firebuff08

This is one I am planning on adding to the collection. I was wondering if anyone has a photo they could post of the original apparatus. I remember the real truck from when I lived in Westchester, but I would like to see a photo to compare with the model.

Currently I have 430 Fire/Ambulance and Police Car Models. The majority are fire. 100 of the models are Code 3 --primarily FDNY, Boston FD and all of the Westchester County models (even though I have lived in CT for more than 20 years, I did spend 20 years in Westchester). Also have most of the Funrise models, all the Franklin Mints, most of the Yatmings, a lot of Corgi and models from just about every other company that has ever made a model fire truck including the recent 1:18 scale pumper from Highway 61. A lot of kit bashed stuff, including several Ford C pumpers and rescues using the old Hubley Ford C cab&chassis. I also have over 100 model cars and truck (non emergency) mostly cars of the 1950's when I was growing up. Collecting is not a sickness...it's more like an addiction!!!

I like the new layout. Very clean and simple. Forget adding flash. That just adds clutter. I do prefer the limited edition blue background over the gray. This is a great site, especially for former Westchester residents like myself. Sure helps me to keep up with what is going on in Westchester and surrounding areas. Keep up the good work.

I have nearly 40 years of public safety experience (EMS, 911 and Police), 40 years experience as a professional journalist and I am a former elected public official and I can state without hesitation it is ALWAYS a mistake to try to keep information about an apparatus accident from the public. Sooner or later it will come out and when it does there will be no doubt in the public's mind and in the media that there was an attempt to cover something up, even if the reason for withholding information was a sincere effort to protect the firefhghter involved. In the case of Mohegan's apparatus, the owners of the apparatus ---the taxpayers of the Mohegan Fire District - have an absolute right to know that their fire truck was damaged in an accident. The truck doesn't belong to the Chief, or the firefighter or even the commissioners. They are simply trustees for the public. If it was one of Mohegan's ambulances that rolled over, it would be a different story. The ambulances are privately owned by the Fire Association and not by the taxpayers. When the fire truck accident does come out to the public, The Chief and the Commissioners will spend forever attempting to explain there was no coverup and forever many taxpayers will never believe them. Worse, many will wonder what else has been covered up over the years.

Also I agree 100% with those whose comments appear in prior posts that everyone can learn something from this and every other emergency vehicle accident....something that might prevent a more serious accident in the future.

After reading all of the posts on this subject, I just can not believe how slow Westchester County is to catch up with the rest of the world. Back in the late 1970's and early 1980's I was Chairman of the Communications Committee for the Westchester EMS Council and I served on two 911 study committees appointed by then County Executive DelBello. The same arguments against centralizing dispatch that are being made now were being made then. At the time, Westchester still did not have 911, though most populated area of the country did. I now live in CT and work in a PD based PSAP (we roll 911 calls for fire and ems to fire). CT has had 911 since the late 1960's. Here 911 is funded by the STate and the equipment is identical at all 106 PSAP's in the state. Training is given by and mandated by the State.

The biggest problem in Westchester as I see it now and as I saw it back in the 80's was too many chiefs of too many small and inefficient political entities. Back then and probably the same now, the 6 villages in Greenburgh, for example, has an officer on the desk dispatching and as few as 2 officers on the street. The town could have taken over dispatching for all of them without barely increasing the workload at the Town PD dispatch center.

The fewer the number of PSAPs, the fewer the number of transfers and lost calls. (Yeah, we have too many PSAP's here in Connecticut as well). At least we do not have as much duplication of services. Because we do not have counties (other than lines on a map) there is no county PD. You have two of the best examples of centralized fire and ems dispatch right in your own backyard...44 Control in Rockland County and Dutchess County Fire. Every call is dispatched in a precise, organized manner and there is clear, central control of the radio channels. Both Rockland and Dutchess have been doing it that way for 30 to 40 years!!! Why does everyone in Westchester want to reinvent the wheel?