Danger

Did the troopers do the right thing? Sure.
Does the fire department need to make changes to ensure adequate staffing to avoid having to use civilians, state troopers, DPW workers, chefs, landscapers, soccer moms, etc. to man handlines? You betcha.
Nice job guys.

Did the troopers do the right thing? Sure.
Does the fire department need to make changes to ensure adequate staffing to avoid having to use civilians, state troopers, DPW workers, chefs, landscapers, soccer moms, etc. to man handlines? You betcha.
Nice job guys.

Did the troopers do the right thing? Sure.
Does the fire department need to make changes to ensure adequate staffing to avoid having to use civilians, state troopers, DPW workers, chefs, landscapers, soccer moms, etc. to man handlines? You betcha.
Nice job guys.

I can't really fathom how to answer this post. It just does not make any sense. Hopefully someone else can articulate it better than I.
Yes the rig parks on the roadway, yes it is used to advise traffic. Even if that purpose isn't served, it serves as an amber warning light.

We will most likely have to have chevrons on the back of our chairs soon.

One of the worst ideas I have ever heard.....he oughta be embarassed!
Go to the frigging call Chief! Let the cops be cops!

So much for "Discipline in private, praise in Public". Or does this Chief have no actual leadership/officer training?

So instead of responding to someone calling for help this guy thinks it is a better idea to watch his people and emergency vehicles (which are legally allowed to speed within reason). I agree that people do drive faster than the limit. Why doesn't he just call the cops becuase he cannot do anything about it? I'm glad he is destroying morale.

We definitely do not have the training to fight large brush fires. County, battalion, or multi department agreements should purchase a cache of wildland rated coveralls in generic sizes as well as rakes, collapsible indian tanks, etc to be deployed from box trucks when needed. I'd say the $900,000 from the latest tower ladder quint should get us a good start.

We definitely do not have the training to fight large brush fires. County, battalion, or multi department agreements should purchase a cache of wildland rated coveralls in generic sizes as well as rakes, collapsible indian tanks, etc to be deployed from box trucks when needed. I'd say the $900,000 from the latest tower ladder quint should get us a good start.

Thank you to everyone on EMTBRAVO who supported E-306 and the YFD in the RescueRemodel Contest. Congratulations to Palos as I am assuming that they won. It won't be announced officially until the 15th. I haven't seen any evidence that Palos or anyone else did anything unethical or unfair. Give them credit for doing whatever they did to get the vote out, which is exactly what our guys accomplished very succesfully as well. Maybe IKEA will recognize that there was a legitimate issue with their technology which raised some suspicions and caused a bit of frustration and they will award two (or even 5) kitchen remodels- it would be even more great publicity for them...we'll see...
In any event, this contest has, I feel, been a needed morale booster for our guys. Also, although there is nothing official to announce yet, we have received several inquiries from both individuals and businesses who may wish to take on all or a part of a kitchen remodel for E-306. We will keep you all posted if any of that comes to fruition.
Thanks again to everyone who voted for E-306, and for your expressions of support.

I am opposed to any and all plans that do not include a mass transit feature. Whether it be specialty lanes for buses or lines for rail it really does not matter. However to not include mass transit features is to not plan for the future. What will this region look like in 50 years? If the next 50 years are going to look anything like the last 50 years, this region is going to look like LA with snow before I reach the age to retire. Therefore, it would be common sense to extend mass transit over the bridge into Rockland. Hell, if they could link up with NJ transit, we could have the start of a logical and connected mass transit system allowing anyone from New Haven to Trenton the ability to enter the NYC and Metro Area via mass transit without having to take 3 separate lines. If one could go from NJ to NY and then NY to CT without having to enter NYC, imagine the relief that would provide stations such as Penn or GCT.

Everything is fine! Stop playing word games by describing it word for word Nathan! Company is great success, yes?

Let me add a little insite to this topic that was NOT in the papers.
Local 801 has been in contract talks for about a year now. The topic of the safer grant and the employees being hired did not come on the table until the very end of negociations. The city accepted the SAFER grant a few months ago without saying anything about the new hires being under a new contract. A month before the new hires were to start the academy they all recieved letters in the mail that said their appointment was conditional on the union accepting the contract. This was never said, discussed,or even brought up to Local 801 until the very end.
The negociating committie was forced to bring a less then attractive TA back to the membership to vote on. The membership voted no. Shocker the next day the city stated they were turning down the grant. Let me give you some insight on the Pension for Danbury firefighters. They put in 5% towards their pension. O/T,Holiday pay,steipns,Uniform pay, etc is not included. They do not get time and a half for O/T just straight time. They do not get the best of anything just top step. At 27 years they can go out with 50% and full medical with no copay. THey can go out with 20 years at age 55 with 40% and full medical. Every year after 27 is 2% a year with a max of 68% I think. They can get an extra 5% Non Service releated disability. Pretty conservitive if you ask me. For an on the job career ending injury it would be 66 2/3 tax free with full medical.
The TA wanted this for new hires. 30 year retirement,6% towards their pension,35% cost sharing for medical upon retirement,an added pay step that had them starting at 71/2% less than they were told.Taking away the escalator which means when rank and file get a raise,retiree's get one. A sliding scale that states if they are injured on duty and are forced to retire they have to pay as much as 50% of their health care preminum. Around 10,000 for anyone with 0-9 years on. If they have to go before 25 years their pension is penalized a certain percent for every year before 25.
The current rank and file and also affecting new hires. 6% into our pension, Removel of the 5% non service related disability. Sliding scale for on the job injuries by having to pay a certain percent into health care. Being penalized for going before 25 years. Best of the last three years, this means if you retire and they gave a 7% raise your last year you wouldn't get it. No 24/72 hour shifts. 0% the 1st year and 7% spread out over the next three years for rasies.
The union presented the city with a HSA for health insurance that was going to save them roughly 80,000 a year. They are planning to put civilians in Dispatch which will move them to the PD and most likely eliminate 8 dispatcher postions which get top step LT pay. The new hires would have over manned evey shift which would have elimanated most of the overtime. The firefighters have the lowest amount of sick time in the entire city. The biggest problem was not protecting the members who were hurt on the job. With all these savings and the city having the lowest rate of unemployment in CT,The safest city,you can't excpect me to belive that they couldn't afford to leave the injury language alone and at least give the new guys their escalator. Tough times ahead.

Volunteer and preplanning... hah,that'll be the day,then again it might happen if they offer free food with the preplan excercise ...
flame away

But as an emergency service community, we have NO problem contracting out EMS?

Another BS sensational article to make up for lack of sales....

Everything is fine! Stop playing word games by describing it word for word Nathan! Company is great success, yes?

Couldn't agree more with you Capt. Makes even less sense in combo departments that have no rank structure..but yet the ones running the show are elected and have less qualifications then the paid staff. What happens most times when the discussion comes up of getting rank into contracts? Pressure from the volunteer side and conversation based on control, fear of loss of control and pride instead of what best would allow more efficient functioning and service to the customer.

This may be a dumb question - but in the case of combination departments, can the department/district say that all firefighters (paid or volunteer) have the same minimum training (the 229)?
Yes they can!! The AHJ can set the standard as high as they wish as long as it meets the minium. All career departments have to meet , by law ,229 hours of training and a minium of 100 hours annually. it is also broken down in hours and subjects. Just to make it more interesting
I do have a hard time relating to combo departments that have different standards within them selves. yes I came from one and still could not understand the reasoning. it just made no sense.
It only seems ro reason that the better trained all firefighters are the better chance we have of protecting the citizens we have sworn to protect. it all seems so simple. Then we go and !@@$ it up.

Sorry but out of all the federal stimulus packages the auto industry is the only one to me that made sense. If any one of the auto companies failed we could have been back in another great depression. It kept Americans who truly needed it working. The majority of that money was repaid. The bank bailout was ridiculous as there are plenty of other banks to pick up the slack. It would have hurt the strength of the dollar...but no where near the amount of people would have lost their jobs like that if they auto industry collapsed.

What is it that makes you think that they are Pierce or E-One.
Personally I never could have come to that conclusion.

Really? So with that thinking why doesn't the PD call my station to check out the panic alarm at the deli a 1/2 block down the street? The reason why the FD is dispatched is because if an alarm activates it did its job and activated for a reason. I mean by all means...never mind a fire doubles in size every minute its allowed to free burn. I don't refer to things that are really common sense and clearly defined responsibility of a particular agency anything but what it should be. So sometimes..liability is the correct driving force for those who try to cut corners and not do what should be done. I bet its a lot cheaper sending persons trained to deal with activations and fire then it is to pay the lawsuit because I police officer came to the door and didn't do what I know should be done.
How many steam from a shower calls to I hear in a week? Sometimes none but then again only radio I listen to is when I'm at work. Then again I really don't care what the reason is...I am the fire department. They are the police department and have their own issues to deal with.

For you "Southland" fans out there, it returned two episodes ago Tuesday nights on TNT
http://www.tnt.tv/series/southland/
It's one of my favorite shows, and IMO, one of the most realistic cop dramas out there. I like how they focus mostly on the patrol officers on the street.

So from what I gather, it would be fine with you if these 'Aviation' guys leave NYC and start operating in your VFD's district instead?