ex-commish

I sincerely hope this is not true I hate to see people lose their jobs 

I sincerely hope this is not true I hate to see people lose their jobs 

This topic is one which I am extremely passionate about.  In my own personal experiences, it is tough to implement any changes in the fire service which go "against the grain", such as focusing on our own health/fitness.  Why you may ask? A lot if it is because the majority of the time, we make it back to the station.  And thank God for that.  But at the same time, it is our downfall.  Many simply do not understand the possibility for much worse outcomes due to our own health/fitness levels, which we have almost complete control over.  
 
When I started working out at the station, I was alone.  It is a combination department, so neither my own career guys or any volunteers had any interest in joining in on a workout.  I heard and still hear it all the time "Im getting tired just watching" .  But I realized I hadn't asked them if they wanted to, so one day I did.  And since then the guys on my own crew have pretty much worked out with me every tour, as well as one of the volunteers.  But that's not enough!!!  I don't always work on the same crew with the same one volunteer showing up.  I have brought up the idea of a yearly FUNCTIONAL fitness "test", and not so much a pass/fail test, but one that we can gauge ourselves on.  Can you gear up, climb x amount of flights, crawl with weight on your back, drag someone x amount of feet under stressful conditions in the physical state you are in?  It was met with resistance from all ends.  Why? Because just like in training, we are afraid to admit what we don't know, or in this case what we cannot perform.  The fire service is UNFIT, and this is unacceptable.  And you know what.....THE PUBLIC HAS NO IDEA!  To them everything is fine and dandy, but if only they knew what lies beneath the turnout gear....how maybe that one time they need us to make it up 3 flights, force the door and search for their missing child but we can't....we can't because we are too out of shape.  
 
I look at some of the members in my department, career and volunteer, and think to myself sometimes...if they go down, can I get them out?  And you know what,  more times than not, that answer is no.  And that scares the hell out of me.  How can we look at each other this way and not do something about it?
 
I started a firehouse cooking blog, with the goal of sharing any and all recipes.  This quickly changed to a focus on healthier eating in the firehouse when I started my own personal change in lifestyle.  As with nutrition, fitness is also a huge part of the equation.  I feel like we all need to start somewhere...
 
Stay safe, eat well 

Haven't attended one in many years but I remember them at the Kensico Dam and they were great times.
 

Yes, the former FDNY Super Pumper will be on display at the Muster

Never a dull moment in the "Vern"

 
"ex-commish", I respect you as well for being the parent of a son who is a police officer. I don't know how any mother or father, or husband or wife of a police officer can sleep at night. "I couldn't do your job either". I would worry all the time. I have a neighbor down the street who also has a son working as a NYC Police Officer in the projects of the Bronx. I've told him just as I have told you. It doesn't have to be one of our largest crime ridden cities either. It could very well be on some lonely dark road in the middle of nowhere.
 
 We really never consider the families of these police officers and how they must deal with the person they love going to work in one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. I have the highest respect for both you and your son and I am not ashamed to say that at all. I feel the same way about families of firefighters and our military.
 
 When a police officer makes a mistake, we hear about it on every TV channel out there. But we don't hear about the risk they take or the conditions they must deal with every single day or night. We just write it off as "it's just their job".  Personally from what I've seen out there, "I think they're pretty good at doing their job".

Thank you NFD for posting this and as the proud father of a New York City Police Officer who works in the projects where there is no shortage of drugs and guns as well as hateful, devious people who hate cops and people who have no regard for the law and won't think twice about hurting or killing a cop.

I agree you are on a sliipery slope when you deny those their right to due process
 

Hi everyone I wanted to introduce myself.  Im Rob Tillson.  I am on Facebook and originally from NY (Yonkers 1st and then Hyde Park 2nd).  I do collect patches from different departments and do make diecast vehicles in 1:64 scale.  I currently live in Lodi, Ohio and still love the Westchester County area FD / PD / EMS.  I work as an EMT for a private company called Life Care Medical Services.  Thanks for listening to my ramble and hope to be a part of more discussions. 

We need more of this

Good question and not knowing what happened it is hard to answer but  you take a stand to make it right first. Maybe they did and go nowhere. But at the end of the day it's the public who suffers. 

Good question and not knowing what happened it is hard to answer but  you take a stand to make it right first. Maybe they did and go nowhere. But at the end of the day it's the public who suffers. 

The article doesn't say much as to what exactly was going on but I do not condone quitting because of politics we are here to serve the people and have to look beyond the politics and do what is right.

 
Neither Snorkel nor Tele-squrt....Just a bada$$ with a boom!  Hahaha

This is the problem they are paid beans compared to other jobs outside the city the legislature voted themselves a 32% raise what bullets do they take there have been 4 cops in NYPD shot in the last few weeks my son is a cop  in the projects where there are a lot of drugs and guns the money needs to be up there like other jobs

 
While I agree with you on this, there's no better leader than the one that gets out there and does the same training as everyone else.  Yes, the chief needs to worry about those meetings, the safety issues, the rig maintenance, etc.  But, every once in a while, a great leader needs to get out there and show that he/she still has the skills and can still do the job.  This is partly because the chief still needs to know how to do the ob, especially in a day and age where science is proving different fireground conditions, equipment is becoming more integrated and innovative, and just to keep the skills up in general.  A great leader needs to be just as reliable on the fireground as followers.

The other thing that is great about this is the chief is showing that he hasn't left the workers in the dust.  He hasn't forgotten about them and the work that they do.  A lot of career chiefs just settle into their offices and never go back into the line of duty.  But, if you go out there and show the front line personnel that you can still do the job, you earn their respect 1,000 times over.  The firefighters know that you can still do what they do, and that you haven't become just a political desk jockey.
 
The fire service needs leaders, not bosses with bright white coats and helmets.  Lead by example, lead with courage!

We need more of this

We need more of this

We need more of this

Hawthorne has a contract with Empress EMS for coverage 24/7. In my recent years on the board of fire commissioners I did not see any attempt to recruit people for EMS. They have however recruited a fair amount of firefighters. If I recall paid ems was supposed to be temporary until either we recruited more volunteers or sought other means of providing EMS coverage which I was a proponent unfortunately fell on deaf ears with some of my colleagues on the board. And GAW6 is absolutely on point when she says PVAC was bailing us out thanks to them our calls were being covered

This is the problem they are paid beans compared to other jobs outside the city the legislature voted themselves a 32% raise what bullets do they take there have been 4 cops in NYPD shot in the last few weeks my son is a cop  in the projects where there are a lot of drugs and guns the money needs to be up there like other jobs

It is a pathetic shame that these members have to operate using old and damaged equipment. The United States gives billions away to foreign countries many like Iran who have no use for us yet fire departments have to beg or compete for grants to get funding. And the same goes for EMS many VAC's operate with old equipment. I

It is a pathetic shame that these members have to operate using old and damaged equipment. The United States gives billions away to foreign countries many like Iran who have no use for us yet fire departments have to beg or compete for grants to get funding. And the same goes for EMS many VAC's operate with old equipment. I

It is a pathetic shame that these members have to operate using old and damaged equipment. The United States gives billions away to foreign countries many like Iran who have no use for us yet fire departments have to beg or compete for grants to get funding. And the same goes for EMS many VAC's operate with old equipment. I