DaRock98

Date: 6/20/11

Time: 22:25

Location: Saw Mill Parkway Southbound mile marker 14.5

Frequency: 46.26, Fire 11, EMS 11

Units Operating: 2192, 2193, E155, U41, 63-B2, 37-M1 County PD

Weather Conditions: Warm

Description Of Incident: 1 Car MVA into the woods. County PD on location confirming 1 person trapped.

Reporters: DaRock98

Writer: DaRock98

You are correct. In Pleasantville the Officer will call us responding Code (1, 2, 3, etc). This refers to the number of interior firefighter that are responding on the rig.

Does this number include the driver and officer? or just the people in the back?

I know some departments use "code 1,2,3 etc" to let the cheifs know how many people are on the rigs. I believe Elmsford and Pleasantville both do this.

For example: Eng 237 responding code 5 and that will let the other responding units know how many people are on the rig.

Someone can correct me if Im wrong.

I have sat and watched this thread for a few days now and feel I the need to step in and comment. Now that everyone knows what department we are talking about there is no "our" side of the story. The simple fact of the matter is yes we missed a call and yes we have staffing issues (just like a majority of the other Westchester County departments) Is this a valid excuse? Absolutely not! It's a MAJOR issue not only to me but my fellow officers as well. We are currently meeting and discussing this matter regularly to try and come up with a fast and effective solution. I do want to thank and apologize to our neighboring department that has bailed us out and that your help hasn't gone unnoticed.

He is a little background on the particular situation; we and another department had a duel response system in place for many years. We would run duel response on almost every call Monday-Friday from 0600-1800hrs. The system worked great up until the last 2 or 3 years. During the last 2 or 3 year we have seen a huge increase in call volume from this one particular facility in our first due area. (the same location that this topic started from) In the 2010 year we and our neighboring department ran approx. 60-70+ calls at this facility. 99% of them being false alarms. (From malfunctions, steam from a shower and the majority of the calls being malicious pulls of the box by students) That high number of runs to this place caused not only our department but our neighbors to be burnt out and not want to run calls there anymore. So it was decided (at a higher level than I am) that we would discontinue our duel response to all calls with the exception of smoke in the building, reported structure fires or anything else the dispatcher feels is something a little more than just an automatic alarm.

Yes we have some major issues we are dealing with right now and I can assure the land of EMTbravo that we are working on a solution. For those of you who say "hire career staff" you know as well as I do that it's not as easy as just waking up one day and hiring career personnel.

Thank you to all the people who have offered up constructive comments and if anyone else has any other questions or comment please feel free to PM me.

And to problEMS thank you for bringing this topic to light, it's clear that you accomplished your goal in stirring the pot and then running away. I have only one question for you, your age says you are 27 but in your age range it says you are 35-44 so what is it? Did you just make up a profile name to cause a problem for my department or are you so confused that you don't know how old you really are?

On Behalf of your Hawthorne Fire/EMS family may he rest in peace. If you need anything please call or let me know.

This class sounds very similar to a class I took at the DES called Traffic Incident Management System or “TIMS” taught by NYSP. It involved the FD, EMS, NYSP and County PD a long with some dispatchers. It pretty much went over everything you described and was geared toward getting all of the agencies to work together on the roads.

The IA of this call states that bat. 13 came on scene and assumed command. Is this true? I was always under the impression that they were Deputy Coordinators and their role was to be a resource between the IC and 60 Control, and that they were not to be the IC of a job. Can someone please explain this a little further to me or was this just a typo?

Bad news killer, thats all elections. From POTUS all the way down to student council. I know I haven't seen the best candidate elected president in my lifetime. Its always the best salesman.

Thanks "killer" I realize that. It was just me letting off steam.

While I certainly don't disagree, I find it very interesting you say that considering you are a proclaimed (or at least in your info box it says that) "volunteer fire captain".

I am currently serving as captain I took office as of January 1st following my term as 1st lieut. I just wish that our current process for office was a little more strict than it currently is. I'm not going to go around saying we do everything right because I know we don't. The reason I ran for the job was to try and make a difference and get our department moving in the right direction. (because I feel I can make a difference, but I am finding out its a lot harder then I thought)

My department holds them in December and the term starts January 1st. I absolutely HATE elections because they are nothing but a popularity contest and the best people for the job usually walk away losers because the membership doesn't care about the important things only who they like more. I wish departments would do away with elections and have strict promotional rules and regulations based on expirence and training rather then who is liked more.

End of rant!

Elmsford FD has the same situation the chiefs number is 2111. When he calls in he calls it as twenty one eleven seems to work out fine to me.

When I sing in the shower each morning I am striving for the same goals as is Bono from U2...when I shoot hoops in my driveway I am striving for the same goals as Larry Byrd did in his time...when I decide where to invest in my extremely meager retirement accounts I am striving for the same goals as Warren Buffet...so far despite all my striving and good intentions, my results have not been the equivalent of theirs...

Really Larry Byrd? I strive to be Micheal Jordan when I play so I would love to play you one on one!

To me a Volunteer Deputy Chief is just another way of a department saying they don't trust the current line officers to be an IC at a scene therefore putting an ex-chief in charge over a current Captain and Lieutenant. If that is the case that department needs to take a serious look at the line and re-evaluate the current promotional process and the current line officers.

I am going to go with the area I live in The Town of Mt. Pleasant Fire Departments. I think they should consolidated Hawthorne, Thornwood and Valhalla down to 5 commissioners, 1 chief, 2 assistants with 2 Ladders (1 Tower and 1 straight stick) along with 1 Heavy Rescue and 3 engines out of a total of 3 stations. I would say that Hawthorne would be HQ (being centrally located) housing an engine and the Heavy Rescue with Thornwood housing station 2 with a ladder and an engine and Valhalla being station 3 housing another 1 and 1. I am in no way shape or form a person who has any knowledge in this subject and I am just throwing my thoughts out there in a hypothetical situation.

This would essentially eliminate 10 commissioners, 6 chiefs/ chief cars, 2 firehouses, 2 ladder trucks, 1 heavy rescue, 2 engines and 1 rescue engine if my math is correct.

***Again this was only me doing this for fun and not anything else***

Yes, immediate failure and from what i've been told by some of the guys who took it and one of the proctors there's goin to be alot of dissapointed people out there. Following the directions was a big part of the exam of which many did not do ive been told. I hope everyone who though it was "easy" don't fall into this catgegory

Are you serious? If so a lot of people in my room are in that same boat. Does anyone know how long it takes to get the results back?

I've heard that some of the assets (EMS / Fire Gators) that DES has are manned by the Grasslands Fire Brigade and an agreement is in place with a local volunteer department to staff them at other times (Hawthorne I think)

They are by Hawthorne and Valhalla FD and in the contract with the County members are to respond to DES pick up the trailers and drop them off at the scene.

Currently it works like this (for unstaffed agencies):

EMS

1st page

No response, retone after 3 minutes

No response, retoned after 3 minutes and begin Mutual Aid

FIRE

1st page

No response, retone after 5 minutes

No response, retone after 3 minutes and begin Mutual Aid

The "problem" is that once a unit from an agency signs on or calls in by landline, that call is "on them." Departments should have internal SOPs that say "if nobody else calls in after X amount of time, request Mutual Aid."

Why is there a 2 min difference between fire and ems from first to second page?

Sounds like the job discription for the logistics officer or at a minimum a county battalion chief (even if thats the wrong title for them).

I believe they are called "deputy coordinators." And I agree they of all people should know what is being held in those trailers as well as the availability considering that is what their job is supposed to be.

There are many things a fire department can do but one of the first things is has to do is get its house in order. If it wants to be a good fire department not just "a" fire department. set your own standards--you have that power(AHJ)who cares what FASNY says get all your interior members Firefighter one Certified. Make being an Officer a job not a title. Give it responsibilities and conditions and qualifications. Make being a Chief important not just a position to fill or because "its our turn"

Capt,

I wish it was that easy! I myself take as many classes as my schedule permits and I am always looking for ways to further my fire education, but it just seems that I am fighting an uphill battle with my department and its members to get others to start taking classes. I would love for them to make higher standards for both firefighters and officers but with the current leadership and membership I don't see that happening anytime soon. Its sad to say I don't see anything changing until something like what happened in Tarrytown happens to us.

Congratulations on the new addition it looks great! PVAC does an excellent job with rehab and is a very proactive agency. Keep up the good work!

2010 Valhalla 439 Fire Calls. No EMS.

2009 Valhalla 347 Fire Calls. No EMS.

The large increase is due to duel response at 226 w/ Hawthorne.

Those of you who have them on your apparatus (specifically volunteer depts) do you make it mandatory for ALL members to be CPR and AED certified? As well as depts. that carry O2 on the rigs are all members required to be trained to at least the CFR level?

Sorry for the double post mods please delete the first post!

Those of you who have them on your apparatus (specifically volunteer depts) do you make it mandatory for ALL members to be CPR and AED certified?

Date: Jan. 16, 2011

Time: 0031

Location: Saw Mill Pkwy SB North of Exit 25

Frequency: 46.26, Fire 11, EMS 11

Units Operating: 2191, 2193, 2194, E155, U41, 63-B1, 37M1 and WCPD

Weather Conditions: Cold

Description Of Incident: 1 car rollover with 1 person trapped. 1 victim extricated and transported ALS to Westchester Medical Center.

Reporters: DaRock98

Writer: DaRock98

995 not 955

The actual final numbers are 1000 total

438 Fire Calls

562 EMS/MVA's