PCFD ENG58

They have more Rescues upstate where I  live now an they have the T- shirts to prove it

They have more Rescues upstate where I  live now an they have the T- shirts to prove it

They have more Rescues upstate where I  live now an they have the T- shirts to prove it

They have more Rescues upstate where I  live now an they have the T- shirts to prove it

They have more Rescues upstate where I  live now an they have the T- shirts to prove it

They have more Rescues upstate where I  live now an they have the T- shirts to prove it

Rye Brook has hired one of the fired Port Chester firefighters . Its a start !

Rye Brook has hired one of the fired Port Chester firefighters . Its a start !

 
Of course that is GREAT NEWS and THANK YOU for keeping us updated. Now, Seven more to go.
 
So what does this indirectly mean for other guys. In particular those that want to become career firefighters as well. By laying off these eight Port Chester career firefighters, the competition just got harder for those younger volunteer firefighters within the border of Port Chester. Actually, by cutting these career firefighters, their own volunteer membership actually may have, indirectly, have hurt their own membership. Just maybe one less opening for a Port Chester volunteer firefighter to be hired in nearby Rye and begin a very satisfying and rewarding career. And soon there could be seven other positions somewhere nearby in which more career opportunities could be lost for those volunteer members.
 
 Besides the fact of those Port Chester citizens lives and personnel valuables are being put at much more risk. Besides the fact that a fire leadership is willing to put their own members lives at more risk.  We now see another smaller price that a few younger volunteer members may end up paying. LESS opportunity for them to become a career firefighter. All because of a leadership within their own ranks that are more than willing to let them down.
 
  By the way, "how's Chief Quinn doing" ?

Rye Brook has hired one of the fired Port Chester firefighters . Its a start !

Rye Brook has hired one of the fired Port Chester firefighters . Its a start !

Rye Brook has hired one of the fired Port Chester firefighters . Its a start !

Rye Brook has hired one of the fired Port Chester firefighters . Its a start !

Rye Brook has hired one of the fired Port Chester firefighters . Its a start !

Rye Brook has hired one of the fired Port Chester firefighters . Its a start !

Another red light, green light 1, 2, 3 discussion....
 
If you use a blue light, don't drive like an a$$hole, period. If people want to pull over as a curtesy, terrific. If not, do not tailgate, do not flash your high beams, just deal with it. Regardless, you are to still obey all traffic laws. You are better off not using a light.
 
As for this new change in the law, I think it's great. Anything that's meant to further protect emergency services is ok in my book.
 
 

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

You can still have lights all over your personal vehicle but no one has to pull over for you or I should say let you pass.   It's still a courtesy.  DWC above explained it best.  

guys and gals,  stop worrying about the pay  and steps  and work charts.  Focus on one thing at a time.  FAIL cpat  and you wont have to worry about anything else. Come to the test prepared or don't bother coming,  there are 300 people behind you on the list that will take your spot!!

 
I disagree. I'm sure, in situations like Port Chester, they'd rather see it here first then when they showed up at work with an action that came out of nowhere? I know I'd sure want a heads up no matter how the information came about so action can be taken ASAP.

Here it was at the Yorktown Parade the other night:
 

 
 

Willy has anyone there in a leadership capacity, volunteer or career, made any overtures in getting everyone in the same room to take a look at modernizing the system there? Now by this I don't mean ordering people to attend and then dictating to them that "this is how it's going to be from now on". Been there done that...it doesn't work. What I do mean is a true round table where the good, the bad and the ugly can be freely expressed so that true productive changes can be mapped out. 
 
I fully understand the forces at work in these situations, but I would bet that most involved know what the problems are just as well as you do. It's not that they don't want improvements, it's just that egos and traditions make it hard for any of them to make the first step. God knows no one wants to show weakness or be labeled a "turncoat" or "sellout". But for the fire service in Norwich to make the changes necessary to provide the best possible protection to the residents, it's the fire service leadership, (career and volunteer) in Norwich that has to take the steps to make it happen...someone has to take that step and once they do other will follow.
 
The other alternative is to try the Stamford model and change the City Charter. Many thought that would be the magic wand that would "fix" everything. Well I can tell you it hasn't. Things most definitely didn't work out the way the proponents of that move thought they would. Politicians won't...can't..fix our problems, at least not in the ways that will actually make us better, only WE can do that. I hope that you can convince your colleagues to leave all their BS at the door and step up to work together to make changes, otherwise you are absolutely right, it will take a tragedy and lawsuits to force the issue...and if that happens I would bet my bottom dollar that no one there will like the results.

Don't worry about where I came from , NOBODY AND I MEAN NOBODY  spoke to the board about the jobs but firefighters . The pubic does not care about the jobs and that is my point , all they care about is tax's going up and that's what I meant by not to focus  on the guys because they [ pubic don't care ] about  the guy's
 

As a member of local 1971 [ retired ]   and a 44 year member of the PCFD . It's not about the firefighters it's about the community we live in and the safety of the residents  that now  are at risk . Most of you guys know me and know that during my career I had my share of fires over the years many and I mean many that I pulled up to by myself.  Many voll pulled lines off my rig and started to attack the fire before the rest of the rigs got there . Now that element is lost  We worked together well and that my fellow firefighters is what made our dept work .

 
They kept saying one career firefighter on one fire engine shows up and they are correct. What they are not doing is finishing the rest of the story . When I got hired we had 16 strong career with 400 Volunteers with about 300 give or take and the rest [ 100 ]the older members . The Career staff runs Engine 58 and Engine 59 . When a call came in on the fire phone the firefighter at HQ answered the call and got the info . When it was determined whos call it was [ Eng58 lower Port Chester ] with most of the work or Eng 59 with more area but less work [ mostly bedroom  but some very large buildings [ General  foods 1900 by 500 ] and so on . If it was 58's call he would stop talking and the Sta. 4 firefighter [ Eng 59 ]would get the rest of the info with 58 hitting the road mostly in 60 or so sec. I pulled up to many working fires to find Volunteer firefighters either already standing there or in the building looking for people or the fire . Engine 58 & 59 have 800 gallon tanks and preconnect  lines more scotts to handle the guys already on location .the firefighters would take the lines in and starting to attack the fire . As a rule we did not hit hydrants but had the tools to do so . The next in engine would supply 58 or 59 .That is what was taken away from the dept .