SageVigiles

I don't think its fair to compare

Both P.G. County and Fairfax County are combination volunteer/career FDs. I have two friends that are volunteer firefighters in Fairfax County. As I understand it the officer in the firehouse will assign one volunteer firefighter to each manned piece of apparatus. Not to replace firefighters but to supplement them. In one volunteer firehouse assigned, there is one Engine Co., one Truck Co., and two Medic Units. Therefore at any given time, there could be four volunteer firefighters riding from that firehouse.

Of course the volunteer firefighters often have their fund raisers as well and they usually buy needed fire equipment with it. Even pieces of fire apparatus are bought. If it is a piece of fire apparatus they buy, the only thing that the volunteer firefighters ask for in return is that the word "VOLUNTEER" be put on the truck. That is to indicate to the taxpayers of that county that this truck was purchased through fund raisers run by the volunteer firefighters. I think in this particular station, both Medic Units were purchased using these funds.

When the taxpayers see that not only are these firefighters willing to ride and donate their time, but also donate the money raised to buy equipment, it is a win/win for those volunteer firefighters. One of those volunteer firefighters I am talking about is a retired U.S. Army Colonel. Yet he has no problem doing what the boss in the firehouse tells him to do. Just like those career guys.

The system has been in place for a long time and seems to be working well.

On the scene the career officer is the boss as well.

Willy! Good to hear from you again Brother! Hope you're doing well.

Unfortunately I'm going to have to disagree with you though, as both a volunteer in PG and a resident of Fairfax County. Comparing PG's volunteer program to Fairfax County's is like comparing apples to aircraft carriers...

PG's volunteer program is HUGE because of the financial problems of the county. Simply put, if all of the volunteers left tomorrow, PGFD would not be able to provide adequate services to the citizens. There are several 24/7 career stations in the county, but most of them have some combination of career and volunteer personnel. I think there are 5-6 stations that are 100% volunteer; however, only 2 are 100% volunteer and staffed 24/7 (Bladensburg Co. 9 and Morningside Co. 27). Several more have career staffing during the day and volunteer staffing at night, or some combination thereof. There's a reason I drive 30-45 minutes to PG to ride firetrucks as opposed to joining Annandale "Volunteer" FD in Fairfax County which is 5 minutes from my house.

Most of PG county consists of low income communities. Some of the largest facilities in the county are non-taxable (University of Maryland, NASA-Goddard, Fort Meade/NSA, Andrews Air Force Base, etc.) Thus, the county does not have the tax base to provide career staffing for every station 24/7. They can barely afford the staffing they have now, they keep canceling career classes. So the volunteer companies work very hard to recruit/retain members. Which is made easier by the fact that we run a LOT of fire, simply because it is a low income community. Guys from all over the country come to PG to volunteer. In my station alone there are probably 4 or 5 guys from Dutchess, Orange, and Ulster Counties who drive down AT LEAST once a month to ride with us.

If every Fairfax County volunteer stopped riding the rigs, I would argue that there would be no noticeable difference in service. Every station is staffed 24/7 by career staff, the volunteers barely supplement manpower at all. Now, if they stopped fundraising and paying for stations/apparatus/equipment, that would definitely be noticed. But that's the deal that works for them.

Economically, I think most of Westchester is going to be closer to Fairfax County, maybe with the exception of some of the bigger cities. But until NY allows county fire departments, its purely academic.

Not Westchester, but I figured I'd throw my department in as well...

Morningside Volunteer Fire Department
Prince George's County, MD Station 827

Ambulance 27: 3,274 (Busiest all-Volunteer Ambulance in the County)
Engine 27: 1,080
Rescue Engine 27: 1,323
Rescue Squad 27: 2,357 (Busiest Rescue in the County)

Total Unit Responses: 8,034** (Busiest 100% Volunteer house in the County)

Source: http://www.pgfdpio.blogspot.com/2016...s-and.html?m=1

**NOTE: The "total unit responses" is the addition of all of these units individually, so inevitably some of those responses are 2 units from our station going on the same call.

My feeling is, why not throw it on there to give you another option?

In Prince George's County, MD, we have the following connections on every SCBA (Keep in mind we use 45 minute cylinders)

1. Quick connect on the low pressure air line, between the pack and the regulator (Right shoulder strap)

2. Quick connect receiver (Left shoulder strap)

3. RIT Connection/Equalizer (Rear of the SCBA frame, near the cylinder)

Our RIT packs have the following SCBA equipment:

1. 60 Minute Cylinder

2. Short section of high pressure hose with the RIT Connection

3. 21-foot section of low pressure hose for the quick connect to EBSS

4. Extra Regulator

5. RIT Mask (No nose cone, large key rings to pull the straps tight easier

This allows us to triage and adapt to different types of SCBA emergencies, depending on if the person is trapped or simply lost, or if there is a failure of any part of the SCBA system.

Using the "buddy breather" tether is usually one of our last options, but it doesn't hurt to have it. We train on it fairly regularly, so it isn't really an issue for us. Using the buddy breather on a 30 minute cylinder is pretty much worthless. One could argue that a 45 minute isn't MUCH better, but again, why limit yourself? I can't imagine the price difference is that extreme.

Allingtown's (West Haven, CT) new ladder should be ready early to mid February.

It will be a straight stick quint. Should work out much better for them than that oversized E-One POS Tower Quint they had previously.

Date: 8/21/15
Time: 1705
Location: 201 Varick St (Cross of W Houston) Manhattan (Location is a Federal Building)
District: Confines of the 1st PCT
Units:

NYPD 1st Precinct

NYPD Headquarters

NYPD Special Operations Division

-SOD 1

-Truck 1, Adam 1

-Truck 2

-Truck 4

-Truck 8

-U3 (Operations Captain)

-U4

-Hercules

-Aviation 21

-Canine 29, Bloodhound 3

-Strategic Response Group

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Department of Homeland Security - Federal Protective Service

FDNY*EMS

Ft. Lee, NJ Police

Description: First call for this job went out over 1st PCT for an unconfirmed male shot at this location, with numerous additional calls for shots fired. Units arriving transmitted the 10-13 for reported Federal MOS involved/shot. Updated to a possible active shooter, but that was a false report.

Perp entered the building, shot a security guard in the head and proceeded to the elevator. Perp was confronted by employees and committed suicide. Security guard (private contracted, not Federal MOS) was pronounced at the hospital.

Perp was a 68 y/o male from Ft. Lee, NJ. Units are conducting a search of his residence on Harvard Pl now.

Spy shot of the COMPLETED Engine 827 from our Facebook page, it will be back at the station by Friday. I believe it still needs radios, etc.

I am planning on taking some shots this weekend during the dedication ceremony for our Rescue Engine.

Picture quality isn't the best, but here's the latest apparatus update from Morningside VFD down here in Prince George's County, MD.

The refurb of the new-to-us Engine 827 is almost complete. Lettering was completed a few days ago. Still needs the Roto-Ray and the 27 on the grille, but so far she's looking pretty good.

Also, the new-to-us Ambulance 827 has arrived at a shop in Maryland. Its going to need a few months of TLC before its ready for the streets, but we're looking forward to placing this unit in service. Once it's completed, it will be the first time in many years that all of the apparatus in the station are owned by the company.

I'm surprised New Fairfield didn't bring down Union H&L's "old" straight stick.

Stratford's just got lettered up too, their facebook page has photos. Really sharp rigs.

Posted in wrong thread. Mods please delete.

Why? The guys on the line aren't responsible for the city playing games with a test. And if you think Stamford is the only one that has ever played these games I have a bridge to sell you.

Deleted: Not even going to get involved.

I wonder if 60 Control could make some money doing something like this? I believe Westchester departments are able to use 60 Control through the county taxes - but maybe they could make some money dispatching for bordering counties? Danbury just put out a new contract, how about other Ct departments? I believe the other NY counties have their own county control but maybe there's some room for other agencies?

There were talks of a regionalized dispatch center for the greater Danbury area, however, most of the local fiefdo- I mean towns wanted to maintain local control of their 1 dispatcher per shift...

Besides, the way Danbury went about their process was all wrong. Contract dispatchers are not the answer, civil service employees under a city 911 office would have been much better quality than what they have so far.

Morningside VFD, Company 27, Prince George's County, Maryland

2001 Spartan/Luverne Pumper (Formerly from Allentown Road VFD, Company 32) undergoing refurb in Pennsylvania, should be back in service the next month or so.

Before:

Now:

I'm no fan of this liberal gov't or the agenda that it's pushing. I also don't think the confederate flag has anything to do with that tragic mass-murder a couple of weeks ago. However, lets not get crazy....no one is saying you can't fly or display a confederate flag. Each person is free to do so under the constitution. What is at issue is whether a gov't institution should be flying that flag. My personal opinion is no.

I'll soap box a little further....the confederate flag is a flag of treason. Today, we'd probably have branded them terrorists. Lastly, The flag that is currently flying over the Carolina State House was only raised in the 1960's as a symbol of defiance in the face voting rights and school integration. So, it's not some historic battle flag that'd been flying there for a century, it's simply a symbol of division.

Exactly, in a historical context it can be appropriately displayed.

But to fly it as some kind of middle finger to the north ignores a key rule of warfare that has existed for thousands of years: Winner picks the decor...

That's all folks. Well done by all the agencies involved.

A lot of agencies have begun buying the ramps, great for assaulting multiple levels of a building at once without having to put a SWAT Operator out with a ladder or borrowing a firetruck.

One down, one to go. Units still in the field looking for the cop killing POS. Happy hunting boys and girls.

Look at this fascist cop in his militarized uniform, clearly violating this little girl's rights from the top of his armored tank. I don't see any reasonable explanation why law enforcement needs access to these battlefield vehicles...

Wait, what's that? He's rescuing this girl from her apartment because a murder suspect has barricaded himself in another unit within the building? Oh. Nevermind then.

Incident is still ongoing, LAPD SWAT still evacuating apartment units.

Photo Credit to Stu Mundel, KCAL/KCBS Helicopter Reporter

Twitter.com/StringerLA

So much for the "No Corrections Officers were involved" theory...

Officer Arrested in Prison Escape Is Accused of Exchanging Tools for Paintings

The New York Times

By SUSANNE CRAIG, WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM and BENJAMIN MUELLER

JUNE 25, 2015

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — A corrections officer was charged on Wednesday with bringing a screwdriver and pliers into the Clinton Correctional Facility in exchange for nearly a dozen paintings given to him by one of the convicted killers who escaped from the maximum-security prison in northern New York.

The arrest of the officer, Gene Palmer, marks a dramatic widening of the investigation into the breakout, suggesting that the escape was facilitated by multiple prison workers and that serious lapses at the prison made it possible.

Tarrytown Utility 61 is technically a Volvo fire truck. However, it did get its start as a cop truck, and it doesn't have a pump.

Cool find though.

Both convicts have been added to the US Marshals Service 15 Most Wanted List.

http://www.usmarshals.gov/investigations/most_wanted/

I know this is a little off topic, but while I was driving home from the Dannemora Search Detail on Wednesday, I past an engine that was traveling northbound on the Thruway near Albany. Clear as day, it was Miami-Dade Engine 3. Any idea what it would be doing that far away?

It was in NYC for awhile for some event. I think its going on a demo tour before its delivered.

Exactly, shirts generally go to that house's fund for improvements, supplies or company events. I'd rather stop by, BS with the guys and support them directly than pay some phony who sells fake stuff.

Cuomo created a 'total cluster f-k' in hunt for escaped killers"

New York Post

By Fredric U. Dicker

June 14, 2015

The massive manhunt for two escaped murderers from the Dannemora prison has been hampered by State Police secrecy, inter-agency rivalries, and the disrupting involvement of Gov. Cuomo on the first day of the breakout, law-enforcement sources have told The Post.

Cuomo’s surprise arrival at a still-unfolding escape scene a week ago Saturday generated considerable national publicity for the governor, but distracted investigators at a time when the full facts of the escape were not yet known, the sources said.

“Cuomo actually disrupted the early search efforts when he arrived at the ‘command center’ on Saturday and refused to enter the room until everyone was removed except state employees,’’ said a longtime law-enforcement figure who has regular contact with many involved in the search effort.

“Cuomo’s aides came in and threw out the US marshal, the sheriff [David Favro, like Cuomo a Democrat] and others who were there to help coordinate the search effort.

“And they did it without even saying ‘Thanks for your help,’ or such, just, ‘Get out so his highness can enter.’

Why am I not surprised... What a skell.