used for supply. 400' 1 3/4" preconnected attack line with TSM-20 fog nozzle (wrapped), packed in three sections. First section is 100', second section is 150', third section is 150'. Lineman shoulders the first section, Backup shoulders the second and pulls the third, dumping it onto the ground. Backup then grabs a coupling from the third (aka the Dump) section and moves with it. Standpipe Racks:
100' of 1 3/4" attack line with TSM-20 fog nozzle 100' of 1 3/4" attack line with smooth bore nozzle. "Officer's Pack:" Short shot of 2.5" hose with a gated wye and 50" of 1 3/4" attack line

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

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

My department built a brand new fitness room, with a complete set of top of the line equipment. It is probably the least used room and equipment in the firehouse. It's a good question. How do you get guys motivated and how do you tell them they are out of shape when that becomes an issue?

Definitely a legend. Will miss seeing his photos. RIP.

Awesome Video!
Lets make it happen, below 50.....
http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/2014/12/nfff-kentland-vfd-safety-video.html
Stay Safe, Happy New Year!

When you dispatch an EMS call and specify the age, sex, and condition of the patient, and the last name of the residence on the radio all in the same transmission, couldn't that be considered violating the patient's privacy?

It's probably a "large void" because as far as I know Yorktown and Continental Village are the only two left in northern Westchester. Yorktown basically covers from the Hudson to the Connecticut border.

Could they be merged into a regional effort (since they all go mutual aid anyway) and make use of the resources that each department has?

What will be done with all the equipment?

Given Armonk is a relatively slow system, how experienced are WEMS EMT's as opposed to EMT's of Transcare and Empress? How was WEMS picked for this, and how does Armonk compensate them?
Does Armonk have a say in which WEMS EMT's will be assigned there?

Thanks for the info. But please note I said declined and not refused in my initial post though. Good to know the unit is available for scene response and not just for very rare situations.
However, what's taking so long to place it into service and when will it be placed into service? And who staffs it?

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20141007_Judge_rules_Phila_Fire_Department_free_from_race-based_hiring.html

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20141007_Judge_rules_Phila_Fire_Department_free_from_race-based_hiring.html

Our department recently went through flashover simulation training, including a couple of rounds in a flashover simulator.
Is it "normal" for SCBA's to undergo repeated extreme conditions, such as flashovers, back to back, several times? Some of our SCBA's look worse for the wear after going in several times with several different firefighters, and our chief assures us this is what SCBA's are designed for. I know SCBA's are designed to go into fires repeatedly during their service life, but I thought I remember our SCBA vendor telling us that SCBA's need a check up after undergoing extreme fire conditions.

Congrats to x2321, EMTBravo's September 2014 Member Of The Month.

x2321 has been a member of EMTBravo since July of 2004.

x2321, AKA Frank Becerra Jr, is a Westchester/Putnam Fire Service Icon. He is a award winning Photojournalist with the Journal News (well...actually before the Journal News existed when it was Gannett Westchester Rockland Newspapers), and has been on the staff for over 30 years. He has covered (and still covers) almost every major incident in Westchester and Putnam. Thousands view his photos every day, which cover not only emergency services, but extends to sports and nature, well just about everything, as well.
I remember when I was a kid, looking forward to getting, at the time, the "Reporter Dispatch", and seeing Frank's awesome talent every day as he owned that front page cover shot. I really liked how one day it would be a fire, and the next day it would be some beautiful shot of deer grazing at dawn. He is one of my inspirations in the photography world and just an all around great guy.
Frank is also second generation at the Journal News. You can see where he gets it from. His father, Frank Sr, was an award winning cartoonist and illustrator for Gannett Westchester Rockland Newspapers. Amongst one of his hundreds of notable works was creating "Flora", which was Westchester's version of Smokey The Bear, and encouraged parksgoers to not litter, and be safe with fire. I can see where x2321 get it from.

x2321 is just one our many, many excellent, dedicated, and valued members who are deserving of this recognition, and we will continue to recognize the members who make this forum what it is every month.
-Seth G AKA x635

I know, right! Me too! I had a collection of photos that I clipped out of the Reporter Dispatch as a kid in the 80's and 90's, and I can't find them now. I'd love to be able to go back and see some of his work from the 80's and 90's again, and I know hundreds and probably thousands of others would love to see it as well. Especially those who weren't lucky enough to grow up having his photos delivered to your driveway each morning in a printed newspaper before the internet era. It's overwhelming how awesome his photos are, and not just the fire ones either. One of my favorites was a seemingly simple photo he took of deer in Brewster in the late 80's or early 90's. Everything about the photo was perfect. He inspired a large part of my love of photography. I wish I had enough money to purchase the entire collection of his film and digitals from Gannett.
Just did a quick Google search, here's a sampling of some of his awesome photos that shows the talent, depth, and the diversity: CLICK HERE TO VIEW

Given Armonk is a relatively slow system, how experienced are WEMS EMT's as opposed to EMT's of Transcare and Empress? How was WEMS picked for this, and how does Armonk compensate them?
Does Armonk have a say in which WEMS EMT's will be assigned there?

Didn't County PD Marine 3 rescue the firefighter? If you listen to the dispatch audio, they found him clinging to a log.