firemoose827

2-Years, Miss ya' Bud!

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.

We run both ITX 4 gas and MSA 4 gas/PIDs. Our personnel perform bump tests before any meter is used in the field. Cal gas is available with the meters to perform calibration as required. Every meter is powered and fresh air zeroed each morning and immediately calibrated as needed. Our Haz-Mat Officer maintains a calibration log and each meter is calibrated per the manufacturers schedule as well.
As was very well noted above, not ensuring your meters are properly calibrated should be unthinkable. The issue is what people "think" is proper vs. what they know. Don't think you know the proper way, know you know it.

30 days, 180 days 365 days whats the correct answer?
WARNING: WITHOUT PROPER CALIBRATION YOUR GAS DETECTOR IS AS EFFECTIVE AS CARRYING A BRICK.
Every book on direct reading gas detectors lists bumb testing or calibration before every use. Many state that calibration should be done no more than every 30 days unless bump testing is done before each use. Check your manufacturers info, most also say the same.
You are sending your personnel into a potentially toxic, colorless, odorless gas and the only thing that will save their life is a working detector.
Do you check how much air is in your SCBA or do you just hope its full?
OSHA
Carbon Monoxide In Workplace Atmospheres
(Direct-Reading Monitor)
3.a. Calibration
3.1.a. According to the manufacturer, "calibration must be performed at least on a monthly basis to keep the Model 190 Datalogger within published specifications"; however, for OSHA enforcement purposes, calibrate each time the monitors are used.
Verification Of Calibration for Direct-Reading Portable Gas Monitors
OSHA Link
Gas monitoring instruments are designed to protect personnel from unseen hazards that may exist in workplace environments, including confined spaces. It is vital to worker safety that these instruments are maintained and calibrated properly.
Instrument inaccuracy due to improper or irregular calibration can lead to serious accidents. Exposure to excessive levels of toxic gas or an oxygen-deficient environment can cause workers serious illness and even death. Combustible gas explosions are often catastrophic, injuring or killing personnel and destroying property.
The International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA), founded in 1933, is a trade association for manufacturers of protective equipment, including environmental monitoring instruments. The ISEA recommends, at a minimum, verification of sensor accuracy before each day’s use.
The only way to guarantee that an instrument will detect gas accurately and reliably is to test it with a known concentration of gas. Exposing the instrument to a known concentration of test gas will show whether the sensors respond accurately and whether the instrument alarms function properly.
If the instrument’s reference point has shifted, the reading will shift accordingly and be unreliable. This is called "calibration drift" and it happens to all detectors over time. An instrument that experiences calibration drift can still measure the quantity of gas present but it cannot convert this information into an accurate numerical reading. Regular calibration with a certified standard gas concentration will update the instrument’s reference point, ensuring that the instrument will produce continued, accurate readings.
In the past, there often has been confusion regarding proper calibration procedures and frequency. To clarify this issue, the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) issued a position statement on instrument calibration that states, "A bump test or full calibration of direct-reading portable gas monitors should be made before each day’s use in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions, using an appropriate test gas." If the instrument fails a bump test, it must be adjusted through a full calibration before it is used.

We use Drager 4 gas (Carbon Monoxide, Oxygen, Methane, and Hydrogen Sulfide) meters and Drager single gas personal CO meters. They are very reliable.
We do our own simple calibrations every 180 days. The customer service is excellent; and as mentioned above they are affordable.

We have two types of 4-Gas Meters in service, two MSA Solaris and six RKI GX-2001.
The MSA take a couple minutes to go through their start-up procedure but we have not had to replace sensors very often. They do not give accurate readings when the O2 sensor goes out which was a concern and part of the reason we switched to the RKI. I do not remember what we paid for them.
The RKI are what the department has been buying lately. They run $800 each and I seem to have to replace the O2 sensors every eight to twelve months at $100 a piece. We have a calibration station so we are able to do the repairs in house and I've started a detailed log to document how often I'm replacing sensors and how much money we are putting into these. These meters only have a 30 second start-up and do not reference the other readings off of the O2 sensor so I still get accurate CO, LEL, and H2S readings even when the O2 sensor is offline.
We recalibrate ours whenever a sensor is replaced or once a year.
The other city departments (streets/public works & water) use the RKI GX-2009 which we service and calibrate as needed (ie. when they are broken and come to us).
I'm not sure that we will be changing meter brands anytime soon but hope this information helps.

We use the M40 Multi-Gas Detector. Meters 02, LEL, H2S, and CO, this came on recommendation from Mount Vernon. Great meter, easy to calibrate, have not had an issue yet. Comes with a multitude of clips for almost any application. Rugged and easy to use. Price is in the ~$700-$800 range. Well worth it, we budgeted for a second one next year.

Since you're in a rural part of the county, and I'll assume you have a very small operating budget, consider purchasing a Drager multi gas detector. Their sensors last 5 years, as compared to other companies 1.5 years. They are also very easy to use and work very well. It is what we use at work to test for toxic gases in the labs.
We use the Scott 4 gas meter in the FD which requires calibration every 30 days, and a sensor replacement every 1.5 years.

4 Years ago me and my buddy's were in Datona Florida at bike week, We were waiting in Hooters to get seated for dinner, when in walks Vinny behind us in line. He was by himself we were bullshitting with him in the line when our table was called we asked him if he wanted to sit with us so he said yes. We were all talking about the show and he did say in so many words without dissing senior that the Guy is impossible to be around. Most not all of the fighting you see on TV was for real. Vinny is as down to earth as you can get just a normal guy happy to be working on a cool show not caught up in the drama.

I am colorblind, and I have been an EMT for 16 years on and off, even an EMT-CC for 3 years. When I check for skin tone I hold my hand up to the patients face, if they are lighter than they are pale, Etc. I made it through the practicals with no problems and when I am in the field it helps to have your entire squad know you are colorblind so they can help you in tight situations. Like once at the ER I was assisting in the trauma room with a bad trauma call and the documenting nurse asked outloud for me to tell her what the skin temp and color were, another friend of mine immediately jumped in and answered for me. So tell him not to be shy when it comes to telling the squad about the colorblindness. I do not have trouble seeing shades, I can tell if something is darker or lighter than something else so I use that. My main area of colorblindness is blue/brown, so anything in that spectrum I have trouble with.
Sometimes as a firefighter too I have issues like reading the color of smoke and flames, but I have help from my brothers/sisters there too and have never had any problems as a result.
You or your son can contact me at any time to talk more if you wish, just send me a PM and we can chat.

I didn't even see JFLYNN had wrote that at the time, as I had been typing this out for a while since I'm at work. I wont speak for the Chief, but I interpreted what you were saying as a "we're not going to have a written plan in place, we'll just wing it as the incident progresses and hope it works."
I totally agree that sizing up an incident is imperative to a positive outcome. If we look back at the initial posters statement/question, I think that we can both agree that filling an engine with 8 guys and a chief's car with another 6 and sending them to another fire is a little ridiculous. There are so many different paths that we can go down with this, such as minimum/maximum staffing for M/A, % of available manpower required to remain at home to respond M/A, etc etc. Biggest thing I hope we can both agree on is that, if you dont' have a ratio in favor of your department to that going M/A at the time, you stay back and protect your town.
And yes, if conditions warrant an aggressive interior attack, we will make that push.
I should have been more clear, but that last part was not aimed directly at you. It was more of a broad statement for departments in general. Listen to a scanner on a daily basis and you can easily tell who has their stuff together, and who does not.

Simple answer to that is most employers allow firefighters to respond to calls from work but they have to be actuall fires. They wont let me go for every smell of gas, CO detector, cat in the tree type calls that can be handled by a crew of 3-4 trained personnel. They require it to be a fire or major accident, haz-mat response, that can be backed up with a letter from the chief. So if there is a house fire most people are then allowed to leave work and respond. So contrary to what most people think, its not just a bunch of vollies that refuse to respond to smaller calls and only wait for the big ones ( Although there are those types of members and they do this routinely enough that it makes me sick)
Most people around me respond from work regardless, which eventually gets them in trouble with work. There are jobs like the Highway Departments that are REQUIRED to allow their firefighter employees to respond to all calls.
Is this legitimate? No. I am one of the volunteers that believe in having a prompt response to all calls for help with the properly trained crew. Around me, day time fires are a BIG problem, especially when you have manpower responding from their jobs BUT they are 10-15 minutes away. Most of the time we roll with our engine/tanker with a crew of 2, the driver and a firefighter.
Our mutual aid is simple, when we respond to a neighboring district with a tanker and manpower we have our other neighbor move into our house with an engine and crew. Nine times out of ten they also have additional manpower at their station with other engines to respond as well. If the mutual aid escalates then we move more engines with crews around to cover all affected stations which isnt that hard for us.

I should have clarified another issue from our area, we do both "stand -by's" and "stand-in's" depending on what the IC or the assisting fire coordinator requests. If they can cover a large enough area from their station then they stand by, if the area is spread out to a large area with multiple districts than they stand in someones station as a central location to respond to calls.
I like the idea of sending only so many chiefs, we cant keep ours from responding to every call. I asked once to have only one respond and almost got kicked out. Something about needing more than one officer to run a chain of command and most times the IC welcomes a couple of chiefs from mutual aid depts to help out with the IC positions. I still think its because they want to see whats going on. (half of them dont even remember what positions there are in the IC system or what their roles are, they just think the shiny reflective vests are cool and running with reds and sirens is fun) :angry:
In a perfect world I would like to see our area adopt something similar to the above mentioned SOP of only sending what they call for and only one chief officer accompanying that unit to the call. With our department its hard though only having an engine, engine/tanker, brush truck, and a rescue. If our MA dept calls for a tanker and manpower its usually our engine/tanker with 2 and our rescue with 6 (4 packed and 2 up front). Leaving us with an engine and a brush unit and a handfull of interior qualified people, so we call for our MA dept to "Stand By" their station to assist if anything else happens.
It differs from area to area and dept to dept, there are still a lot of variables that need to be known ahead of time before one can say anything about anothers MA policies.

Simple answer to that is most employers allow firefighters to respond to calls from work but they have to be actuall fires. They wont let me go for every smell of gas, CO detector, cat in the tree type calls that can be handled by a crew of 3-4 trained personnel. They require it to be a fire or major accident, haz-mat response, that can be backed up with a letter from the chief. So if there is a house fire most people are then allowed to leave work and respond. So contrary to what most people think, its not just a bunch of vollies that refuse to respond to smaller calls and only wait for the big ones ( Although there are those types of members and they do this routinely enough that it makes me sick)
Most people around me respond from work regardless, which eventually gets them in trouble with work. There are jobs like the Highway Departments that are REQUIRED to allow their firefighter employees to respond to all calls.
Is this legitimate? No. I am one of the volunteers that believe in having a prompt response to all calls for help with the properly trained crew. Around me, day time fires are a BIG problem, especially when you have manpower responding from their jobs BUT they are 10-15 minutes away. Most of the time we roll with our engine/tanker with a crew of 2, the driver and a firefighter.
Our mutual aid is simple, when we respond to a neighboring district with a tanker and manpower we have our other neighbor move into our house with an engine and crew. Nine times out of ten they also have additional manpower at their station with other engines to respond as well. If the mutual aid escalates then we move more engines with crews around to cover all affected stations which isnt that hard for us.

If you have a few minutes, read this...It is truly amazing.
Story

Thank you PVAC, especially Kelli and Madison for putting this together. The Schoharie valley floods have been devastating, taking out entire communities. We have 100's of people still in shelters in schools that are just opening this week. We started to raise money, food and clothing in my department located in schoharie but found out that what they needed most are the things on the list. The local Elks clubs and Eagles have all been trying to get donations of these things but there is not enough for everyone, and these things are needed to clean up the mess of the aftermath. To make things worse we had atleast 3 if not 4 inches of rain less than a week later and we flooded out again and all of those people had to be evacuated again, including the CP located at the county fair grounds. It was a mess. I am sure that whatever you guys get for us we will all appreciate it immensely. I have not been displaced myself but have brothers who have lost their homes, yet they still respond to calls and pump outs as if everything is ok, they worked tirelessly for days and days with none to very little sleep, only to go to what used to be their house and begin the cleanup for themselves. Its very heartbreaking to say the least, and I feel that no matter what we do as a department for our brothers and sisters its never enough. You guys have already helped in more ways than you know; everyone that responded for coverage in our county so that those that lost houses themsleves could take care of their own families, those that have made donations and those of you that are running these donation drives, have all helped us out in so many ways.
Thanks to all of you, I can not say it enough and I hope I speak for those in my county as well.
Kelli, let me know what I can do to help out, and thank you again.
Brian
Captain, Carlisle FD
Schoharie County NY

Qtip

Thank you to everyone for your kind words! I hope this is a success for a great cause.
The supply drive starts today!!!! PVAC is very excited to be helping another community and Fellow Firefighters.

I think it is very admirable that Pleasantville VAC is looking to help out Schoharie County in their time of need.
How did the powers that be determine that these particular items are needed up there and also how was it determined where and to whom it will be delivered?

Pleasantville VAC has set up a "Supply Drive" to help the people of Scholarie County that were devastated by flooding. See the attached flier.






















SCHOHARIE COUNTY NEEDS YOUR HELP.pdf


















Please spread the word and feel free to pass the flier around.









Contact Captain Conley (Kelli_Conley7612@yahoo.com) or myself (MadisonPVAC@yahoo.com) with any questions.

The correct email address is:
Kelli_conley7612@yahoo.com
I have been in contact with a member of this site and he gave me a list of what was needed. Years ago PVAC did a food and supply drive for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Now we would like to help our fellow New Yorkers.
We have a local business owner who volunteered to drive his box trucks up to deliver the items we collect.
I hope it is successful!
Kelli
Captain
Pleasantville VAC

Thanks Brothers! Beena great day so far, will get better when my little buddy gets off of the bus!
Hard to beleive that 21 years ago today I joined the FD...and oddly enough..17 years ago today, on my 20th, I began a long and awesome career with Empress EMS..I miss those of you who I became friends with!

Personal opinion, leave it up. This is a training tool of what not to do. Doesn't matter if it's a local department, or it's from 2000 miles away. Everybody makes mistakes and this is one to learn from.

I don't (ever) post because I often feel like I have nothing to add. I have no experience other than as family. My grandfather was FDNY. My brothers were volunteers in Dutchess County.
But I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to each and every one of you. As a family member, I understand the sacrifices you make, the training you make time for and the time you are away from your families, friends and other activities so you can serve your community in the most amazing way I can think of.
I salute your bravery, your commitment and your expertise. Our communities are better places because you live, work and volunteer here.
Consider this a long distance hug from a very grateful community member.
-Heather

Next year with all the candles...... Give me a 2nd..