moggie6

It's not so much as tradition but what gets the job done. I went out of the fire station one day and helped the guys from DPW toss the trash into the hopper. It's a work out. Then to get back into the truck to drive 50 feet.....kinda pointless. The DPW workers themselves know whats safe and when to get back in the cab of the vehicle.

Dear Partyrock,

Having just read your post I would like to take the opportunity to answer your questions. First thing’s first, in the fire service at any incident is our risk analysis and risk vs. benefit system. We will risk a lot to save a lot, we will risk some to save some, and we will risk nothing for what is already lost or cannot be saved. We also have our incident priorities: Life Safety, Property Conservation, and Incident Stabilization.

Now, when we first arrived on the scene as shown in the photos we had a garage that was fully involved in fire. So a decision was made by our on duty lieutenant to initiate a quick blitz attack with the deck gun above the engine. As this was happening I was stretching a 2 1/2 inch pre-connected crosslay. While stretching this pre-connect I noticed several dry chemical and CO2 extinguishers as well as a garden hose stretched to the front of the garage. So I took an educated guess that the fire had a head start on us and that the occupants had to tried to fight the fire themselves before dialing 911. After that initial blitz the 2 1/2 inch line was charged and I started to operate in front of the building. I noticed a small propane tank impinged by fire to the A-D corner and applied water to it as a member of Roosevelt made a quick grab and pulled it away from the building. As I started in towards the garage again with the line I noticed the ceiling was sagging. There were exposed beams that had no protection and I could see that the structural supports had been weakened by the fire. With this information we then all stayed out of the structure and continued to operate in a defensive manor. I believe that the right decisions’ were made by the powers that be.

As members of the fire service we will always temper our response to every alarm that we go to by utilizing risk vs. benefit. With this particular incident we did just that. We arrived to find a fully involved first floor with a heavy fire load, exposures and fire extending to the second floor of the structure. The building was not occupied upon our arrival per the owners. We followed incident priorities in regards to life safety, property conservation and incident stabilization.

At the end of the day the fire was out. All parties involved did an excellent job at getting the task at hand completed. I was one of the career firefighters and was riding as a passenger on 41-45. After the fire was knocked down the building dept had declared the garage unsafe and it should be knocked down by a large excavator in the near future. If you have any other questions please feel free to stop by our firehouse at 258 Violet Ave. in the Town of Poughkeepsie. We are a friendly group and there is always a cup of coffee for our guest. For now I hope this answers your questions and I thank you for the opportunity for the discussion.

Not to mention the small propane tank that was impinged by fire on the A-D corner of the structure. I have to say a job well done by all parties involved. Everyone went right to work when they got there.

Why not add some career firefighters to the dept? That way you won't have to worry about qualified people.