velcroMedic1987

 
50 Candlepower.  Unless they have updated to account for halogen, strobe, LCD and LED's, which I doubt.  I don't think you can even buy a 50 candlepower light anymore.

 
If you have lights "all over your personal vehicle"  you have already broken the law.

The new law has nothing to do pulling out of the way for volunteers that are responding to an emergency (that still remains a courtesy on part of other drivers).  The new addition to the "move-over" law is directed towards volunteers that are ON SCENE already attending to an emergency.  Essentially, the addition in the law adds that if you see blue or green flashing lights on the side of the road you must do your best to safely move away from them as you would for red and white or amber lights (as already existed in the law).
 
PLEASE DO NOT MISINTERPRET THIS CHANGE FOR RESPONDING TO EMERGENCIES.  Continue to drive safely, obey all vehicle traffic laws, and just be safe in general!

The "move over law" typically only dealt with vehicles stopped on the road/shoulder. A vehicle approaching would have to move over a lane to the left if save to do so. Is that the case here? I haven't seen the actual bill/law. I didn't think they updated the law to require pulling over to the shoulder for blue/green lights approaching from behind. 

Don't really think this is the right place to spread a rumor about 18 people losing their livelihoods. If you're someone who'd be directly affected by this I'd imagine you'd have a better source than this website. If this post was about my department I sure wouldn't want to hear about it here first. 
 
I understand the original poster is just looking for info but this isn't the right place. If it's true it'll come out and we'll all hear about it soon enough, if it's false then we're just causing people to worry over nothing. 

That's interesting, because I searched NFPA 1001: Standard for Fire Fighter Professional Qualifications for the term "Exterior Firefighter" and there is no qualification listed under that...

Those "support" soldiers still have to qualify on the range, get thru chemical training and then while driving supply trucks they have had to fight, some being killed, other injured and some captured. They are placed in support rolls because that's where they are needed and that's where they will perform best, not because they are unwilling or unable to do it!

Engines 33 and 84 with 23 Truck.  Purple K response.  That's all I know at the moment.

 
Yes, I'm sure chief's make these calls.  That doesn't make it a good plan.  
 
Does your Rescue carry extrication tools?  Do any of your other apparatus have them?
 
 
 
People would complain, and they'd be wrong.  If you have three engines and you send one, with a small crew to a parade, nothing wrong with that.  It's thought out and well planned.  The issue only arrises when you take a non-duplicative resource away.
 
 
 
About 15 years ago my volunteer dept. went to a parade, 5 minutes away, next town over.  Chiefs order....the ladder doesnt go.  Well, that was disregarded and it went.  A Liut. and 4 firemen we're suspended.  Imagine that, consequences.  
 
I will most definitely be at my next village board meeting.  That rig seems to go to plenty of parades, but more often than not, doesn't make it on the road for alarms.

 
Yes our senior men often get the job of driver, but that does not mean they are exterior. They still must pass their annual physical as an interior firefighter, the must pass mask fit testing. If on the truck, they are the OV or Roof, if on the engine, they are expected to operate in high rise fires depending on arrival order. And the 4th due engine including the driver is always assigned as FAST on working fires. If they can't do this, it's time for retirement.

I don't know what the exact charge would be, but it would be something along the lines of impersonating a public safety official since they are no longer recognized as such.

Only one of the places I work has adopted a social media policy but they did have a policy on taking pictures while working.  They said that all photos taken while on company time are the property of the company and cannot be shared, published, or otherwise distributed except by the company PIO.  Kinda squashes any problems. 

Now the social media policy says the same thing and also prohibits sharing information or photos of incidents responded to on FB, IG, Twitter, etc.  It even goes so far to say that posting to FB, IG, Twitter, SnapChat, etc. while on company time is not allowed.  One guy tried to be a jackass about it and got himself in the director's office so they aren't taking it lightly.
 

Only one of the places I work has adopted a social media policy but they did have a policy on taking pictures while working.  They said that all photos taken while on company time are the property of the company and cannot be shared, published, or otherwise distributed except by the company PIO.  Kinda squashes any problems. 

Now the social media policy says the same thing and also prohibits sharing information or photos of incidents responded to on FB, IG, Twitter, etc.  It even goes so far to say that posting to FB, IG, Twitter, SnapChat, etc. while on company time is not allowed.  One guy tried to be a jackass about it and got himself in the director's office so they aren't taking it lightly.
 

Prosecuted for what if they respond to calls?
 

Ummm...doesn't the NYS Fire Code require that copies of all testing be furnished to the Code Enforcement Official upon request?

Has anyone ever died waiting for the Fire investigator to arrive? The FD should still be there for long enough while overhauling to give the investigator plenty of time to arrive. I've personally never been at a fire in Westchester where we had to stand around doing nothing waiting for them. And if you are completely done with operations, release the assignment and leave one crew on scene. I couldn't justify the risk of sending a fire investigator to a scene lights and sirens. 

This isn't an issue isolated to this company / municipalities.  I spent much of my six years as a Chief Officer trying to get this information and to convince the village to paint the hydrants to comply with the NFPA Flow Color Code.

A lot of PD's in Westchester have motorcycles already.  Yonkers, White Plains, Harrison, County, Ossining, Mamaroneck (not sure which one), Tuckahoe may, and even the State Police have them (although you seldom see them down here).

Not sure what the big deal is. 

Just a reminder , the Port Chester Career staff was at 16 . 8 is all that is left after retirements that were not filled. So this has been coming in my eyes for a few years .
 

I find it a bit troubling. Yes methadone, suboxone, subutex programs have pros and cons, however, they're end goal is to help make the patient a functioning member of society again. I.e. career counseling, ongoing therapy.....in a nutshell, changing the behavior that led someone to abuse. With these "drug rooms", all I see is a place where you can get high as a kite and not worry about overdose. They're not trying to change the behavior, they're saying it's acceptable.

It is amazing how we criticize everyone about calls at assisted living facilities while we don't cover all our own calls and have our own system problems.

Glass houses!
If it is a tax-paying facility in your community, you have to go there when they call. Even when it is often and for what you consider minor or unwarranted calls.

This would have been a perfect use for the mobile communications vehicles if they could be on scene in a reasonable amount of time. 
 
However, I have a simpler idea: As Rockland and Westchester have repeaters (trunked systems), In theory what is heard at 44 control and on the site should be the same quality of broadcast. Why can't a radio of each others trunk system be installed at the two control centers and when you have an operation such as this bridged together? This would permit all units at a scene be connected together thus only 1 radio would have to be monitored and everyone would be on the same channel. Many departments were cross banding their radio systems before the trunk system was established.
 
 

 
It wasn't murder.  Read the statutes.  Murder is a very specific offense.
 
 

I wouldn't exactly call this situation a "public health emergency" in the terms that you seem to be insinuating.  No doubt this caused some pain, but in the grand scheme of things, 81 tours is a small portion of the daily staffing in NYC.
 
The civil service system is there for a reason and you simply don't just ignore it because you need to hire a bunch of people all of a sudden.  In a city the size of NYC, I would imagine that they pretty much always have an active civil service eligibility list and routinely run new recruit academies.  So, I would expect that they would be well positioned to immediately hire and train the personnel they need in a timely manner while utilizing overtime coverage in the short-term.
 
 
Not sure why you seem to be insinuating that there was no plan in place to deal with this situation.  I've read from more than one source that FDNY did have a contingency plan in case this situation happened.  As I understand it, the short-term plan included immediately putting additional FDNY units on the streets with existing personnel working overtime and that's exactly what they did.  So, yes, it was necessary for existing crews to work extra hours, but what constitutes actually being "overworked" is a subjective thing.  Working an extra tour or two per week isn't the same thing as having to work a double every day. 
 
They also made an emergency acquisition of several "in-stock" ambulances to help ensure they had enough units available for use while awaiting delivery of the numerous units already under construction and any add-ons necessary due to this.
 
Yes, the uncertainty of Transcare's viability was known, but you can't start hiring additional people in that quantity because something might happen.  Additionally, I would imagine that the hospitals have some sort of contract with FDNY to provide units for the 911 system that prevents FDNY from removing their units from the system based on rumor.  Why would the hospitals commits the financial resources to running their own EMS units if FDNY could just decide one day to immediately eliminate them?
 
So, I'm fairly sure that FDNY didn't have the legal ability to conduct a mass hiring, put additional units on the road and eliminate Transcare's units.

 
 
Sorry but rectal valium should remain an in-hospital treatment.  There's no way I'm doing that, especially on a haz-mat job.