SteveOFD

A FD Chief on scene of a vehicle into a utility pole notified 60 Control that the pole number was 13KV.

This post has not been edited by SteveOFD: Today, 8:44PM

Steve, you wouldnt have a pic of the old Harmon firehouse would you?

I'm gonna run all the info by him and see if it stirs his memory.

Thanks for your help!

Izzy

Joe,

Here is a link to alot of Croton FD pictures. Here is a picture of my first Company (Harmon Engine Co. #3) and it's old House. This view shows Harmon Engine's Bay with Croton Fire Patrol's Bay along the left side of the building. This is a view Fire Patrol's Bay. So, to clarify any questions Harmon Engine was located on Benedict Boulevard, while Fire Patrol was located on Wayne Street.

Hope this helps.

Croton on Hudson's Harmon Engine had a 1974 WardLaFrance, lime yellow with a white cab top. After it was retired they got an American LaFrance. Their station is in a residential area. The house looked like a single company house, but around the side of the house was Fire Patrol's Quarters. One of the CFD's other Company's (Washington Engine) did have a Mack CF.

Here is a link to Harmon Engine's 1974 Ward LaFrance.

From The Journal New legal section November 9, 2011: "VERPLANCK FIRE DISTRICT...BOARD RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE SALE OF A 2002 EMERGENCY ONE BRONTO SKYLIFT AERIAL TRUCK PLATFORM QUINT FIRE TRUCK WITH 2000 GPM PUMP, AS SURPLUS FOR A SUM IN EXCESS OF FIFTY THOUSAND AND 00/100 ($50,000) DOLLARS". This is to be voted on at the annual District Elections December 13, 2011 by the residnts of the District.

Anyone with more info on this?

NFPA 1901 - Standard for Fire Apparatus, obviously applies only to Fire Apparatus. This is the standard that recommends (not mandates unless adapted as law) the chevrons on the rear of Fire Apparatus.

Battenburg markings use similar color scheme requirements that are used in the United Kingdom, and some other Countries. I have seen some Ambulances with these markings around the Hartford, CT area.

Steve as far as BBP goes..he was very non descript in what you quoted. However I would make the argument it is required because the potential is there if you respond to motor vehicle accidents, technical rescue scenarios or any other trauma based response being EMS or not.

I agree, better to be safe than sorry.

As some of you know, I work full time as a safety professional. So I deal with this subject all the time.

The annual safety training is as follows and I will tell you who requires it:

...

Quarterly Fire Brigade training (on any topic related to firefighting) (This is where the 100/8 hr part comes in; those numbers came from PESH)

...

Bloodborne Pathogens (OSHA/PESH)

T.B. (PESH)

Now the 100/8 hr annual training was never meant to be a class taken at once. That is the annual training under the fire brigade standard, which includes all types of training. So when you really think about it, no matter if you are career or volunteer even 100 hours is not going to cut it.

...

Now the 8 hour "safety training". As I said before that 8 hour class came out of the fire brigade standard, as an annual training requirement for volunteers.

This class as described below:

General Hazard Recognition

Station Safety

Response Safety

Scene Safety

PPE

SCBA

Tools & Equipment

New Developments

Came from the NY State Fire Chiefs Association from a class they provide to help the volunteers meet the 8 hour and the annual safety (refresher) training requirements. As I said before the 100/8 hour was never meant to be a one class thing. However, this format, if you can get in all the required annual safety training will work. Best part is that the paperwork is easy to come up with. You just need to make sure you cover everything.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

FYI,

Just to expand on the comments above regarding the "OSHA 8 hour" requirement. I provided my contact at NYS PESH (a Senior Safety & Health Inspector) the information above regarding the class designed by the NY State Fire Chiefs Assoiciation along with it's content. He stated that he had always wondered where the "OSHA 8 hour" rule had come from, so it appears it is not a PESH rule/regulation.

I also asked about Bloodbourne Pathogen and Tuberculosis training for FF's, he stated "all employees with the potential to be exposed to blood or Other Potentially Infectious Materials (bodily fluids, etc) must receive annual Exposure Control training based on the Department's written BBP Exposure Control plan (all required under 29 CFR 1910.1030)." So, PESH does not specifically require this for FF's. Not that this training is not a bad thing (my commentary). As per TB training, he stated this would apply more to EMT's than interior FF's, but that it is complex with multiple standards that might apply.

As I stated in my opening post if anyone has any questions I will provide contact information, and he is more than willing to provide any information needed.

Recently I was provided with information from NYS PESH (Public Employee Safety & Health) regarding the required annual training requirements for New York State Firefighters.

The following is a portion of an e-mail I received from a PESH representative. With his permission I am forwarding the full e-mail with only his position, name, and location deleted.

...I was asked to respond to your question regarding required training for volunteer firefighters. Let me preface this answer by saying that PESH does not differentiate between volunteers and career firefighters; both are considered employees under State law. As for specific trainings, that would depend on the duties assigned to the individual firefighter. For instance, an interior firefighter (class A) would be required to have respirator training for the use of SCBAs, but an exterior firefighter (class B or C)would not. Attached is a chart designed by PESH which indicates the various required trainings for all occupations. All things being equal, a typical interior firefighter would need at least the following trainings:

Annual Hazard Communication / Right to Know (chemicals in the workplace)

Annual Respiratory Protection training(for SCBAs)

Quarterly Fire Brigade training (on any topic related to firefighting)

Annual HazMat Operations training (for basic interior / exterior firefighters who would assist at a HazMat scene)

Annual Workplace Violence Prevention training

Escape ropes / systems training (if entering fire structures that are above ground level)

PPE training on how and when to wear personal protective equipment (bunker gear, safety glasses, hearing protection, etc.)

Other trainings may be required depending on the various tasks they may be required to perform, such as confined space rescue, emergency vehicle operations, etc.

If anyone has any questions beyond what is in the above, PM me and I will provide contact information.

Md. Firefighters: No Sprinklers, No Habitat Help

Firehouse.com News

Posted: Fri, 10/28/2011 - 12:02pm

Updated: Fri, 10/28/2011 - 12:56pm

HAGERSTOWN, MD -- Washington County firefighters won't be picking up their tools to help build a Habitat for Humanity house unless it is going to be equipped with a sprinkler system.

Members of the Washington County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association had originally planned to help build the house but decided against it because it won't include a sprinkler system, according to The Herald Mail.

Read the full article at Firehouse.com.

In my opinion these guys did the "right" thing. It is sometimes tough to stand up and do the right thing, but this is an example, especially when the media picks it up, of standing up for what you believe in.

My understanding is that radio ID's are possible with analog systems that use a very specific set-up. Our county just upgraded to all digital capable equipment on the dispatch side (though staying analog for now). In this project they planned on requiring all radios to send an identifier, but found that due to the various manufacturers and the age of the equipment in the field, only a small percentage could utilize the system decode required for the ID's. Now, most of those whose radios who send the ID, have that digital "chirp" upon keying up each transmission. If I recall, this audible chirp is a feature option, so not all radios need to be set up to send the ID with an audible (it's annoying!)

As was noted, most of the work out county did was to fix some coverage gaps and strengthen the system by adding a voting repaeter network. A large factor was moving everyone to narrowband and then being ready for the digital requirements coming up. So far, my FD specifically has seen no upside and had a temporary downside of losing some coverage, that was corrected with proper antennas and alignment. One thing that lingers is that the use of narrow band and some features that "clean-up the signal" reduces the audio of most radios/paging devices. It appears we may have lost 25-50% of the volume of most receiving units.

Chief,

Just to clarify some points in your post, true in analog mode there are several different radio ID formats (typically proprietary to each manufacturer). So yes you would have an issue with ID decode with mixed brands. The ID "chirp" can usually be programmed to transmit at either the beginning (when radio is keyed up) or end of the transmission (upon release of PTT). All of my Departments' radios are programmed for end of transmission, this way the FF does not need to remember to wait a 1/2 second before starting to talk, otherwise the first part of the transmission may be cut off with the chirp at the beginning.

Lastly, and this is probably being perpetrated by sales reps, there is no FCC requirement to go to digital either now or in the future. As I stated above narrowbanding is mandated by 1/1/13. This means that agencies must use (and update their FCC licenses) to transmit on 12.5kHz channels (narrowband) as opposed to the previous 25kHz channels (wideband). There had been a proposal to mandate further narrowing of the channels to 6.25kHz (ultra narrowband), but there is no date set for this at this time. From what I understand this would be difficult to achieve in analog mode.

For more information and confirmation that digital is not required see this FCC.gov webpage. Scroll down to the eighth question regarding is digital required.

In my opinion the main reason an agency goes digital is because a radio sales rep sold them on the idea that they need to go digital to meet an FCC deadline for this or that regulation. Currently the main FCC deadline for Part 90 (Land Mobile Radio) radios is that these radios meet narrowband requriements by January 1, 2013. Most radios manufactured after the mid 1990's can meet this requirement by programming. Narrowbanding just means theat the radio will transmit in a narrower portion of spectrum thatn wideband.

A more in depth explanation can be read at Daryl Jones' Weblog. A portion of this article follows:

Industry-standard codecs (or vocoder software) that convert spoken voice to digital data can not adequately distinguish between voice and background noise. For example, a firefighter using a digital portable radio while standing next to a fire engine that is pumping water will probably not be understandable over the radio because the codec cannot isolate the voice from the pump noise. Another example is a police officer who is trying to announce his or her location during a pursuit. The officer’s digitized voice may be unintelligible because of the siren. A canine officer with a dog that is barking loudly may not be heard because of the competing noise from the dog. In all of these examples, it is likely that analog modulation would provide reliable communication.

Digital radios can be more efficient in utilizing limited radio spectrum by utilizing error correction technology. Encryption is another feature that is available with digital radios. Some agencies have been sold digital radios with the assumption that they could not be heard by scanners. This is not true, APCO P25 digital, which is the digital format the Federal Government has accepted as its digital radio standard, can be scanned with a digital scanner. Digital scanners are considerably more expensive than conventional (analog only) scanners.

I've been dealing with the drama and bs for thirty five years. You just have to focus on what you are there for. For me it is the Firematic (and firefighting) side of the job. Don't let the rest get you down, just focus on the job.

Talk with someone of the Company you are looking to join. Ask them to check their Company By-Laws to find out how long a new member has to complete the required initial training (FF1 or Scene Support). I know my Company has a set time limit that new members must complete this training.

I saw this article in last weekends (10/13/11) USA Weekend Sunday Section. Brian Williams of NBC News grew up buffing fires in his hometown with his Father. He joined the local Volunteer Fire Department when he became eligible. The article is looking for people to do volunteer service in their own communities.

Link to Gowans Knight - Pound Ridge Rescue work in progress.

While taking a class at the FTC last month I snapped some pictures of an interesting piece of equipment the DES has acquired. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

This Communications Trailer is located at the South end of the Training Center near the Pump Test Shed and appears to be labeled Utility 131.

To add to this thread about DES Appartus I have a few more pictures I took awhile ago.

Utility 78 Freightliner Flatbed

Utility 87 Ford F350 Four Door Pickup

Utility 106 Ford F350 Rack Body

I may have posted this before, but Rockland County publishes annually a booklet listing all of the fire resources available in the County.

According to a posting on RocklandFires.com, they will be stopping at Nyack FD on October 9, 2011. I do not see this stop listed on their official PinkFireTrucks.org website - Pink Heels Tour October 2011. Maybe one of our Rockland members can confirm the date.

And when was U103 put into service? What does it carry?

For info on this rig see this EMTBravo thread.

BUMP.

Tomorrow night (9/11/11) is the last night of this performance. I attended the performance tonight, and it was just as powerful and poignant a performance as I remember when I first saw Dick Nagle perform it in 2003. After the perfomance, Dick and Jeanne McCabe opened the stage to questions or comments from the audience, and there where were several recollections about 9/11/01. Don't miss tomorrow nights performance.

The following are some pictures from tonights performance.

REMEMBER: Admission is FREE, but a donation to Burn Care Everywhere is appreciated.

Interesting, if you click on the picture of E-5, and zoom in, it looks like there is a rearward facing camera on the Drivers side door.

For those of you have not seen The Guys, I would recommend you go see The Armonk Players perform this play. Dates are September 9, 10 & 11, 2011, 8PM @ Whippoorwill Hall, 19 Whippoorwill Road East, Armonk, NY.

The story of a Fire Captain who lost eight men in the collapse of the World Trade Center and the civilian editor who helps him prepare the eulogies he must deliver. See this trailer from the movie. This is a powerful story and it will remember it for quite a while.

Featured in this play is Dick Nagle (ret. FDNY Lt. & Croton FD Ex-Chief)). I saw him perform this part in the same play back in 2002, I don't remember if it was the same group, but well worth seeing again.

Also, from the the flyer the price for admission is Free, but donations are accepted for Burn Care Everywhere.

I plan on attending, hope you will too.

With the one year anniversary of the loss of Tarrytown Firefighters John Kelly and Anthony Ruggiero approaching (9-6-11), I am starting this thread to find out how this incident has affected other members of the Emergency Services community.

How has this affected you personally?

How has this changed the way your agency operates (if at all)?

Personally, during the year since this incident, I have attended the Confined Space Awareness class and the Hazardous Materials First Responder Operations level training.If this thread fills out the way I hope it will, I will share some other thoughts I have attempted over the course of this past year.

RIP John & Anthony