SageVigiles

I think this needs to be stated- In NJ only hospitals are allowed to provide ALS service.  Local agencies cannot provide ALS, therefore hospital EMS is a must have for Jersey.

I wish they'd come to DC.

As usual, the answer likely lies somewhere between the two extremes.

First off, stop it with the selfies.  Not just on the fireground, stop them altogether. Everywhere. Please, I'm begging you. You look ridiculous.
 
Our department has a pretty liberal social media program by fire department standards; we have a "blog" style website, Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube, all run by the Line Officers and the Chiefs. As part of our recruitment/retention grant we purchased several HD helmet cams and GoPro cameras to capture footage of fires, rescue locals, and yes, response to calls. Say what you want, but it has paid off. We advertise how busy we are, the experience you can get at our station, and the benefits to membership, and it works big time: our active membership roster grows every month, and we always have people coming to do a ride along to see if Morningside is the place for them. The days of recruiting with the signboard in front of the station are over, folks. We also invite some of the firefighter YouTube TV series to ride along and film us (The Battalion TV and Into The Smoke, Battalion has posted their video already, ITS is still working on their season).
 
Our Chiefs encourage the membership to post photos and videos of what we're doing, it helps get the message out about what we are doing and it keeps people coming in the doors. We police ourselves and people who stray outside of the accepted norms are quickly corrected. Youtube videos are produced by the membership (we have a couple former film students) and approved by the Chiefs before posting.
 
There's sort of a tradition around here of taking a "crew shot" on the bumper of the rig following a fire or a pin job. Other than shots of the rigs and training evolutions, those are probably the most common things you see down here.
 
https://www.facebook.com/morningsidevolunteers/?fref=ts
https://twitter.com/morningsidevfd
https://www.instagram.com/mv27fd/
https://www.youtube.com/user/MorningsideVFD27

As usual, the answer likely lies somewhere between the two extremes.

First off, stop it with the selfies.  Not just on the fireground, stop them altogether. Everywhere. Please, I'm begging you. You look ridiculous.
 
Our department has a pretty liberal social media program by fire department standards; we have a "blog" style website, Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube, all run by the Line Officers and the Chiefs. As part of our recruitment/retention grant we purchased several HD helmet cams and GoPro cameras to capture footage of fires, rescue locals, and yes, response to calls. Say what you want, but it has paid off. We advertise how busy we are, the experience you can get at our station, and the benefits to membership, and it works big time: our active membership roster grows every month, and we always have people coming to do a ride along to see if Morningside is the place for them. The days of recruiting with the signboard in front of the station are over, folks. We also invite some of the firefighter YouTube TV series to ride along and film us (The Battalion TV and Into The Smoke, Battalion has posted their video already, ITS is still working on their season).
 
Our Chiefs encourage the membership to post photos and videos of what we're doing, it helps get the message out about what we are doing and it keeps people coming in the doors. We police ourselves and people who stray outside of the accepted norms are quickly corrected. Youtube videos are produced by the membership (we have a couple former film students) and approved by the Chiefs before posting.
 
There's sort of a tradition around here of taking a "crew shot" on the bumper of the rig following a fire or a pin job. Other than shots of the rigs and training evolutions, those are probably the most common things you see down here.
 
https://www.facebook.com/morningsidevolunteers/?fref=ts
https://twitter.com/morningsidevfd
https://www.instagram.com/mv27fd/
https://www.youtube.com/user/MorningsideVFD27

As usual, the answer likely lies somewhere between the two extremes.

First off, stop it with the selfies.  Not just on the fireground, stop them altogether. Everywhere. Please, I'm begging you. You look ridiculous.
 
Our department has a pretty liberal social media program by fire department standards; we have a "blog" style website, Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube, all run by the Line Officers and the Chiefs. As part of our recruitment/retention grant we purchased several HD helmet cams and GoPro cameras to capture footage of fires, rescue locals, and yes, response to calls. Say what you want, but it has paid off. We advertise how busy we are, the experience you can get at our station, and the benefits to membership, and it works big time: our active membership roster grows every month, and we always have people coming to do a ride along to see if Morningside is the place for them. The days of recruiting with the signboard in front of the station are over, folks. We also invite some of the firefighter YouTube TV series to ride along and film us (The Battalion TV and Into The Smoke, Battalion has posted their video already, ITS is still working on their season).
 
Our Chiefs encourage the membership to post photos and videos of what we're doing, it helps get the message out about what we are doing and it keeps people coming in the doors. We police ourselves and people who stray outside of the accepted norms are quickly corrected. Youtube videos are produced by the membership (we have a couple former film students) and approved by the Chiefs before posting.
 
There's sort of a tradition around here of taking a "crew shot" on the bumper of the rig following a fire or a pin job. Other than shots of the rigs and training evolutions, those are probably the most common things you see down here.
 
https://www.facebook.com/morningsidevolunteers/?fref=ts
https://twitter.com/morningsidevfd
https://www.instagram.com/mv27fd/
https://www.youtube.com/user/MorningsideVFD27

As usual, the answer likely lies somewhere between the two extremes.

First off, stop it with the selfies.  Not just on the fireground, stop them altogether. Everywhere. Please, I'm begging you. You look ridiculous.
 
Our department has a pretty liberal social media program by fire department standards; we have a "blog" style website, Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube, all run by the Line Officers and the Chiefs. As part of our recruitment/retention grant we purchased several HD helmet cams and GoPro cameras to capture footage of fires, rescue locals, and yes, response to calls. Say what you want, but it has paid off. We advertise how busy we are, the experience you can get at our station, and the benefits to membership, and it works big time: our active membership roster grows every month, and we always have people coming to do a ride along to see if Morningside is the place for them. The days of recruiting with the signboard in front of the station are over, folks. We also invite some of the firefighter YouTube TV series to ride along and film us (The Battalion TV and Into The Smoke, Battalion has posted their video already, ITS is still working on their season).
 
Our Chiefs encourage the membership to post photos and videos of what we're doing, it helps get the message out about what we are doing and it keeps people coming in the doors. We police ourselves and people who stray outside of the accepted norms are quickly corrected. Youtube videos are produced by the membership (we have a couple former film students) and approved by the Chiefs before posting.
 
There's sort of a tradition around here of taking a "crew shot" on the bumper of the rig following a fire or a pin job. Other than shots of the rigs and training evolutions, those are probably the most common things you see down here.
 
https://www.facebook.com/morningsidevolunteers/?fref=ts
https://twitter.com/morningsidevfd
https://www.instagram.com/mv27fd/
https://www.youtube.com/user/MorningsideVFD27

I've been pretty silent on this issue for awhile, but this is getting pretty out of hand.  Just a a disclaimer, I am a Firefighter at a 100% volunteer house. Since our company made the decision to go 100% volunteer 2 1/2 years ago, we have been staffed with volunteers only 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, averaging about 6 men on duty at a time. So nobody can claim that I drink any IAFF Kool-Aid... I'm simply going to make my point on the basis of public safety only.
 
Port Chester's decision to lay off the eight career Firefighters was just plain stupid. By PC's own admission, Port Chester has only 150 active, interior-qualified volunteers (though I've heard the actual number may be half that, but I'll take them at face value) to staff 7 companies. Dividing those evenly, we're looking at around 21 volunteers per company. I'd assume most of these people have day jobs, and to my knowledge PC volunteers do not have live-in members who provide daytime staffing, so realistically, how many guys get on the road during the day for a call? How can anyone argue that response times will NOT go up?  It's just simple math, folks. In most places, the volunteer model will not provide the same level of protection that a combination model will.
 
If the accusation that the Chief ordered his men to damage the house is true, the Chief (and any volunteers who followed that obviously illegal order) should be removed, and criminal charges should be considered. "Firefighters" who pull that kind of crap have no business wearing the uniform. People like that are the reason volunteers are treated like second-rate Firefighters in so much of the country.
 
The PCFD Volunteers need to make a decision regarding their leadership. I really hope they have some Line Officers who are considering running against the Chiefs and fixing this mess. It's not about career or volunteer, it's about the service you provide to the public.

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

I just want someone to show up. I don't care if they have a union card or not.  But, every municipality has an obligation to ensure that emergency requests are answered, quickly and competently.
If you can do it with a volunteer department, fine.  If you can't, adjust your budgets and tax mil rates accordingly.  

Listen, personal attacks on each other on this thread need to stop now.  They're not a catalyst for a good discussion. Although what people say to each other is beyond my control, further type comments will be deleted.

I've been pretty silent on this issue for awhile, but this is getting pretty out of hand.  Just a a disclaimer, I am a Firefighter at a 100% volunteer house. Since our company made the decision to go 100% volunteer 2 1/2 years ago, we have been staffed with volunteers only 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, averaging about 6 men on duty at a time. So nobody can claim that I drink any IAFF Kool-Aid... I'm simply going to make my point on the basis of public safety only.
 
Port Chester's decision to lay off the eight career Firefighters was just plain stupid. By PC's own admission, Port Chester has only 150 active, interior-qualified volunteers (though I've heard the actual number may be half that, but I'll take them at face value) to staff 7 companies. Dividing those evenly, we're looking at around 21 volunteers per company. I'd assume most of these people have day jobs, and to my knowledge PC volunteers do not have live-in members who provide daytime staffing, so realistically, how many guys get on the road during the day for a call? How can anyone argue that response times will NOT go up?  It's just simple math, folks. In most places, the volunteer model will not provide the same level of protection that a combination model will.
 
If the accusation that the Chief ordered his men to damage the house is true, the Chief (and any volunteers who followed that obviously illegal order) should be removed, and criminal charges should be considered. "Firefighters" who pull that kind of crap have no business wearing the uniform. People like that are the reason volunteers are treated like second-rate Firefighters in so much of the country.
 
The PCFD Volunteers need to make a decision regarding their leadership. I really hope they have some Line Officers who are considering running against the Chiefs and fixing this mess. It's not about career or volunteer, it's about the service you provide to the public.

I've been pretty silent on this issue for awhile, but this is getting pretty out of hand.  Just a a disclaimer, I am a Firefighter at a 100% volunteer house. Since our company made the decision to go 100% volunteer 2 1/2 years ago, we have been staffed with volunteers only 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, averaging about 6 men on duty at a time. So nobody can claim that I drink any IAFF Kool-Aid... I'm simply going to make my point on the basis of public safety only.
 
Port Chester's decision to lay off the eight career Firefighters was just plain stupid. By PC's own admission, Port Chester has only 150 active, interior-qualified volunteers (though I've heard the actual number may be half that, but I'll take them at face value) to staff 7 companies. Dividing those evenly, we're looking at around 21 volunteers per company. I'd assume most of these people have day jobs, and to my knowledge PC volunteers do not have live-in members who provide daytime staffing, so realistically, how many guys get on the road during the day for a call? How can anyone argue that response times will NOT go up?  It's just simple math, folks. In most places, the volunteer model will not provide the same level of protection that a combination model will.
 
If the accusation that the Chief ordered his men to damage the house is true, the Chief (and any volunteers who followed that obviously illegal order) should be removed, and criminal charges should be considered. "Firefighters" who pull that kind of crap have no business wearing the uniform. People like that are the reason volunteers are treated like second-rate Firefighters in so much of the country.
 
The PCFD Volunteers need to make a decision regarding their leadership. I really hope they have some Line Officers who are considering running against the Chiefs and fixing this mess. It's not about career or volunteer, it's about the service you provide to the public.

I've been pretty silent on this issue for awhile, but this is getting pretty out of hand.  Just a a disclaimer, I am a Firefighter at a 100% volunteer house. Since our company made the decision to go 100% volunteer 2 1/2 years ago, we have been staffed with volunteers only 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, averaging about 6 men on duty at a time. So nobody can claim that I drink any IAFF Kool-Aid... I'm simply going to make my point on the basis of public safety only.
 
Port Chester's decision to lay off the eight career Firefighters was just plain stupid. By PC's own admission, Port Chester has only 150 active, interior-qualified volunteers (though I've heard the actual number may be half that, but I'll take them at face value) to staff 7 companies. Dividing those evenly, we're looking at around 21 volunteers per company. I'd assume most of these people have day jobs, and to my knowledge PC volunteers do not have live-in members who provide daytime staffing, so realistically, how many guys get on the road during the day for a call? How can anyone argue that response times will NOT go up?  It's just simple math, folks. In most places, the volunteer model will not provide the same level of protection that a combination model will.
 
If the accusation that the Chief ordered his men to damage the house is true, the Chief (and any volunteers who followed that obviously illegal order) should be removed, and criminal charges should be considered. "Firefighters" who pull that kind of crap have no business wearing the uniform. People like that are the reason volunteers are treated like second-rate Firefighters in so much of the country.
 
The PCFD Volunteers need to make a decision regarding their leadership. I really hope they have some Line Officers who are considering running against the Chiefs and fixing this mess. It's not about career or volunteer, it's about the service you provide to the public.

This has nothing to do with volunteer vs. career or anything other than someone being an ASS!!!

It is always electrical....

Michigan v. Tyler, Fire Marshal can enter without a warrant to determine cause and origin within a "reasonable" amount of time. In my experience, the generally considered best practice is to have an FM unit on scene before suppression units take up. So they should absolutely be dispatched sooner rather than later, and they should be responding as any other emergency unit would.
 
Down here our Fire Marshals are members of the FD who go through the police academy and respond to fire scenes, they're generally added on or right after the Working Fire Dispatch.

 
This raises a few questions for me, perhaps because I don't know the structure of NY's fire investigation system...
1. How would a Fire Chief know what did or did not cause the fire unless they were a trained/certified Fire Investigator? If they were a Fire Investigator, why would they need a C&O Team?
2. Is a trained/certified Fire Investigator NOT routinely dispatched on every fire in NY State? If not, why not?
 
 
I typically don't like to get into lights/siren discussions, but this one catches my attention. As I mentioned in my previous post, according to the Supreme Court, in order to avoid needed a warrant to make entry, the investigator needs to be on scene before the FD leaves.  Why wouldn't a Fire Investigator need to respond with lights and siren?

 
So by that logic, a Crime Scene Unit (or for that matter, almost any other Detective or investigative resource) shouldn't respond lights and siren either... After all, the victim in a Homicide case is already dead, right?  Bottom line: The collection and preservation of evidence is a time sensitive matter, so you can absolutely justify it (and many agencies do).
 

Are Fire Chiefs in New York required to take some sort of Fire Investigation training? Are they required to re-certify after a period of time? If not, by what method are they basing their cause and origin determination?
 
I know (since mine just lapsed) that in CT, Fire Officials (Marshals, Deputy Marshals, Investigators, and Inspectors) are required to complete professional development training hours every three years in order to maintain certification. There are also professional certifications (CFEI and CFI) out there that are accepted in some states. ATF has their own certification process as well for their Certified Fire Investigators.

 
Appears to be a foregone conclusion that MOST of the officers, along with the volunteer force, had no idea what the three cheeses, I mean chiefs, were orchestrating.

Unfair to characterize all the officers of PCFD. Many were kept in the dark about this.

Okay Alex, I wasn't aware of this.
 
Yeah, still crawling along okay.
 
Got a few buddies who might be getting on the job down your way. A few already have.
 
Being a career firefighter no matter where it is has plenty of rewards. Rewards that no money can buy.
 
So for those considering this job, get your butt in gear. You have a lot of competition to face.

I wouldn't be calling PCFD ENG58 out over anything that is taken out of context on this site.  The guy devoted his whole life to the PCFD both with and without a paycheck.

What? There's no such federal law.
 
each state sets its fire laws up, and in NY a village is required to provide (either by direct supervision, Croton-onhudson, or contract, Mt. kisco) fire protection. Cities, and villages are required, towns are not allowed to set up fire protection. 
 
Port Chester is a village that directly oversees their fire department (it's a department of the village), so they have absolute rule over budgeting and such and staffing.

 
The life or property you save may be your own.  I have needed the services of my own member departments several times.  I would hate to call and have no one answer.  How about you?  If you want to effect change, the fire department membership, directly and by extension through family and friends, can be a powerful voting block.  Used effectively it can bring about changes both in policy and politicians. 

If only we utilized our Field Comm here in Westchester... it - and the people working in it - have so much to offer...