calhobs

Do you have minimal standard lighting on your vessel, or do you have extra lighting all around it, does your neighbors who dock there boat next to you all have extra lighting above the standard. The problem is there too many people who will not take responsibility for there actions. Too many people are saying the barge needs more lighting. Not implying anyone here has said that, but I don hear many people saying the dude was drunk and should of never been on the water. What the real shame is that some drunk killed a bride to be, and the best man. and chances are he will get a slap on the hand for this. The shame is that he will walk away with minimal time if any at all. The shame is that having a boating license or a drivers license is almost basically like having a license to kill.
You opened it to this discussion when you posted your PS in your first post.

Do you have minimal standard lighting on your vessel, or do you have extra lighting all around it, does your neighbors who dock there boat next to you all have extra lighting above the standard. The problem is there too many people who will not take responsibility for there actions. Too many people are saying the barge needs more lighting. Not implying anyone here has said that, but I don hear many people saying the dude was drunk and should of never been on the water. What the real shame is that some drunk killed a bride to be, and the best man. and chances are he will get a slap on the hand for this. The shame is that he will walk away with minimal time if any at all. The shame is that having a boating license or a drivers license is almost basically like having a license to kill.
You opened it to this discussion when you posted your PS in your first post.

Lets face it calhobs, the real shame in todays world where drunk driving and efforts to prevent it are prevalent is the fact that the others got on the boat with the drunk guy or didnt try and stop him. They all got on that boat, driver included, knowing they were all drinking. It was dangerous, stupid, assinine, and in todays world should never happen after all of the publicity with drunk drivers killing people, drunk teens killing each other in high speed accidents and all the grief that goes with it.
How many times will we have to lose loved ones to drunken driving accidents before we all grow up? Yes it was sad, yes it should have never happened, but I have no further pity for any ahole that gets behind the wheel drunk or any of his dumb friends that get in with them without stoping them or even thinking its dangerous to do so...
Its my life, if I see someone drunk I would rather punch them in the face and grab their keys and have them pissed off at me for a while before I let them get behind the wheel, and if I cant prevent that I will keep everyone else from getting in with them.

I find it interesting how many people are blaming the barge in this incident, but yet those people do not seem to understand that the operator of the speed boat was drunk. They went to the restaurant were the bartender said it appeared that they were drinking before they got there, proceeded to have more drinks, then left on their boat and headed for Tarrytown most likely to drink some more.
Meanwhile people say the lights on the barge are not bright enough, but yet I can seem them from Sleepy Hollow, and other people say they can see them from Piermont. Lets place blame were it belongs, To the Operator who was drunk piloting a speed boat at night, not the barge which was just sitting there being a barge lighted to US Coast Guard Standards. The construction company stated they will put more lights on the barges now, hmmm wonder how many people will complain now that it is too bright, and bring law suits for that.

I find it interesting how many people are blaming the barge in this incident, but yet those people do not seem to understand that the operator of the speed boat was drunk. They went to the restaurant were the bartender said it appeared that they were drinking before they got there, proceeded to have more drinks, then left on their boat and headed for Tarrytown most likely to drink some more.
Meanwhile people say the lights on the barge are not bright enough, but yet I can seem them from Sleepy Hollow, and other people say they can see them from Piermont. Lets place blame were it belongs, To the Operator who was drunk piloting a speed boat at night, not the barge which was just sitting there being a barge lighted to US Coast Guard Standards. The construction company stated they will put more lights on the barges now, hmmm wonder how many people will complain now that it is too bright, and bring law suits for that.

I find it interesting how many people are blaming the barge in this incident, but yet those people do not seem to understand that the operator of the speed boat was drunk. They went to the restaurant were the bartender said it appeared that they were drinking before they got there, proceeded to have more drinks, then left on their boat and headed for Tarrytown most likely to drink some more.
Meanwhile people say the lights on the barge are not bright enough, but yet I can seem them from Sleepy Hollow, and other people say they can see them from Piermont. Lets place blame were it belongs, To the Operator who was drunk piloting a speed boat at night, not the barge which was just sitting there being a barge lighted to US Coast Guard Standards. The construction company stated they will put more lights on the barges now, hmmm wonder how many people will complain now that it is too bright, and bring law suits for that.

I find it interesting how many people are blaming the barge in this incident, but yet those people do not seem to understand that the operator of the speed boat was drunk. They went to the restaurant were the bartender said it appeared that they were drinking before they got there, proceeded to have more drinks, then left on their boat and headed for Tarrytown most likely to drink some more.
Meanwhile people say the lights on the barge are not bright enough, but yet I can seem them from Sleepy Hollow, and other people say they can see them from Piermont. Lets place blame were it belongs, To the Operator who was drunk piloting a speed boat at night, not the barge which was just sitting there being a barge lighted to US Coast Guard Standards. The construction company stated they will put more lights on the barges now, hmmm wonder how many people will complain now that it is too bright, and bring law suits for that.

I find it interesting how many people are blaming the barge in this incident, but yet those people do not seem to understand that the operator of the speed boat was drunk. They went to the restaurant were the bartender said it appeared that they were drinking before they got there, proceeded to have more drinks, then left on their boat and headed for Tarrytown most likely to drink some more.
Meanwhile people say the lights on the barge are not bright enough, but yet I can seem them from Sleepy Hollow, and other people say they can see them from Piermont. Lets place blame were it belongs, To the Operator who was drunk piloting a speed boat at night, not the barge which was just sitting there being a barge lighted to US Coast Guard Standards. The construction company stated they will put more lights on the barges now, hmmm wonder how many people will complain now that it is too bright, and bring law suits for that.

while that sounds very noble, we all need to pay our bills. As was told to me more that once by a 20 yr vet from DFD, who has been forced down in rank twice, "I have been to all the fires I need to see, when will somebody show me some money for what we do " They haven't had a raise in about 10 yrs and have taken a 10% pay cut along the way. They are in a real bad place right now, and it isn't like you can just go anywhere to start over. Not a lot of FD hiring right now. I see it coming to a city, town, village near you very soon.
2 yrs ago they came to NY, got demoted, Last year got demoted again, this year maybe loose their pension. I think they may stop coming to ny.

This may be off topic a bit, but about a year ago I was on 684 south bound, when i was cut off by a drunk driver. I called 911 and spoke to NYSP dispatcher. Who asked me if I could follow the driver at a safe distence but also not chase the car down. I followed the car giving info of what he was doing and location every so often when asked. I also heard in the back ground the dispatcher talking to a Trooper giving the info. after a few minutes of this I heard in the back ground the Trooper state he was in the the area. The dispatcher asked me what lane was I in and to put my flashers on, also to tell him how far the car was in front of me. I passed that info on and within 30 seconds the trooper flew past and nailed him.
So my question is did the Dispatcher have the authority to ask me to do this, what happend if I crashed while doing this. I know I could of said no. For what ever reason I didnt.

Quick thought experiment:
I randomly walk up to on the street and start following and start a fight (note: I make sure I tuck my gun in my waistband before I approach you).
You, being randomly attack on the street, start to fight back and you know what you are bigger and stronger than I am thus you are able to pin me on the ground.
I, seeing that I am losing the fight, the fight I started, pull my gun and shoot you in the chest.
Did I shoot you in self defense (you were kicking my ass), or did I commit murder (I started the fight)?
Granted my thought experiment is most likely not what happened (only GM knows) but it is certainly highlights the idea that provoking the fight does not necessarily mean that you get to shoot someone in the chest after they attack you.

The calls are never late at HPN. The Class D airspace around HPN is small, and therefore aircraft don't generally talk to the tower until they are within 10 nautical miles of the field. By the time the pilot declares and emergency and the tower relays it to us, we now have 3 minutes to respond and call 60 Control. Once the tones are done and the first few rigs are enroute the aircraft is usually on the ground safely (mind you, the approach speed of jets is 140mph, and larger prop aircraft at 80mph). An entire incident can unfold and wrap up within minutes. And, trust me, I hear everything on OPS 5 from the driver seat of ARPT 11, and I feel better when I hear the cavalry calling enroute knowing that you're all just a few minutes away.
But, getting back to the main discussion....
Bnechis hit the nail on the head. This is what airport personnel strive for when emergencies are going to [possibly] happen. When an aircraft is in distress we always want everyone staged and ready to go for the "what if" moment. But, then again, no one can predict when or what is going to happen. If someone knew before hand that Asiana 214 was slam into the seawall, then 100 ambulances and 50 fire trucks would have been staged and ready on the adjoining taxiway. Did you know that the Cessna 206 was going to crash and burn behind MBIA 2 years ago? Did you know the Piper was going to run out of fuel and crash-land in a parking lot on Industrial Drive? It's like predicting when a car accident is going to happen, or when the next working structure fire is going to be. The only thing we can do is train for the worst and hope for the best.

That is one ugly building. The stapler analogy is spot on.

Congrats to all the Police graduates who graduated from the academy on Friday! Be safe out there guys!!!

I really like it! Although I will still miss the "old" look.
From NBC News.com
Read More: http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/travelkit/american-airlines-unveils-new-look-1B8020898#/travel/travelkit/
From press release photo on AA.com (permission to repost stated in press release)

http://crimevoice.com/suspect-arrested-in-home-invasion-shooting-20538/
http://www.news10.net/news/article/222195/2/1-dead-in-Sacramento-home-invasion
http://www.examiner.com/article/armed-homeowner-shoots-intruders-while-children-have-sleepover
Despite being wounded himself, the homeowner maintained his composure and control of his weapon wounding all three of the suspects, one fatally.
I don't know why they targeted this house full of kids at the time but I'm glad the homeowner was able to defend them.

In a related story yesterday, Barack Obama signed an executive order raising the pay of Joe Biden, Members of Congress & all federal workers -- costing taxpayers $11 billion over the next 10 years.
The VP and Congress should get merit based pay (meaning they owe us).There are hard working federal employees who deserve raises, particularly if those federal workers include members of the armed forces.

Says Job of Destroying U.S. Economy Now in Congress’s Hands
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—The international terror group known as Al Qaeda announced its dissolution today, saying that “our mission of destroying the American economy is now in the capable hands of the U.S. Congress.”
In an official statement published on the group’s website, the current leader of Al Qaeda said that Congress’s conduct during the so-called “fiscal-cliff” showdown convinced the terrorists that they had been outdone.
“We’ve been working overtime trying to come up with ways to terrorize the American people and wreck their economy,” said the statement from Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. “But even we couldn’t come up with something like this.”


Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2012/12/al-qaeda-disbands-says-job-of-destroying-us-economy-now-in-congress-hands.html#ixzz2GUavavNy

John - I re-read this whole thread, including my own comments, and I want to clarify - I was not bashing the YFD or it's men..although reading my posts it would seem otherwise. Not my intention.
I have always had the greatest respect and ADMIRATION for the YFD, as many know..I have seen some of the ballsiest firefighting, and most compansionate caregiving from your members duiring my tenure at Empress..I would love to one day go back, but as you posted, so many of us move on...But the YFD is nothing but professional. The first responder program has saved countless lives, no doubt, and I hope it does not go away...the residents of Yonkers are blessed to have it. I always enjoyed calls i would do where Roone, or Eddie R., or so many others were on scene, because I LEARNED from them.
I have an in-law who is retired from your job, and I love BS'ing with him about the 80's and 90's in Yonkers, even if I cant understand his hispanic accent when we have a few cold ones and he really gets going..LOL
Thanks for taking the time and energy to post the information you did - I know there are things you would rather be doing, but it shows your pride in your men, and the JOB.
Merry Christmas to you and the entire YFD...stay safe.

Part 3.
Disclaimer- my apologies for spelling and grammatical errors in previous and future posts- there is a lot to cover here and I don't have time or emergy to dot the i's and cross the t's- I hope I am making some sense to most of you nonetheless.
Here we go...I agree with the poster who stated that Empress is "clinically progressive" and who espoused the value of Empress' EMD pre-arrival instructions. However, I should point out that the "Haz-Mat Special Ops support to YFD" provided by Empress is done with equipment purchased with federal grant money (UASI and MMRS), and training conducted by YFD. The nature of this support is generally to provide a secondary technical decon only.
One point that was made by a brother YFD member, above, should be emphasized. Empress has so very many dedicated and professional members. However, the majority of these individuals do not spend the majority of their working lives in EMS, and particularly not with Empress, although some do. Many Empress employees move on to Fire or Police Department careers, elsewhere in emergency medicine, or on to other careers altogether. The Empress work force is nowhere as stable as YFD. This is just reality and I believe is pertinent. I won't give my opinion regarding the effect of a stable vs. a more transient workforce because it is just that, my opinion, and we all know what those are worth. However, these facts should be provided so that all of the stakeholders (particularly city residents) might be able to deternine relevance.

Part 2- Now, to some of the misinformation that has been posted on this site in regard to the YFD First Responder Program.
Misinformation response # 1. This work constitutes a large majority of our responses, or our overall work. This is not accurate. First Responder runs account for approximately 55 % of our incidents. However, each of these incidents requires the response of only one Engine Company, and the Engine Company is generally back in service in 20 minutes or less, sometimes longer of course. Obviously to anyone familiar with the Fire Service, the typical incident any Fire Department responds to (the other approximately 45% ) involves many more apparatus and personnel for significantly longer periods of time. A First Responder run with utilizing one apparatue and 4 Firefighters for 15 minutes is one incident. A 3 Alarm Fire utilizing 14 apparatus, other vehicles, and a total of 63 or so Firefighters for six or seven hours is also one incident, kapeesh?? Furthermore, the "workload" of a Fire Department is not only responses, but also the necessary training, inspections, cleaning, maintenance of vehicles, equipment, etc.
Misinformation response # 1a. Therefore, although the rumored elimination of the First Responder Program may (not my area of expertise) allow certain contractual minimum personnel levels to no longer be adhered to, it will not obviate the necessity to have adequate Fire Companies and personnel available for Firefighting and other emergencies. Sure, no FD is as busy as twenty years ago with fire duty, and certainly not as busy as 30 or 40 years ago. Nonetheless, fires do still occur, and adequate personnel and equipment is necessary for this. There is a very valid reason that similar sized city FD's all over the U.S., and in fact the industrialized world conduct First Responder Programs- the very nature of a Fire Department requires Firefighters and their equipment to be readily available for guess what, fires! However, this ready availability of individuals who are trained to handle emergencies and have apparatus to quickly respond allows city sized Fire Departments to have personnel available to supplement the primary EMS response with First Response capability. This supplementation is able to be done by Firefighters who, for the most part, will need to be there, available, anyway! The Firefighters do not get tied up with transport (generally), transfer to the medical facility, PCR's, cleaning the ambulance, etc. So, they are able to go right back into service as soon as the patient has been placed in the ambulance, or in many cases, sooner, right?
Misinformation response # 2. Oh, here's an easy one- we have 4 Firefighters per apparatus (3 Firefighters and a Company Officer), not 5. That is the manning we have had per apparatus for over 30 years. It's hard to understand how any individual who would purport to understand the situation in Yonkers could state that this is all about reducing manning from 5 to 4 per apparatus, or words to that effect.
Misinformation response # 3. The majority of these runs are nuisance runs. Well, that depends on what you consider a nusiance run. The fact is that if we know in advance the situation is not a true medical emergency, then neither the Fire Department nor the emergency ambulance service shoud respond, right? The problem, which has been studied at the highest levels for many years, is how to deduce from the initial phone call what is and what isn't a "nuisance call"..I don't know how to quantify how many of these runs that YFD (and Empress) responds to are not true medical emergencies, but admittedly the number is significant, as it is in EMS systems almost everywhere. No one wants to respond on any type of alarm where we are not needed, and as soon as someone can find out how to deduce true emergency from nuisance run every time, please let us know!
END OF PART 2 TO BE CONTINUED

Great post my Brother, whoever you are, lol- please let me know your identity if you don't mind. Thanks to you and Capt. Smith for the informative posts and to all of our members for not discrediting ourselves or our department by engaging in name calling and nasty, unprofessional language. Of course I would never expect our guys to sink to the level that some others on this thread have sunk to, but thanks nonetheless...
I will add a bit from my perspective- please bear with me as I am exhausted and pressed for time do I will bang this out quickly and it may be a bit rough around the edges....
I am nearing the end of my career, and frankly, I don't really think I will be personally affected if in fact the YFD First Responder Program did end, although I sincerely doubt that will happen for long, if at all, and I will explain why below. In fact, I certainly have more to lose by posting on this topic rather than remaining silent as this will likely piss some people off...oh well...
I have been a member of YFD for almost 25 years, since before we had a First Responder Program. As a very junior Firefighter I was a member of the committee which some at the time said "ruined the job" by convincing first, Local 628, and later, with the backing of L-628, helped to convince the City Fathers that this program was a good idea. The union did not come up with the idea of this program or push for it at first. You see, years ago, YFD only responded on medical runs when there was a confirmed cardiac arrest and Empress Ambulance either was not available at all, or did not have enough personnel available to perform good CPR. We responded on those fairly often. We had only very basic first aid training and CPR. There were numerous times when we performed CPR for very long periods of time before the arrival of the ambulance. Sometimes a Paramedic fly car would arrive and we would wait, and wait....sometimes not even the fly car. The Empress employees were almost always professional, dedicated, and we had a great working relationship. It sure wasn't their fault that the number of ambulances available didn't meet the need at that moment. One day, at Engine 306 where I worked, a family ran in with a baby in respiratory distress who had actually turned blue. A senior man /EMT opened the airway and started Oxygen. The baby wound up being ok. The family was irate that they had called over 20 minutes before and we had not responded (we checked the times and this was accurate). We explained that FD did not get sent to these type of calls unless it was a cardiac arrest and Empress requested us. It was very upsetting to me/us to know that people who we were sworn to protect, particularly children, could be having a life threatening medical emergency that we would be able to assist with, yet we would not be called.
I really never wanted to do emergency medical work back then- I thought of myself as a Firefighter and my idea of a Firefighter was different than what it is today. Nonetheless, because of situations such as I have described above, I agreed with some other Firefighters who advocated for us to go on these runs more regularly as was being done in other parts of the country, and seemingly very successfully. It took a couple of years, but eventually the program began. At the time, approximately 22 years ago, it is my understanding that Empress was charging the City of Yonkers a flat 1 Million per year for their services plus the ability to recoup from billing. Almost as soon as we began the First Responder Program that ccontract was re-negotiated and Empress then waived this 1 Million dollar fee. Also, there was no minimum number of ambulances that were required to be dedicated to City of Yonkers- almost as soon as YFD began going on these runs,it was noticed how very bad Empress' response times were- not due to any fault of the overworked Empress EMT's and Medics, but again, because of a lack of appropriate resources. So, very shortly because of YFD complaints, Empress agreed to keep a minimum number of ALS and BLS units in the city and this was put into their contract. I also think that it was at this time that a certain maximum average response time for Empress BLS and ALS units was placed into Empress' contract which improved things dramatically. I guess if prior to YFD involvement no one was really paying attention to ressponse times, why bother having a lot of ambulances available- the number of billable patients was not dependent on response time- they would all wait as long as it took for the ambulance so why incur the expense if no one was complaining, right?
Admittedly, I haven't gone on a First Responder rum for almost 7 years now, but I did respond on very many over the years. Almost always, I found Empress employees to be fantastic and I thought we had a great working relationship, even if there was a bit of uncomfortability at times- egos and jealousy and just basic human misunderstanding on both sides creeps in of course, however in my opinion we were mostly all regular working people who enjoyed the adrenaline rush and especially, helping people. During the approximately 15 years that I went on First Responder runs with YFD there were very many times that we arrived significantly before Empress ambulance. The large majority of time we arrived at least a couple of minutes before Empress, and often, especially when I worked on the East side of Yonkers, more than 10 minutes prior to Empress. As Captain Smith was, I was involved in 2 successful childbirths (the Moms did basically all of the work of course but they were sure glad that we were there nonetheless) before Empress arrived (not the same ones), and I and my crew initiated CPR COUNTLESS TIMES before Empress' arrival. END OF PART 1 TO BE CONTINUED

Believe it or not, what makes this country so great is the fact that everybody's beliefs and public assemblies, as righteous or as disgusting as they may be, are Constiutionally protected.
While I think that Westboro has some of the most hideous, disgusting beliefs out there, the mere fact that the Constitution allows for their existence, means that you, me, and everyone else here has the same right. So why spend all the time, effort, and money on a court case (because you know that's what will happen) to have them branded as a hate group? Instead, we as a community should come together, using the same Constituionally-protected rights, and block their protest. Let's get all of our engines, ladders, ambulances, police cars, and everything else together, make a ring around the cemetaries and churches, and keep them out as a community. It will not be a court victory; rather, it will be a symbolic victory that will speak many more volumes than something that cannot be settled in the judiciary.

The Chief of Sandy Hook VFD has gone on the CT Fire forum and said that if they require assistance dealing with these people, they will put the word out at the appropriate time. You can be damned sure if that call comes in there will be quite a response from CTs first responders.

I'd also like to recognize the Connecticut State Police again. Since this tragedy, CSP has had Troopers detailed 24/7 as Liaisons to each individual family who has lost a loved one, helping protect them from the vultures in the media and helping out in any other way they can. These men and women are amazing, truly CT's finest.

Holy Hot Dang that's a sweet truck!!!