helicopper

The Putnam County Legislatures voted to appoint Adam Stiebling as Commissioner of Putnam County Bureau of Emergency Service and he will be sworn in Jan.1st

http://crimevoice.com/suspect-arrested-in-home-invasion-shooting-20538/
http://www.news10.net/news/article/222195/2/1-dead-in-Sacramento-home-invasion
http://www.examiner.com/article/armed-homeowner-shoots-intruders-while-children-have-sleepover
Despite being wounded himself, the homeowner maintained his composure and control of his weapon wounding all three of the suspects, one fatally.
I don't know why they targeted this house full of kids at the time but I'm glad the homeowner was able to defend them.

http://crimevoice.com/suspect-arrested-in-home-invasion-shooting-20538/
http://www.news10.net/news/article/222195/2/1-dead-in-Sacramento-home-invasion
http://www.examiner.com/article/armed-homeowner-shoots-intruders-while-children-have-sleepover
Despite being wounded himself, the homeowner maintained his composure and control of his weapon wounding all three of the suspects, one fatally.
I don't know why they targeted this house full of kids at the time but I'm glad the homeowner was able to defend them.

http://crimevoice.com/suspect-arrested-in-home-invasion-shooting-20538/
http://www.news10.net/news/article/222195/2/1-dead-in-Sacramento-home-invasion
http://www.examiner.com/article/armed-homeowner-shoots-intruders-while-children-have-sleepover
Despite being wounded himself, the homeowner maintained his composure and control of his weapon wounding all three of the suspects, one fatally.
I don't know why they targeted this house full of kids at the time but I'm glad the homeowner was able to defend them.

http://crimevoice.com/suspect-arrested-in-home-invasion-shooting-20538/
http://www.news10.net/news/article/222195/2/1-dead-in-Sacramento-home-invasion
http://www.examiner.com/article/armed-homeowner-shoots-intruders-while-children-have-sleepover
Despite being wounded himself, the homeowner maintained his composure and control of his weapon wounding all three of the suspects, one fatally.
I don't know why they targeted this house full of kids at the time but I'm glad the homeowner was able to defend them.

In a related story yesterday, Barack Obama signed an executive order raising the pay of Joe Biden, Members of Congress & all federal workers -- costing taxpayers $11 billion over the next 10 years.
The VP and Congress should get merit based pay (meaning they owe us).There are hard working federal employees who deserve raises, particularly if those federal workers include members of the armed forces.

Says Job of Destroying U.S. Economy Now in Congress’s Hands
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—The international terror group known as Al Qaeda announced its dissolution today, saying that “our mission of destroying the American economy is now in the capable hands of the U.S. Congress.”
In an official statement published on the group’s website, the current leader of Al Qaeda said that Congress’s conduct during the so-called “fiscal-cliff” showdown convinced the terrorists that they had been outdone.
“We’ve been working overtime trying to come up with ways to terrorize the American people and wreck their economy,” said the statement from Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. “But even we couldn’t come up with something like this.”


Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2012/12/al-qaeda-disbands-says-job-of-destroying-us-economy-now-in-congress-hands.html#ixzz2GUavavNy

Hitting the 2K mark certainly speaks volumes as to how well respected Barry is, not only on the Bravo, but in the fire service as a whole.
Rep points aside, Barry has always been a true leader in the fire service and a wealth of knowledge, always willing to share it.
Over the years, i may have "bumped heads" with you sir, but i've always had the utmost respect for you.
I enjoy reading your posts on any topic as they are always well thought out and full of facts and knowledge and i certainly enjoy your added sense of humor.
Congrats Barry and keep on posting!

The current Incident Alert template format has been in use for a while and we think it's time to review if there is a need for any improvements.
We are inviting our members to provide suggestions for updating our incident alert template. You are the ones who use it so it's important for us to get everyone's feedback.
For those interested, please submit your suggested version of an upgraded template.
Once we get a number of entries, we will then open a poll thread for our members to select which would be the best one for posting of future incidents.
Thanks in advance for participating!

Reminder: Chimney Fires should NOT be submitted as Incident Alerts per our long standing policy on the subject.

Review the guidelines and contact a staff member if you have any questions.

Thanks!

Reminder: Chimney Fires should NOT be submitted as Incident Alerts per our long standing policy on the subject.

Review the guidelines and contact a staff member if you have any questions.

Thanks!

As stated above, do NOT repost NWS updates in this thread or the shoutbox. It is counterproductive as that information can be accessed readily by other means. This thread is for OUR discussion!

What's going on these days? This tragedy and a WI police officer found shot and killed near a firehouse in Wisconsin early this morning.

LET'S BE CAREFUL OUT THERE PEOPLE! That's not just a TV quote anymore!

John - I re-read this whole thread, including my own comments, and I want to clarify - I was not bashing the YFD or it's men..although reading my posts it would seem otherwise. Not my intention.
I have always had the greatest respect and ADMIRATION for the YFD, as many know..I have seen some of the ballsiest firefighting, and most compansionate caregiving from your members duiring my tenure at Empress..I would love to one day go back, but as you posted, so many of us move on...But the YFD is nothing but professional. The first responder program has saved countless lives, no doubt, and I hope it does not go away...the residents of Yonkers are blessed to have it. I always enjoyed calls i would do where Roone, or Eddie R., or so many others were on scene, because I LEARNED from them.
I have an in-law who is retired from your job, and I love BS'ing with him about the 80's and 90's in Yonkers, even if I cant understand his hispanic accent when we have a few cold ones and he really gets going..LOL
Thanks for taking the time and energy to post the information you did - I know there are things you would rather be doing, but it shows your pride in your men, and the JOB.
Merry Christmas to you and the entire YFD...stay safe.

Part 3.
Disclaimer- my apologies for spelling and grammatical errors in previous and future posts- there is a lot to cover here and I don't have time or emergy to dot the i's and cross the t's- I hope I am making some sense to most of you nonetheless.
Here we go...I agree with the poster who stated that Empress is "clinically progressive" and who espoused the value of Empress' EMD pre-arrival instructions. However, I should point out that the "Haz-Mat Special Ops support to YFD" provided by Empress is done with equipment purchased with federal grant money (UASI and MMRS), and training conducted by YFD. The nature of this support is generally to provide a secondary technical decon only.
One point that was made by a brother YFD member, above, should be emphasized. Empress has so very many dedicated and professional members. However, the majority of these individuals do not spend the majority of their working lives in EMS, and particularly not with Empress, although some do. Many Empress employees move on to Fire or Police Department careers, elsewhere in emergency medicine, or on to other careers altogether. The Empress work force is nowhere as stable as YFD. This is just reality and I believe is pertinent. I won't give my opinion regarding the effect of a stable vs. a more transient workforce because it is just that, my opinion, and we all know what those are worth. However, these facts should be provided so that all of the stakeholders (particularly city residents) might be able to deternine relevance.

Part 2- Now, to some of the misinformation that has been posted on this site in regard to the YFD First Responder Program.
Misinformation response # 1. This work constitutes a large majority of our responses, or our overall work. This is not accurate. First Responder runs account for approximately 55 % of our incidents. However, each of these incidents requires the response of only one Engine Company, and the Engine Company is generally back in service in 20 minutes or less, sometimes longer of course. Obviously to anyone familiar with the Fire Service, the typical incident any Fire Department responds to (the other approximately 45% ) involves many more apparatus and personnel for significantly longer periods of time. A First Responder run with utilizing one apparatue and 4 Firefighters for 15 minutes is one incident. A 3 Alarm Fire utilizing 14 apparatus, other vehicles, and a total of 63 or so Firefighters for six or seven hours is also one incident, kapeesh?? Furthermore, the "workload" of a Fire Department is not only responses, but also the necessary training, inspections, cleaning, maintenance of vehicles, equipment, etc.
Misinformation response # 1a. Therefore, although the rumored elimination of the First Responder Program may (not my area of expertise) allow certain contractual minimum personnel levels to no longer be adhered to, it will not obviate the necessity to have adequate Fire Companies and personnel available for Firefighting and other emergencies. Sure, no FD is as busy as twenty years ago with fire duty, and certainly not as busy as 30 or 40 years ago. Nonetheless, fires do still occur, and adequate personnel and equipment is necessary for this. There is a very valid reason that similar sized city FD's all over the U.S., and in fact the industrialized world conduct First Responder Programs- the very nature of a Fire Department requires Firefighters and their equipment to be readily available for guess what, fires! However, this ready availability of individuals who are trained to handle emergencies and have apparatus to quickly respond allows city sized Fire Departments to have personnel available to supplement the primary EMS response with First Response capability. This supplementation is able to be done by Firefighters who, for the most part, will need to be there, available, anyway! The Firefighters do not get tied up with transport (generally), transfer to the medical facility, PCR's, cleaning the ambulance, etc. So, they are able to go right back into service as soon as the patient has been placed in the ambulance, or in many cases, sooner, right?
Misinformation response # 2. Oh, here's an easy one- we have 4 Firefighters per apparatus (3 Firefighters and a Company Officer), not 5. That is the manning we have had per apparatus for over 30 years. It's hard to understand how any individual who would purport to understand the situation in Yonkers could state that this is all about reducing manning from 5 to 4 per apparatus, or words to that effect.
Misinformation response # 3. The majority of these runs are nuisance runs. Well, that depends on what you consider a nusiance run. The fact is that if we know in advance the situation is not a true medical emergency, then neither the Fire Department nor the emergency ambulance service shoud respond, right? The problem, which has been studied at the highest levels for many years, is how to deduce from the initial phone call what is and what isn't a "nuisance call"..I don't know how to quantify how many of these runs that YFD (and Empress) responds to are not true medical emergencies, but admittedly the number is significant, as it is in EMS systems almost everywhere. No one wants to respond on any type of alarm where we are not needed, and as soon as someone can find out how to deduce true emergency from nuisance run every time, please let us know!
END OF PART 2 TO BE CONTINUED

Well, as someone who has been a part of the first response in the YFD for the past 22 years, I couldn't care less about what you Bull might find overdramatic, or what you Jack might find unnecessary and unprofessional. I've spent the majority of my career in SW yonkers and have seen good and i have seen bad when it comes to Empress. I, like JFlynn believe the 2 entities work well together (give or take a nut in a safari hat). But I believe the first salvo fired in this episode came from the bosses at Empress when they stated blatantly false response times in an effort to seize sole control over EMS in Yonkers, knowing full well it would cost jobs in the yfd, and worse yet, put the lives of the citzens at risk. So what would the main benefit be ? Greater profit maybe ? I don't know what was uglier , the false numbers being produced by Empress, or the roll the dice attitude exhibited by the city for the sole purpose of breaking contracts. It seems to me the Bosses at Empress were well aware of what the repercussions were to be had the first responder program ended . For the most part , the buses arrive in a timely manner, but I have witnessed 10 minute plus response way too often, and for Empress to tell the city that there would be no difference in service without the YFD is misleading at best. That to me is unprofessional. This, coming from someone who has delivered 2 chlidren , shocked and initiated cpr on too many to count, all because Empress wasn't on scene in a timely manner. Capt. Geo. Smith YFD

Hopefully NONE of my brothers on YFD will take the bait and attack the many dedicated and professional members of Empress such as this individual has attacked YFD. This is only one persons opinion. I have always felt that YFD and Empress line members work well together and respect each other. Us fighting each other is harmful to us all as well as to those we serve. 628s website post regarding Empress certainly was not an attack on Empress employees and I believe any reasonable, person would read it that way.
It is 628 s job to represent their members interests and this is what they are doing. They have not attacked Empress employees. Those who would try to spin this as an attack on Empress employees, or another union are doing so for their own reasons.
There are a combination of truths, half-truths and much untruth in this persons post. When I am rested I will respond to each point by point. Please my brothers on YFD as well as Empress lets stick to the facts and not get personal or unprofessional. This is what those who wish us harm are hoping for and expecting .

I don't believe that anything we signed on to do should be based on the perks we feel we are entitled to. The "I'm volunteering my time and should be rewarded" attitude is destroying volunteer FD and EMS organizations. Doing it because you want to do it and you like doing it for the right reasons should be the only reason you do it.
I can't speak for anyone else, but I am sure the majority in my shoes would echo this sentiment. I became Chief of my department because I wanted to opportunity to help my department better itself. I am given a car to help me do my "job" which to me means responding to calls, meetings, training, equipment pickup/delivery and other department business. When I know I will be out of town for an extended period of time (24+ hours) I always leave the car with someone else or keep it in town so it is available if needed. If we know there's a weather event happening or something else is expected that we planned for, I will even leave my car with someone during the 12 hours I am at work. The way I look at it is that the car is my department's - not mine.
The sooner all of us realize that what we do is for our organization and not for ourselves, the sooner we can make progress.
/Rant

Hopefully he (or she) "earned their way up the ranks" to get more than a truck!
If the truck is the motivation we are all well and thoroughly screwed!

We looked into this for our area and had a decent discussion with Mike Wilbur regarding these systems. It appears that while they may reduce some higher speed apparatus accidents, they often lead to more passenger car minor accidents at the controlled intersections. People who travel the same route think they can anticipate the light change only to be "fooled" by the light controls an emergency vehicle approaches Wilbur's thought, IIRC, was that all apparatus should proceed safely enough to come to a complete stop if other drivers do not behave. Of course this puts all the responsibility back on the driver (and officer), but really isn't that where it should lie anyway? We have seen a number of significant apparatus accidents at controlled intersections where both operators maintained speed as they were convinced they had the control of the light. Nonetheless, we did not proceed any further. Just our research, of course we have far fewer intersections than most, but a pretty decent traffic issue on the warm months.

Hopefully he (or she) "earned their way up the ranks" to get more than a truck!
If the truck is the motivation we are all well and thoroughly screwed!

Hopefully he (or she) "earned their way up the ranks" to get more than a truck!
If the truck is the motivation we are all well and thoroughly screwed!

Hopefully he (or she) "earned their way up the ranks" to get more than a truck!
If the truck is the motivation we are all well and thoroughly screwed!

Hopefully he (or she) "earned their way up the ranks" to get more than a truck!
If the truck is the motivation we are all well and thoroughly screwed!