16fire5

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.

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.

I am going to add my semi UN-qualified 2 cents. I have been an Empress medic for 28 years, and I am the VP of our Union, IAEP Local 20.
As for stability mentioned by LTNRFD (Mark, shouldn't you add "ret" after that name?):
When Empress lost the NR contract about 20 years or so ago, only ONE medic and ONE EMT changed over to the new vendor. Everyone else stayed, no one got laid off.
When Empress lost the WMC contract about 10 years or so ago, NO ONE left, and no one was laid off. It was a MUCH smaller contract then, only 3 providers 24X7. We got it back 3 years ago. Now it is 6 spots, 24X7 plus a lot of Txp's.
When Empress lost the MV contract a while back, NO ONE went to the new vendor, no one got laid off.
When Empress was displaced from the Harrison EMS flycar when Harrison started to be their own ALS rather than contracting, NO ONE switched over, no one got laid off.
There was a lay off about 20 years ago, which involved about 12 EMT's. ALL of which were re-called in less than 8 weeks, and in line with our contract. This was in relation to a company strategy to avoid serving clients that were far away and time consuming. I guess it worked.
I was speaking with a friend who began as a medic, like me, in 1988. He has been with TC from the beginning. I don't think Transcare existed in Westchester that early, so he may have come over from Abby.
He makes about $7/hr less than I do. I also get a $4000 annual longevity bonus. So about $18,000 annual difference.
What I did NOT ask is: what is his medical plan cost and coverage, how many paid days off does he get, and is there a retirement or 401K. My 401 K is well up in the 6 digits, 99% of which is Empress money from unused sick and vacation time. So it cost me almost nothing to accumulate that.
I guess my point is that there some stability. Never a medic laid off in company Hx. 1 episode of EMT layoffs and all quickly recalled with seniority as contract stipulates. Decent pay and benefits, but ya gotta work hard and put in your time.
One more thing, after age 50 (that's me this year!) and 25 years on the job (that's me already!) you can work 20 hrs a week and keep your benefits.

Obviously intelligent enough not to post in a public forum about the alleged incident.

Did all or some return to full duty?

Obviously intelligent enough not to post in a public forum about the alleged incident.

Obviously intelligent enough not to post in a public forum about the alleged incident.

Obviously intelligent enough not to post in a public forum about the alleged incident.

Obviously intelligent enough not to post in a public forum about the alleged incident.

I would rather have the "extra" guy on the floor. All day, everyday. Having a trained firefighter stuck in a room answering a phone and yapping on a radio instead of pulling hose is a waste of resources. Especially considering 60 control is there AND available to do the job FOR you.
Can you really look me in the face and say "I'd rather have firefighter Joe in the radio room and not helping us make the stretch down a smoke filled hallway because he really is more helpful to me on the radio than on the line." If so, you are whacked.

Isn't LFD obligated to respond as a signatory of the mutual aid plan? If there was a county wide paid or combination department and there was a large 4th alarm going on there would be empty stations throughout the county (hopefully done in a systematic way). I'm not saying consolidation would not be good it would but anyone who thinks a consolidated department would staff all the apparatus or stations that exist at this point to the current levels is fooling themselves.

Isn't LFD obligated to respond as a signatory of the mutual aid plan? If there was a county wide paid or combination department and there was a large 4th alarm going on there would be empty stations throughout the county (hopefully done in a systematic way). I'm not saying consolidation would not be good it would but anyone who thinks a consolidated department would staff all the apparatus or stations that exist at this point to the current levels is fooling themselves.

Wow That was painful to watch. blaring air horns and Mechnical sirens with crowds of people standing around. It's one thing to tap the siren a quick hit of the air horn. spraying water into utility lines, children and in one case a baby in the arms of a woman in Foam, standing in moving apparatus,
Remember your actions when your on the stand with your right hand up swearing to tell the whole truth to the judge and Lawyers. Everything is on video these days. Tradition or not Departments cannot conduct themselfs in this manner in 2015 for a multitude of reasons.
Please tone down the wet downs please. Couple of wedges, some refreshments, invite a member of the church to bless the rig?. Show off your equiptment to the taxpayers show them you can eat off the apparatus floor and prove that you can handle any Emergency that may arise in the coming moments. Get ready to use the new truck in the event of a fire in the next 10 minutes. Please honor your department not tarnish it.
With an open mind watch the videos and then ask yourself Is this ethical and professional conduct to the mayor, the taxpayer and the highest of tradion in the fire service.

I don't understand why both the lights and sires and the need for each incoming rig to spray down the new apparatus (I understand that this is a "wet down," but it seems a bit ridiculous in this fashion). It just makes more sens to me to have a bbq, invite everyone over, and have a little ceremony to put the new toy in service. I even like how some departments break a bottle of bubbly on the bumper in the same way you would christen a ship.

If the drones don't affect our operations, then why would we care? If your firefighters are distracted from the actual firefighting effort, you've got real issues. It's 2015, we're all on camera at all times, get used to it and be a professional- At All Times! If the drone poses a true hazard, then it should be addressed. I can assure you that if our firefighters thought spraying a drone was more important than putting water on the fire, they'd be on their way to being unemployed very quickly.

SCBA should not be on ambulances or police cars, unless the personnel also have all of the other PPE, training and minimum staffing (2 in /2 out) as required by law.
We have enough problems training EMT's to handle EMS calls. Instead of the extra 100 hours of SCBA training, learning MCI management and many other skills would be time better spent.
The reason I say this is such a bad idea is I got to listening to a police officer ask my partner to say goodbye to his wife and children before he was intubated. He donned SCBA (no turnouts) and entered a structure fire to search for victims. His partner vented some windows and the building flashed. The officer did not survive.
The SCBA was issued for hazmat and toxic gases (including CO).

So maybe you just need a more simplistic numbering system. The whole ladder size pump size numbering system is stupid in my opinion. I have heard people tell me well you know how long the ladder is or how big the pump is. When you hear them call mutual aid they don't ask for a pump or ladder size-they ask for an apparatus type. Rockland's numbering system is unique but it's in no way pragmatic. I believe in the most simple method possible. Fire Department + Type + number. Works fine in lots of areas of the country and no need for a decoder ring to figure anything out. Plenty of places type apparatus and inspect them which keeps departments from miss-classifying them.

So maybe you just need a more simplistic numbering system. The whole ladder size pump size numbering system is stupid in my opinion. I have heard people tell me well you know how long the ladder is or how big the pump is. When you hear them call mutual aid they don't ask for a pump or ladder size-they ask for an apparatus type. Rockland's numbering system is unique but it's in no way pragmatic. I believe in the most simple method possible. Fire Department + Type + number. Works fine in lots of areas of the country and no need for a decoder ring to figure anything out. Plenty of places type apparatus and inspect them which keeps departments from miss-classifying them.

So maybe you just need a more simplistic numbering system. The whole ladder size pump size numbering system is stupid in my opinion. I have heard people tell me well you know how long the ladder is or how big the pump is. When you hear them call mutual aid they don't ask for a pump or ladder size-they ask for an apparatus type. Rockland's numbering system is unique but it's in no way pragmatic. I believe in the most simple method possible. Fire Department + Type + number. Works fine in lots of areas of the country and no need for a decoder ring to figure anything out. Plenty of places type apparatus and inspect them which keeps departments from miss-classifying them.

Worry about the call that is, not the call that could be. Do you not send people you may need to that first call out of fear for the second call? No.

Trains stop at "Stations", we work in fireHOUSES
If you had a poor experience at any of the shops you visited, that's a shame. Remember, ya never know what kinda day they were having and sometimes the revolving door of visitors is hard to deal with. I'm not regularly assigned to work in Midtown, but I have on occasion and while everyone's happy to chat and entertain visitors, it's hard to get other work done and sometimes it's overwhelming.
I'm not trying to dissuade visitors, we welcome it. Shame there was a bad experience, ya just never know how that day was going...
As for the NYPost article, correct, the member quoted was not a "Probie". The NYPost, journalistic beacon of integrity, took some posts from the "FDNYRant" (which is the worst thing ever) for that article and called them "quotes".
All in all, some guys are not happy with the Open House, and I understand it, but it's a couple of hours for some positive PR on a Saturday. We'll live.

Gotcha!

Happy April 1st.

Funny, we wanted trailers but could not afford them, so we went with the tents. NYC did both. Most places have found while the tents are cheaper, they take more manpower to operate and they do not process as many people per hour.

A single department would have 1 set of SOPs. The initial alarm would get a standard alarm assignment. Maybe for this area 3 engines 1 truck and 3 tankers on the reported fire. When all the responding chiefs are members of the same department they would get assigned necessary roles as they reported in (basement division, division 1, safety, water supply).
A key to success is getting enough help there when it can make a difference. Too often the volunteer fire service in this area waits for a confirmed fire to call for adequate resources or runs out of resources on the scene and then puts the FAST to work and then calls for more help. In my opinion if you have a real working fire you should have at least one company standing behind you ready for assignment in addition to the fast. My opinion is that ability to forecast the incident needs and call for additional alarms early on comes with experience that is lacking for most volunteer ICs since they get kicked out every 2 years so everyone can have a turn as chief. As a young company officer I often though wow do we really need the second alarm that the chief just gave? We did. One of my first days as a Captain a well respected deputy chief visited me to give a little advice when i worked as an acting battalion chief. His advice was if the though of giving a second alarm even entered my mind he wanted me to give it.
As for this incident the factors involved seemed like a loser from the get go (basement fire and Colliers conditions) pulling the plug was the right move here and probably prevented injuries or worse.

I don't think two companies are typically called. In this case a daytime fire and by the IA we see the requesting department only got our half their rigs.