E106MKFD

I would like to refer my answer to the top line of your profile picture.

I know the question was specifically what ONE thing rookies should know. Unfortunately it is not that simple. When I teach I try to emphasize they need to learn to follow the Marine Corps philosophy of "adapt, improvise, and overcome." In addition, whenever I teach a probie class, I hand out something I got from Lt. Tim Klett of FDNY many year ago he refers to as "The Four Ups" which all firefighters, career or volunteer, should take to heart and live by.
“Listen Up”
“When you are first starting in the fire service, there is a lot going on. You are entering a culture that is unlike any other one on this planet. You will hear stories, tales and just plain B.S. But listen carefully. That is our past talking. All of the information has value….Listen to the older, over-the-hill, past-their-prime, malcontents, for the little ‘pearls of wisdom’ that aren’t in any textbooks. A lot of important information that will help keep you safe and alive on the fire ground is not written down. The fire service is very young. We are losing our experience. The firefighters that went to fires during the war years are slowly retiring. Talk to them before they leave. We are losing our history, we are losing our past. Don’t let this happen.”
“Clean Up”
“The firehouse is your second home. Treat it as such. And if you are the junior firefighter working, you are the lowest on the totem pole. You get the dirty work….This is based on the fact that all the junior people before you did it, or should have done it. You do it until the next probie (comes along). It is part of belonging, it is doing what you should be doing. And it is always pretty funny, because in my experience, the ones that piss and moan about doing the chores usually end up doing them by themselves for a long time. But the ones that just do it…usually find that they have help. They become accepted into the “family” a little quicker.”
“Step Up”
“Be involved in your company and in your department. Attend company functions, help run them if possible….Become a productive member of your Company. Above all, go to funerals and services, especially the line of duty ones. Pay your respects. Become a part of the fire service by deed and not by mouth.”
“Shut Up”
“Spend more time listening and doing than talking about it. Show by your actions and your deeds what type of firefighter and member of this great Brotherhood you are.”

Just as it was told to me...short and sweet
Have big ears and a small mouth.
As for the why, well you can't learn anything if your lips are flapping and as a new guy it's your job to learn

To hire "Competent" Individuals who actually care about the Job!

Another year where we all go home safely at the end of the day.

Photos from Armonk's structure fire 1-3-14
Photos courtesy of msm232




Photos courtesy of msm232

This is the same Lake George that invites fire trucks from all over the state of NY to flock to their town for a parade?

Congrats to FFPCogs, EMTBravo's January 2014 MOTM.
FFPCogs has been a member of EMTBravo since 2008. He regularly contributes knowledgeable, insightful topics and posts. He is serving in Afghanistan, yet checks in on EMTBravo almost everyday. He routinely shares very interesting accounts of what's going on with his work overseas, as well as contributing insight to other topics in a positive way.
FFPCogs is just one our many, many excellent and dedicated members who are deserving of this recognition, and we will continue to recognize these members every month.

A couple of points (and not fully directed to you):
1) Statistically speaking, the 19 Arizona LODDs are an anomoly since we typically don't see single events with that many deaths. Subtracting them from the 2013 total you listed of 101, last year is on par with 2011 and 2012 in terms of total LODDs and the 5th year in a row under 100. This is kind of significant considering we spent 19 of the 22 years prior to that over 100 annually and that for many of those years post-incident onset deaths where not counted like they are now.
2) I agree, our LODD total is too high.
3) Although I wouldn't describe the discussion about Ellenville as "ranting and raving", we can discuss that situation and numerous others while also working to reduce LODDs. It's called multi-tasking and a lot of firefighters are pretty good at it.
4) Before we can truly make any progress on reducing LODDs, we have to identify and understand what is causing them. I repeatedly see posts in forums and comment sections trying to insinuate that what they perceive to be "unsafe" fireground operations (including non-LODD incidents) as the reason the annual LODD total is what it is.
Looking over the USFA stats for 2011 and 2012 and as best as I could decifer some of their coding, the 2 year averages for LODDs are as follows:
* During training - 8
* Vehicle related - 12.5
* On scene medical related - 10.5
* Post incident - 17
* Other, non-fire related - 21 (Includes on-duty medical related and on scene, non-fire related trauma)
* Traumatic fire related - 15 (These are the ones in which the fire or building kills us)
5) What that data tells me is that the "problem" is not predominately related to how we (collectively) fight fires. This doesn't mean we don't have stuff to learn and practice to keep this number down. To me, it means that the areas in which we need to be more focused are our health and apparatus operations. If we can get fitter (which should include keeping our most vulnerable members off the scene) and stop crashing our apparatus in the same ways over and over again, we should be able to make a sizable dent in LODDs and OTJ injuries.

Peer and self help groups can be an invaluable tool in helping people cope, but those groups should meet behind closed doors. The internet is not the place to share some things, and personal turmoil or stress stemming from one's service definitely top the list. What EMTBravo or other such sites could offer is a guide to finding such groups.

While this looks like a good way to determine what is spent, it is very deceiving. What is in each budget may not include many items.
As an example when doing a comprehensive budget comparison of 2 depts. a few years ago:
Dept. X had 30 career members and a budget of $16m
Dept. Y had 50 career members and a budget of $12.8m
Now both pay similar salaries, so in theory Dept. Y's budget should have been about $29-30m.
So how is this possible? Dept. Y's budget did not include the following:
Pension ( Paid from the HR Budget)
Health Insurance & other insurance and medical costs (Paid from the HR Budget)
Fuel, Fleet maintenance, Station maintenance, Utilities (Paid from Public Works Budget)
Hydrant Rental/Cost (Water Dept.)
Fleet Replacement (Capital Budget)
Computers & phones (IT Budget)
Contract Fees (legal Dept.)
Grants (Development Budget)
Without understanding the budget its a meaningless number.

Although there are no pictures of the completed unit/s. This was on the news the other night. Not sure if many have seen it. Houston will have mobile stroke units staffed by a doctor, nurses, and a paramedic. I think it's a pretty cool concept. Can't wait to see them.
This video is on YouTube via the Frazer Ltd channel.
Not sure if the imbed worked....sorry if it didn't.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GpVP2RYlXyY

I agree with you. I have been in the fire service for 25 years now and have been a level 2 firefighter for about 15 years. I am a Haz-Mat Tech Basic, National and State certified fire investigator, and I have a training file about an inch thick or more...yet a guy fresh out of FF1 gets 1st asst chief...
I take pride in the fire service and try to uphold the traditions and laws, but its hard when you are one of the few that do that still. I remember when a FF fresh out of basic had to wait to be addressed before they could speak at meetings and such, or when I as a Junior Firefighter had to stand at attention when the chief walked into the room. When senior firefighters spoke, everyone else shut their yaps and listened or got slapped upside the head. When an officer gave an order at a fire scene it was carried out regardless of your training or experience...you did it (unless it was blatently dangerous). Today...these young members get FF1 and start to get big heads and big ideas and visions of glamour and fame and they run their mouths at drills, calls and meetings, disrespect senior members and officers....I even had a guy argue with me in front of the home owner while pumping out their basement...ARGUE with me?!?!?! One of the senior guys/fire commissioners yelled at him and said "a senior fire officer has given an order and you will follow it!!!"
Its getting dangerous...in my area there are MULTIPLE chiefs under the age of 25...But if those of us that can make changes all left the department, who will be left to make the necessary changes and fight for the tax payers and people that call 911? So I guess thats why I am staying, maybe lay low for a few months, then start to poke into things that will anger people...LOL

Interesting Story about a Frequent flyer in DC.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-womans-number-of-911-calls-prompt-city-to-request-that-she-be-given-a-guardian/2013/11/08/85f9d428-4897-11e3-bf0c-cebf37c6f484_story.html?hpid=z1

Cant forget the good old Utility 13 1998 Ford F350/PL custom box

Date: November 27th 2013
Time: 2321
Incident Type: Working Attic Fire
Location: 595 Millwood Road
District: Mt Kisco
Units:
Mt Kisco FD: 2281, 2283, E102, E103, E105, E106, Rescue 31, Tower Ladder 14
Bedford Hills FD: 2031, 2032, Tower Ladder 57
Yorktown Heights FD: Ladder 51 (Relocate)
Chappaqua FD: 2063, Engine 146 (Relocate)
Chappaqua EMS: 54-B-1
Westchester EMS: 45M2
Westchester DES: Battalion 16

Description: Fire in the heating duct work in the basement of a 2 Story wood frame 75x30


Updates:
2336 - PD reporting active fire in the basement
2339 - 2281 requesting 10-75, E106 to pull in the driveway
2340 - IC requesting Rescue 31 to shut down the road, utilize the light tower
2341 - Fireground 8 for all responding units
0006 - IC reporting Fire in the heating duct work has been extinguished, under control, investigating further
0011 - 2031 and the Truck back in service
0015 - IC releasing Chappaqua engine, E103 & E105 back in service
0027 - EMS returning to the scene for a subject with smoke inhalation.
0054 - All units in service with the exception of 2282 and Rescue 31

Stellaris has not been dissolved, it is still in place as a shared services entity, rather than a parent corporation, for the four Stellaris hospitals. Westchester EMS remains one of those shared services. The four hospitals have committed to continue utilizing WEMS as their transport provider and transfer call center. That commitment will continue whether WEMS is part of Stellaris, or if it becomes a stand-alone company in the future.
WEMS is working with Somers FD on their transition to 60-Control and will continue to serve the FD and citizens of the Town of Somers as long as needed. WEMS will then move our dispatch operations to our headquarters in Mt. Kisco.
Scott T. Glaessgen, EMT-P
Operations Supervisor
Westchester EMS

Engine 626 can contract with Port Authority of NY/NJ

https://www.facebook.com/Engine626

Congrats to the newest class of 60 Control dispatchers!
Sal Astarita #668
Chris McGee #669
Alex Camacho #670
Mike Cyrulik #671
Alex Dennett #672

So based on that you should not boil water in the back of your Type I, II or III ambulance before flipping it over and dunking it in water.

Unless I am mistaken it is administered by DCAS as a promotional exam, as opposed to an open competitive exam. Hence the use of the term. I believe I see your problem with it, that EMS is considered a stepping stone as opposed to a separate career track. But personally it doesn't bother me at all, especially when the article is exposing the fact that standards are being lowered for a select group of people in a way that has a negative effect on the safety of those on the fireground.

I wish more women firefighters would speak up about this. It doesn't matter to me what someone's skin color is, where they came from, what religion they are, or whether they're male or female. What matters is being able to do the job and if you can't do it then you should be treated like everyone else. I'm sorry to be rude but she should not have been allowed to graduate.

You're comparing TDMA on a commercial cellular network to TDMA on a public safety grade P25 system...apples and oranges. Judging by your post, you've likely never experienced a P25 Phase II TDMA system with an APX radio. I have with Rockland's new system, and the fact is that Phase II TDMA with the AMBE+2 vocoder actually has better audio quality than Phase I FDMA with the IMBE vocoder. That's what it really comes down to, the quality of the vocoder determines the quality of the audio, and AMBE+2 is much improved over IMBE. Is the audio quality as good as 25 kHz analog? Of course not, no one is arguing that point. But for you to talk about signals on cell phones being bad, and somehow making the case for that being directly comparable to a P25 system, misses the mark.
No one is arguing that point. The NFPA has been warning against the use of both digital and trunking for fireground communications for years, and with good reason. Fireground communications should follow the KISS principle, and should be analog simplex, period. Rockland is leaving fireground on UHF simplex, and I suspect so will Westchester. It sounds like you're under the impression that interior ops are going to take place on a digital trunked system...that is not the case.
It cuts both ways. A well designed trunked system can actually improve coverage in some cases. How many times have guys been on portable on one of those "basic systems", and they're all static because the signal can't reach the receiver 5 miles away?
If we're going to have a discussion about these digital systems (which aren't going anywhere, by the way), let's at least be fair and deal with the facts.

It was never about space. We met with DES and the engineers when they were developing the current system and they told us the system would not work in our area and it clearly would not meet our needs. So we went out and developed our own system and they were correct it works better, even with mutual aid.

http://www.firehouse.com/forums/t69591
http://www.dec.ny.gov/regs/4080.html#13593