fdalumnus

New Haven has hired in excess of 125 firefighters over the past 3 years. Some were paramedics.
There are plans to put additional ALS Emergency Units in service. This prompted the Medic list to be created. All Medics are trained as Firefighters.
A condition of employment is to obtain med control and maintain it for 10 years. All EMTs must keep the card for their career.
Currently there are enough medics to allow rotation off the Units and on to fire companies but not enough to activate additional Units.
Assignments in New Haven are payroll positions. Your assignment is not a guarantee which rig you will be working on.
When I was a Captain in NHFD there were assigned drivers & tillermen. The others did a day & night tour on the pipe, day / night on the hydrant and day / night on the truck. And if a driver was off the back step firefighters rotated driving. This kept all skills fresh because if you were detailed to another station you could be filling any of those roles. But it is the Captains decision who rides where based on the needs of the Department.
As far as the pay goes, there are 4 pay grades. Recruit pay is low. You get a raise after 6 months then yearly until top step.
Once off probation you are can work overtime and get acting Medic pay when working in that capacity. Plus pay stipends.
 
I retired 4 years ago as a Batt. Chief with 33 years OTJ. So the info I post is accurate and not hearsay.

Here's the contract. http://www.greenwichct.org/upload/medialibrary/a43/Local_1042_IAFF_CBA_2012-2015.pdf
 
Can't say whether it's a "good department" as I have no first hand knowledge. But if you're testing every department is good. 

 

The misleading term is firefighter, because the public expects a firefighter. When your kid or parent is trapped inside and a bunch of people show up with turnout gear, they expect them to actually do something.
 
Recently, the Mayor of Port Chester claimed that the PCFD had 300 members, 150 interior. But we know that they only paid for 75 bailouts (required by NYS Law) but 16 were for the career FF's of both PCFD and RBFD. So they only have 59 at best. To many depts lie, even to themselves about the number of members.

Actually if I wanted to used a decisive term I would have used "Yard Breather" and I googled that and found a whole bunch of sites and definitions. Now these are members who are considered interior but never get inside because they use all their air walking back and forth outside.
 
if you watch all the videos on YouTube you can see that a vast majority of exterior personnel stand around waiting for the fire to go out.

 
 I must admit, it's pretty tough to argue that case clearly spelled out in black and white. So that is now well understood.
 
 So what do we tell the neighbors who see a fire truck show up as they scream; "There's somebody in that building". Do you tell them help is on the way ? The same one's that just applauded you as you marched by in the big parade. The same one's that were glad to buy you that nice big shiny fire truck you pull up in. The same one's who listened to your firefighter stories and could not believe how great you really are.
 
 Reminds me of a TRUE story I once heard. While attending a company picnic, one guy starts to talk about the big fire that he fought a few weeks earlier. Of course he apparently didn't know that another firefighter was sitting right there listening to the whole story as he was pounding down a couple of burgers. That other firefighter had not said one word about it, he just listened. The suddenly out of no where, one woman pops up with, "Oh Helen, isn't your husband a firefighter too" ?
 
 Well folks the secret was now out. As that hero firefighter asked "Well where are you a firefighter" ? I guess that other FF figured it was time to talk. he said I work at the firehouse right up the street from where that fire was. I was there and as I recall, you actually never went to that fire. "Didn't you just relocate with your company into the empty firehouse up the street" ? "In fact now that I think about it, when we got back, I actually remember seeing you there". "You really were never at that fire".
 
  You can just guess what it was like as his balloon just got a pin stuck into it.
 
  Motto of the Story. Just be careful what you say to people when it comes to you fighting fires. Make sure you tell them that you are "Exterior Qualified Only". You don't want anybody to get the wrong impression. Believe me, that was NOT the first time either.

Today , one day later after vote was taken and it went down 4 to 3 at last night's board meeting the mayor made a statement to news 12that he looked at the response times of the volunteers and it made him vote yes to bring back the career firefighters because the times were not adequate. Why didn't he make the statement at last night's meeting and it possibly might of changed another trustees mind maybe. Like I have been saying all along from the beginning it's all bull....

Has anyone thought that the the Village of Port Chester's  labor counsel Bond Schoeneck & King may have something to do with this. Terry O'Neil the attorney is also representing Garden City and Long Beach where they are also laying off firefighters  in combination departments.

This opens an entirely new chapter for the Port Chester Fire Department. 
 
Now it seems that some of the earlier negative comments made may appear to actually be true on that fire chiefs leadership qualities. 
 
Any members of that department that were aware of such behavior or conditions going on and failed to act, in my eyes are guilty as well.
 
This is now an embarrassment to the entire department. It appears their leader has let them all down.  I feel sorry for those that had no idea of any of this kind of activity going on and were only there to help the citizens of their community. 
 
The Port Chester Fire Department now has a stigma attached to its name. There apparently id no way that the fire chief can continue in his position. For any new chief coming in, you have inherited a hornets nest. 
 
With the right leadership things can and will improve. But it will take time. 
 
I will hope that this thought is kept in mind. "Don't blame a whole group of people for the actions of a few". For those of us on the outside looking in, we need to try and remember that.

When it is out of town, it's almost as available the rest of the week when sadly in many departments, their are no members available to respond or as is the policy in many depts, the engine goes first, so by the time the ladder arrives, it is blocked out by hose. 

Your district/city/village decided that it was of the utmost importance for life safety to purchase that apparatus, what ever type it is, using taxpayer money. 
 
To remove it from service to show it off places everyone at risk. 
 
To those who say "that's what mutual aid is for," if that's your excuse, why not just rely on it all the time and use them instead of purchasing your own equipment. If you can justify the extra response time a couple times a year, other than mechanical or maintenance reasons, how can you effectively justify your need for your own apparatus all the time? 

In the city I have been referring to in my earlier post, there had been serious talks of eliminating 16 firefighter positions from a 60 man dept. This was sparked by one or two city council members who were endorsed by some members of the five local volunteer fire departments. All within the same town of that one career department. Also strongly endorsing this cutback was a full time career union firefighter from another nearby city.
 
The final budget meeting was held last Monday evening June 6th. During the meeting the Mayor spoke ; "this is ONE City, not two and should not be divided". Apparently referring to the One Career Fire Department, separated by the Five Volunteer Depts within the same town.
 
A council member agreed that the city is "horribly divided over this fire tax issue". She said; "If we continue down this road we are going to destroy ourselves". You may remember I had mentioned earlier how the local Volunteer Fire Departments refused to call for that career dept and instead called other volunteer departments farther away and even outside this city's limits.
 
 In addition, many of the residents who reside in this area protected by those career firefighters, spoke clearly against a divided city when it comes to its fire protection.
 
The plan to eliminate those 16 career firefighter positions by some council members was to eliminate one battalion chiefs position, a fourth firefighters position for an engine company in a more congested area, and the closing of an additional engine company. The 16 positions broke down as follows. Four positions that needed to be filled, plus the closing of a three man engine company. I must give credit to the Chief of that career department. He sure did a GREAT Job presenting his facts at that earlier budget hearing. Thankfully, he was very well prepared with details to present his case and defend his budget. He was recruited from outside the state to become Chief of Department about 10 years ago. Over the last ten years he has worked very hard to try and improve the relations between the career and volunteer departments. After seeing little improvements made, I met with this career chief as a retired firefighter and resident regarding the very serious incidents that had occurred. I told him it was time to do something about it and I was going to the newspaper with my documented stories. Stories that put civilians, as well as firefighters, (both career and volunteer) at risk. In addition, in some of these cases perhaps more damage resulted as well due to much longer response times.
 
Today I am happy to report that NO career firefighters will loose their jobs. Thankfully to a Chief of Department who prepared himself very well. But no thanks to a few city politicians looking to advance their own political future and a group of frustrated volunteer firefighters who would rather see these guys loose their jobs. Thankfully, these volunteer firefighters do NOT represent ALL volunteer firefighters.
 
 The one outside career firefighter who was pushing for the elimination of those firefighters, is also a volunteer firefighter in one of those local five volunteer departments. The only person he really hurt was himself by putting himself in the middle. Now he has lost the trust of TWO departments. The one where he works and the one he tried to push for the elimination of those 16 firefighters. No doubt, his behavior will live with him for a very long time.

 
Thank you very much "Bnechis" for that information. I certainly appreciate that.
 
Thank you also to the IAFF for their donations to each of these firefighters. I am very happy to see that the Brotherhood is still alive and well.
 
As many here do, I also hope for a positive resolution to end this nightmare that these guys have been put through, as well as bring those firefighters back for the safety of all involved. 

It was tabled for two weeks. With agreement from the union. Time needed to resolve a number of financial and legal issues. 
 
The IAFF gave $1,000 to each of the 8 members to help them over the next 2 weeks.

When those soldiers who are standing fast are called to service they will be capable of shooting the enemy because they're all fully trained and qualified.  When these so called "fully trained exterior firefighters are called to push into a dwelling fire, he or she cannot.

 
 
I know the answer to this one Willy!  When you don't have enough actual Firefighters, you can still hit it hard from the yard!

If your going to seriously compare numbers, most of the American population lives in urban areas and larger towns served by career or combo departments. Also, I would be willing to bet my next 5 pay checks on it that there are significantly more career firefighters than volunteer. Let me explain that one. You cannot say that a volunteer department in a small town that has 200 members in it, has 200 fire fighters. Stop the interior/exterior nonsense. No career department has an "exterior" FF. If you take the number of volunteer interior FFs and compare it to career, I think you'd be surprised. These towns should come out with the real number of people in their department who can pull you out of your house when it's on fire instead of saying they have hundreds of members "serving" their community . 
I have been an active volunteer FF for a couple of hours now, and a career firefighter for a few minutes. The biggest thing I have noticed is the hate of the volunteer FFs (who work somewhere else like say, FDNY) by Volunteer FFs. That's more of an issue than Union staff VS volunteers. Most likely, sorry but gonna say it, fuled by some level of jealousy . They can be their own worst enemy. 
 
Enjoy your day.
TYFYS

 
I think you and AFS1970 may be missing the point.  
 
I'm not questioning the value or appropriateness of having/using members in a VFD who are not interior qualified for whatever reason.
 
The description used was "fully qualified, completely trained and certified firefighters" which to me would describe members who are interior qualified and exclude members who previously were, but are not currently able to operate interior whether due to age, physical limitation, having a beard or whatever (i.e. not qualified).
 
I was commenting on the thought process that results in a (former) chief officer describing 9 members of the department who are not interior qualified as being fully qualified, completely trained and certified firefighters.
 
I would think that using "fully qualified" to describe a firefighter would imply the ability to perform a vital, core component of the position, like interior operations.
 
Like I asked, when did interior operations become a bonus skill set for firefighters rather than the standard?

Monday night we will all be watching. 
 
Will these firefighters be hired back ?
 
Will the volunteer firefighters be working with or against those firefighters ?
 
Will there be any legal action taken by those eight career firefighters by their hired attorney ? 
 
Will that attorney request for back pay and benefits as well ?
 
Will those three Fire Chiefs and/or Board Members be there to defend the decision they made ?
 
Who made and how will the statements  to damage a firefighters home play out in this decision ?
 
I guess in just a matter of hours from now, we will all find out.
 
Personally I hope for a positive outcome for those eight firefighters. I also hope for a positive and improving relationship between career and volunteer firefighters in Port Chester, NY. 

So then let's call it what it really is...
 
you ou have Firefighters and you have Firefighter Helpers.
 
i see too many departments that claim how many members they have, but they won't admit to themselves or the public they are sworn to protect when they do not have enough interior "firefighters" to actually do a search or make a real attack.

 
 
I had to read this a few times. Thought it may be an April Fool's joke, but I realized that was what, eight weeks ago ?
 
Regarding soap boxes, you see an adversary, I see an individual exercising the right to free speech.
 
Taxpayers do have rights, most importantly the right to hear the truth about any manner. Tax savings ? A double edged sword. When was the last time (especially) in Westchester you saw a piece of fire apparatus that wasn't considered a "parade wagon," with all the bells and whistles, often duplicating what already exists in their own dept.
 
Back to the facts. Depts with career staff on duty 24/7/365 have a faster response time than those that don't.  In no way is this the fault of an all volunteer dept., Its just the way it is.
 
I got a job (now retired) and had and still have a life, one beyond my wildest drams, all because of my career as a firefighter. A career I attained by taking a written test with 4,000 to 5,000 other people, then scoring high enough to be in the roughly top 125 who were actually hired. The career academy. which wasn't a "show up and you pass" type of deal. Then 22 years putting up with, for the most part, know it all chiefs, AKA better known as the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. 
 
The situation in Port Chester has nothing to do with tax savings. Nothing. The facts truly spell that out. It's all about jealousy, ego, and, pure lunacy, all on the part of the chiefs of that dept. 

Learn the facts, the chiefs had a great deal in what happened. It wasn't the so called board. The chiefs of this dept. Are career firefighter haters.when a village board suggests that they are gonna cut the firefighter jobs, and the fire chiefs do not go out against eliminating the 1st due guaranted engine of their dept. , come on just think about it, It Stinks.... They all had a hand in this travesty.. But the only thing I can say is the career firefighters turned in  4300 signatures to the village to force a referendum , let the citizens decide and the board and the chiefs can shove it where the sun doesn't shine.....

Alan, good points.
 
And, as my late father once told one of his ass-kissing subordinates; "Nobody likes a rat." I also don't like that it took so long for this incident to be brought to the forefront. However, it shows a true lack of professionalism and decency on the part of the chief. Unfortunately, times have changed (not always for the better) and standards of conduct are always open to (intense at times) scrutiny. 
 
As Warner Wolf used to say, "Lets go to the videotape." By today's standards, he's guilty of conduct unbecoming a (fill in the blanks). His credibility, questionable from the outset, is at an all time low. Not someone I'd want, or trust, having my back at an emergency, or in the company rooms. 

 
 
 As I read this story, ONCE AGAIN, the innocent people suffer through no fault of their own. Poor fire department leadership is again demonstrated as the cause.
 
Unless the fire service picks leaders who are not involved in protecting their own self image, and care more about the people they are assigned to protect, this kind of story will be repeated over again.
 
Question now is;  "who will be next" ?

It's not that the Chiefs "Did not save the jobs". It's that when the mayor said: "before we proceed with the budget amendments, is the fire chief ok with these changes?" Once the chief said yes, they moved forward with the budget change. 
 
They never said the words: "layoffs, fire department, career firefighters, etc. so they had already planned this out, because they were afraid to even mention it in front of the public. We all understand that at times the chief has to live with what's been given to them. But to not complain at all? Not to fight for your department? Not to simply agree that this is completely acceptable. Particularly when their has been a running battle for years.