BFD1054

 
An explosion in a Bronx drug lab killed a firefighter Tuesday morning, sources said.
Emergency responders were called to the home on W. 234th St. near Irwin Ave. for a gas leak at 6:22 a.m., officials said. After they arrived, firefighters discovered a drug lab, sources said.
Link to Daily News;
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/explosion-rocks-bronx-home-cops-suspect-drug-lab-article-1.2808271
 
Been a horrific couple of days for the fire service worldwide...RIP
 
***hearing varying reports***
 
if anyone can confirm, please do
 
 
 

 Kingston,NY (Ulster County) has placed an order with New England Fire Equipment and Apparatus for a 2016 Smeal/LTC 105' Tractor Drawn Aerial. 

 
Not my pic, just sharing.

The Company has been using Utility 153 (a past Chiefs Tahoe)  equipped with spill mitigation items, traffic control equipment, & the 4-gas meter. Additional equipment was placed on other apparatus and in the spill response trailer readily available to be towed by said utility. In response to other posts, Yes Engine 97 is equipped with a compliment of Extrication Equipment along with a PowerHawk Battery Powered Combi-tool on Engine 96. The Final Inspection trip for the Rescue is set for the coming week. Exact date for delivery is still unknown. 

Back to the subject of lights and sirens, the two Con Ed guys I was speaking to today said the "Incident Response Unit" or "Emergency Command Unit" or whatever they may say are most likely members of the Emergency Response Group.  They have 'em in gas, electric, steam and substations.  None of them are authorized to have red lights or sirens but, just like we have some people with "extra" bells and whistles, some of these guys may have additional lights.  These are the guys that will hold the fort until more crews can arrive and they're trained in ICS and are the SME from their part of the company.  The substations guys are trained in firefighting at TEEX and deal with the oil filled transformer fires and other big events like that.  They can all set up one of the Con Ed ICS command boards and be your point of contact until more help arrives. 

 
Great insight.  I was talking to two Con Ed guys today and they echo your sentiment that the last thing the FD should be doing is turning valves in the street.  They may inadvertently turn off a transmission main instead of the distribution main supplying the house in question and that could impact THOUSANDS depending on where it is.  They also said that they've been finding valve boxes completely paved over, not just hidden by errant water valve boxes. 

Just like we shouldn't climb poles to disconnect power lines, we shouldn't be messing with gas infrastructure.  The results could be costly both in time and money and public safety.
 
In my 35 years I never had a complaint with the response time of Con Ed responders, especially gas crews.
 

 

First of all, I spent 42 years working for Con Ed in the Bronx and Westchester with the last 14 in Westchester as a supervisor in gas emergency until I retired last year. I responded to countless gas leak complaints both as a mechanic and as a supervisor. I am also a volunteer firefighter in Orange county. For me personally, the last thing I wanted to see is the fire dept on location when I arrived. They don't have the required equipment or training mandated by the PSC or the experience to investigate a leak. If it's on fire, I don't want anybody else than the fire dept but unfortunately the majority of firefighters lose interest quickly if it's not on fire. Then the paid depts. want to put the companies back in service asap and the volley companies in the day time Mon-Fri had what we call the paid firefighters responding, ie, the DPW members and their boss wants them back to work. So I would just prefer Con Ed to respond and if I need the services of the fire dept, I would request the FD.  At a damage that I responded to one time with the fire dept on location and blowing gas, the chief in charge told me they had shut off numerous valves to no good. I asked him how many valves and where they were. I got the deer in the headlights look back. I then went over and turned off the curb valve on the damaged service and secured the leak. They had turned off gas to numerouse homes and business, over 50. Restoration of gas is not simply turning the valves back on and is time consuming and costly.  A little info on responding. The New York State PSC mandates that all gas leak complaints must be responded to within 60 minutes. Con Ed has told the PSC that they will respond to 75% of the leak complaints within 30 minutes. That works well in the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens but can be difficult in Westchester. Con Ed will request the fire dept to respond if certain criterias of the leak complaint require it but the understanding is that it is to make safe by evacuating people in the area of the leak not to mitigate it.  The finest example of that was the damage in Scarsdale about 10 years ago where the contractor pulled the 1" high pressure service out of the regulator in the bsmt with ensuing high pressure gas filling up the house. The contractor called 911 and reported it but he did not evacuate his workers from the bldg. When the Scarsdale FD arrived, they evacuated the house where the damage was and the surrounding houses also. They opened windows in the house where the damage was to ventilate but being a cold day, the temperature dropped in the house and the thermostat called for heat and the house exploded but there were no injuries. Job well done. What would the outcome have been if they decided to look for valves? The curb valve was buried under construction material, main valves were further away in the intersections at the end of the street and can be and usually are difficult to open. In many older areas main valves can be much further apart than just in the immediate intersections and many are paved over. I was working the night of a gas main fire in Mamaroneck the night of a severe thunderstorm that took down a primary electric cable which grounded out on the ground burning a hole through a 4" steel medium pressure main that was four feet deep in the ground and igniting the gas. Such is the power of primary electric. Looking at our maps, I saw the location of the main valve but could not locate it, only a water valve. I had my construction crew start excavating in the area of where the main was (it was a one way feed down a dead end street) and had my two leak responders start searching for surrounding main valves to secure this leak and fire, a total of five more valves. While we were trying to locate theses valves, the water company responded to mark out the water main and services. After about 45 minutes, he came over to me and stated they did not have a water main any where near where the water valve box was. I had my crew open up that box to see if it was our gas main valve but it was filled with asphalt. I had my crew excavate that box down to the valve and it was our gas valve which we then shut to secure the leak and extinguish the fire. That took 2 1/2-3 hours to do from our time of arrival. Definitely unacceptable in my book and I spent the next hour apoligizing to the chief who was a genuine nice guy. It turned out the road had been repaved about 2 years prior. The contractor had damaged the gas valve box, did not report it and replaced it with a water valve box he had. You never know what you will find. Now back to the Scarsdale incident.  If I recall correctly, the FD said from the time of their arrival to the explosion was about 5 minutes. The first Con Ed responder, a supervisor, was able to locate and t/off the curb valve stemming the gas that was feeding the fire. As I stated earlier, the PCS does not want code 3 response and I personally did not want code 3 response having driven fire dept rigs code 3 and knowing the dangers. So my opinion and the way I understood the policy, the fire dept is to evacuate and make safe. 

Short synopsis:
 
There were decades of fighting between Village of Otisville and Mount Hope Fire Protection District (overseen and contracted out by Town Board) over funding and administration of the Village of Otisville FD.  Up until a few years ago the Otisville FD covered the village as required by law, and contracted to cover the rest of the MH Fire Protection District. After multiple failed attempts at the creation of a JOINT fire district a group of members from Otisville formed the Mount Hope Fire Company and were awarded a 3-year contract with the Mount Hope Fire Protection District, leaving the Otisville FD covering only the village. 
 
By the end of year 1, the Mount Hope Fire Company and Town Board had successfully created a traditional Fire District for the area that was the Mount Hope Fire Protection District (or so they thought). This, and a few other things, resulted in a nearly new town board the following year who put holes in the legal proceedings and process of the district creation. A public referendum was held and the Mount Hope Fire District was eventually dissolved. 
 
Once the Fire District was gone, and the Fire Protection District was reinstated, the Mount Hope Fire Company would remain as the contracted entity for fire protection. The Town Board this year, as required, had to contract with someone to provide fire protection. Bids were submitted from both the Village of Otisville and Mount Hope Fire Company, with the Town Board awarding the contract to the Village of Otisville for 2017. 
 
This has resulted in a grey area for the Mount Hope Fire Company, as many wish to remain in service (as a mutual aid option). They will have no primary response area and, with the new contract decision, no tax money to offset operational costs. 
 
Those are FACTS
 

As a "First Responder" for gas emergency there have been many times when I arrived on scene and fd would ask me what should we do , OR , I've asked the fd to assist me with entry into a house when's there's blowing gas possible filling the house on a contractor damage with complete hesitation by the fd because lack of experience with natural gas emergencies.. I've been a volunteer firefighter for 10 yrs so much love to the FD.. my point is , in my opinion I believe Gas Emergency responders plus all supervisors,  electric and gas should be code 3.. Fd is great, but we are the professionals when it comes to utility emergencies...

Warwick EMS' "new" rehab unit. Originally a Town of Warwick Dial-a-bus, conversion done by members and local businesses
 

The red wagons are emergency electric splicers and respond to electric burnouts. If you see a red wagon in Westchester, it came up from Van Nest in the Bronx. As per the emergency stickers on the vehicles, they were put on certain vehicles such as the red wagons and the gas leak response vehicles to indicate to the police depts. that the vehicle has parkway permits  Though they now have emergency response groups in gas (2 vehicles) and electric that have sirens and red wig wags on the vehicles, must be a special permit. They respond to incidents and set up a Con Ed command post for communications. They are not there to mitigate the incident.  I should add that Con Ed is a private company and has no legal right to lights and sirens or to break into homes or other buildings. That is where the Fire depts and Police depts. come in.

Stamford Police has announced their exam. Recruiting is ongoing. All applications are being processed online. Further questions can be E-Mailed to spdrecruiting@stamfordct.gov

 
What: Open House for Fire Prevention 
Date: Sunday, October 9th
Time: 12-4pm
Location: Vails Gate FD Station-1, 872 Blooming Grove Tpk, New Windsor, NY
 
 

So who is Hartsdale? Is it the volunteer members (6 is it?) or the FD as a whole which includes taxpayer funded career personnel? Or is it the community leaders, or the taxpayer themselves? 
 
What is sad is the failure to recognize that FD's or any organization that takes money that is either or tax or portion of another payment should be 100% accounted for and used in an appropriate manner. FD's provide a service to the community, thus they serve the community, not themselves as it appears in so many cases.  
 
This is the kind of stuff that drives a huge wedge between career and volunteer firefighters. This makes us all look bad, when it's thankfully a handful of the total US Fire Service. No wonder people question why providing fire services is so expensive, they see how much money is spent frivolously by some and think we all do it.

With regard to 2% money there are absolutely guidelines on how the money can be spent.  In fact, there is even a difference between how "new" and "old" 2% money can be spent.

that's actually false. there are laws that specifically outline how 2% and fundraising money can be spent. 

Nice job by Rye stepping up and hiring 2.  Slowly the 8 will be in better departments with better leadership.  How many are now employed in new departments? 

Looks like Rye has picked up 2 of the firefighters who were laid off.
 
http://www.local2029.com/news-and-events/2016/8/29/new-hires

This is a 9/11 Story of TRUE Brotherhood within the fire service after the Tragic events of September 11, 2001. A story about an FDNY Rescue Company that lost all of it's members when they responded to the World Trade Center. A story about a FDNY Firefighter who dedicated himself to the children of those lost members, FDNY Firefighter Jo Jo Esposito.
 
There's hundreds of stories of people helping people after the Worst Attack in the history of America.
 
Here is that story of Jo Jo.
http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/nyer-of-the-week/2016/09/3/nyer-of-the-week--jo-jo-esposito-stays-loyal-to-the-families-of-his-fallen-brothers.html 

16fire5 called it in his post.
The term "All Hands" (officially a Signal 7-5) usually is transmitted after a 10-75 has been requested.
A 10-75 is not only for fire. It can be used for any response. It is simply a resource request, not meaning working fire, although that is the most common usage.
It is simply a request for the following: 
(copied from the NYFD.com site)
 
"A notification signal transmitted when, in the judgment of the officer in command, conditions indicate a fire or emergency that requires a total response of the following units: 4 Engines, 2 Ladders, 2 Battalion Chiefs, 1 Rescue Company and Squad Company. Officers transmitting a 10-75 shall also state if it is for a fire or emergency and if a building is involved along with the type of building."

If these units respond and all are put to work, then the Signal 7-5 is transmitted.
Although, the term you would hear on the radio would be "All Hands" are operating.
If the 10-75 is given and as an example, in the end, only 2 engines and 2 trucks are "put to work", the "All Hands" designation would not be used.

"lt411", if you ever saw a white kid wearing shorts showing some chubby legs, carrying a scanner in one hand and a camera in the other, that was probably me. I remember the TCUs and the budget crisis in which they closed 50 companies and laid off 300 firefighters. I spent most of my Bronx buff time first hanging out around 82/31. Then after the place slowed down it started to pick up more to the West Bronx and 92/44 was a favorite area too. Also Eng 41 (now Sqd 41), 48/56, and 75/33. Spent many nights at the McDonalds on Webster Ave near 170th St.
 
  I sure learned a lot from watching you guys operate.
 
  How about the night of the World Series being played at Yankee stadium (1976/77 - ?) when the cameras would focus on a 4th alarm school fire and the late Howard Cowsell told the entire country, "Ladies and gentlemen, the Bronx is burning".
 
  Two presidents, both Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, walked among the burned out shells on Charlotte St promising aid to rebuild the Bronx. It didn't happen right away but Charlotte St is now a block of single family raised ranch houses with yards and white picket fences. From an entire block of five and six story burned out brick apartment buildings.
 
  At one time on Simpson St, the only building in the entire block that wasn't burnt out was the 41st Police Pct.

Back in the early 70's, the ghetto area companies (Harlem;south Bronx; Bed-Sty;Brownsville,etc) had manning as follows: the engine companies had 6 firefighters and an officer- but the city tried an experiment with "Rapid water engines", which had a slurry tank on top of the booster tank that added a "friction-reducing additive" to water being pumped out the 1-3/4" line. If the RW system was in-service, the manning was reduced to 5 firefighters (money-saving idea). But the only way to know if the system was operational was the "green light" on the pump panel. The brothers would (at times) unscrew the light bulb so it didn't show green. Hence the Battalion chief would hire the 6th firefighter back until the "shops" checked out the system. We really did need that 6th man, as we would routinely have "fire out the windows" at least once every tour, and the SCBA's were not readily available. The ladder companies ("trucks" had the standard 5 firefighters and an officer, EXCEPT- in certain high activity areas we had "adaptive response trucks". From 1500 hrs- 2400 hrs the dispatchers would send one truck instead of the standard two trucks (on a pulled street box ), but the AR truck would have 7 firefighters. The 2 "extra firefighters would act as the 2nd due truck, searching the floor above. On a phone alarm the dispatchers would send 2 trucks anyway, so the idea was not kept for long. In 1975 when thousands of us were laid-off in the NYC fiscal crisis, all these "ideas" and pilot programs went away. There were also "TCU " trucks that were operational from afternoon to after midnight, and also second section engines . Crazy times, but it was the greatest time to be a firefighter in the greatest city and the greatest dept in the world. I remember many tours where the Bronx dispatcher would plead for any available company to "free up for a working fire". There were several times where the deputy chief would order us on the dept radio to leave our hose in the street as we were "taking up" and respond to another job. Sometimes I feel that I know how Lou Gehrig of the NY Yankees felt, when he said how blessed he was to be able to "be on the team".

Thanks Garrett, aka "Bad Box", for posting that. What a world it was, huh !!!
 
I remember buffing and setting priorities on which fire I went to. Sometimes rigs would pass by one job, on the way to another.
 
And those Fourth of July's were something else. If I had to work, I always put in for the time off. I would gladly work a Christmas, New Years, or whatever. Just let me be off the 4th of July for a trip to the Bronx.  It sounded like being in the middle of a war zone with all the fireworks, M-80s. Rockets going across the street from both sides. Many landing on the roofs of those buildings. We had to keep all the windows up in the car so none would get in as we rode by.