Bnechis

One of the coolest Police Special Operations trucks I've ever seen. ( I know it's old news to some, but it's the first time I've seen it.....I didn't even know it existed actually)

X635, Please look this way

You never saw it, it does not exist. " The flash of light you saw in the sky was not a UFO. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus."

So is this risk worth the benefit?

"Depends, is your family member the one on the other side?"

The Benefit maybe to the firefighters widow, since I think you would not fair well in court.

You may want to look at what a UL inspector would do if he was asked to do the annual ladder test on that Arial, after seeing this picture. The ones I have spoken with have said if you use it beyond its designed limit, they will de-certify it.

1) 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.

2) 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.

1) Cost Effective? Really? While the pre-manufactured Butler style garage and living quarters is a cheap way to house firefighters, they are a stones throw from multi bay volunteer stations that refuse to allow the staffed units to be stationed with them and at the same time fail to get their fleet staffed during calls. so now you have multiple stations blocks apart covering each other. Total waste of $$$.

2) Thank god they don't. While I am all for regionalization. If one of the 59 local FD in Westchester can not provide an immediate response, they have a few options: 1. Work on internal issues to increase manpower, including shifts. 2. Merge with 1 or more other depts. 3. hire staff, 4. all of the above.

If a VFD in Westchester is unable to staff its calls it has options. Staffing career regional rigs is a Band-Aid they puts the financial burden on the county taxpayers and not on the local ones. Since my local taxes grantee a response to my house why should my county taxes go up to cover other locals who are unwilling to pay?

yes

It can take 6 - 12 months to certify a test.

It also takes at least a month to hire before an academy class. Interviews, medicals, drug and background screening, fitting & issuing uniforms & PPE, etc.

And that's assuming they are hiring.

Good luck, be patient and take lots of tests.

Also on many test if you are not a resident 6 - 12 months before the tests, your chances are 0

I'm not a cop, so I might be in the dark (pun intended) on this subject, so I have a question.

Isn't it really, really hard to sneak up on the bad guy if you are riding around with flashing lights that lets the perp know you are coming?

Bingo, DiBlasio does not want perps caught, because they are his biggest supporters

One key to HIPPA (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is that if you are not billing health insurance (including Medicare & Medicaid) you are not covered under this. I do not believe that ME's bill insurance for his services

It fits so they clearly took measurements. I always laugh when they get to the house with the new toy only to find out that it doesn't fit.

Then all of a sudden the firehouse renovatIon (or replacement) becomes a big issue. "We can't leave the new truck out in the elements without a 275,000 square foot, three story, nine bay, state of the art house to put it in".

Often that's the plan. We tell the municipality we need to modify, in some cases we give them years of warning, that the next rig will be a problem, then when it shows up too big, they scramble to fix it.

That is a rather "Tight Fit," if you ask me. Do they not take measurements of the bay into consideration when they purchase this equipment? Sounds like a dumb question I know, but you wonder?

Even if they took measurements, they are trying to fit the smallest "full size" modern engine into a bay that was designed for most likely pre WWII station.

We originally used them on our tour command vehicle, but every time it went out on I-95 to a call at the toll barrier they sent us a big bill and penalty for responding to the tolls and not paying. So we took them off and no more bills.

Both as horse drawn and as early motorized weight was a major consideration as they did not have the power to overcome the additional weight, but then something happened they most have missed here, in the 1930's we started building enclosed cabs.

During the 2nd world war, most depts. could not purchase anything as most metal was being directed toward the war effort. and immediately after the war there were still delays in the recovery. We found some depts. started buying them and then they disappeared until cities needed to cover the members for protection.

While that was a massive fire, the General Slocum was the "biggest" maritime disaster in NYC history

On June 15, 1904, the General Slocum caught fire and sank in the East River. At the time of the accident she was on a chartered run carrying members of a church group. An estimated 1,021 of the 1,342 people on board died. The General Slocum disaster was the New York area's worst disaster in terms of loss of life until the September 11, 2001 attacks and remains the worst maritime disaster in the city's history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_General_Slocum

I guess that FDMV likes to leave their "Retired" Rigs out in the back of Station 5 (AKA "The Graveyard"). I would bet that the Old Engine 2 and Engine 6, and the Old Spare Mack Engine 1 are back their along side the "FOAM RIG". Why doesn't Mayor Davis sell these retired rigs as scrap and get some money to put back into the Department (yes, I know you don't get much value back on these rigs, but heck, something is better than nothing !!!)

I don't think the issue here is money. He believes they do not need anything.

In the latest round of "does MVFD have enough firefighters?" Mayor E. Davis made a great statement to News 12;

"Their is only so many people that can work a fire"

http://westchester.news12.com/news/union-president-ernie-richardson-mount-vernon-blaze-highlights-understaffing-1.8998682

News 12 this afternoon and again this evening with three different reporters reported that Rye boarders New Rochelle. Since both are city's one can only assume that Harrison, Mamaroneck village & Town and Larchmont have been eliminated.

Its a good thing that news 12 is as local as local news gets.

http://westchester.news12.com/news/i-95-ramp-to-i-287-reopened-after-fatal-crash-in-rye-1.8989131

Even old fire trucks in NY can't consolidate......we are doomed....

Am I correct in saying this a separate event from the Cats Skill Fire Cats Truck Show at the Orange County Gov Center at the same time tomorrow?

Some of those "Supplemented by paid EMT/Driver" agencies are really "paid personnel sometimes Supplemented by a volunteer"

So it is closer to 50% of the agencies in the county are paying people for coverage.

If they did an analysis and staffed according to volume and response times instead of antiquated, arbitrary jurisdictional boundaries, there would probably be a great improvement in the level of service provided with no increase in costs.

If an agency pays for one EMT and can't get the second crewmember, they're really just pissing away money.

Too bad there is no oversight in EMS. NYS BEMS is a toothless tiger and the regional EMS councils don't do anything.

I agree with everything, except your last line.

NYS BEMS has teeth, they just don't use them. They have the legal authority to revoke a CON for failing to cover the calls. I think the state is concerned that if they start enforcing this, they may eliminate a vast majority of services.

The Westchester EMS council has tried very hard to address the issue, but is very restricted by state regulations as to what it can do. It also gets minimal support from the EMS community. What would you like it to do that its not doing, (that it legally can)?

And add Eastchester

Well Barry, as usual you have brought something to my attention that I wasn't thinking about. Minor parts truly could become a hassle as time goes on.

More than just a hassle, when rigs go out of service for up to weeks at a time waiting for a minor part.

Also have had to replaced cracked dashboards & engine covers.

Not really a problem... Unless the chassis fails just about everything else is standard sheet metal or readily available parts from Cummins, CAT, Detroit Diesel, Allison, Meritor, Eaton, Hale, Darley, etc. there wasn't much that was proprietary on ALF rigs after the 1980's.

Not true. We have been going thru many minor parts that are critical to keeping the rigs in-service. Door handles are a big item. if you can't close the door you are out of service and they are an ALF only part. Lots of other minor issues that are critical.

Also LTI components are an issue.

Yea?

Don't you know? hehehehe

The community generally determined the level of risk their willing to accept vs. the costs.

I find most "communities" haven't the slightest idea what level of risk they have. They do not know if the dept. is staffed or not. They see trucks parked in the station and they believe they are protected.

If the FD takes a week to respond as long as its not their home that is burning, they are ok with it.

And the costs in their mind is almost always too much. They want to pay nothing, because they know they will never need it. And they pray like made that the dept is well staffed, well trained and well equipped as they are dialing 9-1-1.

1) I wonder how many firefighters staff the engines. Why does the engine go out of service if it loses it's medic? If one of the engine's is down a rider and is out of service, then the other FF(s) just get to kick back? How about combining the out of service engine with another so they have one engine in service instead of (potentially) two out of service engines?

2) As was mentioned, our whole business is 'What If'. It's someone's job to balance this risk of What If - and presumably based on history, the administration decides this is the best value for the buck. How much is the taxpayer willing to risk? And willing to pay?

3) I don't know if Peekskill falls under NFPA 1720 or 1710 - it might be interesting to see how they fare with the appropriate standard.

4) Yes, Peekskill may be a time bomb - but so is hurricane preparedness, Indian Point, etc. Which is the bigger one? Personally, my money is on another Sandy.

1) they only staff with the 1 firefighter, so when he switches their is no one left on the rig.

2) Since the State has imposed a tax cap, with penalties on the community for breaking it, no one is going to spend more money to improve services, even if they know they are woefully understaffed.

3) I know of only a few in the county that even come close to meeting the standards.

4) how many depts. even prep for it? How many that have fire stations in the flood zone even know enough to get out.