SteveOFD

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

January 1, 2012 has come and gone and the Federal Communications Commission's deadline for narrowbanding is less than a year away (January 1, 2013). Information on narrowbanding can be found in my previous post from August.
Narrowbanding requires both the reprogramming of existing radios (or purchasing of compliant radios), and updating FCC licenses to reflect the narrowband emissions.
With that said, in researching the FCC's database, the following Westchester agencies are in need of at least updating their FCC licenses. (This may not be a complete list, so please verify yourself).
I am not trying to put down any particular agency, just trying to give a heads up on the deadline, and as you will see below, I am working on updating my agency's license (all of our radios are compliant, only had to reprogram some to meet compliance).
Briarcliff FD & PD
Ossining FD & VAC
Croton on Hudsson PD
Peekskill VAC
Sleepy Hollow PD
Pound Ridge PD
Elmsford FD & PD
Hastings on Hudson FD & PD
Tarrytown FD
Harrison PD
Mamaroneck Village PD
Larchmont PD
New Castle PD
North Castle PD
Mount Kisco PD
Lake Mohegan FD & VAC
Yonkers FD & PD
Eastchester FD
Mount Vernon PD
New Rochelle PD (Mobile)
White Plains FD & PD
As stated above, this may not be a compete list of agencies who need to update their licenses. To view the status of your license(s) go to PublicSafetyTools.info and follow the instructions in my post linked above.
If you have any questions please feel free to post or PM me and I will try to help.

While looking at the Firematic website I see that Mount Vernon Police Dept. has taken delivery of a new B.R.A.T. Emergency Services truck. From their deliveries page, it looks like this is the first PD ESU they have built.
There are also pictures of an FDNY rig. This is probably a Brush Fire Unit.
Other FDNY BFU pictures from FDNYTrucks.com can be seen at these links:
BFU 4 & ATV 154
BFU 3
BFU 5
BFU 1 & ATV 164
BFU 2
BFU 7
BFU 6
ATRV 329

January 1, 2012 has come and gone and the Federal Communications Commission's deadline for narrowbanding is less than a year away (January 1, 2013). Information on narrowbanding can be found in my previous post from August.
Narrowbanding requires both the reprogramming of existing radios (or purchasing of compliant radios), and updating FCC licenses to reflect the narrowband emissions.
With that said, in researching the FCC's database, the following Westchester agencies are in need of at least updating their FCC licenses. (This may not be a complete list, so please verify yourself).
I am not trying to put down any particular agency, just trying to give a heads up on the deadline, and as you will see below, I am working on updating my agency's license (all of our radios are compliant, only had to reprogram some to meet compliance).
Briarcliff FD & PD
Ossining FD & VAC
Croton on Hudsson PD
Peekskill VAC
Sleepy Hollow PD
Pound Ridge PD
Elmsford FD & PD
Hastings on Hudson FD & PD
Tarrytown FD
Harrison PD
Mamaroneck Village PD
Larchmont PD
New Castle PD
North Castle PD
Mount Kisco PD
Lake Mohegan FD & VAC
Yonkers FD & PD
Eastchester FD
Mount Vernon PD
New Rochelle PD (Mobile)
White Plains FD & PD
As stated above, this may not be a compete list of agencies who need to update their licenses. To view the status of your license(s) go to PublicSafetyTools.info and follow the instructions in my post linked above.
If you have any questions please feel free to post or PM me and I will try to help.

January 1, 2012 has come and gone and the Federal Communications Commission's deadline for narrowbanding is less than a year away (January 1, 2013). Information on narrowbanding can be found in my previous post from August.
Narrowbanding requires both the reprogramming of existing radios (or purchasing of compliant radios), and updating FCC licenses to reflect the narrowband emissions.
With that said, in researching the FCC's database, the following Westchester agencies are in need of at least updating their FCC licenses. (This may not be a complete list, so please verify yourself).
I am not trying to put down any particular agency, just trying to give a heads up on the deadline, and as you will see below, I am working on updating my agency's license (all of our radios are compliant, only had to reprogram some to meet compliance).
Briarcliff FD & PD
Ossining FD & VAC
Croton on Hudsson PD
Peekskill VAC
Sleepy Hollow PD
Pound Ridge PD
Elmsford FD & PD
Hastings on Hudson FD & PD
Tarrytown FD
Harrison PD
Mamaroneck Village PD
Larchmont PD
New Castle PD
North Castle PD
Mount Kisco PD
Lake Mohegan FD & VAC
Yonkers FD & PD
Eastchester FD
Mount Vernon PD
New Rochelle PD (Mobile)
White Plains FD & PD
As stated above, this may not be a compete list of agencies who need to update their licenses. To view the status of your license(s) go to PublicSafetyTools.info and follow the instructions in my post linked above.
If you have any questions please feel free to post or PM me and I will try to help.

For those of you who don't know, the Federal Communications Commission has mandated that all radios in the bands from 150MHz to 512MHz be narrowband compliant by January 1, 2013.
What this means is that previously all radios, and frequency assignments, were in wideband (typically 25KHz between frequencies). Narrowbanding will "create" new frequencies by authorizing "new" frequencies in between the old 25KHz frequencies.
Example: Wideband - 460.0000, 460.0250, 460.0500
Narrowband - 460.0000, 460.0125, 460.0250, 460.0375, 460.0500
Both VHF-High (150-174MHz) and UHF (450-512MHz) are affected by this mandate.
Low Band frequencies are not required to be narrowbanded.
What this means is that if you are operating radio equipment that is wideband, you will be out of compliance on January 1, 2013. Most radio equipment manufactured after 1997 has the capability of operating in either wideband or narrowband mode. If this is your case, reprogramming your radio equipment for narrowband operation will make the equipment compliant.
Your FCC license also needs to be modified to reflect narrowband operation. You can check this out at the FCC's Database Website. Enter your license callsign, then click on the "Frequencies" tab, then click on the individual frequency. This will bring you to a page which shows the "Emissions" for that frequency. If your frequency is already narrowband compliant it will show an "11K_ _ _" emission designator. Wideband is shown as "20K_ _ _".
Here are some links which go into more detail:
FCC Narrowband transition
Narrowbanding.com
Narrowbanding.com - additional resources

As far as "standardizing" accountability in Westchester, I was under the impression that every department - at the very least - adapted the green tag for interior personnel and red tag for exterior personnel rule. Other than that, I don't know if a specific system or way of using the tags was ever adapted.
Barry, while I see the merits of consolidation, and I am sure at some point it may happen, I don't think departments should be waiting for it to happen.
Also, in earlier posts, mention was made that it shouldn't be asked if everyone is out of the building. Aren't we all supposed to be accountable for not only ourselves but our crews? I see what you guys are driving at, but I would rather see more people asking then nobody.
The better FAS Teams in the county have been helping the accountability issue for a while now. I know that we always designate either a guy or a team to "keep tabs" on how many brothers are operating inside a fire building. Yeah, some places we've gone don't get what we are doing and think we should be nothing more than lawn shepherds, but we find that knowing how many people and where they are is beneficial to us.
As a department, we recently had an officer's meeting and discussed the topic of safety & accountability. We all agreed to make a push to have a better grasp of who is where at our incidents. Some of the approaches we're taking include mandating personnel to report to their station to ride apparatus vs. going directly to the scene, having apparatus call responding with their manpower code (how many are on board), and designating a safety and/or accountability officer at every fire or incident where applicable. We'll soon see how it works out.
Lastly, while discussing the two tag systems - we have the "luggage tag" type accountability tag system. Part of the reason we have been behind on issuing the tags is because the cards that slide into the tag/case are a pain in the neck. Does anyone know of a thinner card or a trick to make putting them together easier? Any help is appreciated - thanks.

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

Got your name on the back of our coat and a tag on the chest
No not at all. Most times the tag is never collected. It's more a "i see him there" or " I sent him to the basement to do this" so thats where he is mentality.

After a long 4 1/2 year battle the 2nd circuit ruled yesterday against me, the findings of the court basically say that because of lack of proof they would not rule in my favor. I know the truth, promotions were stopped by the request of the Vulcan Society and senior Black officers of the FDMV. The decision of my attorney to go for a summary judgement was because of the NH20 decision from our highest court. They stated that you can't hold back a list of white firefighters in fear of litagation alone. In my case the City Attorney at the time on federal EEOC forms stated that she didn't want to promote in fear of a lawsuit from the Vulcans. 3 days after the promotion was stopped the Vulcans very own attorney withdrew the complaint claiming that the review of the decree showed that there was no violation if the promotions of 2 white firefighters went ahead. The City Attorney did nothing but ignore the Vulcans Attorney and ordered the civil service commission to terminate the list even though it had 2 weeks to go before termination date. Facts are facts and we will go on knowing the truth and who was involved in this case.That same very attorney is now a city court judge and I pray that she doesn't rule on the bench because of race.
I have to say that I am proud that I stood up and fought this case,even though the results were not in my favor I realize that throughout the country racism is strong in the fire service, against white and black,females,asians,hispanics etc. The brotherhood that I am very proud to be a member of certainly has some issues. I will continue to serve the citizens of Mount Vernon to the best of my ability something that I swore that I would do. There is no other career that I would want to do. I also want to take this time to thank everyone for the donations,words of encouragement and just the support that I have recieved. Its been a long haul but well worth itThe world is round and someday those who were responsible for this mess will realize that.Again, thank you and be safe! FF Joseph J Carroll FDMV

AFA are not always False Alarms. This is a big mistake in termonology.
A false Alarm is when there is no legit reason for the alarm. Smoke from cooking (burn popcorn in microwave), steam from the shower, dust from workers, candles, etc. The system did what it was designed to do, so its not a false alarm, its an accidental or unintentional alarm.
It is important that the public understands this so they do not ignor alarms in the future.

First, how often do members honestly question their own depts (I dont mean here, I mean in general)? We have all seen departments with 1 man rigs or "paging for any available driver & crew" ....no response, but no one in the dept has an issue with that, its ok because "we know whats best in our community"?
Second,how different are communities? Are there specific needs that different? Great Britain has 1 design for an engine. It is used in 4 different countries (England, No.Ireland, Scotland & Wales). They make it work from busy London to isolated islands. Is this best or would it be better to have a dozzen different designs....maybe. In the US we have 30,000 (or more) different designs because every community is unique.
In Germany they have about 10 different designs you can chose from, (more seating, bigger tank, bigger pump, etc.) But again they realize that very few communities are that different.
The level of standardization in GB is to the point that the same equipment is in the same compartment on every pump (engine). When there are special local needs they get a rescue to cover that. I got to watch the 1st day of field exersises at Morton-in-Marsh (the National Fire Service College). 6 brand new LT's from 4 countries pulled up (in an engine) to a fire in a burn building. they had never worked together before and they put almost every drill here I've ever seen to shame. They knew without even inspecting the rig where everything was and since they had all used the same SOP's they were able to gain entry, search and extingush the fire like they had been assigned to the same crew for years. We have companies in the same station that cant do that.
This is exactly why Westchester has more engines than NYC (and all our extra engines have no or substandard staffing). The leadership of every square mile here apparently knows more than the rest of the fire service in the nation.
We have 3 ladder companies (4 ladder trucks) and are surrounded by 6 departments that collectivly own 9 ladder trucks. Why cant we just use them? Maybe its because they do not have ladder companies? 5 of them run with only 1 firefighter, 2 run with only 2 firefighters and 2 are spares.
4 of those ladders are towers and every manufacturer, requires 3 firefighters to safely operate them (2 in the bucket, 1 at the turntable). Even state law says when that bucket is in smoke (IDLH) they need 2 FF's (in the bucket)but may only have 1. Its clear to me that the leaderships educated decisions are unacceptable. Why isnt everyone questioning this practice?
We have seen depts in this county that perchased vehicles to "improve" its insurance rating and the rating went up, because they do not understand what the rating standard is. We have seen depts buy trucks that do not fit into the fire station or are to heavy for the station or the bridges in town. We have seen depts buy tower ladders because every town in the parade has one and we dont (oh we also need to buy a smaller ladder because our members cant drive the big one). We have a lack of standardization that is so bad, that 1/2 the county is Rated a 9 by the insurance industry (on a 1-10 scale) That means on an open book test they scored below 10%.
I always liked the line: "If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem". You come to a descusion board, but you do not want anyones opiniton. No wonder you are disapointed. Everyday we see and hear all of the problems in emergency services in Westchester and the problems have been getting worst for the last 30 years and anyone who dares to suggest change gets us all upset.
Even when negative discusions occure, information exchange occures and that can make for possitive outcomes. I often see great post from many on this board that will take the negative and refute it. There are many here who are either new to emergency services or has been isolated in there own system and have no idea what goes on in other places. Hopefully, even the negative will open there eyes just a little.
And so we are clear, I do have an agenda. Its to make sure that apparatus respond in a timely manor, with sufficient personnel & equipment and the proper training to reduce the number of injuries and deaths to our brothers and the community. One thing I have found in 30+ years, there are a lot of individuals who do not want that and will do what ever it takes to prevent it.

There are just a handful of these large turbines located on The Cape, however they no longer seem to have the widespread appeal they once initially enjoyed. It appears that very few if any land based installations will receive local approval anytime in the near future.
One controversial offshore project well into the permitting stages is Cape Wind, a proposed wind farm in Nantucket Sound consisting of 130 turbines capable of 420 MegaWatts of power generation.
I guess we'll need one of these:

I think a major factor in the lack of shared services and the duplication of services not only in Westchester, but nationwide, is the "My Fire Dept. is better than your Fire Dept." attitude. If you really look, there are a few really good departments nationwide and a lot of bad ones. It would seem fairly simple to try to learn from the good ones and get the bad ones to follow just by example. But nay, that would be too easy. Why? As was mentioned several times already in this thread: EGOS
Try this: Run a multi-department live fire drill with your surrounding brothers... not a major disaster drill, just a bread and butter scenario. If you can't think of one, try a scenario that goes somethng like this:
City A has a major fire going on downtown. You, Department B and Department C are back filling in City A's stations.
A call comes in for a 1 family dwelling with a 1-room fire with occupants unaccounted for. Your department arrives first with an engine and establishes command. In 4 minutes, a ladder from Dept. B arrives, and 3 minutes later, an engine from Dept. C arrives.
Do this again, switching the order in which the companies arrive. Then critique when you are done.
This is what observations should come of this drill:
Command should be established, transferred, etc. smoothly and without difficulty.
Accountability should be adhered to throughout, FAST should be established and maintained.
IC should have his tactics established (e.g. Attack-Search-Vent)
Unity of Command should carry throughout the drill. ( No one but the IC running the show)
At the critique, let the participants talk. They should be saying they are not that far apart and think they should do this kind of drill more often.
If the drill results you get are not in line with my description above, then YOU are probably one of the bad Depts. Give up your ego and go learn something!
If it went well, then do it again and then again with different participants. Hopefully, the word will spread.

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?

I for one am shocked, SHOCKED that this outside agency of strangers could show up in MY county and study a system I have been in for 30 years.... and be so 100% dead-on accurate!! They should have hired EMT Bravo to do the study for 1/3 the price.
I have done my own study. It shows that 100% of these studies are paid for and then ignored, then repeated again in a decade or so. Who recalls that HUGE series of articles in the local paper about 25 years ago about the long waits, understaffing and over use of EMS mutual aid? Very well written and researched. Opened many eyes. The newspaper that published it changed names, but the EMS situation did not.
I blame me. We run the systems. If we put down the TV clickers and facebook (and EMT Bravo!) and cooperated and worked on this, I have a high level of confidence we would get it done. But I also have a high level of confidence we won't do that.

I'm quite aware of the previous threads regarding lights on POV's. PEMO was looking for clarification on whether it was law or a courtesy in NJ because of the conflicting statement made by either a police official or misquoted by the author of the news piece. Clarification was adequately provided with the facts you provided. The "here we go again" comment is the reason why certain threads spiral into unproductive, one-liner riddled, useless rants.

There is no way you can meet the training in the required hours, but the same holds true for FF1. Hazmat OPS is a stand alone 15 hours course, that in FF1 they allot 6-9 hours to cover.
The sad part is I know depts where members are not meeting the 8 hour requirement and they will not take that person off the line, to justify themselves they state they are short handed and need every available member.

Would you agree that you really can't meet the requirements when you include the Hazmat, BBP, Violence Prevention in 8 hours. I think department's should spend more time making this training realistic and worthwile as opposed to getting it done in 8 hours. Also that is the bare minimum if you do other basic services such as auto extrication, and ice rescue they need be trained on.

Barry while I understand why the law is written the way it is I don't feel it should preclude volunteer departments from appointing a qualified MTO' if a department wishes to step up thier training. If anything you would have someone with the criteria to conduct the training.
On another note maybe if FASNY spent more time and effort lobbying to change that law as I requested to them years ago than fighting the cops having blue lights on the back of thier cars we wouldn't be having this discussion.

>>"...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." <<
While PESH does not differentiate between career and volunteer, NYS Law does. NYCRR Part 426 (Minimum Standards for Firefighting Personnel) requires the following:
§ 426.1 Purpose.
The purpose of this Part is to establish uniform minimum State training standards designed to increase competency and reliability of fire service personnel; improve and expand the professional training available to paid fire service personnel by developing uniform minimum standards for basic, in-service, advanced in-service and promotional supervisory training programs, with emphasis on proper subject content and better instruction;
§426.7 In-service fire training.
(a) Permanently appointed firefighters and fire officers normally assigned to command company operations at emergencies shall annually receive a minimum of 100 contact hours of in- service training in the following subject areas:
The 100 hours technically does not acknowledge the "8 hour" OSHA/PESH requirements, but can easily accomidate it under the required subject matter.
Each career firefighter/officers training must be documented and submitted to NYS annually.
I have seen a number of complaints from the volunteer firefighters that they are no allowed to have MTO (municipal training officers). MTO's are mandated by NYCRR Part 427 to facilitate NYCRR Part 426. So until Part 426 requires all firefighters in NYS to have 100 hours of annual inservice (plus the initial and officer training) MTO's will not be allowed.
The NYSPFF fought very hard over 35 years ago to creat this legislation. FASNY fought very hard against it and the result is the above legislation and a divided fire service.

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

Only if the more Jr. officer made errors that were highly questionable and resulted in major unwanted consiquenses. Prior to that occuring the chief can always step in.
But a great chief, lets his officers make errors and then learn from them.

Agreed. Problem is that many people wearing officer's shields and chief's shields refuse to think they need to sit in on some classes to better themselves in the interest of the department. It's these people that I wish we could all just kick in the nuts.

In another thread, everyone is whining there aren't enough people going to calls. You all need to decide if you want your cake and if so, whether you want to eat it or not.
Having two, three or four elected Chiefs seems to be the norm around here. Do all of them NEED to go to every call? Nope, but what happens when all of them decide not to go because they assume the other one is going? Now you have no Chiefs, which will stem a new "Where's Department X's Chiefs" thread on this site. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
For every incident you need an Incident Commander. This can be a Chief, a Captain, A Lieutenant or just Joe Firefighter who happens to be "in the seat" of the first arriving unit. It doesn't have to be an elected officer or even an appointed one, but someone has to take command of the call. This is why solid training programs combined with minimum training requirements and electing/appointing the right people is critical. You never know who is going to be in charge and what they may be in charge of.
Prime example, we were sitting on a wires down call last week and found a restaurant on fire. Now what would happen if the only unit on scene was an Engine without a competent boss? Again, it doesn't need to be a Chief, but be smart about who sits in the seat of your rigs EVERY CALL.
Since Chiefs are elected to lead their departments, ideally it would be nice for at least one of them to show up at calls, right? After all, they have the Fire SUV and all of the radios. I know that in our department, as well as many others, a Chief may ride the seat of an apparatus instead of sending multiple command vehicles into the scene. I know some are against this and others like it - personally I don't care what others think of how we operate, because it works and we know it.
Bottom line, we don't always "need" a Chief at an incident, but Seth is 100% right, they're needed to handle all of the non-incident business of the department. This includes record keeping, meeting training requirements, developing, implementing and enforcing policies and procedures, buying stuff, repairing stuff, replacing stuff, and above all - making sure everyone is happy and gets home safe.
Not always true.
Again, not always true.

But I will say this - I would put up most of my members and Officers against many others any day of the week. That's how much faith I have in them.