x152

Last time I took the test it took 3 years almost for results to come out. Plus its kinda obvious they only want Stamford Residents.

Yet, the people that have been hired off the last list have mostly come from communities other than Stamford.....

PXXXXE is six letters not five

Yes it is

As this is a proprietary component of Oshkosh/Pierce, it will be quite hard for any other vendor to supply this:

"Front Oshkosh TAK-4TM independent suspension shall be provided with a minimum ground rating of 24,000 lb."

Perhaps they should also include:

"All name plates must be oval and include a six letter manufacturers name that begins with a capital "P" and ends with an "e". Also, the vehicle must only be fabricated and assembled within the City of Appleton, Wisconsin."

Would you call an riflemans rifle just a tool? How about your bunkers? To answer my own question it maybe a tool, but it is also a symbol, a symbol of something much larger than just the rig itself.

I highly doubt you would call yourself a firefighter if you weren't riding around in a fire apparatus. While a wet down may be extreme, acknowledging that it is both a tool to use and a symbol of our profession, whether full-time or volunteer, recognizes the tradition and history of the department and the rig you are replacing as well as the history yet to be made by and with your new apparatus. We leave every call just as we came to it, on the rig.

When people see a FDNY fire truck with FDNY firefighters they are not seeing a 30 foot long piece of steel with a diesel motor filled with 5 guys, they see a trained department staffed and ready to respond to any and all emergencies. They see men and women ready and able to put it all on the line with pride in their hearts and skills in their head.

If it is just a tool, ride around in a Econoline with a fairy light, a portable pump, some axes and hoses, same thing right?

No, it is a tool.

Those that choose to elevate to something other than a tool, are usually the same tools that believe that racing around town with sirens and lights blaring while squirting water at each other is an acceptable way to demonstrate or use a tool.

The Sutphen SPH 100 at Truck 1 is one of the rigs affected by the recall. The new scope will most likely go there, but we plan on keeping the SPH and assigning it to another Truck once Sutphen has a suitable repair plan for their 5 section aerials.

Interesting to note that the new Boston Commish/Chief is promoting the 24 and down the coastline in DCFD, the former gem of a Chief was promoting the benefits of taking it away.

We switched about 10 years ago and heard many of the same concerns generated by those in opposition. Unfortunately for them, it was a fear of change that they were riding on more than anything of substance.

The primary "attack" lines are the cross lays above the pump panel. Those cross lays are lower in height and have normal height dividers.

If you are referring to the hose packs on the rear hose bed, the inside walls of the dividers were all notched to allow greater ease when reaching down to lay hose into the wells.

So it seems that even with all this consolidation talk, that Stamford placed a paid engine to respond within the TOR response district. It looks like it was done simply and cost effectively by using a pre-manufactured Butler style garage bay and an accompanying pre-manufactured home as the living and staging quarters.

So are both City and TOR dispatched together for all alarms with City provided immediate response and TOR coming in first of second due depending on staffing and call location?

I wish NY would change its rules and allow the County to do stations like this which would cover multiple volunteer districts to ensure that there is an immediate response to all calls while the local volunteer department assembles and responds.

Just to clarify, the Stamford Engines (8 and 9) have been responding from within the Turn of River District for more than 6 years.

Dispatch protocol is to send a career response to all incidents. Ex: medicals get an engine, Vehicle collisions get a career engine and rescue and structural runs will get 3-4 Engines, Truck, Rescue, and Shift Commander. The district volunteer department (Turn of River) is also dispatched on the initial assignment and may respond. However, the percentage of responses by them is quite low in comparison to many other VFDs and often with only 2 or 3 personnel.

Belltown VFDs Truck is also added to structural response into Turn of River's response area.

Stamford's new Engine 8 KME (1500 gpm/1000 tank) entered service last Monday evening.

The other new KME for Engine 1 (1500 gpm/750 tank) is in the process of being outfitted and will hopefully be ready for mid-September.

Both rigs are similar to the new KME at Engine 9 that went into service in the fall of 2013.

How bout this suggestion.....

Save your silly helmet cam for your next family trip and spend more time focused on getting water on the fire.

All of our new wonders in the service are more focused on crafting the next big fire/rock video for the annual banquet (which probably consumes 50% of the Depts annual budget), than learning the fundamentals of their trade.

I am fairly certain that the FEMA grant cannot be cherry-picked for funding.

If it looks like the City is not on a path to compliance, that would be a reasonable prediction.

The shell game would end up with 6 hires off the City list paid for by the second attrition grant, 8 hires off the vol list paid for by existing allocated funds that were previously allocated for the hires that were supposed to occur earlier in the year, and the larger SAFER grant being forfeited due to lack of compliance.

If we step away from all the noise and look at the numbers, there are too many obtuse moving parts here to form into an understandable pathway for funding using the FEMA award. Actual employee costs, available budgeted funds, ancillary new employee expenses and overall logic fail to support the originally outlined hiring "plan".

Perhaps I am wrong, but I no longer have the confidence to believe that those moving parts will play out to the tune of a politician's ego or agenda.

The irony of this whole debate may be that the FEMA grant that sparked this latest chapter, may never actual pay one cent back to the same people who championed it as the savior to this endless debate.

Check in with me in a few months and I will be happy to admit if I was wrong for thinking this way.

- There will not be any difference in pay plans. The 8 "special" hires will have the same pay and benefits as the other 6 (or more) hires off of the legitimate entrance list. The only difference with the 8 will be the entrance process (and all concerns with it) and a provision that allows the employee to chose to stay at one of the ToR Stations (something that is in clear violation of the current CBA and will be easily overturned by the Local's challenge).

- The FEMA Grant requires 24 hires for compliance. As of now, the City has only hired 8 for the grant. Existing personnel cannot count toward the intent of the grant. Existing personnel cannot be supplanted by the grant.

The City had preliminary approval to hire and funding for up to 8 personnel as of late winter. Candidates were interviewed, but never appointed. In May, the City was awarded an additional attrition grant from FEMA for 6 personnel. Those attrition grant personnel were hired off of the existing "legitimate" entrance list and prior to the appointment of the 8 off of the special list.

One could quickly see a problem for the City when they seek reimbursement of the grant funds if they quickly do not hire 16 more people for the grant. Since the additional hiring is very unlikely, it is quite possible that the City fails to yield one dollar of the original 24 FF SAFER grant.

Read between the lines and do the math, you can easily see the strategy in their financial shell game.

Also - there will be NO new units assigned to TOR Stations. The proposed changes call for Stamford Engine 8 to relocate to TOR Station 1 and Stamford Engine 9 to relocate to TOR Station 2. The existing Stamford career staff of a minimum of an Officer, driver and FF will continue to staff Engines 8 and 9.

Barry:

Sorry to disappoint your gotcha moment, but the two photos are worth two (2) words “ego preservation"

We could play the Google photo shoot game all day, but you may want to try and check the dates on your photos and compare with my prior statement and the definition of the word “current”.

Your photos appear to be several years old and not “current”, but if it makes you feel better about yourself.....you would have been correct about 5 or 6 years ago.

Not so correct, today.

Do I need to belabor this issue and post “current” photos too, or is it possible for you to ever be incorrect?

Have a nice day.

In any part of the world firefighters standing up during response is a disciplinary problem. I gaurantee that you have even deeper issues if this is routine in your FD and is against policy. Why have rules you don't intend on enforcing? Stupid unenforced rules result in undermining authority and respect. But I will say it's a lot easier when the rules must be followed to stay employed!

“Antique”... try not to re-write my position into some global insubordination issue, which it was and is not. I am pretty sure that I did not mention or discuss a epidemic where we have people “surfing” inside the truck while it is on a run. I did mention a personal belief that large open spaces tend to encourage movement. Perhaps this is not or has not been a problem for you, but if your Department feels the need to have a large open space cab on every one of your rigs, have at it.

As far as rule enforcement....We are a fairly human organization with humans performing the work. We can have every rule, placard, decal, slogan or Dirty Harry riding shotgun and it is plausible to recognize that not every member has the same attitude or values. If we can adapt a spec to meet our needs or beliefs, we will do that. If your beliefs differ, adapt as needed.

PS - For those using comparative Department specs to try and prove one’s point, you may want to double check the current specifications for Boston and Los Angeles apparatus.

It has nothing to do with being seated or not.

1) Even with seatbelts, some "standard" height roofs can have taller members hit their heads during an accident or hitting a bad pothole.

2) When exiting the cab, particularly while wearing SCBA & helmet, in a standard roof engine you have to stoop as you go through the door, which increases the chance of being off balance and falling. Being able to stand up straight to exit reduces this.

Remember back when we did ride standing up because we had true cathedrals.....No roof.

And its not the industry that is "encouraging" it, its the Fire service that's requesting it.

Barry:

Thank for your insight, but it has everything to do with being seated.

Perhaps in your part of the world, Firefighters always follow signage, directives, or you ride looking backwards, but my opinion is that a large open “cathedral” like cab encourages movement.

If we are intent on trying to reduce the “responding and returning” numbers with policies, we should also try to create environments that support the same policies.

I am fairly certain that we can still get there and do the job, without the cathedral.

If you need them or want them, great.

And let us not be so naive to believe that industry does not push the service, rather than the service pushing the industry.

I am guessing the new chassis name has been contained within their advertising campaign for the past several months “the LEGACY grows.."

Still can’t understand why the industry is encouraging cathedral-like crew cab roofs and our business end is trying to keep member's seated while in motion.

Sometimes it is like we are driving in different directions.

But, as long as it is shiny....right?

Pete:

I think we will both agree that “if something appears to be too good to be true....then it probably is not...."

In this case, far from it.

TR:

I would disagree with the idea that the author of the grant should be complimented.

Success should be determined by sincerity and accuracy. What I read was completely disingenuous with regard to the fire service response system that has been in place for more than five years.

Any welders looking to relocate to the beautiful Nesquehonig area, this is your chance.

I really don’t believe debating the dating or timing is the biggest issue at stake here.

Pete:

I’ll withhold comment for now, but as an FYI and clarification:

The SAFER application that was submitted by Turn of River Officials was completed at the end of August 2013, signed on 08/30/13.

That would place the submission 9 months AFTER City residents overwhelmingly voted for the charter changes.

Stay tuned, this will get interesting.

Because we felt is was time for a change and most did not have a favorable opinion of the previous look.

I would expect to see pics of the first of the two split tilt cabs for the FDNY order to start circulating soon, the cabs are well underway.

As 635 stated, KME has filled large orders for LA City and LA County.

The body is not the challenge, the cab design and requirements have been the delay.

Slight correction, 1500 pump, 1000 tank, 30 class B foam.

Additional deliveries for E8 (1000 gallon) and E1 (750 gallon in late Feb/early March.

You can still get tickets online all day and I would encourage people planning on attending to buy the tickets in advance.

We have a good amount of tickets already sold in advance and this should be a great evening out!

The Avon is a classic and perfect venue to watch BURN. Even if you have already seen it, this is a great spot to see it on the big screen.

Ticket site: http://burnmoviestamford.eventbrite.com

Thanks Seth! Last minute ticket sales are good and we could be over 150 in attendance.

If you are planning on coming, PLEASE purchase your tickets in advance on our web site at http://burnmoviestamford.eventbrite.com ! It is quick, easy, and painless.

Everyone is invited over to Butterfield 8 immediately after the show for a post-screening party. Mention BURN and a portion of your tab will also be donated to the Foundations.