billy98988

Maybe... we should forward this incident to the CHP officer who arrested the firefighter last week for trying to protect the scene of an MVA.

That's because we have a generation brought up to believe "everything is about ME". And this attitude is reinforced constantly in music, movies and TV ..perfect example, shows like Survivor, Big Brother ect who's core message is screw everyone else...lie, cheat, steal, backstab and otherwise do whatever you have to do to get "mines". Hard to have Brotherhood when "normal" thinking means thinking only of yourself and how you're going to get what you "deserve".

Sounds like someone tried to get a job with MLSS, and was rejected...
Take your pot-stirring agenda and bring it elsewhere.

As a non resident I don't believe you have any standing to say anything. It's likly that you wouldn't even be permitted to attend a Town of Chester meeting. And pardon me for saying, but it sounds like you have a real hard *n for this MLSS and an unrelistic/unsupported/unsupportable belief in CVAC simply because they happen to be a VAC! Please! Remember Corona VAC in Queens. I say lets wait and see how this develops. Maybe the leadership really knows what they are doing and didn't banrupt the organization. Anything is possible.

Show support...? Nothing has been said yet as far as reasons for the shutdown...but I think when something as drastic as this happens isn't a shutdown usually appropriate at least while allegations are sorted out? If the 100k debt is true then mismanagement would be part of the problem/cause. Hypothetically of course if this rumor turns out to be accurate I wouldnt want an organization like this in my community. I've been honored to learn while working alongside MLSS crews, how they manage their business contracts is irrelevant. MLSS is a professional organization that's been serving this area for a long time....and it's because they have a history and reputation for employing professionals.....plus they've held the same name since the beginning, I like that. :-). I like your enthusiasm but I'll wait to show my support until things have been aired and everyone publicly cleared.

I would like to refer my answer to the top line of your profile picture.

Proper staffing for every response in every community

Another year where we all go home safely at the end of the day.

Here are my favorite photos for various reasons that I took in 2013, in chronicle order... thanks to all that helped me get them!

SRS131EMTFF - Those rules also include covering your calls. When you get your CON (Certificate of Need) from the Health Dept. you agreed to the state law, which states you will operate 24 hours a day. Failure to cover your calls can result in revocation of your CON. NYS DOH looks the other way, because they would have to close the majority of services if they started to enforce it.

Policies? Wow, if only more departments actually wrote those pesky things. I figured there was a policy to send someone with mutual aid and knew it wasn't "self-dispatching". Calling it self-dispatching was a very poor choice of words. Unless there is a policy or discussion with the requesting agency, sending more or less than is asked for undermines the entire operation. Time that nonsense stopped!
If people actually stopped commenting when someone answered the question properly on this site, there'd be half as many posts. But hey, we know what a department in Maryland does and what someone in Stamford thinks. Why listen to the YFD guy?

First alarm:
E304,E303,E306,E308. L74, TL71, Rescue1, Battalion1
Signal 10-29. 10-30 (W/F, All Hands) Battalion2, L72 Fast truck
2nd Alarm. E307, E309, E312. TL75
3rd Alarm. Sq11, E310, L73
4th Alarm. E313, E314, L70
Additional on AH/multiples. The Deputy Chiefs, Car-2 Car-3. MSU. FIU (car6) Rehab w/Car45, Car1 Commish Sweeney etc.
After the 4th additional engine requested to relay water into Sq11. (Reserve)E317
Mutual aid is called in to man YFD Firehouses:
New Rochelle E22. Eastchester TL17 to YFD Sta1
Mt Vernon E4. Ladder2. To YFD Sta12
Hartsdale E170 to YFD Sta13
Recall Yonkers reserve rigs, E300, 317,319 TL80 bat3 etc......when in place released Mutual Aid.

Why is this in the Law Enforcement section?
First of all, I totally agree in required training for Officers. We recently implemented requirements for our officers, which followed the recommendations of OFPC (DHSES, whatever they are now) and/or NYSAFC (I forget who). We added some other stuff. In order to be flexible to the masses, we had to let former officers be allowed to hold positions again for another two years to give guys time to meet the new requirements, provided the past officer isn't moving up, in which case they must meet the new requirements.
Second, and I swear by this - it doesn't matter what classes or training someone has. If the guy/gal hasn't been around long enough to earn their peers' respect on and off the fireground - they don't belong in the ranks. Experience, training, attendance above that of the minimum, common sense and a mindset of doing the greater good for their company/department are the attributes of a good officer.
Third, you can have someone who either does or does not have a lot of training run your department into the ground. We have suffered quite a few poor Chiefs and poor Company Officers over the years, and I am sure we'll make those mistakes again. (Hopefully I am wrong) You can have a Chief who does nothing at all for two years, followed by one that does a ton and changes things for the good for two, then have another flapjack come in and set you all back in time again for two years. Realistically, term limits should be looked at and if the majority is content with their leadership - why change it because it is someone else's turn? If a guy is in say, 5 years, and the majority has had their fill of him, VOTE HIM OUT. It isn't rocket science to me, but I am part of the minority.
Westchester-area Career Officers generally get FDNY's FLIP school, right? Man I would give my left nut for that kind of program. The officer courses offered to the rest of us don't tell you how to handle your calls - they just tell you how to avoid getting sued and show you ways to earn your members' respect (which is fine, but where the f*** is the REAL TRAINNG?!?!)
I think there are plenty of people in this county - paid and volunteer - that could put together an amazing officer program for both sides of the fence which would cover your soup to nuts. Then, and only then, could any of us really feel "trained & prepared."
/rant

Moose,
I empathize with you completely as I was recently placed in a similar situation. I am a 10 year member (joined at 16 years old) of a Westchester County fire department. I have served as an officer for the past 6 years as Rescue Company Lieutenant for 1 year, Rescue Company Captain for 2 years, Engine Company Lieutenant for 1 year, and Captain of the department for 2 years. Additionally, I have taken pride in being well trained and hold certificates for Firefighter 1, Firefigher 2, Firefigher Survival, Rescue Tech Basic, NYS/CT EMT, HAZ-MAT Operations, Truck Company Ops, Firefighter Assist and Search Teams, Introduction to Fire Officer, Fire Officer 1, Emergency Vehicle Operations Course, Emergency Vehicle Operator-Pump, and various Westchester County/Seminar Certifications. Outside of my Emergency Services Career, I have a college degree from a very prestigious Liberal Arts College and am in the process of getting a Masters in Business Administration from an acclaimed NYC University. In my professional career I am an executive for a Fortune 500 company in New York City.
In this past election, I was squeezed out of the line of Officers when an Ex-Chief decided to go around again (lost by 1 vote). At that time, I determined that I no longer wanted to be a part of that organiation and have been to the firehouse for 4 calls (all possible structure fires/entrapments) since the end of my term in may. I have not attended a single drill or meeting. I have drafted my letter of resignation and will submit it next month at our monthly meeting. It was my belief that the values of the organization of which I was a part was no longer consistent with my vision of what an emergency services organization should be and that I no longer wanted to be a part of it. With all due respect, it sounds like you should count your losses as well. Do you really want to be part of a fire department that allows individuals to occupy the rank of Captain with no formal training? Now that you are no longer Chief will you have faith that those individuals are making educated decisions that will ensure your safety on the fireground? Are the members of your organization operating in the best interest of the taxpayers who they serve? It sounds like they would be better trained if they actually cared about the lives of the people who they were responsible for protecting.
I will never join another emergency services organization unless I feel that they take pride in best serving the members of the community and ensure that they are "professionally staffed by volunteers." As for now, my career is over until I find an organization that takes pride in being able to fight fire, doesn't b**** when its time to perform a vigorous, physical drill, and spends less time worrying about attending parades, selling Christmas trees, or having barbecues. In my opinion, the volunteer fire service is somewhat lost and needs a reminder of the true, original goals and ideals on which the system was founded.

Date: 12/11/13
Time: 02:23
Incident Type: Structure Fire
Location: 7 Van Cortlandt Park Avenue
District: City of Yonkers
Units: E306, E303, E304, E312, TL71, L74, TL75 (FAST), R1, Bat 1 (IC), Bat 2 (Safety), Car 6, Empress

Description: Fire out the top floor window of a row-house apartment building.
02:25 - E306 10-84 checking.
02:26 - E306 with fire out the window, 10-29 transmitted.
02:29 - Bat .1 transmitting 10-30.
02:34 - Bat. 1 reports primary negative, secondary underway, multiple civilian casualties.
02:35 - Bat. 1 reports multiple parties jumped from 2nd Floor windows, requesting Empress to CP, 1 appears serious.
02:38 - Bat. 1 looking for Medics, Dispatch reports they're on scene.
02:39 - Bat. 1 reports fire knocked down, companies checking for extension.
02:42 - Car 6 10-84.
02:43 - Bat .1 placing fire under control.
Exposures:
1 - Street
2 - 3-Story Frame w/ 3 foot separation
3 - Rear yard
4 - 3-Story Frame w/ 3 foot separation
02:31 - Battalion 1 reports main body of fire appears to be knocked down.
02:34 - Car 6 responding.

the last posting i could find.

So, he will not allow his village workers to respond with the village dept to calls within the village...but he's perfectly fine with town and county workers who volunteer with surrounding depts responding mutual aid into the village to bail them out? Ridiculous.
When you start to exaggerate that badly to make your point, you lose credibility. SVFD averages 1,000 calls per year, which works out to 2.7 calls per day. Taking into account that a number of these calls come in at night and on weekends, the percentage that come in during weekday working hours starts to dwindle. Then take into account how many of those weekday working hours calls are not false alarms, but are instead legitimate calls, and the number dwindles even more.
Of the 929 calls they've responded to so far in 2013, 414 have occurred between 0700 and 1800 hrs Monday through Friday, which is a pretty generous 11 hour workday (there were only 328 calls between 0900-1700 M-F). 150 of those alarms were not in the automatic alarm, telephone alarm, or alarm sounding category; they were legitimate calls to varying degrees. That leaves 264 that were most likely false alarms, which works out to be about 1 per weekday. "Every five minutes"? Hardly.
They are also at the top of the chart as far as legitimate fires and incidents are concerned, so they're hardly chasing 1,000 false alarms each year. Yes, 534 of their alarms this year have come in as an automatic alarm, telephone alarm, or alarm sounding...so assuming that all of them were false/nuisance alarms, that's a 57% false alarm rate. It's probably a little bit lower than that assuming a few of those turned out to be legitimate causes, but it's still over 50%. However as broken down above, less than half of those types of alarms have come in during weekday working hours.
The bottom line is that these numbers matter. It matters how many calls come in during normal working hours, and it matters how many of them are BS alarms vs legitimate alarms. If the mayor wants to make a stink about guys lollygagging at BS calls for "3 hours" while on the clock, then let him back that claim up with some data.
Instead this guy wants to settle old grudges, that's really what this is about. Anyone familiar with this guy's history understands this is not about him "doing good for the village", it's personal.
He should've sat down with the FD to come up with a policy that made sense, such as limiting the types of calls they can respond to initially. You know, hang back for automatic alarms unless it turns out to be a legitimate call, then they can respond if a request for additional manpower is transmitted.
Here's the breakdown of their incidents in 2013 so far, for those interested in raw numbers:
929 Calls in 2013 as of Dec 4th
416 AUTOMATIC ALARM
69 ALARM SOUNDING
49 TELEPHONE ALARM
45 BRUSH/MULCH/RUBBISH OUTSIDE
36 SMOKE/ODOR OF BURNING - INSIDE
32 STRUCTURE FIRE
30 HAZMAT
27 ELEVATOR RESCUE
25 VEHICLE FIRE
24 ELECTRICAL OUTSIDE/WIRES/POLE
21 OVEN/APPLIANCE/COOKING FIRE
20 NATURAL GAS - OUTSIDE
18 HAZMAT
16 CO W/ SYMPTOMS
15 SMOKE IN THE BUILDING
14 SMOKE/ODOR OF BURNING - OUTSIDE
14 ELECTRICAL INSIDE
11 UNKNOWN TYPE - OUTSIDE
9 UNKNOWN TYPE - INSIDE
9 DUMPSTER FIRE
8 FLOODING CONDITION
6 ASSIST POLICE/EMS/UTILITIES
3 EXTRICATION CALL
3 BOILER/FURNACE
3 BARBEQUE GRILL/OUTSIDE EQUIPMENT
1 WASHDOWN
1 STANDBY
1 RUBBISH FIRE INSIDE
1 PUMP OUT
1 COLLAPSE
1 ACCIDENT - NO EXTRICATION

He is their boss, he is ultimately responsible for the work they get PAID to do. They have a JOB to do, and that comes before volunteering at an organization. I can't tell my private employer that I want to be paid to go fight fires. That would be considered walking out of your JOB.
I mean hell, if people are going to go on calls while on the clock for the town, why not just PAY them to BE FIREFIGHTERS, not water/highway/parks workers.

We'll see if any real fire depts. go for this "change." Close all the doors on the inside and hit it from the outside first. It seems to me that if you could get in to close doors, you could get in and put the fire out. This sounds like Lloyd Laymen deja vu...it works in a confined space but that's all.
Bear in mind that when you hit it from the outside, you've created steam inside. You lose much of your visibility for fire attack and search and steamed any victims that might be present.
Sometimes the tactic of an outside knock-down is a good one for perhaps a fully involved basement fire that has made the basement stairs untenable. However, if you do choose the outside knock-down, bear in mind that you may not be able to get down the stairs because it is still the chimney. You're still going to heavy steam and probably zero visibility.
Look at the picture in the article at the beginning of this thread. That's a vent hole, lad. It is only one window, so you don't know the whole situation, but your best bet is to leave it as a vent hole and go inside and bang a straight stream off the ceiling of the fire room then finish it up with a lower angled line. You kept a lot of your visibility for extinguishment and search, so just thank Mother Nature she had the wind blowing in your favor.
All these studies are under controlled conditions and you can do that at an actual incident too. Just get the fire to a manageable point, by tried and true methods, then pick up your radio and say under control.

You would have to ask the federal judge. I suspect he believed that minorities could not swim so they had a harder time getting hired.

Today marks the 10th birthday of the EMTBravo.com Forums.
We were here before Facebook, Twitter, before everyone could make their own site or post photos using a wide variety of social media platforms. When we launched in 2003, we were the original and only emergency services community website in Westchester, the NYC Metro area, the lower Hudson Valley and Fairfield County, CT. We were the original "Incident Alert" and place to share photos, before everyone making their own "wire" and FB groups to duplicate and therefore dilute the concept. This site, including the software, was built from the ground up custom for this site.
Here are some quick stats 10 years later:
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and still growing
Thanks to all who make this website and forum a continuing success!
Seth G.

The NIOSH recommended level is no more than 35ppm for 8 hours.
But of more importance both the OSHA & NIOSH standards are for a health adult. Lower levels can cause serious cardiac, respiratory and other medical issues in people who have sever health issues. it can also cause brain damage at levels lower than 50ppm in infants and in a fetus (without any side effects on the mother).

Cause we know it bothers you.

A "Suspected CO Leak" is not an IDLH an actual leak with concentrations of 1,500ppm (in the past and was updated to 1,200 ppm. It is rare that CO calls get levels that are that high, but they do get levels that can cause serious issues particularly to people with compromised health, young children and developing fetuses.
Utility companies regularly check CO levels without 2in or 2out or with SCBA available. While it is a good policy to do these things, a person who is well trained with a properly calibrated detector can do an investigation safely alone since they will get a warning long before there is an issue.

No. Engines are the primary EMS response to EMS runs. This vehicle is assigned to the EMS Officer. It replaces an 11 year old Ford Expedition. The EMS Officer responds to major and unusual incidents or if special called by a Batallion Chief.

Not even on the radar. Our mission is provide first response EMS and support the transporting agency (Empress) any way we can.

We have an MCI trailer, a rehab trailer, a shelter trailer, and others. This vehicle, along with other Field support units, is available to tow these.