SageVigiles

Fire extinguisher factory catches fire.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/21/fire-extinguisher-factory_n_6915482.html

Better Branding or On the money?

Yea, you are right, "New York State", you have a good point there, it seems the wheels usually come off with the simple things, it will never progress to the complicated issues.

We are still talking about the State of New York, are we not? That's probably something we can all bank on.

Interesting, you drive through one town and see three different police agencies. I've driven through some towns in Putnam (that don't have their own PD) and seen none.
Is this effective or is this ridiculous?

Lots of homeland security grant money drying up in the past few years. Not surprising that a company in that sector is having trouble staying afloat.

Rest in Peace FAO Daryl Gordon.

I suspect this had very little to do with it. They had been around for 40 years, long before homeland security. Their biggest sales were for chiefs cars and EMS fly cars, which were rarely funded thru HS.
This is a sector that has huge cash flow issues, they have to layout the cash for the vehicle, all of the components and the labor and then they don't get paid until 30 days after delivery (most governmental contracts). And the margins are not high.

SP is always going to provide patrol services. Everyone in the state pays for that service so its not likely to go anywhere.
I agree that this is probably all academic at this point, but maybe the Sheriff's "lukewarm" response to the idea is due to his concern/fear for the future of his department. Think about the possible implications for a Sheriff's Office if a County Police is formed, and again I stress this is ALL HYPOTHETICAL:
1. All field law enforcement operations become the County PD's responsibility. Sheriff's Office becomes responsible only for court security, county jail, and serving legal process. Hardly an exciting prospect for those working for the SO.
2. As in Westchester County, the County PD takes charge of almost everything and the Sheriff's Office becomes an Auxiliary unit.
Also, if there is a County PD formed I'd be surprised if an elected politician is put in charge of it...

Once again, Kevin Cullen of the Boston Globe nails it. I only wish we had more journalists like him in our area.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/21/remembering-sacrifice-firefighters/ZIwC2dInOiFtJPy92wuMVK/story.html

PD's and FD's are pricing themselves right out of existence. The article says that the Carmel PD is about 33% of the town's entire budget. That's a huge expense for one department.

So I was headed to see my friend graduate from HFD Academy and start her career at HFD, when down the road from the academy I spotted this. I would've nabbed more pictures but I was running behind. Turns out that whole garage has a load of Classic trucks inside.

I mean, really, who doesn't want bigger fire house?

Date: 3/18/15
Time: Approximate 2015
Location: Queens Box 8561 - 91-21 90th St (bet. Atlantic Ave and 91st Ave)
District:
Units:
First Alarm:
E293, E285, E294, E236
TL142, L143, TL107 (Extra truck for reported entrapment)
Batt. 39, Batt. 51
Squad 270
Rescue 4
DC13
RAC
Medical Branch resources
2nd Alarm:
E319, E286, E303
Batt. 28 (Firefighting)
Batt. 44
Batt. 50 (Safety Coord)
Rescue Batt.
Safety Batt.
E324 w/ Satelite 4
Field Comm
Tactical Support 2
Command Tactical Unit
3rd Alarm:
E305, E302, E298, E277
L126, L127
Batt. 46 (Staging) - Staging location will be at 89th St and Atlantic Ave
Batt. 33 (Air Recon Chief)
4th Alarm:
E332, E331, E290, E218 act. E215
E262 with IMO1
E263 (Communications Vehicle)
L103, L170
Batt. 54 (Planning)
Additional Units:
Special Calls:
L173, L151, L125 - S/C above the 3rd
Batt. 58, Batt. 37 - S/C above the 4th
L133, (L122 act 120), L155 (act .142) - S/C above the 4th

Staff Officers (Probably missing a few):
Car 1-Charlie - Commissioner’s Liaison/Officer In Charge - FD Operations Center
Car 1-Frank - Commissioner's Liaison - Bureau of Health Services
Car 4 - Chief of Operations
Car 9 - Queens Borough Commander
Car 11-Adam - Chief of Rescue Operations
Car 12 - Chief of Safety
Car 12-Adam - XO to the Chief of Safety
Car 36-Henry - Chaplain
Description:
Originally reported as a kitchen fire in a private dwelling, upgraded with report of children trapped.
DC13 has Command
2 10-45s (no code) on the 2nd floor
DC13 transmitting the 4th Alarm, fire has extended to at least 5 buildings (sounds like a cockloft issue.) Special call 2 addl. Trucks above the 4th.
Command reports all primaries negative in the original fire building. Both 10-45s are Code 4 (Green Tag.)
2105: DC13 requesting an additional 2 Chiefs above the 4th Alarm (Battalions 58 and 37 assigned). 7 L/S/O.
2110: Additional 10-45 Code 4. Duration is exactly 1 hour.
2121: DC13 reporting main body of fire knocked down. Fire's still Doubtful. Trucks opening up, still dealing with pockets of fire. 8 L/S/O.
2126: S/C an additional 3 Trucks above the 4th: L133, (L122 act 120), L155 (act .142)
2211: Total of five 10-45 Code 4's. Car 4 places this fire under control.

One night I kept my plectrum on monitor. About 2 am the tones hit for signal 50 car on rt 34 at the Stevenson dam. I jumped up, got dress and beat feet to the FD. Then I realized that the Stevenson dam was in Oxford about 25 miles away.

All dependent on the service your town expects from its fire department. You get some of these tiny towns out west in the middle of nowhere, where you get 2 guys in traffic vests and hard hats because the community contracts its "fire service" out to a couple of yokels in a wagon from 1950 that barely runs.
Are most of our politicians/residents ignorant to the level of service their fire departments actually provide in comparison to what they're paying for it? Absolutely. But I'll bet the same happens for the police, DPW, and education services as well.
All that being said, you're absolutely right. Its not a career/volunteer issue if you have a 100% union career department that only has 5 guys split between an Engine, Truck and Ambulance? Guess what, you can't handle a fire without mutual aid. If you have a volunteer department with 3 stations, 4 engines, 2 rescues, 2 ladder trucks, and 9 Chief cars, but you can only get 6 guys for a fire at noon on a Tuesday, 5 of which are old enough to collect social security? Same deal.
I'm not sure if its reasonable for a town of 10,000 people to pay for enough staffing for a full NFPA-compliant response of 12-14 Firefighters for a residential structure fire. (Source) All the more reason to consolidate to one combination department. Less equipment, standardized training and SOPs, and you ensure that everyone in the area gets the same level of service for their dollar.

You sir, have nailed it. Everyone going home is not the only metric for success on the fireground. Unfortunately we've conditioned too many Chiefs/Officers to believe this is the case.

All dependent on the service your town expects from its fire department. You get some of these tiny towns out west in the middle of nowhere, where you get 2 guys in traffic vests and hard hats because the community contracts its "fire service" out to a couple of yokels in a wagon from 1950 that barely runs.
Are most of our politicians/residents ignorant to the level of service their fire departments actually provide in comparison to what they're paying for it? Absolutely. But I'll bet the same happens for the police, DPW, and education services as well.
All that being said, you're absolutely right. Its not a career/volunteer issue if you have a 100% union career department that only has 5 guys split between an Engine, Truck and Ambulance? Guess what, you can't handle a fire without mutual aid. If you have a volunteer department with 3 stations, 4 engines, 2 rescues, 2 ladder trucks, and 9 Chief cars, but you can only get 6 guys for a fire at noon on a Tuesday, 5 of which are old enough to collect social security? Same deal.
I'm not sure if its reasonable for a town of 10,000 people to pay for enough staffing for a full NFPA-compliant response of 12-14 Firefighters for a residential structure fire. (Source) All the more reason to consolidate to one combination department. Less equipment, standardized training and SOPs, and you ensure that everyone in the area gets the same level of service for their dollar.

You sir, have nailed it. Everyone going home is not the only metric for success on the fireground. Unfortunately we've conditioned too many Chiefs/Officers to believe this is the case.

All dependent on the service your town expects from its fire department. You get some of these tiny towns out west in the middle of nowhere, where you get 2 guys in traffic vests and hard hats because the community contracts its "fire service" out to a couple of yokels in a wagon from 1950 that barely runs.
Are most of our politicians/residents ignorant to the level of service their fire departments actually provide in comparison to what they're paying for it? Absolutely. But I'll bet the same happens for the police, DPW, and education services as well.
All that being said, you're absolutely right. Its not a career/volunteer issue if you have a 100% union career department that only has 5 guys split between an Engine, Truck and Ambulance? Guess what, you can't handle a fire without mutual aid. If you have a volunteer department with 3 stations, 4 engines, 2 rescues, 2 ladder trucks, and 9 Chief cars, but you can only get 6 guys for a fire at noon on a Tuesday, 5 of which are old enough to collect social security? Same deal.
I'm not sure if its reasonable for a town of 10,000 people to pay for enough staffing for a full NFPA-compliant response of 12-14 Firefighters for a residential structure fire. (Source) All the more reason to consolidate to one combination department. Less equipment, standardized training and SOPs, and you ensure that everyone in the area gets the same level of service for their dollar.

Congratulations Chief Dunn!

Fairfield is a pretty squared away fire department and gives great service to it's residents, does about 9000 runs a year and if they don't catch work in Fairfield, they are mutual aid partners with Bridgeport' which sees plenty of action. Good Department with good guys. Chief Dunn will be a good fit and a great asset. ,

Congratulations Chief Dunn!

While the rundown shows many companies on scene, there is more to it than that.
After looking at the numbers, it seems there were 3 Task Forces, 2 Light Force and the rest single engine companies.
Lately, it seems that more ambulances are dispatched when there is a working fire. Most of the time, 1 or 2 will be dispatched as part of the initial assignment. I seem to recall that a EMS captain will be dispatched as well if 2 or more ambulances are dispatched.
For the 2 USAR companies, only USAR 88 is manned with a crew of 2 (A/O and Captain I). USAR 27 is not manned but since they are closer, they station crew cross staffed it and brought it to the scene. From recent memory, it seems USAR 88 is being dispatched more often for the larger incidents.

Congratulations Chief Dunn!