Monty

I'm sure that people realize it but I'll say it anyway.

Just because you've disconnected a battery doesn't mean that an airbag will not fire. You still need to exercise caution around all airbags.

Tappan Zee Bridge dangler rejects $33,000 plea deal

Given the sentences some people receive, paying $33,000 and spending 6 months in jail doesn't seem like a great deal to me.

I guess time will tell when he gets his day in court.

I know many drivers and Chiefs are very diligent about operating equipment and alcohol.

However, there are some that aren't - and sometimes it catches up with them ....

From the Times Union

GLENVILLE — The first assistant chief of the Malta Ridge Volunteer Fire Co. was charged with driving while intoxicated after he struck an oncoming vehicle and fled the scene in a fire department truck he was driving, according to Glenville police.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Fire-official-in-DWI-arrest-3364296.php#ixzz1nhOZ3Hfy

I was involved with an Active shooter training scenario a few weeks back in Albany that trained NYSP MRT and other local agencies. As far as the whole thing is concerned, it is VERY VERY manpower intensive, and you need to let the PD do their job, clear the rooms/building, THEN AND ONLY THEN you can do yours as an EMT. PD needs to sort out the good guys from the bad, and that all takes alot of time and manpower.

Fair enough. However, I was thinking of EMS manpower. In a typical suburban / rural area, how long is it going to take to get enough resources to handle 5-10 patients (with physical injuries)? And numerous more in shock?

How are these resources going to be organized / staged / utilized etc.

It would seem to make sense for a countywide protocol - however, of course in NY (most) everything is Home Rule ....

Hearing about the Ohio school shooting made me think.

First off, I'll say that I'm not an active EMS provider. However, I was wondering if any of the organizations have a specific or general procedure for this type of event? Or would it be a spur of the moment, hotline type incident and an all call to everyone?

I'm sure the local schools have policies and have worked with PD, but have they worked with EMS? What about a shooting at a community event, similar to Tuscon AZ? In most areas, a school shooting would probably have significant manpower issues given that it is most likely to be during the typical school / work day.

Hopefully others have already thought about this .....

We do raise our right hand and sware to GOD to uphold the consituation of the united States--the consituation of the State and bylaws of the organization plus the citizens of the community.

Can they sware by that??

I guess this is your departments policy to swear on this oath.

Now, I don't see any reason they can't swear by that. Interestingly, I don't know what would happen if a US Citizen Buddhist wanted to join and didn't want to swear on this oath for religious reasons.

Also, you don't have to be a citizen to join the US Armed Forces and I'm sure there is an oath of allegiance that is sworn there.

IKEA is having a contest to give away a Firehouse kitchen remodel worth up to $25,000, in partnership with Family Handyman Magazine.

This includes everything, including appliances.

Information about this contest and how to nominate a firehouse is at the link below.

http://www.rescueremodel.com/

Just seen that Yonkers Engine Co 306 is one of the 5 finalists. Take a look and vote!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtL5n4QuKp8&feature=youtu.be&a

Wonder if they've considered bringing in the bulldozer / track-hoe to raze the burning buildings? Got to be tough out there in the dark and with these temperatures.

Stay safe!

Here's some stuff in addition to the incident alert.

Twitpic http://twitpic.com/87pbr4

(some of the) audio from radio reference http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?action=wp&feedId=5944

Several tweets of partial collapse (and unconfirmed) reports of missing firefighters.

https://twitter.com/#!/search/cornwall%20fire

The commanders that day did do a tremendous job. The intial IC was a BC with 20+ years on the job and the deputy that assumed command has 30+ years on the job and currently serves as Car 2 which is the Executive Deputy Chief of Department (Warren Abriel). Most of the fire officers who were working that day each have 20+ years on the job (one closer to 40 years) so there was a lot of expierenced members who remained calm.

Used to work for an IT company that did work for AFD. Chief Abriel was a great guy to deal with. Looks like that hasn't changed.

I was reading stories about turkey fryers at http://firegeezer.com/2011/12/27/turkey-fryer-update-5/. In one of the stories they used a FIT-5 to extinguish the fire - apparently quite successfully.

These obviously aren't a magic pill that's good for every situation, but there are certain cases where they are. However, don't they run at over $1000 a pop? Compared to water, that's quite a big difference.

I was wondering if insurance companies or anyone else would reimburse departments for use of these and reduced damage? I suppose in a career department it could be justified by a reduce time on scene.

How about some of these other additives? Class A foam, F-500, Fire Ice etc? They all cost much more than plain ol' water?

Do we as firefighters want to encourage the use of these tools? Maybe not so much? We don't trust new fangled technology? We don't believe that it will make the firefight easier? We don't want the firefight to be easier?

I was just catching up on reading Firehouse and flicked through their volunteer run survey. Looking at some of the figures for different departments made me think about how much/little other parts of the country have in way of fire protection compared to what we are used to here. All the talk of consolidation, high taxes, number of firefighters required for the job, response times etc, whether a certain city should have 1,2,3 or 6 departments.

For example:

Union Fire Co#1 in Carlisle PA has a population of 59,000, covers 165.5 sq miles with a budget of $250,000 40 members from 1 station with 5 apparatus running 810 calls a year.

Lumberton Rescue in Robeson, NC has a population of 50,000 covering 225 sq miles, a budget of $600,000 35 members 1 station, 6 apparatus and runs 3,760 calls (inc ALS)

A little bit more like home:

Wayne Township FD, Passaic NJ, pop 54,717, 27 sq miles, $150,000 170 members 5 stations 22 apparatus and 1453 runs (not sure how they support all those stations and apparatus with 150K)

How NPFA compliant are these places? Wonder what their ISO ratings are? I wonder if their insurance and taxes are lower than here though ....

Not exactly sure what my point is here - other than it's a nice quiet Friday night with a beer I guess it's just good to know what other places are like.

Condolences to his family and friends. RIP.

http://www.lohud.com/article/20111207/NEWS02/112070321/New-Castle-woman-55-found-dead-near-home?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage

NEW CASTLE — The body of a woman found in a wooded area near Carol Drive was identified Tuesday night as 55-year-old Anne Boylan.

The Westchester County Medical Examiner's Office said Boylan's body was found at her residence, 9 Carol Drive. A full autopsy is scheduled for today, but officials at the office said her death does not appear to be suspicious.

Police located Boylan's body while searching for a woman reported missing from the home, investigators said. New Castle Police Detective Sgt. James Wilson said the missing woman was 55 years old, but would not confirm that the missing woman was Boylan. Police said the investigation remains ongoing.

The Westchester County Technical Rescue Team assisted at the scene Tuesday, along with local fire departments. Boylan's body was apparently found in a hilly area near the house, which is close to the intersection of Lois Place.

Albino L. Maiolo, who has lived at 1 Carol Drive for about 47 years, arrived at the quiet neighborhood after police had begun investigating and said he wasn't initially allowed to return home.

"We're a modest, middle-income area, and obviously everybody is surprised," Maiolo said.

He said if Boylan had fallen into the ravine, where police were searching, the 25- to 30-foot fall could certainly have caused her serious injury.

Mutual aid will be a necessity in 98% of the US likely forever. While most FD's should be far more capable of handling "routine" fires and emergencies, those smaller cities and communities with never have the staffing and equipment to handle multiple greater alarm fires simultaneously, large scale disasters or other resource taxing events. In fact, right now it's likely that more FD's are increasing the need for M.A due to budget cuts. Even without cuts far too many of us run at bare bones or less. The taxpayers have little sympathy when they beleive their publicly funded employees are underutilized in their minds. Most of us have less than what we need to be truly efficient at most calls, so those once a year or decade fires we can't even hope to contain without outside aid. Outside of some larger metro FD's I doubt we'll ever see mutual aid go away. Can we stop it from being used to gut FD's? I hope so. If we need daily/weekly M.A we should seriously consider that we're not providing the level of service our incidents are demanding.

Interesting comments. I guess there are many ways this can be looked at.

I read helicopper's post as meaning long duration mutual aid incidents, such as the Irene/Lee flooding. I know members from Westchester and other counties went for 3 days or more. I doubt those volunteers will see any reimbursement. What about career firefighters that go to such events? Their home department is still paying them (Don't know how they would count the duty hours - I suppose through the 12 hours period they are 'working')?

However, with antiquefirelt's post, what about those 2 or 3 hour jobs that you get called to? What about those departments that are giving more than they are receiving? (Hypothetically SFRD and SVFD?) I remember seeing some comments about the overtime that Westport FD had due to the mutual aid rendered to Bridgeport. It was bit of an anomaly due to the LODD.

Are we going to see a change, especially in these hard economic times of charging for mutual aid? Would that effect calling Mount Vernon instead of New Rochelle? Would departments cancel their mutual aid agreement if this happened? How would that work if none would give you mutual aid ....

Given past history, I don't see anything changing soon - however there may be someone out there that decides to try something along these lines - I know in the last month or two there was talk of a city manager withdrawing mutual aid to the surrounding volunteer department.

I can fall ill have no insurance and still be taken care of but if I have no insuance and my home catch's on fire it has no chance of being saved.

However, if you fall ill with a chronic disease - your quality of care is much, much different if you jhave no health insurance compared to someone with health insurance.

Skimming through, I may have missed it, but I'm pretty sure Ossining VAC has paid staff (EMT and paramedic?) and doesn't Briarcliff have a daytime paid EMS worker?

And while we're at talking about having 3 chiefs at a wires down call...how about we just stop pretending we use IMS because someone gets on the radio and establishes (note I didn't say "assume" you can't assume what hasn't been made) command.

Just a very minor point, the definition of 'assume' according to google allows 'begin to have' command, so while I agree establish is clearer - I wouldn't say that assume is completely wrong.

as·sume/əˈso͞om/

Verb:

Suppose to be the case, without proof: "afraid of what people are going to assume".

Take or begin to have (power or responsibility): "he assumed full responsibility for all organizational work".

Talk with someone of the Company you are looking to join. Ask them to check their Company By-Laws to find out how long a new member has to complete the required initial training (FF1 or Scene Support). I know my Company has a set time limit that new members must complete this training.

Mine doesn't

In fact most of my compay is exterior, so if you're interested in joining somewhere in the eastern part of town PM me ....

Why were the TRT officers called or notified?

I heard that they were requested to monitor an exposure (with a surveyors transit) for collapse risk.

From The Daily Ossining

....

To celebrate Lorenz's life and to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of the Hudson Valley, Lorenz's family has planned a fundraising dinner to be held Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Northside Firehouse at 23 Snowden Ave.

"It's pretty much a celebration of his life, and a come together and hang out," Christine Lorenz said.

The event is also a kick-off for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walk which will be held Nov. 5 at Playland Park in Rye. There will be a suggested donation of $20 at the door, and all proceeds will go towards the "Uncle Joe" team at the Light the Night Walk.

Lorenz was carpenter by trade and a volunteer fire fighter with the Washington Hook and Ladder fire company for 31 years. He was nicknamed "Uncle Joe" because his cousin, Jason Lorenz, who is a first assistant chief with the Ossining fire department, used to call him by that name.

Lorenz was also a boy scout leader for Troop 49 from St. Augustine's church, and he celebrated his German descent by doing German folk dancing.

.....

Lorenz was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a rare form of cancer, in September 2010. He went into remission in May of this year, but was re-diagnosed with the disease in July. Lorenz died on Aug. 21, 2011.

.....

"Our goal is anywhere between 150 and 300 people" for the Saturday dinner event, Christine Lorenz said. "The event is open to the public. Anyone is welcome."

So far, everything for the event from food and soda to gift baskets has been donated, the daughter added.

Aside from a light-fare dinner, there will also be a cash bar, t-shirts, wrist bands and raffles.

If this were true, then why buy 3 or 4 engines when you can easily get one from a neighboring town?

We have 14 tankers to cover the northern 1/2 of the county. You send 7 from the NW to an incident and you have enough left for 1 incident, but the distances are so great that you have to strip protection from one side to cover the other, or everyone runs light and then you are just running on hope for no 2nd incident. Also when a dept only owns one tanker and relocates it, then how do they cover home?

Of course, if you are good for 2 incidents, what if the 3rd happens? Do you plan for the 100 year flood, or the 500 year flood, or the 1000 year flood? What's your level of risk you are willing to accept? And how much do you want to pay to mitigate that risk? (Seems very similar to the Somers thread).

I don't know the answer; but if we have 14 tankers in Westchester, how many are in Putnam County - or in Connecticut to respond to that 2nd or 3rd incident?

I'd wager that one side effect of this kind of incident is that all those 'buffy' types are 'tuned in' to this and any subsequent calls will get a faster response because folks are expecting it more, hanging out at the firehouse etc.

Again, like many I definitely think there is room for improvement and reduced costs - but I don't think there is anyone these days that has access to a blank checkbook.

Wow - that's really got to suck

http://oswegocountytoday.com/?p=70526

Four times in the last year, Fulton city firefighters have been called to the Chateau West apartments just over the city line in Granby to help that town’s volunteers. Now, according to Mayor Ron Woodward, city firefighters are being called out of the city to help with accidents.

Enough is enough, said Woodward, who raised the possibility of quitting the county’s mutual aid system at a recent Common Council meeting.

“I’m certainly looking at it,” he said in an interview afterwards. “If you can’t get volunteers, why would you expect another municipality to fight your fires?”

At first glance, reading the article it might seen that the Mayor has a point.

Mutual aid calls could require the city to call in workers on overtime. As the firefighter’s workday is 24 hours, that equals 24 hours of overtime.

Then reading the comments, it seems that the city is getting mutual aid as well as giving it. Another half-baked idea, half-correct story?

Very interesting idea but only time will tell. Would this work in the tri-state?

Full Article

Photo courtesy of CBS 4 Denver News

Other Articles:

Denver Post

CBS 4 Denver

Seems a bit like the variable speed limits they have in the UK. Basically on some highways, notably the M25 ring road around London, they adjust the speed limit according to traffic flow. Rather than the accordion / shockwave effect of people speeding up, then braking and causing more people to brake harder, they move the limit down. http://www.dft.gov.uk/itstoolkit/CaseStudies/m25-controlled-motorway.htm

One difference there is the number of speed cameras used to deter people from ignoring the limits. Basically, the registered owner of the car gets points and a fine if caught by a speed camera. Unless they can prove someone else was driving and then they get the penalties! Can't see that flying over here .....