16fire5

9 hours ago, FireMedic5315 said:

Arlington Fire District (Dutchess County) will be replacing its 32-11 and 32-14 with 2 twin E-one pumpers.  Final inspection was completed this past week.

 

http://www.e-oneinprocess.com/index.php/PUMPERS-01/140838

 

http://www.e-oneinprocess.com/index.php/PUMPERS-01/140839

Anyone know what the diamond plate boxes are for under the ground ladders?  Standpipe hose?  

So it's pretty common elsewhere in the country to have teams made up of volunteers to handle the rescues of lost hikers and the other tech rescues that present themselves in the parks that have become more common.  These teams exist in places where all the fire departments are fully career and they work together on responses.  

An example.  

http://www.malibusar.org/Home.aspx

When I first got on and worked in South Queens where there was lots of private dwelling fires and a fair share of vacant buildings this was very common.  The vacants then had the plywood HUD windows which the the chauffeur would take out.  The outside teams were very aggressive and operated independently.  So the ladder chauffeurs (who were very experienced firefighters from very busy trucks) would routinely take the attic window for VES.  SOP at time was to place the tip against the top of the window or wood and lower the stick.  It really wasn't that long ago but I feel as if we know a lot more.  First of all most people have embraced two in two out to the point that VES is done as a team.  As a firefighter in the Bronx we teamed up for VES (Roof and OV) and I thought it was better.  

Most importantly hopefully we think a lot more about coordinating ventilation and it's effects on the overall operation.  The fact is ventilation without water being applied to the seat of the fire is going to make the fire bigger and create flow paths.  So we need to think about why we do it.  If we're going to search for life we will need to isolate the area we are going to search or the fire is coming for us.  If we are going to VEIS we want to minimize the amount of air we are feeding the fire so we should not vent until we are fully geared up and in position.  To me this means facepiece on hood on on the tip of the aerial with your haligan.  This way you break the window, enter, find the door to the room, close it and search.  If you break it with the aerial and then climb up you have given the fire air for probably another minute minimum that will have a high potential of growing the fire.  I will be honest and say this is not how we used to do it but in the past 10 years we have been given some good information that we should use to refine our tactics and work smarter and safer.  Many say we are not thinking about potential victims when we refine these tactics but it's not true.  

If you're venting for fire then we need to have water on the fire and I'd argue it's not so critical that we need to use the tip of the aerial.  

I guess my point is that I'd rethink the tactic more based on our better understanding of fire dynamics (behavior) over concerns for the health of the aerial ladder.  

Nice article.  Mark's a real good guy.  

On 3/7/2017 at 8:07 AM, antiquefirelt said:

Also, while some FD's in CA run 42 hr weeks, many (most?) still run 56's? which is 40% more hrs. 

 

FLSA only requires OT for over 53 hours per week.  Some states in the north east NY included have a 40 hour work week for firefighters.  

On 2/27/2017 at 4:29 PM, provfd said:

 Now you know of 4 departments that do. 

I still maintain that no fire department in NYS works a 3 platoon system.  All work a 4.  The hours of their shifts get them to 40 or somewhere near.  So no I don't know any departments doing 24 on/48 off in NYS.    

On 2/24/2017 at 8:48 PM, dwcfireman said:

 That equates to 12 firefighters per shift, assuming a 24 on/48 off schedule. 

 

No one to my knowledge in New York does that schedule.  Firefighters in NYS work a 40 hour week.  With OT for anything more.  

10 hours ago, LayTheLine said:

 

Maybe a stupid question, but here goes: Does FDNY only send BLS to major trauma calls? From reading the thread, I get the idea that is the case. I'm not saying it's right or wrong if that is the case. In my neck of the woods, medics are always sent on major trauma calls (hand amputation, car accident, fall from 2+ stories) for two reasons:

 

1) On most trauma patients they do their best to get an IV line into the patient before the veins collapse and once in, they pump fluids into the patient.

 

2) Done less often but still an option, they administer pain medication for example if they have to realign a displaced ankle fracture where no pedal pulses are found.

 

The Major Injury call type is a BLS call in NYC as is Ped Struck and MVAs without more info.  I think this is based on the fact that the vast majority turn out to be BLS and there are limited ALS resources.  There are probably too many call types so and amputation and a long fall would get ALS.  They're moving to a new triaging system and they're attempting to work on the miss-classification.   

As to the IV interventions in trauma patients study after study shows this does not help and may actually harm the patient.  It really bugs me when I see transport delayed for it.  Anecdotally I find the experienced medics that I see and who I would like treating me if I was hurt bad never delay transport.  It's the same as the young guy on the roof who's going to cut the hole no matter what compared with the experienced firefighter who knows when it's time to leave or a lost cause.  

4 hours ago, M' Ave said:

Engine Co's are dispatched on all 1-3 coded runs.  

 

Eng. Co's should only respond to runs when Medics are assigned.  

 

While these statements were true a few years ago.  Engine Companies are increasingly being dispatched BLS calls.  The Major Injury calls are a good example.  They have added to the CFRD matrix a few years ago.  While the non-FDNY people on here will think yeah they should go on major injury calls, major injury calls are anything but major injuries and that's why they only send BLS.  Engine Companies have been increasingly sent on runs when the BLS unit reports responding with a delay.  In the grand scheme of things, this is nothing new the LAFD has used a matrix based on response times for a while.  The issue is the workload on some FDNY engines is pretty high.  My company has done well over 5K runs for quite a few years.  While it sounds great to work in a busy place and we do enjoy it, a company that is that busy as mine is is out of service over 20% of the time.  When people have real emergencies they have a 1 in 5 chance of the first due engine being unavailable.  

Mike was a nice, humble, very intelligent, professional fire officer.  

"All hands" or signal 7-5 (not to be confused with 10-75 are most frequently used when referring to structural fires.  But not necessarily.  You can transmit a 10-75 for a fire or emergency.  Gas leaks, manhole fires, brush fires, and other incident can and do result in the transmission of a 10-75.  As for the all hands when 3 and 2 are being used you are using all hands.  A reported structural fire gets an assignment of 3 engines, 2 trucks, and a battalion chief.  If the chief uses 2 and 2 and holds the 3rd engine fast it's not an all hands.  The scenarios with using 2 and 2 on the highway box don't constitute an all hands.  

As for the SOC unit response

The transmission of a 10-75 results in the dispatch of the normally assigned rescue and squad if available.  If the fire/incident escalates to an all hands doubtful a rescue and squad will be assigned regardless.  If a chief advises he used all hands and is under control they will not receive the SOC units and other specialized units.  

I'm sure this is still confusing and I'm not sure I'm doing it justice but I'll use and example of a working fire to show the units assigned and timing.  

Phone call reporting a fire in a building.  

3 Engines, 2 Ladders, and 1 Battalion Chief are dispatched.  

First engine arrives and finds a working fire and transmits a 10-75.  

4th Engine is assigned, 3 truck(FAST), additional Battalion Chief, and the Deputy Chief is notified

Usually at the first progress report the chief notes what he is using.  This is usually when the all hands is transmitted with the status of the fire Doubtful, probably will hold, under control.  

In the outer boroughs the vast majority of "All Hands" are transmitted for fires.  

https://www.amr.net/ruralmetro

On 7/3/2016 at 0:22 AM, gamewell45 said:

Then take the Village of Port Chester to task for misleading the public.  In the meantime I stand by my opinion that your term was divisive and was totally unnecessary.  It would be the same if I referred to interior firefighters as fire extinguishers since that is a major part of what they do; I doubt many firefighters would embrace that term; in fact I suspect many would take offense at it. 

 

If you find term firefighter objectionable when it's applied to Exterior personnel, fine but there is no need to be divisive; instead work for reform to legally change the titles if it offends you so much.  Being divisive accomplishes absolutely nothing positive.

Why do we need to change it legally.  Any lay person who hears the title firefighter expects the person to fight fires.  The NFPA does not define exterior firefighters.  With the exception of a few states (NY in that few) these members/personnel are defined as what they are drivers, support ect.  

I think it's a beautiful piece of apparatus and I'm sure it will serve the citizens of Stony Point well.  I really don't want to detract from the nice apparatus but there's one thing that bothers me and I see this all the time.  It's the combi tool in the bumper.  Let me be clear it's not a swipe at the idea of a tool in the front bumper.  I personally have little use for the combi tool.  It's a spreader and a cutter that doesn't do either nearly as good as the spreaders and cutters.  I'd either put a spreader and cutters in the front bumper or a cutter. 

Apparently the officer knew the Mayor had a suspended licence.  He was working in the adjoining Village and thought he saw him driving the ambulance.  He subsequently wrote out the tickets and served them.  The mayor said he wasn't driving it that day and the ambulance crew backed him up.  Maybe they listened to the dispatch tapes?  

3 hours ago, v85 said:

As far as the leadership issue goes. Commissioners are elected by the general public. So if anything it is the public who needs to pick better leaders. Although the fire service doesn't often inform the public that there are commissioners elections

How do we know the Commissioners didn't make the right decision for the public they're sworn to serve?  

It's my experience that even Volunteer Chiefs take an oath of office as they assume the job.  While some may see this as a formality many of of don't.  You're swearing to do the job to the best of your ability and protect the citizens and your firefighters.  You're not swearing to settle a score with the paid guys or use you power to carry out a vendetta routed in jealousy.   It's a well established fact that volunteer fire departments everywhere are suffering from a shortage of qualified volunteers and the average age of volunteers is steadily increasing.  I for the life of me can't see how any fire chief paid or volunteer could be doing their job to protect the safety of their members or the public if they support decreasing staff.  Having some fully qualified staff guaranteeing apparatus response and fully capable firefighters on scene for every response is something many communities and chiefs can only dream of and recently we're seeing two cases of these communities where the sworn leaders have gone on the record that cutting staff will not effect their department's ability.  I'd love to hear the argument of how having less members on scene or waiting for a volunteer arrive and drive a fire apparatus will be a benefit to anyone.   

I followed the links and checked out the forum in question.  The discussion on her was well before her death.  By reading the posts it's pretty apparent that they're fire department members.  The discussions were sickening.  

Rear mount Aerials

Generally less room needed to set up

The stick goes up fast-this is really nice when the person is hanging out the window on arrival.  

Tower Ladders

Nice stable platform to work from when opening up cornices and pulling off window bars or HUD windows

Much easier to remove trapped occupants when the angle of the aerial would be extreme or you have elderly or kids

You throw all your stuff in the bucket and ride it up freshly ready to work instead of carrying saw and tools up steep climb to 75' rooftop and then having to cut

The distance between the last axle and rear of the rig make navigating them in tight urban areas nearly impossible.  

The single rear axle baker aerielscopes of old were probably one of the most functional firefighting apparatus ever made with their short wheelbase and amazing versatility.  

Tiller's deserve a mention for their ability to get into prohibitively tight places and they have a great deal of compartment and ground ladder space.  

Been around a while.  It's heavily used in pocks of the country and growing.  While I don't agree with everything there's nothing else like it and it can definitely help get everyone on the same page for ICS and develop new officers.  The radio reports are too long to be practical with the complete read back.  I've seen it in my travels and places that use it like it.  

3 hours ago, FireMedic049 said:

The article you linked doesn't say anything about firefighters in pick ups.  It specifically mentions putting spare ambulances in service using overtime.

 

The CFR-D statement sounds like the reporter may be understanding something correctly.

At least initially the 2nd pieces of SOC Support Trucks were staffed and responding to EMS runs in the Bronx due to the number of Ambulance tours lost.  While to does not solve the transport problem it does prevent suppression apparatus from being tied up on the scene waiting for an ambulance.  Unfortunately there were only 4 of those units in the Bronx so they were not able to make a big difference.  

The NFPA's stats tell us that Career Firefighters (30%) respond to (70%) of the fires. Sure there are exceptions but for the most part this is true. As for this study no one should be surprised who commissioned the study. When people bring up Fairfax, PG, Montgomery Co. there are a lot of differences. Fairfax and Montgomery County although they have volunteers do not rely on them to the level PG does and the career numbers have increased there. In those counties for the most part they are the only department. Would that work in NY? As the law reads we could make super districts to cover large areas and probably provided excellent fire protection but by law cities need to provide their own fire protection.

So we see an increasing trend of full size pickups with caps for fire service command vehicles. I think the concept makes a lot of sense. My question is when using these rigs for a Paramedic Response Unit is there an issue with equipment being stored in the bed of the vehicle without heat? I understand that the vehicles are normally stored in a conditioned garage but emergency vehicles spend a lot of time out of quarters sitting at scenes and outside the hospital. The issue with fluids and medications freezing would be a concern to me. Is there a feature that provides heat to the bed? I know utility bodies used for paramedic response rigs will have heated compartments.

Poor kid. Horrible way to die.

Very interested in the training records for him and those in the fire with him.

Mind you, it could happen to any of us. Experienced FDNY guys have been found with air in their tanks and face pieces removed or regulators removed.

Sucks all around, for sure.

My understandings is there are at least 3 investigations.

NYS PESH. I'm sure they will be looking into the training records. They recently cited a volunteer fire department for not training their officers to a higher level as is required in the fire brigade standard.

OFPC. They were doing the cause and origin. Not sure if they looked at anything else.

NIOSH They are quite busy. That report will probably take a while.

We had a guy go from the top union spot to commissioner a few commissioners ago. He wasn't that popular but I can't remember ever having a commissioner or union president that was loved. We did have an awesome Chief leave a few years back and go one town north where he wasn't too popular but we got him back. I guess I'm just trying to say is I wouldn't read very heavily into ever gripe you overhear. Even the best leaders need to make unpopular choices every now and then.