billy98988

So if a department only has one command vehicle the chief should drive it 20 miles each way to work when they won't respond? I disagree. Leave it for who ever will be command. Plenty of places are forced to share the vehicle because that's what's economically feasable. Too much sense of entitlement for some.

That vehicle isn't a perk. It is an emergency vehicle. It doesn't have a license plate, it has a unit identification tag in place of a license plate. It's granted exception from many v/t laws because it's an Emergency Vehicle. An emergency response vehicle for use in Jericho L.I., not shopping at Woodbury Commons.
Look, lets be honest and fair. Chiefs in volunteer fire departments often put in a lot of time. Some departments, those with modest budgets, will simply offer to put a little flashing red light and siren in a chiefs personal car. In districts with the finances, they offer their chiefs a vehicle specifically dedicated to serve in that capacity. I think this is all well and good. Should the chief be able to use that vehicle for personal business? Of course! He's available to operate in his capacity as chief, he should be in the vehicle that is dedicated to that purpose. However, if that person is out of response range and not on department business, he should use his personal vehicle. If that vehicle is a "perk" for elected officials, than it should be properly tagged as such, not given a unofficial plate as the one in the photo has.
The fire service needs to smarten up......and yes, extravagant practices concentrated in L.I. have brought a huge microscope on the volunteer fire service. After all, this is an area with 30x the number of rescue apparatus as operate in a city of 8.5 million people. Has the behavior changed? Who knows, but that picture might lead inquiring minds to think that it hasn't.

Some jackass posted a picture on facebook last night, as the incident was in progress. That BS drives me up a wall.....EVERYONE WANTS TO BE "THAT GUY" THAT HAS THE SCOOP..the first with information, the first to put up a picture.
I swear to God some of these sick phucks take pleasure in other's misfortune. Brotherhood my ass. Any MOS who exploits other agencies, members, or departments situations has no place in the "Brotherhood".
I am glad the outcome was better than it initially sounded. Get well.

Tonight @ 21:00 the Plattekill Fire Department was dispatched for a PIAA on the NYS Thruway at mile marker 71.1 South Bound. Car 1, Car 3, Engine 1, Engine 2, Engine 4, 645 and 47-36 where all responding when @ 21:11 We were advised that Engine 4 was involved in a Motor Vehicle Accident, roll over with entrapment.
I have a been some sort of a chief officer for 13 years now, in the fire service for 21 years and never once did I instantly feel like I was going to vomit while responding to an incident...not until last night. I can tell you there are so many things that are going through your head after receiving an alarm involving your own...
What do I do? Whom do I call? How difficult is the extrication? What Happened? What did they hit? Who is in the truck? But the toughest question, the one that still rings in my head is "Are they alive?"
I will not speak of specifics. I will not release the details of this incident and I will let the authorities finish their investigation. But what I can tell you, 4 of the 5 firefighters have been released. Engine 4 is a total loss and the definition of brotherhood was re-taught to me through the actions of area fire departments and fire departments through out the state.
Cronomer Valley whom handled the incident...Thank you!!! Your professionalism went a long way tonight. You are our brothers and for you I am thankful. With out getting into every department that has reached out to us, because I can guarantee someone with be forgotten, whether it be at either at our stations or through phone calls, I had 132 missed calls, Thank you!!! Never have I had such an out pouring of support just for us.
I ask you, do you know what it is like to have to sit at the back of your vehicle trying to coordinate different responses while your Firefighters need YOUR help? Not something I EVER want to handle again.
For years we instill into our memberships heads...Seat belts, seat belts, SEAT BELTS... and on November 2nd 2013 @ 21:11, those seat belts saved their lives.
At St. Francis Hospital...the support continued. Fairview, Roosevelt, Arlington Fire Departments, with Engines, and Lisa Gardner, whom provided me with very informative updates, met the inbound ambulances to assist with ANYTHING we needed, ANYTHING. Tears is the word that best described how I was after I was notified of your support! I cant say thank you because thank you doesn't cover your actions. I owe you... period.
At 1:21 we called back in service, My membership continuing to want to help the community, knowing that what we seen tonight could have been completely different.
We will continue serving the community, we are Plattekill. We ARE Plattekill Strong.
I ask no one post NO Photos or post no details until the investigation is complete and I approve of such postings.
Thank you Everyone.
Chief Christopher Mancuso

Ok so are you really all going to make excuses??? He was f---king shopping!!!!!!
Stop acting like he wasn't. He used the car and the gas to go shopping g and even if he went to some conference it doesn't say get off thruway to hit the outlets!!!!!
Stop with the excuses!!!!!!

Got a few more from today.

It's been fun watching the build with you. Thank you for keeping us informed and the pictures. I know it has been a long road and for you. And to take the extra time to explain the process of the build again thanks!!

I want to preface this post with the fact that I have been in the fire service for 17 years both Vollie and Career so please don't interpret this as Vollie bashing... I just think the volunteer chief officers have to be a little more conscious about where they bring their District Vehicle.
Yesterday while shopping at the Woodbury Commons with the family I stumbled upon a Chief's vehicle from Jerico, NY. The first thing I thought of was "typical Long Island again", but then I tried to give this guy the benefit of the doubt and say he was probably coming back from Montour Falls (even though no classes ended yesterday).
Whatever the reason was that brought him 90 minutes outside his district....it does nothing for the public perception of the "Extravagant Long Island Fire Departments" to have your vehicle sitting in the Woodbury Commons parking lot.

The city owes him this.
Somebody needs to get that entire mess in that city straightened out. The place is a disaster. Tonight as I write this the place is on fire. More guys face the posibility of getting hurt for the people they protect. The City doesn't care about its citizens, the firefighters, police officers or anybody else who is trying to do good for the innocent people that are stuck there.
This is the 21st century. Forty or Fifty years ago we landed on the moon. Yet, nobody knows how to straighten out a city that was once a leader in our economy.
Detroit owes that firefighter, or any other firefighter injuried there, what they rightfully fought for and earned.

I am not suggesting RLS for relocates, but playing devils advocate here
"or responding to, or working or assisting at the scene of an accident, disaster, police call, alarm of fire, actual potential release of hazardous material or other emergency."
If I am responding to an alarm of fire just not to the scene and have been assigned to standing by in another fire station or in stagging, and since they have specific prohabitions to RLS (returning to qtrs) where is it illegal to do so?
There are always civil or criminal penalties if you crash...RLS or not.
I am not a lawyer, but I did stay at a holiday inn express last night.......

NYS V&T Section 114-b. "Emergency Operation. The operation, or parking, of an authorized emergency vehicle, when such
vehicle is engaged in transporting a sick or injured person, transporting prisoners, pursuing an actual or suspectedviolator of the law, or responding to, or working or assisting at the scene of an accident, disaster, police call, alarm offire, actual potential release of hazardous material or other emergency. Emergency operation shall not include returningform such service." Relocating doesn't fall under the above. Use of RLS is not authorized and is not only technically illegal but could result in civil or criminal penalties if anything happens. Don't do it.

They average one call every 2.4 days. since they are out on a call, statistically they should have returned about 58 hours before the next call. It is more likely that the mutual aid community will have an incident than they will.

Funny that your brought that up, I have recently been thinking about the same thing that happens in Orange County.
1. Dept A is operating at a BS call, quite often they only have one apparatus on scene operating (because that's all they could staff). Dept A calls for Dept B to standby at Dept A's firehouse. Dept. B then calls Dept. C to standby at Dept B's firehouse, it becomes an endless cycle until they finally get to a dept that can actually staff more then one crew.
2. Dept A (who only does 150 calls a year) calls for not one but two standby companies while they are operating at an incident..... The taxpayers are better off.... Lets by quite honest, if you do 150 runs a year what is the probability that you will have a second call, and then if it does happen why not just dispatch a mutual aid dept then....
3. Dept A, B, and C are all operating at a big old barn burner..... each dept then calls for there own standby companies. Why not just have one standby company cover all three depts?
Just a few examples of problems that develop when everyone has there own kingdoms!

Rescue pumpers are an excellent choice for volunteer departments that are not staffed with technical rescue certified firefighters and whose main rescue function is automible crash patient extrications. Considering the great staffing difficulty that many V.F.D.'s have been experiencing for years (especially during weekdays when many members are unavailable due to work responsibilities as well as late night / early morning when members are sleeping before they go to work) it frequently is difficult for one department to staff an ambulance, a rescue truck and a pumper for response to a vehicle crash. The rescue pumper provides rescue equipment, vehicle stabilization equipment, equipment for initial patient care, firefighting capability and scene support devices (cones / flares, scene lighting, etc.) and eliminates the need to decide whether a poor turnout of personnel will require making a choice of bringing either a rescue truck or a pumper. As far as 'heavy rescues' go, many departments equip them with some truck company tools and the same equipment that a properly equipped rescue pumper carries and little more other than possibly a cascade system or a command post. True heavy rescues are equipped to provide rescue technician certified firefighters with the necessary equipment to assist them in dealing with high angle, confined space, trench, structure collapse, water rescues, etc.. And, in most cases the heavy rescue rig can't by itself carry everything that may be needed at a technical rescue incident. As a result, many fire departments have additional special op's support rigs to provide large amounts of shoring, carpentry tools, pavement breakers, air compressors, etc.. Unless a V.F.D. is able to make a commitment to maintain a sufficient number of certified rescue technicians and as a result needs to carry equipment to deal with the various tech. rescue regimens, it's very possible that a rescue pumper is the best choice.

Correct you are not penalized if you carry the full compliment of engine compnay tools & hose.
ISO credits Quints as 1.5 units: an Engine and 1/2 a ladder or 1/2 an engine and 1 ladder (the dept can choice). Now this can help or hurt your rating. ISO requires 2 engines & 1 ladder or service company plus water supply units if no hydrants. Ladder vs service is based on building size/height in district and a service company is a rescue. Now if you send 2 quints thats 2 engines and 1 ladder you can be credited (but you still need 6 on each minimum [4 engine, 2 ladder]) if you take and engine and ladder and replace it with a quint it will hurt your ratings.
Rescue pumper works the same way, Its an engine & 1/2 service company so 2 of them may reduce the need for a ladder, but most rescue pumpers do not carry enough ground ladders to even be close and agian maining needs to be for both companies, minimum 6.
Generally a rescue pumper does not hurt ISO rating, but it may not help.

The Westchester County method of identifying apparatus is a$$ backwards. There is no reasoning to it. Departments have been able to reserve whatever number they want for their rigs with no relation to what department they are part of. The Putnam and Rockland methods at least follow a formula but are still overly complicated. The easiest way to do it, and the way the majority of our countrymen have chosen to do so is to number each department in the county... For Westchester county that would be 59 departments. If a particular department was number 25 take my former department of Millwood and it's current lineup of apparatus it would be as follows....
Station 25-1
Truck 25
Rescue 25
Engine 25-1 (Engine Twenty Five One)
Mini Attack 25
Utility 25
Station 25-2
Tanker 25
Engine 25-2 (Engine Twenty Five Two)
Chief 25
Assistant 25-1 (Assistant Twenty Five One)
Assistant 25-2 (Assistant Twenty Five Two)
This way when you hear an identifier on the radio you know exactly what department it's from (If you hear Twenty Five you know it's Millwood).
Now it's insane....
Engine 10 is in Harrison
Mini Attack 10 is in Millwood
Truck 10 is in Mohegan
Rescue 10 is in Bedford Hills
Tanker 10 is in Croton
Utility 10 is in Purchase
Really?

First of all its a Clean Harbors truck, so you know its going to be a nightmare sorting through all the different products you're going to have inside. But it should be run the same way any other HAZMAT call runs, use the 8-Step Process:
1. Site Management and Control - Isolate the area, evacuate anyone nearby, set up some initial zones based on an unknown product, since this is a Clean Harbors truck and is likely a collection of various HAZMATs picked up from locations all over the place. Start ICS and make sure you have an IC and a Safety Officer. In CT we're also going to call the Dept. of Energy and Environmental Protection as required by state statute, they'll send one or two of their Emergency Response Coordinators out to assist. Regional (or in NY's case, County) HAZMAT team also added and EMS for standby.
2. Identify Product - The placards are only telling me so much. We're going to need some kind of paperwork on the products involved. If the leak isn't all over the place, we can likely send someone into the cab to get some shipping papers. If not, remember we're dealing with Clean Harbors here, not Crazy Joe's Overnight Waste Removal and Handyman Services. Its a HUGE environmental company with some professional management staff, and I wouldn't be totally surprised if they had an electronic database that will tell me exactly what's supposed to be inside that truck. Obviously we're going to trust but verify, but it will give me a starting point to get my research guys on.
3. Hazard and Risk Evaluation - Sure, the placards look scary, but realistically what states of matter am I dealing with? What's the hazard to my personnel if I send them in there? What are the exposure limits, etc?
4. PPE and Equipment - Based on the info from 2 and 3, I'm going to confer with my HAZMAT guys to determine what the right suit is to wear. Say it with me: NOT EVERY HAZMAT CALL REQUIRES LEVEL A!!!! Our team uses the HAZMATIQ system in our region, so based on the chemical name the "playbook" we use tells us what our PPE should be for our mission posture, either "Rescue" or "Plumbing," and what the metering package is that's relevant for that/those products. It will also lay out the "red light" meters, ones that, if they go off, indicate there's something unexpected happening or something we haven't accounted for in our plan. It really simplifies the process and cuts back on a lot of the chemistry lessons we need to give non-HAZMAT geek Chiefs and ICs on scene. Based on the video these guys are in turnouts and SCBA and some of the guys were in the Lion or Blauer suits with the Nomex outer shell so its probably pretty safe to assume the flammables were really their main concern, along with the respiratory hazards that we almost always protect ourselves from.
Most likely we're bringing in pH and F paper to ensure its not a corrosive atmosphere before we bring in the expensive toys, then a 4-gas, PID, Drager Chipset if you can narrow things down, maybe a First Defender or other Raman Spectroscopy device if you're really coming up with nothing at all (but only if you're sure its not a flammable)
5. Information Management and Resource Coordination - Do I have my ICS set up to make sure the right people are running the right operations? Do I have all the personnel and equipment I'm going to need for this operation? If not, who am I calling to get them? Do I have a RIT/Backup team in place? Am I going to need a forklift and/or jack for moving some of these drums?
6 - Implement Response Objectives - Now that we have ourselves organized and know what we're dealing with, lets go in and start moving some drums. Sort them out, figure out what's leaking and how to stop it. If we can't stop it, lets over-pack it and let the cleanup company get it the hell out of my district. But remember, we can't do anything until we have #7 at least set up first!
7 - Decontamination - Clean up the guys, the gear and the other drums that weren't leaking but have some product on them. Assuming the product wasn't that "Dangerous When Wet" one, we're probably just talking about soap and water, but again its based off what my research came back in steps 2/3.
8 - Termination - Brief everyone on short/long term symptoms of exposure, quick hotwash of what went well and what we can improve on. Start taking up and handing off the scene to the cleanup company (who will probably just end up being Clean Harbors again anyway.)

The vehicle is not overloaded and under it's payload, the Ford 6.0 liter has had issues with the turbo in many rigs and ours is not an isolated thing, so that issue has nothing to with what we are carrying.
http://www.autoblog.com/2005/12/16/fords-power-stroke-diesel-causing-major-problems/
I will gather a list of what is on the rig and post it, I am interested in seeing what your concerns are, thanks in advance.
As far as pretty lights, paint and training part of the comment I know (hopefully) was made as a generic statement but if you know me I am very proactive especially when it comes to training and pushing beyond the so called "standard". I would say for a very small rural department that's located in an area without hydrants we have a pretty modern fleet of vehicles that not only perform well for US but is utilized often by our surrounding neighbors on mutual aid, we have not just stuck to the "traditional" ways of doing things and have embraced new technologies, researched items extensively and try to give our citizens the best possible protection we can.

Date: 10/20/2013
Time: 0530 (approx)
Incident Type: 1 vehicle accident - multiple pins - triple medevac.
Location: 1184 River Road
District: New Windsor FD
Units: New Windsor FD Car 1&2 (445,446) Newburgh FD (T-1, E-1) Vails Gate FD (Cars 1,2,5 R-480) Cornwall FD (Engine for landing zone) Cornwall on Hudson FD (s/b engine) Goodwill FD (s/b company) New Windsor EMS (Multiple) New Windsor Police, Mobile Life Support Services, 2 medevacs.

Description:
1 vehicle accident, vehicle ended up on its roof. Multiple patients were pinned. Multiple tools were put into operation.
Now a fatal MVA
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2013/October/21/fatal_Bacon-21Oct13.htm

Date: 10/20/2013
Time: 0530 (approx)
Incident Type: 1 vehicle accident - multiple pins - triple medevac.
Location: 1184 River Road
District: New Windsor FD
Units: New Windsor FD Car 1&2 (445,446) Newburgh FD (T-1, E-1) Vails Gate FD (Cars 1,2,5 R-480) Cornwall FD (Engine for landing zone) Cornwall on Hudson FD (s/b engine) Goodwill FD (s/b company) New Windsor EMS (Multiple) New Windsor Police, Mobile Life Support Services, 2 medevacs.

Description:
1 vehicle accident, vehicle ended up on its roof. Multiple patients were pinned. Multiple tools were put into operation.
Now a fatal MVA
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2013/October/21/fatal_Bacon-21Oct13.htm

Date: 10/20/2013
Time: 0530 (approx)
Incident Type: 1 vehicle accident - multiple pins - triple medevac.
Location: 1184 River Road
District: New Windsor FD
Units: New Windsor FD Car 1&2 (445,446) Newburgh FD (T-1, E-1) Vails Gate FD (Cars 1,2,5 R-480) Cornwall FD (Engine for landing zone) Cornwall on Hudson FD (s/b engine) Goodwill FD (s/b company) New Windsor EMS (Multiple) New Windsor Police, Mobile Life Support Services, 2 medevacs.

Description:
1 vehicle accident, vehicle ended up on its roof. Multiple patients were pinned. Multiple tools were put into operation.
Now a fatal MVA
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2013/October/21/fatal_Bacon-21Oct13.htm

It doesn't matter if they continue to give tests or not because the minority's will just cry and complain and get the job like FDNY was made to hire them

Yeah, put it all in your bag.

The storms over the past couple of years have highlighted some needs for us, and we have either received those or are in the process of securing them.
We lost our old, aluminum "Rescue Boat" during Irene. With the FEMA money we replaced it with a 14' Mercury RIB w/ 25 HP motor. We (prior to this) expanded our water rescue abilities with training and equipment, as well as dual-responses with neighboring Yorktown FD's Water Rescue Team. During Sandy, we were able to put this boat on the ready as well as our spare 12' inflatable.
Sandy knocked out power to our only firehouse without a generator. Although it is in the Capital Budget for next year, our village has approved to pursue a federal grant now to install it. Hopefully it works out.
The storms have sent us on dozens of calls that don't truly require the response of our larger apparatus, nor a ton of manpower. This year we were able to get the village to purchase us a Utility Truck, which we are in the process of getting ready to purchase and build.
This vehicle will be outfitted with extra saws, traffic barricades, trash pumps and the like for storm-related calls. It will also allow us to take specialized equipment from a rig going out of service and keep it on a vehicle so we don't lose it - something we've lacked for a long time.
Lastly, our "Radio Room" has seen some equipment additions and upgrades, and more on the way. This will give us a better place to set up and dispatch our units from during storms. A secondary communications system has been built and put on another firehouse - which is also our Village's backup EOC now.
I believe anytime we come up short on something, that should be the last time. If we don't learn from our mistakes, we are doing a disservice to everyone.

Due to the Federal Shut Down. FEMA has cancelled all storms.