Bnechis

If a person takes the test and lives in a community that does NOT have a paid force, is he/she at a hiring disadvantage because of where he lives? What happened to "equal opportunity" employment? Could this be a cause for a class action suit?

Being a volunteer or where you live are not protected classes. Race, religion, sex, etc. are.

The courts will not touch this.

Uh, obviously he isn't right. A member causing this about of damage to his own company...clearly he isn't "all there."

Then what does that say about them having him as a member?

"Please accept my resignation. I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member". - Groucho Marx

http://www.firerescue1.com/arrest/articles/2050185-volunteer-firefighter-arrested-for-vandalism-at-n-y-firehouse

"New York State Troopers arrested 21-year-old Damean M. Kessler and charged him with second degree criminal mischief and tampering with physical evidence — two felonies — for alleged vandalism against his own fire company. Police say Kessler caused at least $30,000 in damage to the the Clarksville Volunteer Fire Company."

I was talking to a SFI, and asked about the ceiling simulator... He said for depts that don't have one (and very few do according to him) he said when they run the course outdoors he uses a decent sized tree branch, pulling it up and down.......

Do you need an NFPA approved tree?

Best of Luck in your retirement. You have earned it.

Now your job is to get every pension dime earned, so stay well.

If you think that New Rochelle FD's delay in getting their New Engine 22 is bad, take a look at the delay that Yonkers FD is having getting their 2 New Engine 303 and 313 from Ferrara Fire Apparatus and Neville Apparatus !! (The YFD bid was awarded back in March and Ferrara hasn't even started production on the 2 new rigs yet)

That may or may not be a delay. What was the build time on the contract? Not uncommon for it to be 6 - 9 months or more before they start

Is the new Engine 22 going to have a rescue-style body?

Similar to E21 & 23 (rescue body) with squad modifications

My guys NEVER park in front of a structure at a gas call. The image of that truck company crushed in front of the building still haunts me. I've seen departments who still do, and they really need to review this incident.

AGREED!!!

Besides when we leave the front open, the sector car has a great space in front and he does not have to walk far. Takes a while for the new guys to understand that and park up the block

He is asking when they are supposed to be done with the rig.

I know. The scheduled final inspection date was suppose to be 12/7. the prepaint inspection is normally 6 weeks earlier, but was 10 days later.

So you tell me when it will be done...your guess is as good as mine

in response to #1 as a volunteer I respond to fire calls, train, participatre in fire prevention activities, work with chiefs on SOG's, coordinate department training etc. What more does a career FF do aside from EMS ? ( Not being sarcastic)

A major part of what we do is code enforcement.

Every day we spend hours inspecting properties, educating the property owners and enforcing the NYS UFP&BC. This also leads us to having CIDS info for many occupancies. In my department that's over 12,000 man hours per year. As part of code enforcement we also do plan review, oil burner and oil tank instillation/removal inspections. This also means regular code training and building construction training re-inspections and occasionally going to court to enforce the code.

How important is this? 31 years ago this week 5 Buffalo FD members were killed in an illegal propane tank explosion. Proper code enforcement prevents tragidies like this.

EMS is another major component, which results in 50% of the service we provide and again adds training and in-service continuous training. A shoot of from this is we do a fair number of assistance calls where we generally are checking out then picking up the "I've fallen and cant get up" citizens. This leads to another program, the "Patient Assist Assessment" program which is a referral system where we evaluate elderly and other at risk residence and get them assistance such as home healthcare, special home equipment, and facility placement when needed.

Fire training as you say, but we also have to maintain full Hazmat/WMD tech training and Technical Rescue (rope, confined space, trench, collapse and water). This training is done both in house and with WSOTF (and 2x year with FDNY)

Also because of our call volume, our equipment and maintenance needs are much higher, so a good deal of time is taken up with this as well.

Their are other smaller items, but this is a major part of the difference

When is New Rochelle Engine 22 supposed be delivered?

When they finish building it

1) but we all do the same job so i thought.

2) so if any dept is that reckless abt not training then shame on them.

3) come on guys stop the petty bickering and go and train.

4) the volunteers look up to the paid guys and would love to be on the job one day so set an example for them be positive for the future of the fire service.

5) you know what start here right now paid depts in west reach out to a volunteer dept near you an invite them to a training night and show them the way.there.s a lot of experience typing away here.thats team work.

1) You clearly do not know what career firefighters do. Responding to fire calls is a very small component of what we do.

2) Then their is a lot of shame out there.

3) We do train, daily, its mandated.

4) I agree that some do, but based on most of the previous comments this is 180 degrees from what is being stated.

5) We have and have been rejected by so many depts. its unbelievable. I will not go into the details or depts. But I personally have been present when chiefs and fire commissioners have made it clear that they are very content with where they are and that they do not need or want our help.

get your little mind away from NYS FF1 for a moment and think about the analogy I made. The PD has what you want the FD to have and there is still maj I r disparities among police departments. Sorey I am not at yoyr level mentally but I try.

What disparities are their with the police dept.'s?

Every officer is trained in the same academy

Every supervisor has to pass the same test

The majority (if not all) are accredited agencies, so they all must have proper policies, procedures and in-service training

By that logic you would never drive yhrough Newark or South Central LA due to the fear of being carjacked. And by that logic all cities in Westchester would be equally safe because all PD have the same standards. Fact is its not all about who has the longest academy.

And if my FD is not on other towns 10-75 cards then I guess we will need to work harder and make ourself better which we do anyway.im in a department thats far from perfect but we have made a lot of positive changes

Do you mean the LAPD provides a different quality of personnel and service between one are and another? I am not say one community is safer than another based on the community, I am saying the difference is the service levels provided.

Actually the PD's do have the same standards, the conditions they work in are different.

Now a 2 1/2 story Queen Ann in Tarrytown and a 2 1/2 story Queen Ann in Yonkers or in Peekskill are similar, but the response to a fire in one is different in the 3 communities.

But the gang violence in the 3 communities is vastly different. So you are really comparing apples to oranges with your examples.

Since the every PD in the region has the same police academy it has nothing to do with the length of an academy, unless you are try to attack the career firefighters who also have the same academy time.

Finally, I may not have a choice as to which road I must travel on and which community it goes through, but when I buy a home I do.

I did not say, if you were not on their 10-75 card, I said if they did not trust you. Would you even know that?

Simple-everyone go back and worry about their own department.

That's all well and good, but Westchester is too small and interdependent to just have everyone worry about themselves. When was the last time the was a fire (outside of the big cities) handled by one FD? We work and depend on our neighbors all the time, so there needs to be some consistency.

while that might be true to some degree you learn what departments you can and cannot count on.

I was thinking about this for a while, but you answered it so well. So do not worry about any other departments, just your own, then learn which ones you can count on and which ones you can not. So I am driving through town X and their are a half dozen depts. if I crash, I need to know which line I should slide over so I might survive?

Or Dept. X has 4 mutual aid depts. 2 it trusts and 2 it does not, what happens when their is a fire in your district and one of theirs at the same time, And you only get the 2 you do not trust. Does the trust change when your dept gets a new chief. I have often seen new chiefs change mutual aid run cards?

Or what happens when the other depts. say the dept not to trust is yours?

Right, just look what happened to EMS when the government got involved with that. Definitely don't want that to happen to the fire service.

True, in our county, in dozens of communities they would throw you in the back of a police van or station wagon, with no attendant and no training a race you to the hospital. We had communities that actually turned down free ALS because "our community does not want trained EMS, they want a friendly face holding your hand in the back of our Ambulance" during your heart attack. Now ALS is mandated. EMT's are mandated....

1) i can tell how involved you and the unions are involved in this working against the local volunteers nice job guys.

2) remember all you say and do but 90% of volunteers make up the fire service.

3) and meny of us started out as a volunteer.

4) my volunteer dept is in good shape in training and is priority no.1! we respond with more FF.1 FF.2 then most dept.s do and take great pride the training we take in house and at the county fire training center and all are first aid CPR and AED certs.

5) the volunteer bashing has to stop guys.a county paid dept is not going to happen in westchester so lets train and get along.

1) So please tell, I have been active in both volunteer depts. and in the union and I would like to know because we have way more important things to worry about than that. My efforts have never been to work against VFD's but to get them to open their eyes and see that everything is changing and they need to change too. And if they do not they will fail. Its a big conspiracy....we meet late at night to cover up the Kennedy assassination and to destroy the VFD's...not.

2) Actually based on the latest figures put our by NFPA it has dropped to about 60%. And its been dropping by about 4-7% per year on a national level. Also consider that career depts. protect approximately 80% of the population of the U.S. and respond on 80 - 90% of the calls for fire service.

3) So did I and my former FD still calls me for advise thank you and I gladly assist them.

4) That's great. As you said, "more than most"....Then my comments do not affect your dept. but they affect many depts. that (career and volunteer) that do not meet the standards.

5) Its not volunteer bashing. Its pointing out substandard service and it does not mater if its vol, combo or career. I have nothing against volunteers, I have a lot of issue with those that fail to uphold their oath and failing to speak out when you know their is a problem is no different. Its to bad you can not see that.

1. If you knew me you would know I stand for progressive change within my department and have for years

2. Every FD career (see Secret List abt Hartford ( and volunteer has issues. My pt is dont limits your endless rants to just volunteers

3. Woery about your own department

1. That's great. If more members would, we would be in much better shape.

2. Yes we know, but they are different issues that need to be addressed in different ways.

3. I do, and spend a substantial amount of time weekly working at it thank you.. I have also been involved in training and consulting 100's of other depts. and I am sorry if I do care about other depts. and firefighters from other communities, even those that want to bury their head in the sand.

Face t some municpalites cant handle the expense of a paid FD. get over it.

While this is true, it's also true that some municipalities can handle the expense of a paid FD or at least a combination FD, but choose not to have one. That's fine if the VFD can provide an adequate, consistent response. Unfortunately, that isn't always the case. Part of the problem with this is the insistence by volunteers that want to be seen as "the same" as the career FFs and departments, but aren't actually operating on that same level.

Dont be part of the problem be part of the solution.

And failing to acknowledge the shortcomings/limitations that your department has and not working to address them is not being part of the solution.

Actually, the majority of suburban communities would save the property owners money if they 1) consolidated on a regional or at least a town basis. Why Westchester needs more engines than FDNY to cover a little more than a 10th of the population and in many communities to respond with only 1 ff per rig is idiotic. 2) Switching from volunteer to career actually saves property owners annual out of pocket costs. Since insurance savings are directly tied to your FD and the personnel typing/training. In my community we calculated that to keep the same ISO rating with 100% volunteers would require over 450 interior volunteers. In the meantime we are saving our property owners more money that the annual FD Budget.

To bad most people both inside and outside the fire service have no understanding of the economics of fire protection and always fall back to volunteers are cheaper than career. And they are, but only if you leave out the most expensive components of fire protections (the FD is the 4th on the list, even for career depts.)

You have no idea how involved some of us are in this. I also know how many depts. in this county can't get the most basic trained and staffed units on the road the majority of the time.

not at all you know everything not me but like i said i am done with this one.i hope you really dont believe there was 31 in the first 12min do you.i do have more respect for you than that.

Have no idea what you are talking about.

I am just going by the run card for apparatus and knowing what was dispatched and what the minimum staffing is on those rigs.

hey what about that fire in greenville the other night?how meny depts did it take to get enough man power to fight the fire?and how long did it take for the back up co.s to arrive on scene? the volunteers listen to the radio.s to.this has to stop you key board FF.s need better things to do.we can go around and around for months what a waist of time.get up and go train shut down the computer and go check your tools do something good with your time.i dont have the time in my fire house to play key board FF.SMH.AND GREEVILLE did a great job the other night not bashing the brothers at all.stay safe i am done on this.

Based on my count 31 interior firefighters in the 1st 12 minutes. and additional 24 interior within the next 12 minutes and another 12 in the following 10 minutes. Total of about 67 interior qualified firefighters in approx. 30 minutes (including relocates).

You do not know any of the career people here or how much training we do. I have time in the evenings to try to educate/inform. I have the time because I get to work every day in the fire service. I suspect I have more hours training others (plus the training I have received) than you will ever have.

If you do not have the time, then how have you been managing to spend it all here. But you know everything.

Oh, but I do. I worked in Greenburgh for 17 years, most of them under his regime.

And he is worst now than ever.

What he did to FFD's chief this past year is disgusting

This is why that state made this diagnosis presumptive. That means that the pension system considers this a firefighters illness and you got it at work unless that can prove you did not

I'm glad you said this. I know of a guy with a bad hip, can't even walk right let alone crawl, and he was allowed as interior...recently he failed his physical and was labeled an exterior firefighter only. What did they do? Why, make him lieutenant of course.

That's because most depts. refuse to acknowledge they no longer have enough qualified & capable members to perform the mission. They will make unqualified people leaders because they have no one that is qualified but this covers up for it.

Recently a dept in Westchester had one of its chiefs resign as chief, so at the monthly meeting the question was asked: "Does anyone want to be an Assistant Chief?"

Someone asked: "What are the Requirements?" The answer" "NONE"

No one took the position.

Is their a problem here?

How can any sane person accuse a "supervisor" of stirring the pot with the fire districts? LOL!

Easy, you need to know the supervisor.