Bnechis

#RyeBrook Mayor Paul Rosenberg responds regarding elimination of paid #PortChester firefighters. 
"To my Rye Brook Friends and Neighbors:
I want to bring you up as to date with a very important issue which has arisen in in the past 24 hours.  A shared fire services contract with the Village of Port Chester requires them to staff the Rye Brook firehouse with one “career” firefighter from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM daily.  In the event of a fire, they would respond together with numerous Port Chester volunteer firefighters.  
Last evening, as part of its budget adoption, the Port Chester Board of Trustees voted to remove the “career” firefighters from their budget, moving to an all-volunteer fire department.  When that happened, Port Chester put all “career” firefighters on leave, including the firefighter who was staffing the Rye Brook firehouse.  At that point, we made the decision to staff the Rye Brook firehouse overnight with Rye Brook Fire Department personnel.  
Despite Port Chester’s breach of contract, the Village of Rye Brook will ensure that the Rye Brook firehouse will be staffed around the clock while we consider all of our legal options.  As in the past, the Port Chester volunteers will continue to respond.
Please be assured that the safety of our residents is of paramount concern to us, and we taking every step to protect your safety. 
I will continue to keep you informed as events warrant."

#RyeBrook Mayor Paul Rosenberg responds regarding elimination of paid #PortChester firefighters. 
"To my Rye Brook Friends and Neighbors:
I want to bring you up as to date with a very important issue which has arisen in in the past 24 hours.  A shared fire services contract with the Village of Port Chester requires them to staff the Rye Brook firehouse with one “career” firefighter from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM daily.  In the event of a fire, they would respond together with numerous Port Chester volunteer firefighters.  
Last evening, as part of its budget adoption, the Port Chester Board of Trustees voted to remove the “career” firefighters from their budget, moving to an all-volunteer fire department.  When that happened, Port Chester put all “career” firefighters on leave, including the firefighter who was staffing the Rye Brook firehouse.  At that point, we made the decision to staff the Rye Brook firehouse overnight with Rye Brook Fire Department personnel.  
Despite Port Chester’s breach of contract, the Village of Rye Brook will ensure that the Rye Brook firehouse will be staffed around the clock while we consider all of our legal options.  As in the past, the Port Chester volunteers will continue to respond.
Please be assured that the safety of our residents is of paramount concern to us, and we taking every step to protect your safety. 
I will continue to keep you informed as events warrant."

It is clearly not a financial issue. Watch the village board meeting on their website.
 
1) they state they want to add cops
2) they state they failed to pass the tax cap override 30 days prior (as required by law)
3) they stated they can only add cops if they cut the budget elsewhere (since they can't legally raise taxes)
4) they started with a number of cuts, including the $600,000 in salary/benefits for the career firefighters 
 
now here is is the kicker.......
 
5) they included dropping the Rye Brook "payment" (with no explanation). This payment is approximately $1,000,000 for fire protection.
 
So how many cops can they hire with this math? $600,000 - $1,000,000 = negative $400,000. In other words, the village will have to come up with an additional $400,000 to fund the FD. 

There are NYS laws that require Police and Fire. But they do not define it. So if you have 2 volunteers and an Indian tank you can call it fire protection and you are covered.

The tax payers will not see a penny of savings.  This was not a cost cutting measure but a way to fund additional positions and raises without going over the tax cap and doing so at the cost of the 8 firefighters and their families. 

#RyeBrook Mayor Paul Rosenberg responds regarding elimination of paid #PortChester firefighters. 
"To my Rye Brook Friends and Neighbors:
I want to bring you up as to date with a very important issue which has arisen in in the past 24 hours.  A shared fire services contract with the Village of Port Chester requires them to staff the Rye Brook firehouse with one “career” firefighter from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM daily.  In the event of a fire, they would respond together with numerous Port Chester volunteer firefighters.  
Last evening, as part of its budget adoption, the Port Chester Board of Trustees voted to remove the “career” firefighters from their budget, moving to an all-volunteer fire department.  When that happened, Port Chester put all “career” firefighters on leave, including the firefighter who was staffing the Rye Brook firehouse.  At that point, we made the decision to staff the Rye Brook firehouse overnight with Rye Brook Fire Department personnel.  
Despite Port Chester’s breach of contract, the Village of Rye Brook will ensure that the Rye Brook firehouse will be staffed around the clock while we consider all of our legal options.  As in the past, the Port Chester volunteers will continue to respond.
Please be assured that the safety of our residents is of paramount concern to us, and we taking every step to protect your safety. 
I will continue to keep you informed as events warrant."

It is clearly not a financial issue. Watch the village board meeting on their website.
 
1) they state they want to add cops
2) they state they failed to pass the tax cap override 30 days prior (as required by law)
3) they stated they can only add cops if they cut the budget elsewhere (since they can't legally raise taxes)
4) they started with a number of cuts, including the $600,000 in salary/benefits for the career firefighters 
 
now here is is the kicker.......
 
5) they included dropping the Rye Brook "payment" (with no explanation). This payment is approximately $1,000,000 for fire protection.
 
So how many cops can they hire with this math? $600,000 - $1,000,000 = negative $400,000. In other words, the village will have to come up with an additional $400,000 to fund the FD. 

It is clearly not a financial issue. Watch the village board meeting on their website.
 
1) they state they want to add cops
2) they state they failed to pass the tax cap override 30 days prior (as required by law)
3) they stated they can only add cops if they cut the budget elsewhere (since they can't legally raise taxes)
4) they started with a number of cuts, including the $600,000 in salary/benefits for the career firefighters 
 
now here is is the kicker.......
 
5) they included dropping the Rye Brook "payment" (with no explanation). This payment is approximately $1,000,000 for fire protection.
 
So how many cops can they hire with this math? $600,000 - $1,000,000 = negative $400,000. In other words, the village will have to come up with an additional $400,000 to fund the FD. 

#RyeBrook Mayor Paul Rosenberg responds regarding elimination of paid #PortChester firefighters. 
"To my Rye Brook Friends and Neighbors:
I want to bring you up as to date with a very important issue which has arisen in in the past 24 hours.  A shared fire services contract with the Village of Port Chester requires them to staff the Rye Brook firehouse with one “career” firefighter from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM daily.  In the event of a fire, they would respond together with numerous Port Chester volunteer firefighters.  
Last evening, as part of its budget adoption, the Port Chester Board of Trustees voted to remove the “career” firefighters from their budget, moving to an all-volunteer fire department.  When that happened, Port Chester put all “career” firefighters on leave, including the firefighter who was staffing the Rye Brook firehouse.  At that point, we made the decision to staff the Rye Brook firehouse overnight with Rye Brook Fire Department personnel.  
Despite Port Chester’s breach of contract, the Village of Rye Brook will ensure that the Rye Brook firehouse will be staffed around the clock while we consider all of our legal options.  As in the past, the Port Chester volunteers will continue to respond.
Please be assured that the safety of our residents is of paramount concern to us, and we taking every step to protect your safety. 
I will continue to keep you informed as events warrant."

It is clearly not a financial issue. Watch the village board meeting on their website.
 
1) they state they want to add cops
2) they state they failed to pass the tax cap override 30 days prior (as required by law)
3) they stated they can only add cops if they cut the budget elsewhere (since they can't legally raise taxes)
4) they started with a number of cuts, including the $600,000 in salary/benefits for the career firefighters 
 
now here is is the kicker.......
 
5) they included dropping the Rye Brook "payment" (with no explanation). This payment is approximately $1,000,000 for fire protection.
 
So how many cops can they hire with this math? $600,000 - $1,000,000 = negative $400,000. In other words, the village will have to come up with an additional $400,000 to fund the FD. 

It is clearly not a financial issue. Watch the village board meeting on their website.
 
1) they state they want to add cops
2) they state they failed to pass the tax cap override 30 days prior (as required by law)
3) they stated they can only add cops if they cut the budget elsewhere (since they can't legally raise taxes)
4) they started with a number of cuts, including the $600,000 in salary/benefits for the career firefighters 
 
now here is is the kicker.......
 
5) they included dropping the Rye Brook "payment" (with no explanation). This payment is approximately $1,000,000 for fire protection.
 
So how many cops can they hire with this math? $600,000 - $1,000,000 = negative $400,000. In other words, the village will have to come up with an additional $400,000 to fund the FD. 

As a member of local 1971 [ retired ]   and a 44 year member of the PCFD . It's not about the firefighters it's about the community we live in and the safety of the residents  that now  are at risk . Most of you guys know me and know that during my career I had my share of fires over the years many and I mean many that I pulled up to by myself.  Many voll pulled lines off my rig and started to attack the fire before the rest of the rigs got there . Now that element is lost  We worked together well and that my fellow firefighters is what made our dept work .

Wow, I'm totally disgusted by this very sad news. In my 48 years with the Department I have always been proud of our reputation as one of the best Fire Departments in Westchester County. That reputation was earned by the dedicated service and hard work performed by the Career and Volunteer staffs working together. Sure we had our differences at times (some not so pleasant) but we worked them out for the betterment of the service. The Village of Port Chester has been very fortunate to have a Fire Department that has saved many lives and millions of dollars in fire losses over the years. The quick response of the Career Staff with Engines 58 & 59 and the superb firefighting tactics of it's dedicated Volunteers have prevented many small fires from becoming major conflagrations. Anyone in the Fire Service knows how fast uncontrolled fires multiply by the minute and therefore the importance of the quick initial response. In most cases that is what the Career staff provided. To the Mayor and Members of the Village Board, as a former Chief of this Department I'm appalled by this decision. You should be ashamed of yourselves for taking this horrendous action and placing the lives and property of the citizens in jeopardy. I hope your actions don't cause any hardship or sorrow to anyone involved. To the Career staff I wish you Godspeed in finding new suitable employment in your chosen profession. To the Volunteers watch your backs, you never know who's next on the hit list.. In closing I feel a list of how the Village Board Voted should be posted so the residents know who is responsible for this unfortunate decision.....

There are NYS laws that require Police and Fire. But they do not define it. So if you have 2 volunteers and an Indian tank you can call it fire protection and you are covered.

There are NYS laws that require Police and Fire. But they do not define it. So if you have 2 volunteers and an Indian tank you can call it fire protection and you are covered.

There are NYS laws that require Police and Fire. But they do not define it. So if you have 2 volunteers and an Indian tank you can call it fire protection and you are covered.

There are NYS laws that require Police and Fire. But they do not define it. So if you have 2 volunteers and an Indian tank you can call it fire protection and you are covered.

There are NYS laws that require Police and Fire. But they do not define it. So if you have 2 volunteers and an Indian tank you can call it fire protection and you are covered.

Agreed, but it's approximately $650 per responder

15 feet of soft suction is easy to fit. And there is plenty of room under the boom

Several years we traveled to the National Fire Academy and asked if they could develop a Chief Officers course,  they needed money to do this With help of Nita Lowey we got the money and the course was developed.
 Being from New York it was our desire to have the course, with necessary local additions made mandatory for Career newly promoted Chief Officers. We felt it made sense as we have mandatory recruit, in-service and First Line Officers training , then it suddenly stops at Chief Officers.
  Our next visit was to FDNY and had the backing of the then administration to present this course at Fort Totten, as long as we could secure a continuous funding source and it would be presented similar to the FDNY Chiefs course.
   The dream was any newly promoted career Chief anywhere in New York State would go for a months instruction to Fort Totten, Queens and take advantage of all the experiences afforded. Sadly, it never got funded and there was resistance to it, some even wanted to make it a computer course.. It was broad enough that it could be taught in other states at academies or regionally.
 For the Volunteer Chiefs it could have been taught at nights or week-end in like segments over a period of time, so a guy enters as a "Baby Chief:" would have the entire Course completed by the time he reaches the top position.
   Few folks get any training to prepare them for this rank and their experiences are not adequate for a position so different from previous assignments . We speak so much about safety, how about the guy running "the job" knowing what he is doing.
    If you like this shelved idea, contact the Office of Fire Prevention and Control in Albany and/or the New York State Fire Chiefs Association, see if this can be resurrected, again this is not limited to New York State, we just felt our State would be a logical starting point as we have State mandated training for all other ranks except this one.
 

The citizens there and in most communities have no clue about the local FD. 
 
They are much more concerned with the goings on at the yacht club and the golf club.
 
Sadly it is neither a hoax or an April Fools Joke.
 
Thier former city manager said it best when he described the department as: "Staffed for Failure"

The citizens there and in most communities have no clue about the local FD. 
 
They are much more concerned with the goings on at the yacht club and the golf club.
 
Sadly it is neither a hoax or an April Fools Joke.
 
Thier former city manager said it best when he described the department as: "Staffed for Failure"