Atv300

Not my quote, but I like it:
"A little CO inhalation isn't a bad thing. It helps me get back to sleep after those middle-of-the-night runs."

How is that you think this is a response to my challenge? My challenge was for the other poster to explain with specificity what he meant by "glass houses".
It is such a shame that again, another poster on this site has, from behind the anonymity of his keyboard, made unsubstantiated allegations using such words as "hate" and "despise"...we have so many serious problems in this world, and everyone on this website, career, volunteer, or other has so much more in common than we do differences. There is, unfortunately, so much real hate, violence and unfairness in this world, and to throw these words around so casually is really a damn shame to me. Why can't we just be big boys and respect differences of opinion without being so thin skinned or making personal attacks? I have used sarcasm on this site at times, and generally this was done in response to ludicrous misinformation on a subject near and dear to my heart, and / or a personal attack on my self or my department. However, in all my years interacting with members of the volunteer Fire and EMS service, both on this site, and in person, I have never been rude, disrespectful, or dishonest. In fact, I have been very supportive of any volunteers who have come to me for help or advice on many occasions. On a related note, when valid criticism of my own department or career departments in general is posted, I never take it personally, or try to make excuses or deny the truth.
However, here in Westchester County we have many serious issues with Fire and EMS services, and the majority of these issues (not all) are from the volunteer side. This is not personal, it is business. Very important, life or death business! Duplication of resources, ridiculous selection, training, promotion and retention standards, lack of transparency, horrible inadequate response standards, etc, etc. Many of these issues could be fairly easily solved, and therefore more death, pain and suffering could be avoided, if egos could be put aside, and valid criticisms could be accepted.
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Adequate minimum training standards, consolidation and regionalization, transparency in regard to finances, resources, levels of training and competency need to happen. It is a complete failure of leadership and selfish egomaniacs who are more worried about their little fiefdoms than the public good who are standing in the way of this. My hope is that if I and others keep pointing out these serious issues, the many good, intelligent, dedicated and caring individuals in the volunteer sector will force this change down the throats of the entrenched "leaders" who have been holding progress back for so long.
My feelings are shared by so many, both career and volunteer- and just FYI, many of the career Firefighters who volunteers hold in such high regard actually feel exactly the same as I do- however they choose not to go public with their feelings because they want to make money by teaching you, selling you t shirts and other paraphanelia, receiving the many benefits of being volunteer Firefighters themselves, writing books and articles, setting themselves up for certain jobs in retirement, etc., etc., and they are not willing to suffer the personal attacks such as I have on here for expressing my feelings on this issue. It's actually hilarious to hear the criticisms of the volunteer fire service which are made in private by many career Firefighters who most volunteers proclaim to be their good friends and supporters
I realize I am making sense to a lot of you and many of you share my feelings. No matter how hard I try, the haters will always be out there. I accept and expect that. Thanks to all of you who have supported me on these issues. Together, over time, we will acccomplish much positive change in the service of those we are sworn to protect.

Just saying glad everyone can get along here. This forum would better serve for information on fixing staffing issues paid and volly instead of running either into the ground *same team, same agenda at the end of the day*.

"this new mobile application allows authorized personnel to use tablets and smartphones as "virtual radios."
How do you control "authorized"? I can see hacking issues with this.

Call 451-4000 and ask for the Chief's Office. He can answert your questions.
If I had to GUESS, I would say that they are already severly understaffed, and utilize what little manpower they have in cars and on foot, where they are able to participate in the daily foot pursuits without having to "park" a Segway?

I don't think the test is for the physical answer maybe it's to test the ability to find the info in the proper place. Getting the right answer ment you went to the right place. Stick with the manual that came with the truck or check with the manufacturer things can change even if it's just the year of the the truck.

I don't think the test is for the physical answer maybe it's to test the ability to find the info in the proper place. Getting the right answer ment you went to the right place. Stick with the manual that came with the truck or check with the manufacturer things can change even if it's just the year of the the truck.

Nothing will change over night that's for sure but don't give up. When you and your buddy's become the senior/ old guys remember what you were pushing for and keep it moving forward. It sucks but it takes time just like anything also make sure you guys work on keeping the right leaders in also remember more flies with honey then vinegar.

First thing, classrooms are not the place to motivate firefighters. Unless you can offer something compelling. Take NIOSH LODD reports and recreate them on a white board. Explain to them the events leading up to what went wrong. This will stick in their heads.
Classroom time; limit it to 30 minutes before you break. Open the windows, doors, let fresh oxygen in as it depletes while everyone is sitting there and makes them sleepy.
Second thing, get them outside with the rigs and equipment. This is what they want to be doing in the first place. Be creative, but not dangerous.
The more imaginative you can be with your training the better it's going to go.
Get that gear and equipment out of those compartments. Let them get hands on with everything.
Lastly, have a simple goal in mind for the training session. One thing that you really want to stress, impress and make them remember.

Those 1200 plus wrist bands were only for the 21 and over crowd it was definitely amazing the turnout.

I will be there Cap.
And to add to the raffle prizes, the bow compaby that sponsors myself and 31-L1 has donated a bow.

Bump

I thought there would be more interest on this subject a fellow fire fighter in need of at least support and this just went down quickly thanks to the guys who have posted. And thanks to those showing support by going or some other way

I have talked to the people that started the Facebook event hopeful it will be opened up by later today.

Jeez....who would have thought? YEARS ago, when a storage facility was being built locally, I asked to buy a few new saws with metal blades, a duck bill lock breaker, peircing nozzles, and a few other goodies that would prove to be useful in these types of fires I was told, "metal containers don't burn!" :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Dover is in Patterson and has covered a vehicle fire on I84 for them East Fishkill is in Lake Carmel and Bedford Hills just relocated to Brewster HQ

I bet the guys from Dover never thought they would do a call on I-84

The news this evening stated that there up to 8 smoke detectors in the house

I served 8 years between the VA & NY National Guard.... I am very Proud to see that my son has joined the United States Army!

One thing I've noticed as of late; something I thought had finally been passed over as being antiquated, is the disagreeing that is still occurring between the mighty forces of Emergency Services Unit and Special Operations Command.
Disagreement expressed on these pages could to be a good thing, as it might foster better understanding between those agencies who likely cooperate 98 percent of the time without incident, but disagree occasionally, and it comes off like a competition on those rare events.
But thinking about it, is this situation any different than what occurs in a majority of places, between emergency personnel?
Isn't it true that a contingent of volunteer firefighters still look upon their career counterparts with some sort of disdain?
Aren't there a few career firefighters, who cannot see any gray areas in the fire service and therefore conclude that ALL volunteer services are undermanned shams? (and how many of them were formerly volunteers with the exact opposite views)
Aren't there some cops who will always view the fire department showing up as just another inconvenient blocking of their highway?
Aren't there obstructionists in every branch of emergency services who would rather die or watch as constituents continue to die, than give up one inch of their authority or admit that changes need to be made to operations?
The imperfections of the systems in place in the greater New York area, serve to demoralize ALL who work within the systems. The ability to adapt to simple operational changes, that in many cases wouldn't cost an additional tax-dollar, or donation-buck, and many times would save money overall, are continually looked at with disdain. With inaction. With resistance.
Each individual however can still have an impact on positive change; if they would direct their energies toward the positive improvements and shun the negative energy. None of us alone will change the emergency services world during our careers. Let me repeat that; none of us alone.....
But collectively, smaller positive contributions all add up in the end toward building momentum for inevitable and productive change.
Most of the positive changes that have come about have been those individual contributions. Think about Chief Haligan. He invented a tool. Think about the guy/s gal/s who thought up 2in 2out. The person who invented exhaust extraction systems. Sure, some were collective improvements made by groups of people tasked with inventing that improvement.
But Chief Haligan went back into the shop somewhere at a firehouse and pulled out a length of hardened steel and started thinking about it. Coupled with his experience at defeating doors and locks. So you keep it simple, like he did and the sky is the limit. It's about an idea, more than what you can do in a steel shop. Your contribution might be ideas, gathered on paper; ideas about how to consolidate a bunch of smaller departments into one larger one, that would become a vast improvement in delivery of fire services. Captain Nechis's ideas, analytic thinking is his haligan tool. Whether it get built or not is still in question. Time however will prove he and his counterparts were years ahead of their time with their ideas.
Ideas are empowerment. What can you do individually to improve emergency services? Think about it, you might just be on to something big.

Who is doing traffic when the cops need to roll to assist some where else? It's one hand washing the other I still say good job by all, people over think sometimes and forget we're there to get the same job done.

The Troopers were the first to arrive. Yes, the police often respond to emergencies in the rural parts of the state. This being a Friday afternoon, just before Christmas in a sparsely populated town with a well hidden from road/view structure the fire had a lot of headway before it was discovered. The person who discovered the fire actually drove to the volunteer firehouse to report it, found no one there and used the emergency phone to notify 911. The fire department was finally called, and almost immediately called 3 more departments under mutual aid for assistance. There is not a career fire department within sight of southern Columbia County. Troopers arrived initially and updated 911. The fire department did eventually show up with an engine, a tanker and a rescue each with a driver. With the limited manpower and some more enroute from neighboring departments with extended ETA's, the IC asked the Troopers for assistance to try to keep the fire from extending to the other portion of the house. The Troopers, 3/4 who are volunteer firefighters with chief officer experience and training obliged with permission from their supervisor. When enough fire personnel arrived, the Troopers were relieved and re-assumed their law enforcement roles.
Maybe not the best situation, but it happened, happened safely and they did do some good. Let's face it, this fire was the biggest thing going on in Columbia County at the time and the 2 speeders that got away on the Taconic during the time the Troopers were manning the hoseline will be caught next time.
As someone who takes a lot of fire pics in the Greene & Columbia areas I see the cooperation between law, fire and rescue squads all the time. You look up here at fire scenes and say "What the ....??" and I look at operations in the "Metro" areas and just scratch my head.
And Truck12345 seriously? Bill the FD for the Troopers time?? Maybe we should send bills to the NYSP every time we have to sit at a wire down on a STATE road and wait for NiMo or CH?? Maybe the next time we need the Troopers to help close a road so we can lay supply line across the street, maybe they won't be there.
I'm proud and happy that these Troopers were able to help and were not so disgruntled and screwed up that they just looked crosseyed at the Chief and said "Sorry dude. Not my job."

Members,
Bury the hatchet.
Career vs. Volunteer. Police vs. Firefighters.
It's disgusting. Our jobs, volunteers or career, police officers or firefighters we are in it to serve the public. It's not always a perfect world, and there is always going to be politics, disagreements, etc. However, we all should be looking at it like this. How can we work TOGETHER to improve things in this moment of time?
It's NOT about us, it's about the public who depends on us to serve and protect them with the highest level of service possible. If, you, gosh forbid, got into a car accident and were pinned and in needed medical attention ASAP, wouldn't you want someone to get you out of there as soon as possible? We all drive through volunteer and career districts in the course of our days. Would it matter to you who responded at that moment? If you're complaining about the training of volunteers, do something about it. Sign up as an instructor. Figure out how you can help. And vice versa. It could be you that needs them.
If you're a volunteer, who cares what career firefighters think of your agency? If you're confident in the service you provide, there should be no reason to have to "defend" yourselves. There are issues between the two, but if you really look at it, a lot of the problems are very similar. We bellyache about volunteer daytime staffing. However, there are career departments that dont have any better staffing anytime. Can we all put aside egos to work together to solve the problems?
As far as Cops vs Firefighters, we work together and depend on one another. When we have a possibly violent situation, Fire and EMS stage, and Cops go in and risk their lives to make sure it is safe for firefighters and EMS to go in. They have our back. If that cop, gosh forbid, is to get shot, that Cop depends on Firefighters and EMS to save their lives. We have their back.
Those of us who are truly in it to help fellow citizens are sick of it. Open your ears, and learn from one another. You may just learn something simply by listening.
There can be respectful and producitve discussions regarding the issues, but by trashing one another, we only create anonymosity and more problems. This site will NOT tolerate it, and the staff is working on a specific set of rules and action/solution plans to address these threads, members, and posts.
My opinion represents my guiding views as the founder of this site and the Executive Director. I have many other administrative duties as well to keep this site online. I typically don't get involved with the various daily thread, post, or member issues which are handled independently by the staff, which takes a tremendous stressfull burden off my shoulders and are the reason why the site is still online..
The staff of this site volunteer their time to work together as a team to run this site, on a 24/7 basis.. I have full trust in them, and are an excellent team who have a tremendous workload which many members don't see or appreciate. Our staff consists of carefully handpicked active or retired Police Officers, Career and Volunteer Firefighters and EMS personel, Emergency Communications staff, EOC personel, and many other backgrounds. They understand and can relate to all the members and situations.They have accomplished many great things, and this site wouldn't be what it is without them.
Don't waste their time by making them have to "referee". And how can you accomplish this? Respect on another, and bury the hatchet already.
Seth G.
seth@emtbravo.com

I want you all to watch this if you haven't already. this is posted on Statter 911 from Watsonville, California. It's a transient hotel fire where the first due companies were faced with a (blank)-storm. FD, civilians and (OMG) cops making rescues and on hose lines before the 2nd due arrived.
http://statter911.co...scues/#comments
Now, when the proverbial brown waste hist the oscullating cooling device, what are you going to do???? Make people watch or utilize what you have safely?
You decide, let people die or make an attempt?

I couldn't disagree more. The only reason to call the FD is if you don't have the manpower, which is a system issue on your end, not a guideline or protocol issue like you seen to want to make it by forcing the inclusion of FD.
I run on a crew of 4 EMT-B's,I's and P's. Between the four of us, we can stabilize, lift and move almost any patient we come across. The only reason why we would consider calling the FD is if we need more hands or more tools, other than that, calling the FD will only bring more bodies to the scene, bodies I might add can cause further embarrassment and stress to an already distressed patient. People, especially if they are elderly or in a residential treatment facility, see ambulances on a daily basis, it is quite the commotion when our huge red truck comes screaming down the road to the facility. That commotion is stressful to the residents and the patients. Sometimes a lighter touch is what is required in these calls...
If I need the FD, they are a radio call away...