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I rode the tailboard for many years until 1991 and though I will admit I miss that era and everything about it looking back it was dangerous and to hear there are some today still riding it like mentioned above is unbelievable that it still exists to some capacity

 
If you have lights "all over your personal vehicle"  you have already broken the law.

The new law has nothing to do pulling out of the way for volunteers that are responding to an emergency (that still remains a courtesy on part of other drivers).  The new addition to the "move-over" law is directed towards volunteers that are ON SCENE already attending to an emergency.  Essentially, the addition in the law adds that if you see blue or green flashing lights on the side of the road you must do your best to safely move away from them as you would for red and white or amber lights (as already existed in the law).
 
PLEASE DO NOT MISINTERPRET THIS CHANGE FOR RESPONDING TO EMERGENCIES.  Continue to drive safely, obey all vehicle traffic laws, and just be safe in general!

Are you some kind idiot? No one want to see someone lose their job.  If you are going to make stupid statements like that, please keep them to yourself. 

I appreciate your input, and you're right, I can make it work for a period of time. But my wife and I just bought a house and my second son is on the way. Saying the starting pay shouldn't be considered would just be irresponsible. I've heard that it may be possible to keep my current employment and be a fire fighter, which would solve the problem. If that is not possible then I need to know what long term pay is like. I can't keep my home on 38k. 
 
I will call Monday and try to get a answer on the pay scale. again, I appreciate you're comments. But telling me "you can make it work" without tell me for how long i'll have to "make it work" is not helpful. 

Here it was at the Yorktown Parade the other night:
 

 
 

it's a little thing called Mutual Aid if you're too far away with a ladder you call for another one

There are enough people who will complain about an engine being sent to an out of town event, even if it's not the first due piece and there's plenty of manpower left behind.   
 
I see your point, however, and it is a good one.  

 
I think that may be a cultural thing in the NY and New England area.  Down here there are a ton of two-hatters, and most stations welcome them in with open arms, because they value the different ideas and different experiences. More than 50% of our officers are career firefighters elsewhere.

Just got caught up on this show.........it's excellent. Very well done and does a great job of portraying EMS (as well as PD and Fire). The Medics showcased are excellent.
It airs every Thursday night at 10/9c and then again at 2AM, and this week is also repeating on Sunday with 3 episodes airing at 1PM.
You can also watch the latest episode online: http://www.aetv.com/nightwatch/video/the-darkest-shift-on-the-scariest-night?cmpid=Social_FBPAGE_Nightwatch_20150213_144233754&linkId=12342466
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Using pictures or videos as a recruitment campaign is perfectly acceptable. As in the above case it has worked. I would NOT consider that as a "Selfie".
 
 I would consider a "Selfie" of a firefighter posing as a more of "A Look at me kind of thing". Sort of like "yes, see I really am that hero that I wanted you to think I was".
 
I must be honest here, most firefighters who really are out there doing the job, don't need to show pictures of themselves in action. They are more concerned about doing the job and helping others than trying to impress everybody just how great they are. "Look at me, here I am - a real firefighter". To that I say; "lol".
 
Some of the most decorated firefighters out there do very little bragging about themselves. They don't pose for selfies. When you ask them about events which they really were a hero, they just write it off as being at the right place at just the right time.
 
When I look at some of these "selfies" out there involving firefighters, "I laugh". If only they knew how foolish they look in the eyes of other firefighters.
 
 Anybody got a few selfies they can share with us on here to appreciate.

 
Bad analogy.  The best analogy would be the volunteer EMT compared to the "career" "paid" EMT.  Both receive the same training and hold the same certification.  All security guards in NYS receive the same training and certification from NYS as do police officers but they are not the same.  That's unfortunately not the case with firefighter training in NYS!
 
 

This is pointless. As many have said there are those will hate volunteers just for existing. On the river we are cowboys. On land we are XXXL berr guzzling belly bumpers who ride parade wagons. To those who you firefighters out yhere who continue to do the right thing for the right reason regardless kf career or volunteer then God bless. To the volunteers who automatically disregard the opinions of a career guy simply because he is a career guy then you need help.. To the career guys who volunteer bash  regardless of the topic as evidenced by some in this thread then you too need help. Peace out EMT Bravo. 

Real firefighters involved in doing their job don't have time to take pictures of themselves. As the saying goes; "Don't brag about yourself, let others do it for you".

I do not know where to begin. I dont wear XXXL shirts but i might use that C note towards some new false teeth or a fresh new blue light. I dont drink but maybe you and I can belly bump at the FDIC when I go as a groupie. Seriously though do not ask me about my hero the PCFD chief. I dont know him nor do i care to. Its funny though how i never defended yet you assumed I did because we are both vollies. As much as i love to cruise on the parade wagon though i do have a 60 hour a week job and still make 100+ FD calls and  100+ training hours (not truck waxing or poker playing) and yet you and your brand of keyboard firefighters have problemsaccepting meand guys like me because im not in the union. And thank you to EMT Bravo for constantly reminding us volunteers we will never neasure up. That said I have to finish watching Chicago Fire on demand. Maybe someday I can be Kelly Severide right FDalumnus?  Belly bumps all around my brother

You know who else has rights too?  Employees, even non-union ones.
 
I agree that the whole story needs to be told.  I read an article that stated the department had 150 interior and 150 non-interior members, but it failed to mention what the average volunteer turnout is for calls.  That number is more important than the first two.
 
You don't have to like the "union rhetoric", but the reality is the public does have a higher risk now.  When you eliminate on-duty, in-station staffing, the dispatch to arrival on scene time increases by at least a few minutes on average.  Minutes matter when your house is on fire. 

Westchester County Volunteer Firemen's Convention
Hosted by Hastings-on-Hudson
Saturday, September 24 @ 1:30pm

Westchester County Volunteer Firemen's Convention
Hosted by Hastings-on-Hudson
Saturday, September 24 @ 1:30pm

Verplanck Parade-
Saturday, July 16 @1700

This gets old quick. Stop making others look bad to make yourself look good. I teach that to my 7 year old and she gets it. If you have a problem with layoffs and budget cuts take it up with City Hall. Your problem is with City Hall and not caused by the presence of Volunteers. The studies and scare tactics get old. GRKW UP.

Verplanck Parade-
Saturday, July 16 @1700

Based on a few previous post, it seems many New Yorkers are fully aware of the issue.
 
Here's how I found out.
 
Last year there were a group of guys, all good friends coming up to visit in the NYC area. The group was made up of active and retired firefighters, EMTs/Medics, military and buffs. We were all getting together in NYC for a couple of days and maybe visit at a few prearranged firehouses and other places where these guys might be interested in visiting. I thought "why not make a visit to the 9/11 Museum too". So I asked a few of the local NYC guys how they felt about it. I was very surprised to hear that "NOT ONE" had visited this museum themselves. Many of these guys were directly involved on that tragic day. Their efforts continued on for months after. They all paid a terrible price from that attack.
 
 When I heard that New Yorkers themselves had NOT visited this museum, including many first responders who worked months there trying to recover their lost friends, "how could I go there and bring a group of friends to view the history of this 9/11 Memorial". We would pay money to view what so many of our very good friends had lost. The answer was "NO...., we will NOT go". And in total agreement were every one of those who had planned to visit from as far away as Tennessee.
 
 To be honest, if there were ANY museum in this country that our group, including myself, wanted to see, it would be this 9/11 Memorial. As an outsider, I was not directly involved. But like most people in America, and the entire world, we all watched "live" on our TVs as these tragic events played out in front of us. Many of us lost good friends and family members lost them right in front of our own eyes.
 
  "I AM NOT ABOUT TO PAY TEN CENTS FOR ANYBODY TO MAKE BIG MONEY OFF THE LOSS OF SO MANY INNOCENT PEOPLE".
 
 Again I say, "the choice is yours". But "maybe that's why so many New Yorkers haven't been there".

I have never visited this and never will for a few reasons. First when they started selling tickets to walk down a sidewalk and look at a hole, I realized this was going to be more like Disney's 9/11/2001 experience than anything reverent or somber. Second when there was talk of making a statue of the now famous picture of the firefighters raising a flag, but first they had to change the faces to be more inclusive, I realized how many disgusting the agendas were. Then when there was talk of making the museum into the international Islamic friendship center or some other such crap design to promote the revisionist history that 19 guys randomly just all had the same terrible idea at the same time that had nothing to do with anything, that opinion was cemented. Then there was the debate over listing the names by affiliation or not, and almost independent of the opinions of NYPD and FDNY I thought that the approximately 700 workers for Cantor Fitzgerald should be allowed to be remembered next to their coworkers.
 
It just seemed to be that this whole project has been more about erasing memories than preserving them, and that is just plain wrong.

It has nothing to do with career volunteer or public safety. Its a case of someone in life with an ax th o grind. But on that note if was was a career officer who got caught on tape you would not have a line of volunteers calling for his firing. FACT. Not everythibg in the fire service has to do with career vs. volunteer. For all the keyboard firefighters and pot stirrers out there go get a job get a life or get a hobby. Its a big world out there.

A few things jump out from this to me, I am pretty sure that not everyone here will agree with my priorities here, time for a rant.
 
1) Brotherhood or lack there of - Who made this recording? Who on earth records their brother firefighters in a moment of what can only bee seen off the cuff and obviously intended as comedic banter? This alone would make me not want to join a department where you have to worry about your fellow members recording what you say. It is bad enough we have to worry about the public filming public safety but now you have to set rat traps in your own parlor. For a thread dedicated to bad relations to depend so much on a video obtained in what can only be bad faith is startling.
 
2) Timing - This is apparently a year old. So someone knew of supposed misconduct but decided to wait and see when it would be the most opportune time to use it. This makes whoever sat on this video nothing more than a co conspirator at best. Had the windows been broken at this firefighter's house how would the holder of the video that could have prevented a crime be thought of? I for one would not call them a hero for coming up with evidence, I would think them a fool for not alerting the authorities. This is nothing more than an opportunistic person who for whatever reason has decided to kiss up to one side in an unrelated debate. I see the sudden unveiling of this recording as highly questionable.
 
3) Characterization - I know that nobody here has ever told or hear an off color or even mean spirited joke in a fire house. I know that every station in the world other than PCFD is apparently a monastic home for innocent choir boys that have never uttered an unkind word against another member. However for a lawyer to characterize this as encouraging vandalism is playing on the public's ignorance. What I heard was someone saying that he hoped to respond to a certain house that night (far more troubling to me) and that if they did to break every window in the place (which I took as a remark on the ongoing fire service debate on ventilation) To break windows or not break windows is something that gets discussed over and over, even among the choirboys. However even when one firefighter/department/chief sees what they think as too much glass breaking I don't think it rises to the level of vandalism. Plus the qualification of tying this to an anticipated response tells me this is not a call to go out and commit a crime as the shady ambulance chaser thinks it is.
 
I am far more troubled by the idea that someone hopes to respond to another members home. This tells me that he wishes for a fire or other emergency to effect this member AND THEIR FAMILY. This is far worse than breaking a window or even all of them. As much as emergency services can sometimes be see as morbid in hoping for good calls, I don't think we should even entertain the concept of hoping for calls at other members homes. This is disgusting, but requires the baisc concept of brotherhood to be fully understood. This means that my opinion probably would not inflame the public enough to push an agenda.
 
4) Agendas - In the other thread about Port Chester it was asked why the volunteers were not standing up for their paid brothers. This lawyer is why! He says that this is why you can't have a volunteer chief. I don't get the connection. I have met idiots and [expletives] on both sides of the pay check. We are constantly told to see beyond the payroll and take each brother as an individual, so why is this not a case of investigating one person and finding out if they did something wrong? Why is this seen as an example of why no volunteer can ever possibly be chief? Because there is an agenda that comes from some (but not all) career staff that is guided by the overriding principle of getting rid of volunteers. I don't think there are conferences or pamphlets, I don't think any person or organization would be stupid enough to leave such a paper trail. Then again, it is apparently OK to secretly record your brothers, so maybe there is some grainy cellphone footage out there of a second gunman on the grassy knoll. This lawyer is certainly of the mind that PCFD not only needs career firefighters (which I don't think is up for debate) but apparently also needs a paid chief (which I think is absolutely debatable). This seems like a case of never letting a good scandal go to waste.
 
It seems to me that actions by all of those involved here, The person who wishes ill on another member and their family, the person who secretly records the goings on in a firehouse and then sits on the recording for a year, and the lawyer who is willing to make broad statements to push an agenda are all the reason we have the acronym BMA!