Bnechis

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Posts posted by Bnechis


  1. 2 hours ago, x635 said:

    And some departments work 10 and 14's, with some guys having "mutual partners:, swapping shifts so they can essentially work a 24 oe 36 and have several consecutive days off.

     

    New Rochelle is comparable to White Plains in several ways. How many firefighters does New Rochelle have on a shift? @Bnechis

     

     

    As of January 1st it is 30. It was 27 for the last 15-20 years

    BFD1054, tglass59 and x635 like this

  2. 30 minutes ago, dwcfireman said:

    I don't understand why the city doesn't require a developer that would take the space of a firehouse to build a new firehouse either on the property or nearby.  If the city decides to de-map Cedar St. to give developers another 36,000 sqft, why not build a new firehouse there?

     

    **I understand that money and politics come into play on this, but I personally feel that taxpayers shouldn't be on the hook to build a new firehouse because someone wants to build another high-rise.**

    Reread the RFP. It requires the developer to provide it. Also the city can not de-map Cedar st. Only NYS can since it belongs to them.

    dwcfireman likes this

  3. 27 minutes ago, vodoly said:

     I have heard of their chief at the time actually tillering so Truck gets out But they have excellent plan B they can respond with thier squirt when short on tillerman 

    So if the chief drives, who runs the fire? Or does he park the truck and not have anyone doing laddering, FE, SAR, vent, salvage and overhaul?

     

    i am sorry but showing up with a one man squirt instead of a ladder COMPANY is not an excellent plan!, it's covering up a departments shortfalls so the public doesn't know you are faking it!

     

    save my baby! Save my baby! ...... I'm sorry ma'am but we brought the toy truck instead of the big expensive one that we told all the taxpayers we had to have to protect you. 

    Newburgher likes this

  4. 1 hour ago, bigrig77 said:

     

    So basically out of the question for all departments in Westchester except the cities. I do know how the rig works, but the point was that most places are not gonna hire another guy to the squads to man that seat.

    I'm sorry but if you can not staff a ladder with at least a driver and tillerman, then maybe you should not burden your community with the cost of a fully equipped ladder ($1- $1.5 M). Your ladder needs at least enough staffing to do truck work 


  5. 3 minutes ago, FireMedic049 said:

    Acceptable, NO.  Unfortunate reality for many, YES.

     

    Yes, but I bet that a 2 man crew arriving quickly, followed by an additional 2 man crew (or more) a couple of minutes after also outperformed a single 2 man crew and probably did at least as well as that 4 man crew arriving together minutes later.

    It maybe the reality, but that's the whole point of this thread. We have more apparatus in Westchester than FDNY, but more than half never goes out the door and the rigs that do are almost always understaffed. Maybe instead of maintaining 100's of unnecessary equipment, we need to worry about staffing.

     

    the point of the testing was to show that they did much worst. In fact the chances of survival for a victim was much better with a four man crew that arrived latter than two 2 man crews that arrived sooner.


  6. 5 hours ago, mfc2257 said:

     

    Assuming that another rig with more staffing was on its way, a rig with two is still better than none.  Establishing continuous water supply, throwing ladders to a known point of entrapment, extended walk around and size-up to the remaining incoming units, among many other activities can be completed by a crew of two and if nothing else, they're geared up and immediately fill out the "two in two out" requirement when the next arriving apparatus marks up. 

    While 2 is better than 0. This is not an acceptable response. Read the NIST studies that show a four member or more crew that takes minutes longer to arrive still performed significantly better than a fast arriving two man crew. 

    Morningjoe, dwcfireman and boca1day like this

  7. 18 hours ago, dwcfireman said:

     

    But I want to jump back to the OT portion.  When I took my economics classes there were a few points that brought out the fact that in many cases overtime costs are less expensive than hiring additional manpower (this wasn't fire service related, but just a general overlook into budgeting for personnel overhead, as overtime reduces the need to pay for another employee's benefits, healthcare, etc.).  Would paying firefighters overtime to fill a few extra seats during peak hours be effective enough to help mitigate incidents and prevent injuries?  Or do you think it may result in more injuries because firefighters will end up working more hours?  I know it's hard to say one way or the other because every department is different, but I'm just looking to pick peoples' brains to see what you and other may think of adding overtime shifts to help cover the busier hours of the day.

    You have brought up two different issues.

     

    1) is it cheaper to use ot? This one varies greatly. What is the union contract require? I have seen some that pay straight time for prescheduled "ot" others pay double time on Sundays and holidays. In NY some retirement tiers require pension payments for ot, not for other tiers. We have also found that seniority has a factor, if the job has mostly Sr members it is cheaper to hire, mostly Jr members and ot is cheaper, so it's fluctuating over time.

     

    2) You must define "peak hours". We are busiest during the day, many of these calls are slip and falls, alarms from workers, cooking, showers, changing co batteries, and so on. At night our volume drops dramatically. But the calls are more likely cardiac, respiratory, (I'd call earlier, but didn't want to bother you, so I waited till 2 am), drugs, serious mva's, and most working fires and almost all fatal and serious injury fires.

     

    also in some cases the contract requires 10 - 24 hour shifts.


  8. 4 hours ago, dwcfireman said:

    Unfortunately, given the times of doing more with less,

     

    Heck, even FDNY only has an extra person on a handful of engines!

     

    So where is the money going to come from? 

     

    Yes, we can do the job with three firefighters per rig....But we can do a heck of a lot better with just one more person apparatus.  We can do even more with a whole other truck!

    Let's look at these key points

     

    1) we have actually gotten to the point that we are doing less with less.

     

    2) it's not an extra person, it's the majority of companies are running with what the department standards say is sub standard 

     

    3) great question, but has anyone considered that the injury rates have exploded as manpower has dropped? What are the medical cost, the OT cost to cover the injured member and the increased pension and disability costs gotten us?

     

    4) The University of Rhode Island School of Economics did a study on the Providence FD about 25 years ago and determined that 3 man companies cost more than 4 man companies after one calculated the above injury costs.

    tglass59, x635, SECTMB and 1 other like this

  9. 7 hours ago, x635 said:

     

    That's sad if it's true. Then what good are they on EMS calls?  And doesn't the State reimburse the tuition fee for EMS exams?

     

    I know some departments, in the past, their Probies came in with a CFR cert from the academy. It's been several years since that point and the cert has expired, and the department has not invested in training and continuing education required to keep the cert up, yet still go on EMS calls. Firefighters wouldn't be allowed to go to a call without firefighting training. EMS training should be as respected and have parity with firefighter training especially if that's the majority of our call volume nowadays. I think removing the CFR curriculum for the academy is dangerous for the citizens they serve. Also, going with the antiquated CFR title, is useless nowadays. EMT is the standard from small rural departments to the largest cities. And again, EMT training can be fit into an academy class in a variety of ways.

     

    Also, I never thought about it. Do departments pay tuition for the Career Fire Academy?

    1) What good? In our case they are with 2 or 3 experienced EMTs. They get to start seeing what goes on and they get to help as a gopher. I find it makes a better EMS student when they can relate their EMT training to calls they are participating in.

     

    2) The state reimburses a portion of the tuition for EMT, but only if the agency has an agency code. They do not cover the cost of the students, the supervisors or the OT that's being generated by them not being in company. Also each union contract is different as to how they are compensated, if at all.

     

    3) if a department is not supporting on going CFR training, what makes you think that they will support EMT?

     

    4) yes each department pays approximately $4,500 per Probie. A very unfair practice to the taxpayers in communities with career staff. We get to pay for our career training and for the volunteers "free" training.

    BIGRED1 and x635 like this

  10. 15 hours ago, x635 said:

     

    But why not do it in the academy? EMT should be required to pass in order to graduate,  Logistically, it's easiest to hold one during the academy.

     

     

    But it is not a requirement in NYS. It is a job requirement on many depts. We have often had an experienced EMT in the academy, we don't need to have him retaking the class for 160+ hours.

    x635 likes this

  11. 2 minutes ago, Chkpoint said:

    I agree with above.  Not that I'm on fire service but I listen and read to what's going on around the county. I don't remember many instances where YO was in New Ro.  Usually New Ro goes to others on the list. I do t see any abuse here -like MV.  IC saw they had multiple structures and called. 

    Actually, the IC didn't call for all of it. Some was either offered from YFD or called for by YFD's BC

    INIT915, x635 and Disaster_Guy like this

  12. 1 minute ago, fire patrol nyc said:

    I was wondering if anybody noticed Yonkers sent 6 pieces of apparatus (2 engines 2 trucks 1 MSU and 1Batt.) to New Rochelle... not fair to Yonkers residents my self included...I have no problem with mutual aid...god knows we just had a big mutual aid....just spread it around...I know they put Batt 3 in service don't know if they replaced the line unites...anybody have more info?

    Is it fair to Yonkers residents when New Rochelle sends 3 units to Yonkers? Yonkers is 2.5 times the size of NR, 

     

    Also I believe this is the first time that many units were ever sent from Y to NR

    Newburgher, x635, INIT915 and 2 others like this

  13. The $200/per day is per serious violation.

     

    Another consideration is the liability of the violation. If their is any losses that can be connected to the violation. Look at the confined space deaths in Tarrytown, the village has fought very hard to make the violations go away, because of the potential wrongful death litigation that could come. Does not look very good going into court with a willful violation hanging over you. 


  14. 2 hours ago, SECTMB said:

     

    What I mean't by all the money is not a Dep't budget, which all seem to be inadequate, but all the money from one the highest taxed Counties in the Country. 

     

    And with regard to the M/A, they pay overtime which their budget can not sustain to fulfill a request to another town whose budget does not allow for proper staffing or send their only ladder out anticipating the arrival of a neighboring ladder if needed but what if the next closest ladder is already providing M/A to the same incident?  

     

    It this is what NYC adjacent fire services look like 15 years post 911, what will they be like 5 or 10 years from now?

    It's being wasted on massive duplication of services 

     

     

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  15. 22 hours ago, SECTMB said:

    With regard to firstdue's post re: M/A, I wonder how some of these paid departments, like Pelham and Pelham Manor, can possible provide M/A when they are

    so poorly staffed to begin with. If they send a ladder or engine out of town do they have one of their own to replace it or do they then have to rely on M/A. No

    rub on the departments, most of the paid departments operate below NFPA staffing which again for the umteenth time you have to ask where does all the money go?

    They recall 4 members to cover and they staff a spare engine. In the case of a Ladder, they use ma to cover. But considering the call volume and area covered, that's not really an issue 

     

    all what money? Their budgets are so low that they can barely pay for what they have. 


  16. On November 2, 2016 at 7:48 PM, Jake said:

    Boston would still be Scott if Scott hadn't just blown them off. From what I hear, MSA was much, much more responsive to their needs during this process.

     

    Reports are that BFD was accusing Scott for causing back injuries to the members and wanted Scott to pay the medical costs and disability costs. Apparently wearing the packs without the waist strap puts undue weight on the upper back. Well hello....if you use a product in a way that the manufacturer says you shouldn't, the liability falls on you not the manufacturer 

    x635, fdalumnus, boca1day and 1 other like this

  17. 7 hours ago, x635 said:

    And how would they hire?  An existing list? NY only gives the Firefighter exam only once every 4 years that locals can tag on. So, would they have to hire on provisionally?

    NY gives the testing at least twice a year. It is up to the counties or cities to schedule them. The "4 year list" is a bit of a myth. The four year lists are actually a one year list that is extended to its maximum allowable 4 years.

    x635 likes this

  18. As has been previously stated, each agency gives 60 Control a list of who it wants ALS and BLS. Also each agency has signed the mutual aid agreement, which gives 60 Control the authority to send mutual aid. Since the mutual aid plan once signed becomes a legal contract and since it clearly prohibits the billing of the county or the requesting agency, there is no requirement in NYS to have a bid, an RFP or other instrument.

     

    finally, you ask why all commercial providers are not given an opportunity? Beyond the list that each department gives 60, how many commercial services have CON's in Westchester? How many of them have resources in different areas in Westchester?