PCFD ENG58

I wish I had the time this evening to get on my soap box about duplication of apparatus in Westchester County and the need for a system that gave departments the ability to specialize in certain services rather than providing every service poorly. I just don't understand why the rest of America gets it and the NYC metro area doesn't.... Let one municipality deliver great rescue services and the next provide great truck company operations... So many places I can go with this. Time doesn't permit
With regard to Rescue Trucks.... Don't mistake a rescue truck for a rescue company...

1981 E-ONE PCFD Engine 58 on the D side of Sea land

1981 E-ONE PCFD Engine 58 on the D side of Sea land

After 34 years OTJ, I can tell you there are many, many more Collyers Mansion places out there than you would tend to think. The ones on the TV show are mild cases compared to what you might respond to.
My first was as a FF. It was an ordinary multiple dwelling, six floors, open stairs, fire reported on about floor 3. We forced the door at the lock side, but it refused to swing. One FF reached around the door to feel for a possible victim and felt furniture. We went to the hinge side and when that side was free the door still stood there. We managed to get the door out into the hall and my partner started passing furniture to me so the hose line could advance. Things were getting a little touchy at this point since the fire was growing fast and we had no way to control the doorway.
After we removed maybe a room and a half of furniture, my partner and I started a search and the hose line went to the fire. I remember not being able to crawl because the floor was COVERED with booze bottles that rolled as you tried to crawl across the floor. I felt what appeared to be a doorjamb. I felt clothes up at about 3 ft off the floor and shoes on the floor beneath the clothes. OK, it's a closet. I'll move forward til I hit the other door jamb. Next thing I know iI was feeling a couch and coffee table. What happened to what I thought was a closet? I completely lost my bearings.
The hose team bumped into the victim as they advanced, also sliding on the bottles. They passed the victim to us and we were 1...2...3... yanking her toward the door as the bottles piled up into a mound. The more we moved the higher the mound got. I finally took my flashlight, look at her signs of life from about 2 inches away because that's the visibility allowed. I pronounced her dead, pulled my mask out from my chin so I could be heard, and announced her death to the Chief who was outside the door. The answer back was to "get on the fire."
The cleanup after the fire found she had over 500 bottles in a 1-bedroom apartment. Not only was she a hoarder, but a recluse and alcoholic. Sadly, there was a picture on a table that was charred pretty badly, but you could make out the form of a Firefighter.
So, back to business. What can you expect when you discover you've got a Collyer's Mansion? Anything.

Thank you to all. My wife Helen, who I called "Pumpkin" gave up her battle with lung cancer on Saturday morning Oct 1, 2011. She was such a good wife. Very mellow and low keyed. To this day, she looked the same way she did when I married her on Oct 9, 1976. Even after all those chemo and cancer treatments, she could still pass for a beautiful 25 year old. She just never aged.
Our first date was on Valentines Day, February 14, 1975. We went to see a new movie out about a high rise fire called "Towering Infernio". I told her that I was on the list to get on the fire dept. But I really don't think she was too impressed.
Our second date, I had to stop back home because I had forgotten to take the tickets for the show we were going to see. I invited her in for a few minutes and she talked with my mother. Later when I came home, she said to me "that's the girl you're going to marry". She was right and we would have celebrated our 34th Wedding Anniversary on Oct 9th.
"Pumpkin" was an Angel. She died peacefully at Backus Hospital in Norwich, Ct. Those nurses were the Greatest.

Since the SEALS took out Bin Laden, and walked out of his compound with a treasure trove of computers and information, Al Qaeda leaders/bomb makers/planners are being picked off all over the world. I think it's only a matter of time before they get Al Zawahiri, the number two guy, the Egyptian doctor with the ugly birthmark on his forehead (makes a nice target for one of our sharp-shooters).
It took ten years to find Bin Laden, but what a gratifying feeling to learn our boys took him out. He was a crafty evil bastard, hiding in a Pakistani garrison town basically in plain sight, but in the end he wasn't able to outsmart the greatest military the world has ever known. And his over-confidence that he wouldn't be caught led to that mound of information he had in his possession about all of his lackeys, these sicko jihadis that multiplied like the cockroaches they are.
The one guy that I yearn for the news of his imminent departure from the world is one Adam Ghadan; the American mouthpiece traitor who's been trash talking our country since 9/11, making his videos about how evil America is. Can you believe this P.O.S. is a native Californian?
It's awesome to know how relentless our military has been in pursuing and bringing these terrorists to the ultimate justice they deserve; death at the hands of our soldiers.
It's been a tough price we've paid in blood. We've lost thousands of soldiers, and tens of thousands more have suffered horrific injuries.
But just like they initially named a camp early in the Iraq War after Ron Bucca, FDNY Fire Marshall K.I.A. on 9/11, the military has never wavered from the mission to get the miserable scum who attacked us; and took from us some of the greatest firemen and cops of our generation; and thousands of innocent people who just went to work on a bright sunny day in September, ten years ago.
The message is; you hit us hard, then ran and hid. But one by one, you're all going down.
It's hard to keep remembering year after year that our troops are still on the mission, and will not stop until the job is finished, and we get every last one of those responsible for attacking our country. Never Forget.

Firefighters, career or volunteer, are not a commodity that you "buy." Would you phrase your wording similarly if you were talking about firefighters who happened to be black? Would you still consider saying "buy a dozen?"
I find your comment to be demeaning and degrading. No matter what our color; firefighters are not bought. We are human beings that perform in one of the few noble professions left in this country, along with police officers and other public servants.
Contrary to your opinion, most people when asked still consider firefighters and cops to be well worth the cost of their salaries. The majority of our citizens know there are only a certain few professionals, who when called upon are ready to risk everything to help, to undertake the function of protecting life and property that we swore an oath to perform.
You want to buy something, go to the grocery store.

Apparatus of Westchester County Department of Emergency Services
Engine 7, Ladder 7 and Utility 3 are part of the Fire Brigade that responds
to alarms at Westchester Medical Center and a few surrounding facilities.
Engine 8 is a backup to Engine 7 in the event that this is Out of Service.
Otherwise Engine 8 is used for training.

Some recent photos of Mount Vernon's apparatus

Honestly, I've never seen a better post that describes firefighting as a whole in Weatchester let alone a plane crash.

How about PLAN LANGUAGE, like small plane down or Lear jet down or Jet Blue down ? We are smart enough to know about how many soles are on board [or could be] level 1, level 2, alert 7, alert 007, punt ! when your in a rig responding by your self Engine 58,59 chiefs all depts opts 5, radio this,radio that,up yours ! I hate that place let me do my job !OH YEA I forgot about Captain ***** so the county knows we have a terorist on board our rig and they can kill them !,after 40 years of responing to the airport I'm done good night !

How about PLAN LANGUAGE, like small plane down or Lear jet down or Jet Blue down ? We are smart enough to know about how many soles are on board [or could be] level 1, level 2, alert 7, alert 007, punt ! when your in a rig responding by your self Engine 58,59 chiefs all depts opts 5, radio this,radio that,up yours ! I hate that place let me do my job !OH YEA I forgot about Captain ***** so the county knows we have a terorist on board our rig and they can kill them !,after 40 years of responing to the airport I'm done good night !

I was wondering, other than the many, many, many postings by FFPCogs in support of this questionable new Volunteer Fire Department, How many other postings are there that actually support this thing?
I live in Stamford, pay taxes in Stamford, Vote in Stamford and live in a combination response district. I am also a Past Chief of one of the Volunteer Departments. For the record, I have concerns over this SVFD proposal.

I understand that each VFD "owns" their building, but how did they pay for that said building(s) and equipment? Taxpayer money perhaps? So perhaps the tax payers are the ones who really own the VFD's buildings and equipment.
Hiring 50+ ff's to make up for the lack of volunteers is not saving tax payers money no matter how you slice it. You can cover it up by changing mill rates but you are still robbing Peter to pay Paul. What happens when these ff's want to unionize or want the same pay/benefits as the downtown ff's? What about your tax payer concerns then? Doesn't matter right? As long as SFRD is not up there you really don't care what happens. As long as the VFD's stay in tact, public safety, tax dollars is not a true concern. I would have so much respect for all they volunteers if they really said what this is about and stop all the bs*ing about how it's about public safety and tax payers and the fake concerns about the downtown residents not having their machines anymore cause they are up north. This is and always been about the VFD's keeping what they have, staying in charge, NOT what is best for the public. I give credit to Belltown for handling their calls. They couldn't handle a real fire on their own without SFRD help, but they are responding. 1 VFD out of 5, NONE of them can handle a fire without SFRD. You cannot argue that fact.

FYI - for the past 2 years this has become a useful drill to exercise deployment of our USAR resources as well as mutual aid. The 2 frontline units that participated were backfilled with fully stocked reserve apparatus prior to leaving the city (When we send mutual aid out and it goes to work our policy is to backfill them with reserve rigs). As far as the USAR resources it gives us an oppurtunity to deploy vehicles, trailers and other equipment - this allows us to identify best practices and more importantly any shortcomings.

So what was there that was not needed? R-4 is a stones throw from it's first due and NRFD has equipment on it's other rigs to get a job started. R-1 was a little further away from it's first due but YFD has a spare heavy rescue and the truck companies to cover. The technical rescue team would probably respond faster from playland than if they had to assemble on any other day. The helicopter was in service and WCPD patrols Playland anyway they were in their first due. Collapse Rescue, USAR, and the flatbed are support rigs and responding from playland probably wouldn't put them too far outside the normal response. The vollie equipment that was there was more than covered by the redundant volley apparatus that surrounds their district.
Conclusion: the career equipment that was there wasn't an example of waste. The vollie equipment that was there may be an example of over redundancy and waste, but until the fifetoms are dissolved in the Tri state area you'll not see any improvement.

Oh please. Fire department based career EMS, and ALS in particular, is the very best pre hospital care option out there today. However, to properly run such a program takes manpower and money...something not alot of municipalities want to cough up right now, or even have for that matter.
You can see outstanding examples of such systems with the Arlington Fire District and LaGrange Fire District.

As long as Politicians control the fire service, there is little hope for our future. They are capitalizing on an unfortunate set of circumstances of which they are a BIG contributor to! (the financial meltdown of this Country’s economy) and are using this opportunity to come after us FULL THROTTLE. As anyone of reasonable intelligence should know, Politicians along with this Country’s greedy Bankers and Corporate Pirates have run this Country’s economy in the dirt and now need someone (or Something) to blame it all on!
Since almost every working American is suffering financially right now, they are easily swayed into believing that Career Firefighters and Police are the cause of all their financial woes. Most people throughout the course of their lives rarely call upon our services and many are fortunate enough to never experience the tragedy of a fire, first hand. With that, it’s not hard for some sharp tongue Politician’s along with the corporate controlled newspapers to discredit Cops and Firemen almost daily.
It’s no secret that Professional Services cost money. It’s been that way for a long time. It’s no secret that SOME have abused the system as well. Dishonesty and corruption live in every walk of life. If the dishonesty and corruption of Politicians were revealed in full to the American people, the sheer stench alone will kill us all! Their one distinct advantage is they control the Media and have the ability to influence the masses with their “Spin” of the facts. As distorted as the wish to make them! We are always defending ourselves to a tainted audience!
With all that is going on, some Volunteer organizations have seized this opportunity to align themselves with these Politicians (i.e. SVFD) to capitalize on a unique opportunity to position themselves as the answer to everyone’s financial problems. This is a powerful combination to those who do not have the depth of knowledge about the services they receive and the history of this ongoing issue. They only know what they are told in the newspapers which from what I have read, is alarmingly vague.
In a recent post, FFPCogs writes; “It may come to pass that this will be an epic failure.” Should that be the case, who will shoulder the blame? Of course no one responsible will be anywhere to be found! So who pays the price if this fails? All those who have been misled all along! Not a legacy I would want to be attached to!
………….and so it goes on.

You mean she only allows me to let her drive it.
Thats just not right.
If you are following the above thread, Thanks, but you have never seen it.
Now who wants to talk about the fire truck?

The first time a fire department fails to respond to an alarm, should be the last. They should be shut down as an individual agency and blended with those that surround them.
THERE!! That's your solution. Consolidation! That word has been kicked around on this site and in Westchester Co. for longer than a decade. When will someone who has the ability to institute change, actually do it? There are loads of dedicated guys in this county. Spread out the responsibility and you'll better serve the public.

I want to send my utmost condolences, thoughts, and prayers to EMTBravo staff member, dedicated Mamaroneck Village and Empress EMS (where he also works Hawthorne) EMT, and Larchmont firefighter Vincent Nienstedt AKA "ems-buff", and his family, on the loss of his father yesterday. Vinny's father struggled with a long term illness, and Vinny was extremely dedicated to taking care of him, kept a very positive attitude, and was there by his fathers side every moment he could be. I'm sure Vinny's dad will be proud over the years looking down on him.

Done !

My Grandfather is still alive- 95 Years old! and his mind is sharp as razor! WWII Vet 63rd Infantry and proud! They are the greatest generation.

Great cause.
These men, my father (RIP) and all my uncles among them, were and are indeed the greatest generation. They fought and died the world over so that we can live the lives we do and for that they deserve our most heartfelt and sincere thanks.
THANK YOU to all who served in World War II.
Cogs