Stench60

Mount Vernon 15.4k per square mile
Port Chester 12k+ per square mile
Yonkers 10.8k+ per square mile
Camden 8.6k per square mile
Your point?

Mount Vernon 15.4k per square mile
Port Chester 12k+ per square mile
Yonkers 10.8k+ per square mile
Camden 8.6k per square mile
Your point?

"Professional", now here's a word misused more often then once. "Training" for the most part nothing more then a paper trail to cover ones a**. Ive seen both Career and Volunteer members with enough certificates, diplomas and training hrs. to stretch a mile and they're friggin clueless, like a deer in headlights when they're on scene. Not everyone can apply what they've learned or for that matter even want to try. Doesn't matter whether you have an IAFF sticker on your car or "Ex Chief" on the back of your turnout coat you have to want to learn and apply yourself otherwise it's for naut. JMO.

Tell you what, when a tax is levied on everyone, regardless of their use of a car or purchase of gasoline, for road maintenance; then I will gladly pay a tax for "mass transit."

Barry is absolutely right about the GWB, the bridge was designed for rail service as well as car/truck traffic. In the long run the structure for the rail component was used to build the lower roadway. Unfortunately, whether it be a new TZB with mass transit, the demise of a great deal of our local mass transit system ( The Put. Division, the NY, W & B., local trolley lines etc.) or the proposal to place a second level on I-95; we, collectively, have always managed to be very shortsighted in the areas of mass transit and urban planning. This is what happens when we fail to heed the lessons of Jane Jacobs and allow the apostles of Robert Moses to blindly follow his vision which leads us down the garden path of greater congestion and greater urban sprawl.

Could we have it back.........Pleeeeeaaaaassseeee?
There's always a dollar and a dream.
On a lighter note, I heard many a story about "The Seagrave" from the older guys when I was younger.

This technology has been around for years, I remember using them for damage control training except they were called perrijet eductors. At the time this was WWII era equipment, so it's nothing new. That being said, as someone who doesn't really have to worry about drafting on a regular basis (Kudos to those who do, believe me I know I'm spoiled having hydrants) it never occured to me at least the possibilities for use by the fire service.
On a side note, several years ago a facility I managed that had no generator and a major ground water problem lost power for a long period of time and flooded the boiler room. The price for a generator at the time was $16k+, or as I found out, $450 for the purchase and installation of a sump pump sized unit that worked off a 1/2" feed from the domestic water. A great idea for homeowners with a ground water/ flooding problem and a concern about losing power. You may see a slightly higher water bill when it's in use, but it's a lot better than a destroyed cellar.

"The line between Westchester (NYS) & Conn was established by the King of England. Vista, being in Westchester never "used to be in CT". "
Actually Barry until 1700 The Towns of Rye (Port Chester, Rye Brook, Rye Neck, and all of Modern Harrison) and Bedford were Towns in the County of Fairfeild CT. Modern day Harrison was stripped from Rye and the "purchase" of Mr. Harrison, a man conected to the royal governor, was a way of repaying the "rebellious" efforts of the people of Rye to remain in Connecticut including their appeal to William III.

"The line between Westchester (NYS) & Conn was established by the King of England. Vista, being in Westchester never "used to be in CT". "
Actually Barry until 1700 The Towns of Rye (Port Chester, Rye Brook, Rye Neck, and all of Modern Harrison) and Bedford were Towns in the County of Fairfeild CT. Modern day Harrison was stripped from Rye and the "purchase" of Mr. Harrison, a man conected to the royal governor, was a way of repaying the "rebellious" efforts of the people of Rye to remain in Connecticut including their appeal to William III.

Thanks Ang,
To answer your question, the Volunteer Firemen's Assoc. was one of several organizations (Veteran Fireman’s, Exempt Fireman's etc.) made up of former members of the original (pre 1866) Fire Department of the City of New York (solely NY County at that time) who after the establishment of the Metropolitan Fire Department organized themselves into these groups to maintain their social and fraternal ties. This not only included dinners, outings, parades and the like, but also the good and welfare of their old time comrades. This originally bore fruit in the first firmens home located on Staten Island, which was exclusively for former members of NYC.
Eventually it was realized that a statewide home was preferable to one strictly for NYC and FASNY took on the responsibility of establishing and operating a home for indigent volunteer firemen from around the state. Harry Howard (Chief Engineer 1857-1860) aside from being the "Beau Ideal" of the mid-19th century fire service was also a lifelong advocate for the fire service in the State of New York. At the time of FASNY taking on the building of the home in Hudson, Harry Howard donated what for that time was a huge amount of money from his life savings for its construction. Everyone was so appreciative of his donation that to this day the home sits on Harry Howard Ave. in the City of Hudson.

1.) See KCRD's post from 11:11 this morning. He says it, using the word inferior. I raised that issue back at him.
2.) See KCRD's post from 11:11 this morning. Again, he uses the word inferior. I substituted the word shoddy in this instance.
3.) Who appointed you, JFlynn, or your respective "boys" the judges and juries with respect to how a department other than your own is doing? Don't you think that's the business of each other departments' Chiefs, Board of Fire Commissioners, Members, and most importantly, residents themselves? Unless you or a loved one lives in a district that you know provides inferior service (again, KCRD's word), why is there the constant gripe about what the volunteers do, their staffing issues, their response times, and all the other bullcrap? I've met paid guys who are worth their salt and I've met volunteers who are worth their salt. Conversely, I've met some paid guys who are pretty useless and I've met some volunteers who are pretty useless. That said, no one can paint the opposing side with a broad brush. And that includes coming on here and demanding to know answers to questions that have been killed ten times over in the past. How would you like it if I listened to 60 one day when you were getting slammed and I came on here to raise questions about YOUR department? I'm pretty sure it would piss you off. And I'm pretty sure it would piss you off if I came on here every third day to talk smack - in general - about your "brothers." We all put the wet stuff on the red stuff, we're all "brothers;" who gives a flying crap what side of the line we're on, and who gives a flying crap about a parade? Don't you think department leadership is responsible enough to maybe perhaps CANCEL their participation in the particular parade if it came to light that their immediate jurisdiction was left short? Nobody ever mentioned that, now did they?

If I came up in your face and consistently asked for the above, I'm willing to bet that you'd tell me exactly where I could go. And who are you to say that anyone other than yourself or members of your own department are providing an inferior service? Are you at every other fire that occurs, critiquing them in the instant moment, or do you rely solely on what you read in an effort to call another department's response and service shoddy? See? This is the exact core of the problem that I raised. Unless you're at every single instance of a fire, which is impossible, then you cannot beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt say that anyone other than yourself provided any kind of service, good or bad.

There may be issues, but that's not totally my beef. Ever hear of the phrase, "it's not really what you say, but how you say it?" When a person consistently comes online to hammer the same general topics over and over and over and over again, all with a perceived arrogance within the tone of the questions posed ("give me facts," "I want specifics," "I want to know," "I want, I want, I want, give me, give me, give me," etc. and not "thanks for what you do, but I have a question regarding x issue"), it is going to rankle feathers. Yes, I made a couple of "snide" remarks, mainly because this baby crap-on-the-vollies-because-they're-not-truly-part-of-the-brotherhood stuff that has proliferated on here ad-nauseum needs to stop. Every last post of his is nit-picky on the part of the volunteers and after reading it day in and day out, I finally said something. As a volunteer, I take great pride in what I do and I have an awful lot of respect for the people who volunteer in their community, doing so not for a paycheck, but because they want to help their fellow neighbor. Now, just like how I would probably encounter the crapstorm of a lifetime if I came on here and consistently had something nit-picky to say about career guys - for instance maybe saying something like how career fire fighters sit around all day watching TV, doing nothing except waiting for the next job to come in (which, for the record is NOT my belief) - I think it should work the other way, too. QTIPs generally only go so far until they start invading the brain, at which time they usually become rather irritating.