AFS1970

I am lucky to serve with the Sgt. Major's brother in law Jack Conatay @ Horry County Fire Rescue In Myrtle Beach. What I can't understand is that our President & commander and chief did not attend the funeral @ Arlington....Maybe he had an early TEE TIME! Semper Fidelis Sgt. Major Gallagher...

Date: 10/25/14
Time: Approximately 1700
Location: Forbes Avenue (IAO Gateway Oil Terminal)
District: Engine 5's First Due (East Battalion)
Units:
Signal 73 - 1st Alarm: E5, E17, E4, T3, SQ1, Emergency 1, Car 33 (East Batt. Chief) Signal 22 - 2nd Alarm: E8, E11, TL-1, SQ2, Car 32 (Deputy Chief - Shift Commander), Car 50 (Mask Service Unit), Car 36 (Dir. of Training/SO) Special Call: Car 39 (A/C Operations), Car 44 (Foam Unit)
Description: Fire in a transformer station adjacent to the Gateway Oil Terminal. Defensive operations until power can be shut down. United Illuminating, Gateway Terminal and CT DEEP responding. I-95 closed (Northbound and Southbound) due to its vicinity to the fire.
1809: Forbes Ave Command requesting NHPD to provide police escort to UI representative due to traffic volume.

I think ESU cops know what ESU cops need and there for we'll defer to them to decide what vehicle fits them best.
After that....we went off the rails. I think this has run it's course.

It's amazing what you can do with an excellent recruitment and retention program, along with excellent training. I'm presonnaly not familiar with Buchanan, nor this particular fire for that matter, but all I have to say is good job to the BFD!

To clarify. The County did not refuse to dispatch the METU. I requested it and was advised through the proper dispatch procedure that the vehicle was not yet placed in service and that it was not available. This is no different than any other fire apparatus or ambulance. The County did coordinate the dispatch of two Bee Line buses in its place. Many of you need to climb out of your glass house and visit the real world. Stop posting and spreading rumors before knowing the facts.

In my opinion giving these 'hints" that its an "A" patient or "E" or whatever, causes crews to be come more lax in protecting themselves on all the other calls. You should be just as cautious on every call. How many patients do not know or will lie about it?

It is a ridiculous rule no matter how you look at it.
No matter what code you come up with, it will be broken or leaked by noon on the first day.
Or the code would be so inconclusive as to be meaningless or so complicated that anyone who needed to use it would be stymied by it.
This memo was put out to make some boss feel good about himself. It is meaningless in the real world.

I am guessing they were minors and at the scene complained of something or said yes when asked. Cya they go unless a guardian come to sign

An answer to a question that no one asked.

If I were an African American, I would be insulted by a court decision that declared that the written and practical exams for the job of firefighter discriminated against people of my race. I worked with many dedicated African American Firefighters during my career and all of them scored high enough on both parts of the exam to be appointed and were proud (justifiably) of their accomplishment. Many went on to pass one or more promotional exams during their careers. The fire service needs only the best of the best (regardless of race, sex or religious beliefs) due to the nature of the job. Candidates who need to be recruited (begged) to come and take a written test that now could easily be passed by a grade school student are a hazard to civilians as well as the Firefighters who are forced to respond to dangerous incidents with them.

Like I said, I agree it should have been municipal employees not a contract service.

Lets see: Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, CT State, FDNY, Yonkers, Boston, Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, DC, Fairfax County and Detroit all use civilian dispatchers. But for some reason it won't work in Danbury? Come on...
I agree they should have went with municipal employees supervised by uniformed police/fire supervisors who can make snap decisions instead of a contract service. That I won't argue. But come on, let's be serious here. There is no reason not to go with civilian dispatchers.

Problem is you don't just answer the phone. I have been a FD dispatcher for 25+ years. I answer a four line phone. I handle 5 different radios.. After hours I also handle Public Works & ANIMAL CONTROL CALLS. You also have to enter data in the computer for the call as 24 of the 27 depts. I look after have text messaging besides the paging system. Also when the call is done forms are filled out and emailed to the department at the end of the call. Plus you have to have some experience in knowing the areas that are covered. We have some alarm companies that monitor buildings and they don't usually know or want to tell you the department that covers that area so you have to know or have knowledge of the area. The coverage area is about 1300 square miles or about 4000 square kilometers.

Danbury is just the latest to be looking at this from entirely the wrong standpoint. With any job, but more so in the emergency services, financial concerns can not be the only factor looked at. However any time there is a move to civilianize a job, be it dispatcher, records clerk, parking enforcement or even jailer, it is always brought up that it will be cheaper. Very often the field units complain because the penny pinchers don't understand that you get what you pay for. You want cheap, you can get cheap, but don't look for qualiy also.
At least in this setting it looks like the private staff will be in a Danbury owned center. I am generally against privitization because even when it saves money it often includes hidden cost increases and is often hard to switch back from if it does not work out. I have heard of cities privitizing and selling off all their equipment which makes it very hard to get rid of a bad contractor.
As for the certification issue, the state has a class for dispatchers. It was originally an 80 hour class that they bought from A.P.C.O. but as times changed they dropped it to 60 hours and then I think down to just over 40. There was allot of stuff in it that you just didn't need, but in my opinion it isn't enough. Syaing that it is just answering a phone is pretty much like saying that being a cop is just walking around town and beign a firefighter is just spraying water. Each job has it's specific challenges and each job is diferent enough that there are few if any direct comparisons.
How interesting that if this is just answering a phone and anyone can do it, that when it was field personnel they needed to get extra money to do it, but now that your wife / kid needs a job this should be done for half the money. I have an idea, why certify drivers as firefighters? I can hire a guy with a CDL for less than a firefighter, after all it's just driving a truck.

We've seen the SCBA straps, cylinders and mostly the masks suffer damage from flashover training. We had to replace several masks from it. My suggestion (and by no means am I an SCBA expert) would be to have your vendor assess the cylinders that appear discolored as a precaution. The straps and other components may need to be checked as well, unless you feel they can make it to their next routine annual/biennial test.

OK, So whos up for an EMS exercise. Lots of comments have been made, none of them very positive. So if you are an EMS agency Capt, Chief, or training officer etc. and your agency would be interested in participating in an EMS led exercise or just taking part in some face to face general joint training events, please let me know.
Capt. Jeffries
Empress EMS
SOD

I am generally unopposed to Monday Morning Quarterbacking. However, on this one I am hesitant. I do not know the whole story here, the assignment for that piece of apparatus, what the engine driver was trying to accomplish, or most importantly, where that rig went after the video ended. I hate the bullish mentality that many firefighters develop these days..."we are the fire department and we can do whatever we want." It is my belief that there a lot of overzealous idiots in this business who think its "cool" to force a door for an automatic alarm, break every window in the house for an incipient burn in a rubbish can, or push someone's car out of the way because they want their engine 10 feet closer to the fire. That said, I have 2 opinions on the mater:
The first opinion is that the engine doesn't belong in front of that fire to begin with! The only thing that would be achieved in this instance would be that the engine would block needed access for a ladder truck that should occupy the flanking position on the corner of that building. After all, we can always add more lengths of hose, but we can't add another fly to the ladder. That engine should be parked out of the way somewhere down the street and the amount of hose needed should be pulled to the fire building.
The second opinion that I have here is that I do not know the specific assignment of that engine and therefore cannot say that pushing those cop cars out of the way wasn't justified. If there were guys screaming for water and that engine was assigned to hit the plug, then maybe it was urgent that they squeeze by to get water to the attack engine. If there were people hanging out of windows and the ladder truck was behind them, maybe they needed to get out of its way. I don't know??? But I don't think that waiting 30 seconds for the cop to move his car would have made much of a difference in the grand scheme of things.
My strongest opinion on the matter is that there are plenty of young and impressionable firefighters who read this blog who should take the actions demonstrated in this video with a grain of salt. There are many potential negative outcomes of performing a risky maneuver like the one in this video:
1. The two cars being pushed could have turned sideways and completely blocked the engine's access to the fire.
2. The car being pushed could have struck the engine's tire, flattening it, and leaving the engine unable to reach its destination.
3. The cars could have jumped the curb and taken out an unseen hydrant compromising the water source needed for the fire.
4. The actions of the driver could cause "bad blood" between the fire department and police department resulting in endless headaches during future operations.
As the previous post stated, "sometimes we have to do a little damage to get the job done." BUT DON'T GO LOOKING FOR IT! This should be viewed as an unfortunate event that should be avoided at all costs and not a great opportunity. There are far too many people (morons) in this industry who will think that this video "awesome." So I don't think that we should be cheerleaders here to feed those with an overly aggressive mentality.

I'm just pissed off beyond belief at Paul Feiner's words (Quoted below). See my reply a couple of posts above, as my comments are still relevant to this latest self-serving crap coming out of his mouth.

Maybe this bullet fragment this woman claimed hit her wouldn't have been an issue if she hadn't bought a brand new million dollar house that they tore down an entire forest to build and not done her homework to see that the shooting range was there before she moved, and before she was even born.

Below is the link to the police report regarding the shooting range.
http://www.greenburghny.com/Documents/Pistol%20Range%20Redacted%20Investigative%20Report%20with%20Photos,%20Ballistic%20Reports.pdf


And this is his commentary on the matter. I get pissed off just posting it, but it just proves my point about when he doesn't like something personally, he railroads it out, and usually affects businesses that have been in the community for decades (like Mickey's Hot Dog stand on Jackson Ave- there for decades with no problems that he tried to force out before public out roar -note it was down the street from his million dollar condo community- as is the shooting range):

This past June a woman complained that she was struck by a bullet from the Westchester County Police Revolver and Rifle Range on Ardsley Road. She had a small abrasion on her knee. The gun range had been leasing the property from Con Ed for many years. Con Ed terminated the lease this summer and the range has been shut down.

I received the attached police report from the police department earlier today. The investigation found that some of the fragments that had ben tested "cannot forensically confirm" that content came from the range. However the investigators found numerous rounds and lead fragments outside the range. The complete report and photos of the fragments that were found outside the range can be found in the report.

If you have a budget you must stay within, the money man is just a waste, unless he will nitpick every item, then he is a major detriment.
I have sat on committee's for career, combo and volunteer depts. and if you have a target amount and/or a max amount you are set.
Many committees I have witnessed have no clue what the process is and spend time on everything but what is important...i.e we don't care how much water actually flows through it (as long as the plaque says xxx more than some other dept). But we spent 20 hours debating if the blue light should be on the left and the red on the right or the other way around. (and it takes 5 minutes to change the lens so what difference does it make)
The other big mistake I see is "we want it exactly the same as the unit its replacing but 30 years newer" ...... Does that rig perform the way it needs to? "No, but we still want the new one to be the same". In 30 years have you ever used the front suction with the shiny cap on it? "No but we want it on the new rig so they look the same".

Talk about a misleading headline! Nowhere in the article is there ANY evidence of "rampant misuse of sick time" yet it IS mentioned SEVERAL times in the article that the concern was mainly about swapping of shifts. Commissioner Finn made it clear to us that his main goal with this pilot program, scheduled to run until the middle of August 2015, was to ensure crew continuity. Prior to the start of the program you had guys doing straight tours (10/14 off, 10/14 3 off), first day back (14 off, 10/24 4 off) & 24's (24 on 48 off, 24 on 96 off). This is designed to eliminate the variances. Swaps are still allowed, only now you cannot owe more than 70 hours or else your ability to swap will be halted until you go below that threshold. I've already swapped two of my 24's this month due to family obligations, I've also paid the tours back so I'm at 0 as far as owing hours. Since sick time will still be taken in either 10 or 14 hour increments, I'm not sure how there will be any reduction in the "rampant misuse of sick time". The Globe does NOT like us as has written MANY negative articles about us. As always, consider the source.
And we DO go to work & not abuse the s*** out of the system. Do some research before you cast aspersions!

I'm more interested to hear the real facts of the case. There is too much that is not said in the article and a whole bunch of open-ended statements and unanswered questions.
Did the plant manager approach the command post or just some FF on a hose somewhere? Was the IC ever notified of the request? What do they mean by "discharge"? That's a very vague word in this context. Were the firefighters intentionally discharging excess pump or tank water without regard to where it was going, or (more likely) was this surface runoff from legit hose streams? I'd like to know a lot more about the terrain between the paper mill and the power plant. If we're talking surface water runoff from the firefighting, would that not be the same as or very similar to a heavy rainfall or snow melt? If so, then why isn't the power plant better protected from surface runoff? I think there are a bunch of other reasonable questions that need to be answered here. While we in public safety all tend to jump to each others' defense in matters like this (and most of the time, rightfully so), there's just not enough information here to draw any meaningful conclusions.

And then the technical errors were fixed with budget riders. Perhaps Government should not act so quickly anymore!

If that is plain english, I would have hated to see what the 10-codes were.

From HartsdaleFD.org

http://hartsdalefire.org/apps/public/news/newsView.cfm?News_ID=86#.VBREqcvC5kI.facebook

Firefighters,. EMTs, police officer, and even Boy Scouts rushed into the towers to rescue people.No one expected the towers to collapse on them. But we are the people who run TOWARD danger when everyone else is running AWAY. It's more than just "our job." It's our calling.
Like most of us, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I first heard the news. The 2nd plane had not hit yet...and we were riveted to the television watching in horror as it unfolded.
No, I will never forget...and I deeply resent the people who HAVE forgotten. You know who I mean - the people who yap about "Bush's unnecessary wars" or "Bush lied about WMDs." The #1 reason for the war was never WMDs. It was a War on TERROR...and Saddam Hussein was one of the chief exporters of international terrorism. He was even offering cash rewards to anyone who would murder Americans or Israelis. If it was a suicide attack, he said he would pay the reward to the murderer's family.