jcoppola

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Posts posted by jcoppola

  2. Posted

    There has been some recent interesting correspondence between the City and the volunteer fire companies. I am not sure if all of it has to do with the "still memory-fresh" Long Ridge fire, but it seems that that may have been the catalyst.

    http://www.boardofreps.org/content/92031/92034/default.aspx

    Great reading, thanks for posting the links. I do not intend to sound sarcastic, but I think this is more paid vs. volunteer and who is more capable ideology. I think we have learned the hard way what needs to be done in North Stamford. This continues to be a never-ending pissing match with the true loser being the taxpaying public.

    Sending a chief away from a mutual aid department stinks of "turf-war"!!! Who in their right mind would turn away the experience of a staff of chiefs from a quite capable mutual aid department? And furthermore, if they have personnel on scene and operating, I think they have plenty of jurisdiction weather the volunteer chief likes it or not. It seems that the situation in North Stamford is pretty desperate, and if I and a crew were operating there, I would want one of my bosses to be there looking over matters as well.

    Again, one word..UNBELIEVABLE...that the mayor would tolerate this breach of public safety.

    Joe

  4. Posted

    Joe, take a minute and think *why* they are considered rival organizations. Where was this "rival organizations" language first used, and by whom?

    Now, don't take my comment the wrong way because I am all for volunteers and career firefighters being able to work together harmoniously.

    Would I accept training from SFRD? Certainly! I like learning. I like training. I like training HARD, and have always been a proponent for this. We have trained with SFRD before, and I for one would like to see us doing it again. I think we could both benefit and learn from each other. Training together makes us work better together when we are at an incident.

    One last thing. Call it what you want, but please stop grouping all the volunteers in Stamford together under one big umbrella. There are 5 distinct departments, with very different characterisitics and circumstances.

    Pat Kilbride

    The opinions expressed here are mine, and mine alone. They do not necessarily reflect the views of any other person, department, or entity.

    No problem Pat, but keep in mind that you are all a similar resource (volunteers) and like it or not, your actions reflect on one another and preception is going to be based on those actions.

    You speak for yourself in the comments about training and I know them to be true based on what I know about you. But that is not a general consenus among all the services and you know it.

    Joe

  5. Posted

    Tim, I appreciate your comments and they are good, but don't kid yourself, there is no love affair going on between the Danbury career and volunteer staffs. I think in thier case, the career chief is trying really hard to make them an assett because there are so many of them. In fact, they are being trained by the career staff training division. Would the Stamford volunteers accept training from the SFRD? I think not, in that most of them are now considered rival organizations. I have said it once and I will continue to say it...career and volunteer in Stamford will NEVER peacefully co-exist. In the case of Stamford, there are apparently not that many volunteers anymore, and the response to Long Ridge shows a case in point.

    I am sure many of these comments are going to peeve some people, but they are correct and I would not post them if I did not believe them.

  7. Posted

    Something needs to be done, before anything else happens. It doesn't make sense to me why they wouldn't just give it all up and let SFRD take over it's a little too late for "plan b".

    PCFD

    Didn't rural metro have a house fire about 10 years ago, that Greenwich had to go in for mutual aide? Also were there any similarities between the current situation in Stamford and the one that went on between rye brook and port chester?

    I doubt there are any similarities with the Stamford situation and ANY department in the region. I truly believe there is no solution. Stamford Fire will have to live with the fact that there are many vollie members who are "dug-in" and have no plan for stepping aside. Most of it is now pride over anything else, including delivery of adequate services. The volunteers need to learn to live with the fact that they are not the same as the paid department who has a ton of human and equipment resources and they will not falter, the tax base says so at the very least. These departments have enough capital resources to keep their doors open and their bills paid for many years, albeit in a very limited, skeleton-crew capacity. They will continue to be a thorn in Mayor Malloy's side for as long as they can. My opinion on this has remained consistent...if the volunteers cannot do it, then they need to rely upon those in the city who can and like it or not, that is the SFRD, represented by, again, like it or not, Local 786. It is appearing that there is a resounding theme that it cannot be done in many cases. Sorry, thats just a fact.

  8. Posted

    The public is indeed clueless about most issues relating to the fire service. They call we show up. It is our job to educate them to ALL the facts...objectively....to move forward towards a reliable, long term solution that is in THEIR overall best interest.

    That the initial manpower available for the Mill Spring fire was abysmal has given the VFDs of Stamford their one and only wake up call. I couldn't agree more that public safety is the absolute priority and as such a good hard reevaluation of the state of affairs is in order. As I've often stated, for continued volunteer coverage to be a viable or even acceptable alternative to career personnel then it is time for them to collectively to step up and devise a sound, practical and safe plan to ensure the necessary coverage...period. This time the VFDs by the grace of God and good fortune came upon a fire in which the occupants were safe....they absolutely CANNOT count on that being the norm.

    If staffing or responding personnel numbers are being falsified it has to stop NOW!!!! The first step in solving a problem is admitting there is one. If one house is short the others must try to contribute to keep staffing levels to at least the bare minimum or by somehow redefining mutual aid agreements and responses to provide the necessary resources in personnel and equipment.

    This morass just seems to get deeper and deeper, and the warning signs it seems are being ignored. The 5 VFD Chiefs need to sit down, burn the midnight oil and do whatever it takes to make sure this type of "lapse" does not occur again. You can rest assured "Big 5" Chiefs that if it does and God forbid there are civilian deaths/injuries you will all suffer the consequences and the volunteers of Stamford will be finished.

    Cogs

    Like a meeting of the "5 families"???

    Not likely.

  12. Posted

    Lets not forget Farve, threw 6 TD passes today.

    Please...the Jets beat a SAD team on Sunday who actually kept scratching their way back into the game. Lets see what happens when they start playing some real teams...oh, I forgot, they are in the AFC...there aren't any REAL teams. Lets face it, the only football game in town is the NYG Big Blue Machine, fed by a boatload of confidence and no respect from peers.

  15. Posted

    In a quite unsuprising turn of events, the NY Mets were eliminated from the post season once again because they just cannot get the job done when it counts. How much more do they expect their fans (including me) to take. Unbelievable...or should I say quite believable??? What could be worse than watching the Phillies and the Brewers in the playoffs? I know...the Yankees aren't there either. SO LAME

    Nice job Jerry Manuel and the 2008 Mets - CHOKERS

  17. Posted

    What is clear is that the volunteer fire representatives still see themselves as advocates for their own departments. The underlying theme of working as one volunteer unit; one Stamford volunteer fire department still is a foreign concept and "will never work here." I've said it before; unfortunately you are facilitating your own demise. If you work on the concept that "The city has forced this system down our throats" - OK fine, work out the legal BS in the courts. You may (and more power to you, the little guy) win the battle, but a Pyrrhic victory is one where the war is lost.

    Resources in money and manpower are lost, everyday, because each of the volunteer companies STILL see themselves as BFD, GFD, SFCO, TORFD and LFRD firefighters rather than STAMFORD firefighters!. How many times does this have to be said? At least the union firefighters can all say they are, even if they may not like their new patches.

    You make great points as far as utilizing taxpayer rescources responsibly and you know where I stand on that. One thing you need to remember and I still feel it a little, is the pride that these departments have instilled in their members. Speaking only for BFD, I know the level of dedication and pride most of those guys feel for the place. It is not as cut-and-dry as you suggest and the key challenge is to strike a workable, safety oriented and fiscally responsible deal, not one based on blackmail and witholding funds. I lost quite a bit of that pride when those guys got laid off, but as I said before, they are better for it now and they know it. I ABSOLUTELY HATED answering to a volunteer chief when I was emplyed @ BFD and I ALWAYS felt that my best interestes were the LAST thing on the chief's mind. That is no way to run a business or an orgainzation. And you all who know me know how sincere I am in this because the whole situation caused a lot of family turmoil, of which I never backed down (and still to this day don't)

    My 2 cents+

    Joe

  19. Posted

    I was interested to read the following on another website, it is a post made by a user calling himself "Downtowner" on the site, www.trashcandan.com

    Here is what he had to say:

    Interesting that he mentions that the upcoming consultants report should have language promoting this concept.

    Simply ridiculous, as this whole situation has proven to be.

    Keep in mind, the same consultant that Stamford is using recommended a third ladder truck and a sixth engine in Norwalk to be staffed as well as a dual rescue company with 2 personnel on each rig...do you think that ever came to fruition? Of course not. I would not hold much stock in the consultant report, all it amounts to is more spending that the cities are not prepared to accept.

    I believe the consultant is a company called Tridata? They also recommended a new fire headquarters for us...5 years ago.

  20. Posted

    I would put nothing past the City administration at this point, but a tanker stationed on Haig Ave. seems a stretch.

    Has any of this information been verified or even mentioned by anyone else..I mean this type of story would surely make the rounds if there were even a kernel of truth to it. And who's going to pay for this new facility? Even the most uninterested taxpayer would have to question a costly new facility when there are already at least 2 already in existence that would similarly fit the bill. Correct me if I'm wrong but the City owns the firehouses and their property (except LRFCo I believe) don't they, so why build a new building at all?

    If a consultant's study actually backs this idiotic, costly and utterly ridiculous proposal than I think an investigation of that firm and it's relation to Malloy and Co. would be in order.

    Just a rhetorical question to my VFF friends in Stamford to think about...what are you going to do if this is true?

    Best of luck and as always I stand with you all.

    As far as I know, Belltown FD Incorporated owns the property and the building they occupy on Dorlen Road. The city has absolutely no right to it

  22. Posted

    I did not want to put this in the Incident Alert section because I don't have a lot of accurate information, except what I read in the Connecticut Post, but a few days ago, a home in Trumbull was targeted in a home invasion attempt. News reports indicate that 4 perpetrators attempted to enter the home of a Trumbull man who allegedly sold a fatal dose of heroin to one of the perpetrators' relatives last year. The occupant foiled the attempt by slamming the door on the perp and notifying other family members/occupants and they all fled in a car which was quickly pulled over by Trumbull PD who, by all accounts did a phenominal job of bringing this to a non-violent conclusion. Weapons and duct tape were recovered in the car and on a nearby lawn. Perpetrators are being held on various high bonds and are being charged with various charges including attempted murder, home invasion (carrying a minimum mandatory 10 year sentence in CT in the wake of Cheshire), possession of stolen weapons and various others.

    You can follow this story on www.ctpost.com

  23. Posted

    I was home nursing a 1 month old recunstructed ACL surgery. I had the surgery on August 8, 2001 and was expected to be out of work at the FD until December of that year. I called my brother (FDNY L-40 at the time) to ask him if he was aware of what was going on. He said that he had just gotten to his apartment in Brooklyn from a normally busy night tour at E37/L40 and was going to get some rest. I instructed him to turn on his TV. He used a few expletives and hung up the phone. He obviously reported for duty and I did not hear from him until late that night. Not knowing his condition was hard, and the fact that I would not be able to help in any capacity was even harder. Like everybody else, I sat glued to a TV. Keeping my folks calm during the event knowing their son was at ground zero was no easy task either. But, my family was fortunate, and my heart goes out to the families of the "343" and I never will forget those sacrifices made during the biggest and most successful rescue effort in the history of the Fire Service.

    God Bless all those lost on 9/11.

    JVC

  25. Posted

    Joe,

    As I said RUMORS, but these rumors are the thinking of some...and not the ones who passed it on to me which is why I won't identify them. I will say this much the rumor mongers come from both sides of the fence and are obviously intent on stirring the pot. Now that all are aware that such BS is out there people can get a clearer picture of what's going on around them, and respond appropriately. I intended no offense, just information.

    The trouble makers will show thenmselves soon enough.

    Cogs

    I'm sure they will. I put no stock in rumors, there are so many conspiracy theories out there on this topic and all of them are 10% accurate at best to date. I really and truly hope that BFD can stay on the map in Stamford in a useful capacity, I hold out hope that they can. I need to put aside all of the feelings I have about what has been done there in the past 2 years and remember what a traditional place that has been and how many solid fire service careers it fostered, including my own and my brother's. I am sure there are 786 guys out there that know EXACTLY what I mean, because...they have been my friends and the ex-chief's friends for decades and we all received the same "education".

    JVC