Danger

That part of the ladder shouldn't rest on the roof, you need to give the ladder about a foot above the parapet/roof surface to allow for the load, and the tip normally won't be contacting anything since you should have at least a couple rungs above the edge. There certainly is some potential for damage eventually but with the frequency of that, they can probably afford it. These style of strip lights are 20 bucks at autozone

I heard the family that owns that company are real idiots.

Not disagreeing with you, BUT...
We just had 3 ff-1 classes going at the same time: 1 assigned live fire, 1 doing water supply, and 1 doing hose streams, so it isnt as easy as it seems. We need the engine, and it will save some depts from having to go long distances. I welcome the idea of a second engine to help us all out at the fire academy.
as a side note most dept's ask to be used at the academy while a ff-1 or ff-2 class is going on, as their own members do benefit from the experience IE: pumping, driving to and from, foam ops, radio communications etc.

I might be way off but how would you justify that to the towns taxpayers that they need to pay taxes for a county team that should be able to be funded by the county taxes they pay.
I Still say pressure the politicians that take the money from where its supposed to be and use it not responsible.

Bro relax!! I'm with PFD you don't buy rigs that won't fit on your roads in your district.

Isn't it about supporting our Brothers families? What if it was a plain tee? Would you still buy one? I would.JMHO

How about one that says "Thanks for funding that library addition and making 2 empty seats on this vehicle"

How about one that says "Thanks for funding that library addition and making 2 empty seats on this vehicle"

How about one that says "Thanks for funding that library addition and making 2 empty seats on this vehicle"

This can be very true. There is a HUGE differance between Paid Staff and Professional Staffing.
I know several Professional Fire Fighters both Paid and Volunteer and unfortunitly for the entire Fire Fighting career I know some Paid unprofessional Fire Fighters as well.

So what is new found point for negative points?
I see no need and they can easily turn into a way to get back at some one and eventually turn into a personal attach issue. We had this on a different forum I was on.

Just got word from the Vulcans that she starts on Monday

Just got word from the Vulcans that she starts on Monday

EFD Capt was right pre-edit. I notice the use of "county recognized" FAST. Can anyone post the Dutchess County standard for what makes up a FAST? Does a standard exist? Does every FAST that's in the DC911 CAD have the same manning, equipment and training?
Back to the original poster, I don't know why anyone would jump on a guy who was simply asking why a department 20 miles, one county and a bridge away would be called as a FAST. That's a fair question. If there is a logical answer for it, provide it to him, end of story. In this case there is; the Chief of Highland did his research and decided that Hughsonville would be the best option for his members, which are HIS responsibility.

Helmet Cam Video: N.J. FF's Close Call
http://www.firehouse.com/topics/top-headlines/helmet-cam-video-nj-ffs-close-call
I don't even know where to start with this video. I'm usually the one saying it's easy to Monday morning qb and giving the benifit of the doubt but I think a good discussion on safety can be learned from this.
Right off the bat
1. We see the fire in and to the left. Yet there's a bunch of guys with a line and the nozzle on the little porch creating a traffic jam putting their regulators in. Get off to the side out of the venting smoke on a knee get your PPE squared away bleed the nozzle make entry and put out the fire.
2. A discussion is ongoing about who's inside how many? Obviously there are accountability issues. You must know who you have and a general idea where they are.
3. I hear a pass alarm going off as the guy is making his way to the back. Is anyone addressing it?
4. Why is a line operating from the exterior while interior operations are underway?
5. Obviously companies have been on scene at least a little while and a FAST and additional companies are being requested. This should have been requested quickly. We are more than 2 minutes into the video.
6. Differing people giving orders and they are contridictory. Honestly it looks to me as if the first and subsuquent lines should have gone through the front door. This is a basic concept. Protect the interior stairs and the escape route of the occupants. As the subsuquent lines come in they reinforce the first line, back it up, or go above for extension. This is a pretty fundamental concept of firefighting.
7. Now a member shows up in the window. They decide to move the ladder which under the circumstances is necessary.
8. Guy in the window has a haligan. He should have taken the window and the sash. I probably would have bought his some time by venting the heat and smoke a couple of feet above him while he waited for the ladder.
9. If you don't practice the basics like portable ladders it shows when the S* hits the fan. If you are going to ask the guy to come down head first the angle should have been decreased and footed. With all the people there with the ladder why didn't someone ascend to help the member down? You could have gone up and pinned the guy to the ladder for the descent. It wouldn't have been pretty but he probably wouldn't have fell.
10. Now the guy falls head first off the ladder. He is now out of the IDLH and immediate danger. I would have brought EMS back to him or had FF/EMTs board him. There was no good reason to handle him by dragging him to the front. It's a good idea at this point to question the downed FF about who was with him and their whereabouts.
11. Now the MAYDAY, first a roll call or PAR is needed a minute ago, assign a chief to supervise the mayday and give him resources and get him on another channel.
12. The practice of donning the facepiece without the regulator and walking around the fireground limits your field of vision greatly. Practice taking your knee and donning your facepiece and hood just prior to entering the IDLH. It allows you to see what your doing prior to entering, keeps your mask from fogging up, and limits your air consumption. At this fire its appears some firefighters may have used up their air prior to even operating inside.
My conclusions may not be entirely correct on all these items but this in no way seems like a smoothly run fire. No doubt these guys were faced with a working fire with entrappment and probably inadequete initial manpower. But if you train for the fundamental tasks you will be more efficent when adrenilin and emotions are high. Ever go to a fire when the fire department seems to be running the operation and not the fire running the fire department?

I didn't say it wasn't a good stop...that was one of the troublemakers on here ( I know who he is and I can confirm that he is always up to no good) ...I'm nice remember??
I have no idea what actually happened at the fire. What members are questioning on here is a seemingly repetitive and systemic problem of being unable to provide an adequate and timely response of qualified firefighting personnel.
If it takes numerous departments to deal with even a private dwelling fire every time, why don't those departments just combine?

This fire got a huge head start before anyone was ever aware of it- burning in the walls of an unoccupied home with rapid spread to the attic before any units arrived. Crews from Put. Valley, Yorktown, Peekskill and as I can personally attest, Buchanan, worked with Mohegan in an excellent and coordinated effort and kept the damage from being worse than it was eventually was. Should mutual aid departments be included on the initial dispatch? That is a question Mohegan should consider, at least during the daytime hours. We do it in the tri-village (Buchanan, Montrose and Verplanck)24/7/365 on all structure fire calls (even if it's an oven fire). The district with the fire is toned out immediately followed by the other two to man their stations. Works very well anytime of the day for all situations. Again- this fire was well involved before anyone even noticed and the crews did "make a good stop" considering what they faced. Not making excuses here Chief Flynn- just giving a little first-hand insight to what I experienced on scene.

This is true in the northeast, but in many portions of the country county or regional depts. are career or combination. Often because it is cheaper when it is done on a regional bases. While the volume may be lower in bedroom communities, the type of response is based on the emergency, not the type of community (if the house is burning, the fire des not care if its in a city or out in the country). The spending difference that you speak of would be based on trying to fully staff a volunteer dept in Westchester with career personnel. When you look at the southern regional models (GA, SC & FLA, etc.) most stations with the call volumes seen in many Westchester depts. would only require an engine (and a tanker if no muni water system). Its amazing that they send less for career depts then we spend and meet national standards for response.
Clearly the overall budget is less in a volunteer dept., career depts. are established with larger populations than those found in most bedroom communities. Either a city or county/region. When covering a larger population the costs per family (or per tax payer). As an example I compared the per capita cost of my city FD with that of a number of VFD's in notrthern westchester and we average about $100 less per capita. The key is regionialization.
Even more amazing would be the amount of money that could be saved in the volunteer communities in Westchester if they would become a regional dept. The only one who would not save money is the apparatus dealers.
If life hazard or significant property dammage threat is not an issue then why does every dept in westchester need all the apparatus it has? Based on that statement alone, do we need all of the FD's (and stations and rigs) we have?
If politician did a risk/benefit assesment they would figure we would be better in some communities with no FD and pay the next dept over to come to the 1 call every few days. Politicians do risk/benefit assesments for there career, not for the safety of the community. If they think funding a new tower ladder in a VFD that does not need one will get them reelected then they will get a new TL.
If you ask that way, of course they will never go for it. One County in S.C. showed that going county wide and career dropped the ISO rating from a 9 to a 5, saving each property about $800/yr in fire insurance while increasing the fire tax by $300, they put it to a vote and everyone is saving money today.
You are right it wont happen here, because we will fight to keep our depts. seperate, even if we can not meet the needs, because we are way to proud of the "great" job we are doing.
The reason taxes are #1 in Westchester is because the pleasure of our communities is to do it this way, because they do not understand that the rest of the country does it for a fraction of the cost (this is mostly school tax, but every tax contributes).

Date: 12-18-09
Time: 2200hrs
Location: 26 Skytop Dr. c/s Springvale Rd.
Frequency: 46.26
Units Operating: MFD Cars 2271, 2272, 2274, E122, U68, Buchanan Car 2552, U12, Verplanck Cars 2491, 2493, E126, Croton Cars 2082, 2083, E119 w/FASTeam, Cortlandt VAC, New York State Police, Westchester County PD, Con Ed, Cortlandt Code Enforcement
Weather Conditions: Cold, clear
Description Of Incident: Working Fire
Reporters: Chris192
Writer: BFD1054, et al
2200hrs-Tri-Village tones transmitted; Reported chimney fire at 26 Skytop Dr. in Montrose. Buchanan & Verplanck on s/b
2202hrs-E122 responding.
2203hrs-Car 2272 responding.
2207hrs-E122 on scene, Car 2274 (Capt. Porter) transmitting the 10-75. Requesting additional engine on the road, if a Montrose engine has not signed on, request one from Buchanan. Also requesting Crotons FASTeam to the scene.
2208hrs-Car 2272 on scene, advising "fully involved" structure fire, checking if Buchanan's engine is on the road.
2209hrs-Car 2271 responding, inquiring if he should pick-up TL8.
2210hrs-CFD Car 2083 en-route. 60-Control re-toning; Verplanck to re-locate (1) engine to Montrose FD, Buchanan E161 to the scene, Crotons FASTeam to the scene, Cortlandt VAC to the scene.
2212hrs-BFD U12 responding. CFD Car 2082 on scene.
2213hrs-Car 2272 attempting to raise BFD E161. CFD Car 2083 relaying for Car 2272; BFD E161 requested to respond Crugers Station Rd. and into the scene (back side of Springvale).
2216hrs-Car 2271 inquiring if Buchanans engine is en-route. U12 en-route. (a lot of radio traffic, unknown to me if BFD has an engine on the road)
2218hrs-VFD E126 re-locating to MFD HQ.
2223hrs-VFD E126 out at MFD HQ.
2224hrs-VFD E126 now requested to the scene. E126 advising limited personnel.
2225hrs-60-Control advising VFD E126 is to respond in to supply Croton E119.
2229hrs-CFD Car 2082 requesting VFD E126 to locate a hydrant on Springvale Rd. and lay into E119.
2230hrs-City of Peekskill requested to re-locate (1) engine to Montrose FD HQ.
2232hrs-Cause & Origin Team Zone-4 paged out for response.
2248hrs-Car 2271 requesting Fire-Police to the scene.
2250hrs-Crotons Tanker (10) requested to the scene. Continental Village Tanker (11) also requested to the scene.
2255hrs-CFD T10 responding.
2256hrs-CVFD T11 responding.
2303hrs-Mohegan requested to re-locate (1) engine to Verplanck FD HQ.
2313hrs-CVFD Car 2133, T11 on scene.
2332hrs-Car 2271 requesting Cortlandt Code Enforcement to the scene.
2337hrs-60-Control advising Car 2271 that Cortlandt Code Enforcement has a 30 minute ETA.
2341hrs-Mohegan E255 out at Verplanck FD HQ for stand-by.
*At about this point, I went to bed.
**0345hrs-Tri-Village tones transmitted; possible structure fire at 250 Kings Ferry Rd in Verplanck. LMFD E255 (s/b engine) & MFD E123 responded.
VFD Car 2492 advised of a working fire in trailer #9, requesting E255 to stretch a line in.
***0830hrs-Buchanan FD requested to respond w/(1) engine & manpower back to 26 Skytop Dr for a smoke investigation. BFD E161 responded along with Montrose FD units.