Danger

A simple, "I did not realize that anyone would ever take that as derogatory, I am sorry." Would have stopped this all.

New Hamburg

SFRS... am I the only one that sees a resemblance?

On April 1st 2013, Scotland's 8 regional Fire & Rescue services were merged into a single national department. The 8 regional police services were also merged into a single national service.
The 8 regions were originally made up of many smaller depts. but during and after world war IIthey were merged.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-21938388
Wow, 8 depts are too many for an entire nation so they are merging them into 1. We have 59 in just our county and they all believe that their community would not survive without them. Infact we have whole towns with 8 departments. What was most interesting is their reasoning for the merge, they wanted to save money, but most important they did not want to reduce services. All over America we see depts cutting staffing, cutting companies, cutting houses, cutting salaries and the number of volunteers dropping, but still no one is willing to merge to make sure the services delivered in the field remain strong? So this merger will save enough money to maintain every company, every station and the minimum manning on an engine will remain at 6 (1 officer, 1 driver & 4 firefighters).We really need to rethink how we do this and why we do this.

Helicopper,
While I understand serving the public can be a little frustrating, isnt that part of the job? I was nowhere near the accident, do not know the area that well, but...
If roads are closed down, and it is the PD closing those roads or at the point where the road is closed to keep the public out, is it too much to expect them to be at least a little bit courteous or helpful? I doubt everyone who got caught in the traffic knew a back way around it or had GPS to help them.
I know you and many othe LEO's feel there is an anti cop bias here (maybe there is), but to dismiss the complaint of the member above as the public are morons and poor drivers is a little disingenuous. You are not shy about jumping in on fire topics, so here is my first jumping in to an LEO topic: If you are at a barricade of a closed road, at least be outside of your car and try to be helpful to the public. If at such time you feel the need to draw your revolver, ask for another car to relieve you.

A pickup truck does not an engine company make.
-Yoda

I know the pickup truck thing is becoming the hot new way for bean counters to lower fire department budgets, but lets not pretend its anything tactical. I think someone invented a smaller vehicle designed to respond to medical emergencies and related incidents. If I'm not mistaken its called an ambulance. But departments don't want to hire additional staff to cover those ambulances or, worse, start a third service with the sole mission of providing EMS response.

Yeah, having "VAC" all over your bus and fundraising letter help bring in all the dough for all the guys n gals not responding!

The bigger question should be WHY does a Town/Village of just over 10,000 people covering a mere 3 square miles need three fire stations and all the apparatus Mt. Kisco has? The answer of course is because thats the way it has always been. A single station with two engines and a Ladder Company should be more than sufficient. The fire district where I reside in CT is 24 square miles with a population nearly twice that of Mt. Kisco. One station, two engines, a quint, a brush truck and a rarely used rescue. Within the district are one of the largest manufacturing plants in the state, the two largest power generating plants. a state mental hospital campus, a college campus, several schools, banquet halls, stores, restaurants and apartment complexes. Like most departments in Central CT, automatic mutual aid is dispatched on all working fires. Works very well without ripping off the taxpayers.

I think its the new helmet..

What really is mind boggling about some of these posts is how people can perceive the yfd of going after empress when in fact it is empress who is trying to take all control over the 1st responder program which would result in the possibility of the yfd losing several fire companies. Can someone explain to me what empress would lose (not gain) if the system would remain the same? Thanks!

I always said this same thing, Dan! If you'll throw a fire chief in jail for 1403, why not a mayor for 1710? I've read every report on NIOSH's website and not one was attributed to 11 year old leather helmets. But many were staffing and supervision. Barry you're right and I wish the the bean counters would catch on.
I was interviewed by OSHA at a random inspection of an agency I'm no longer affiliated with. They asked how we follow 1910.134. I told them we don't. They asked how we followed 1910.146. I told them we didn't. They wrote down notes furiously. The next day I got an email from the department head congratulating us on getting a 100% on our OSHA inspection. It's a joke.

I always said this same thing, Dan! If you'll throw a fire chief in jail for 1403, why not a mayor for 1710? I've read every report on NIOSH's website and not one was attributed to 11 year old leather helmets. But many were staffing and supervision. Barry you're right and I wish the the bean counters would catch on.
I was interviewed by OSHA at a random inspection of an agency I'm no longer affiliated with. They asked how we follow 1910.134. I told them we don't. They asked how we followed 1910.146. I told them we didn't. They wrote down notes furiously. The next day I got an email from the department head congratulating us on getting a 100% on our OSHA inspection. It's a joke.

I always said this same thing, Dan! If you'll throw a fire chief in jail for 1403, why not a mayor for 1710? I've read every report on NIOSH's website and not one was attributed to 11 year old leather helmets. But many were staffing and supervision. Barry you're right and I wish the the bean counters would catch on.
I was interviewed by OSHA at a random inspection of an agency I'm no longer affiliated with. They asked how we follow 1910.134. I told them we don't. They asked how we followed 1910.146. I told them we didn't. They wrote down notes furiously. The next day I got an email from the department head congratulating us on getting a 100% on our OSHA inspection. It's a joke.

I always said this same thing, Dan! If you'll throw a fire chief in jail for 1403, why not a mayor for 1710? I've read every report on NIOSH's website and not one was attributed to 11 year old leather helmets. But many were staffing and supervision. Barry you're right and I wish the the bean counters would catch on.
I was interviewed by OSHA at a random inspection of an agency I'm no longer affiliated with. They asked how we follow 1910.134. I told them we don't. They asked how we followed 1910.146. I told them we didn't. They wrote down notes furiously. The next day I got an email from the department head congratulating us on getting a 100% on our OSHA inspection. It's a joke.

I always said this same thing, Dan! If you'll throw a fire chief in jail for 1403, why not a mayor for 1710? I've read every report on NIOSH's website and not one was attributed to 11 year old leather helmets. But many were staffing and supervision. Barry you're right and I wish the the bean counters would catch on.
I was interviewed by OSHA at a random inspection of an agency I'm no longer affiliated with. They asked how we follow 1910.134. I told them we don't. They asked how we followed 1910.146. I told them we didn't. They wrote down notes furiously. The next day I got an email from the department head congratulating us on getting a 100% on our OSHA inspection. It's a joke.

This specific quote shows there was a need for a more aggressive, and thorogh overhaul / removal of items from the building.
Had that been done - perhaps the body would have been located. Very sad, and embarrassing.
*quote was from linked article, not from DCJPells post, as quoted.




And HOLY CRAP! You finally retired your salad bowl! Welcome to the new millenium!

We have some of our busiest intersections pre-empted and it works great. I wish we had a lot more. The Town of Poughkeepsie backs the three FDs strongly on demanding developers install preemptors at their cost.
It's also very hard to get hit if you come to a complete or near complete stop

Very sad.....people just doing their jobs or volunteering their time and already doing something dangerous.
Hey, maybe the NRA will blame this on the media too and suggest armed guards at all fire scenes

I'm just glad someone admitted gold leaf is a waste of money and for that we thank you.

We have some of our busiest intersections pre-empted and it works great. I wish we had a lot more. The Town of Poughkeepsie backs the three FDs strongly on demanding developers install preemptors at their cost.
It's also very hard to get hit if you come to a complete or near complete stop

We have some of our busiest intersections pre-empted and it works great. I wish we had a lot more. The Town of Poughkeepsie backs the three FDs strongly on demanding developers install preemptors at their cost.
It's also very hard to get hit if you come to a complete or near complete stop

They should also not have car seats in them !!!

Well, as someone who has been a part of the first response in the YFD for the past 22 years, I couldn't care less about what you Bull might find overdramatic, or what you Jack might find unnecessary and unprofessional. I've spent the majority of my career in SW yonkers and have seen good and i have seen bad when it comes to Empress. I, like JFlynn believe the 2 entities work well together (give or take a nut in a safari hat). But I believe the first salvo fired in this episode came from the bosses at Empress when they stated blatantly false response times in an effort to seize sole control over EMS in Yonkers, knowing full well it would cost jobs in the yfd, and worse yet, put the lives of the citzens at risk. So what would the main benefit be ? Greater profit maybe ? I don't know what was uglier , the false numbers being produced by Empress, or the roll the dice attitude exhibited by the city for the sole purpose of breaking contracts. It seems to me the Bosses at Empress were well aware of what the repercussions were to be had the first responder program ended . For the most part , the buses arrive in a timely manner, but I have witnessed 10 minute plus response way too often, and for Empress to tell the city that there would be no difference in service without the YFD is misleading at best. That to me is unprofessional. This, coming from someone who has delivered 2 chlidren , shocked and initiated cpr on too many to count, all because Empress wasn't on scene in a timely manner. Capt. Geo. Smith YFD

I had a rear wheel drive Charger as a rental car for 3 weeks in the winter and I had to park it and get a ride because it couldn't make it up the hill in front of my apartment with a dusting.

I had a rear wheel drive Charger as a rental car for 3 weeks in the winter and I had to park it and get a ride because it couldn't make it up the hill in front of my apartment with a dusting.