M' Ave

At one time I thought Mayor Bloomberg would be good for New York. Then, shortly after, he started to make me nervous. Now I'm sure he's a lying politician scumbag of the worst kind. This assault on the VSF (Variable Supplement Fund) is a pack of lies and propaganda. Calling it a Christmas Bonus is just a way to get hard-up civilians to rally against us. The VSF is nothing of the sort. It is a dividend, a dividend for money the unions gave the city.
The city of New York was broke. The unions gave the city hundreds of millions of dollars and allowed them to manage it and use it as they deemed necessary. Payments to members of the unions was differed until that member retired, like a bond in a way. When you buy a bond, you give the gov't money and they have 14 years to make use of it, but then they owe you your money back plus 14 years of compounded interest which doubles the amount they owe you.
The VSF is OUR MONEY BACK WITH INTEREST! At some point the city made a deal to keep the amount at a set figure, not market variable. That deal left us receiving $12,000 annually upon a non-disability retirement. Believe me, if the city agreed to pay $12,000, it was because they were doing much better than that! They made untold gains on the original seed money we gave them decades ago, some say billions. Now the market hasn't kept them on top. Now WE'RE the ones making out on this deal they orchestrated and they want to take it away.
When you walk into a Casino, sit at a Blackjack table and place a bet. When you lose, just take your money back! Why not? You can do that right? This is exactly how Mayor Bloomberg is playing the game. The city made a deal and right now it isn't working in their favor, but for years and years it was.

Lately it's nice for us to get a little positive press...even if it's a tragedy for someone else. Shows good work.....and stops the propaganda pension related stories for 24hrs!

Fellow members,
It seems like more often then not not, Incident Alerts (IA's) overwhelm the "Recent Topics" section on the main page, thereby drowning out good discussions and diluting other forum content.
So we're going to try this for now. We are going to remove Incident Alerts from the "Recent Topics" box for a little while. I realize that the IA's are important to many members, so in the meantime, visit http://www.emtbravo.com to view the latest IA's broken down by region. Also, you can directly go to the IA sections on this forum, and they will continue to show up on "View New Content Since My Last Visit" lists.
In the meantime, we will be developing stricter guidelines on what is an IA and what is not, to reduce the seeming increase in the amount of IA's "spammed" at one time, and IA's that don't meet IA guidelines. Once this is resolved maybe IA's will return to the Recent Topics list.
Please feel free to give feedback on this thread, which will help to guide me on how to resolve this issue.
Seth

Thanks for posting the links. Sounds like a great job by F.D.N.Y.'s EMT's & Firefighters.
BTW: How does F.D.N.Y. continue to do such a great job when they don't equip any of their ambulances or fire apparatus with 'Roto-Ray's' ??? LOL

At one time I thought Mayor Bloomberg would be good for New York. Then, shortly after, he started to make me nervous. Now I'm sure he's a lying politician scumbag of the worst kind. This assault on the VSF (Variable Supplement Fund) is a pack of lies and propaganda. Calling it a Christmas Bonus is just a way to get hard-up civilians to rally against us. The VSF is nothing of the sort. It is a dividend, a dividend for money the unions gave the city.
The city of New York was broke. The unions gave the city hundreds of millions of dollars and allowed them to manage it and use it as they deemed necessary. Payments to members of the unions was differed until that member retired, like a bond in a way. When you buy a bond, you give the gov't money and they have 14 years to make use of it, but then they owe you your money back plus 14 years of compounded interest which doubles the amount they owe you.
The VSF is OUR MONEY BACK WITH INTEREST! At some point the city made a deal to keep the amount at a set figure, not market variable. That deal left us receiving $12,000 annually upon a non-disability retirement. Believe me, if the city agreed to pay $12,000, it was because they were doing much better than that! They made untold gains on the original seed money we gave them decades ago, some say billions. Now the market hasn't kept them on top. Now WE'RE the ones making out on this deal they orchestrated and they want to take it away.
When you walk into a Casino, sit at a Blackjack table and place a bet. When you lose, just take your money back! Why not? You can do that right? This is exactly how Mayor Bloomberg is playing the game. The city made a deal and right now it isn't working in their favor, but for years and years it was.

At one time I thought Mayor Bloomberg would be good for New York. Then, shortly after, he started to make me nervous. Now I'm sure he's a lying politician scumbag of the worst kind. This assault on the VSF (Variable Supplement Fund) is a pack of lies and propaganda. Calling it a Christmas Bonus is just a way to get hard-up civilians to rally against us. The VSF is nothing of the sort. It is a dividend, a dividend for money the unions gave the city.
The city of New York was broke. The unions gave the city hundreds of millions of dollars and allowed them to manage it and use it as they deemed necessary. Payments to members of the unions was differed until that member retired, like a bond in a way. When you buy a bond, you give the gov't money and they have 14 years to make use of it, but then they owe you your money back plus 14 years of compounded interest which doubles the amount they owe you.
The VSF is OUR MONEY BACK WITH INTEREST! At some point the city made a deal to keep the amount at a set figure, not market variable. That deal left us receiving $12,000 annually upon a non-disability retirement. Believe me, if the city agreed to pay $12,000, it was because they were doing much better than that! They made untold gains on the original seed money we gave them decades ago, some say billions. Now the market hasn't kept them on top. Now WE'RE the ones making out on this deal they orchestrated and they want to take it away.
When you walk into a Casino, sit at a Blackjack table and place a bet. When you lose, just take your money back! Why not? You can do that right? This is exactly how Mayor Bloomberg is playing the game. The city made a deal and right now it isn't working in their favor, but for years and years it was.

Date: 2-11-2011
Time: 14:55
Location: 554 E. 191 St. and Hoffman St.
Frequency: FDNY Bronx
Units Operating: FDNY Bronx
Weather Conditions: Cold
Description Of Incident: Working fire in a 4-story 20x40 frame. Fire on the #1 & 2 floors. Fire spread to the cockloft. Second alarm transmitted. 2 L/S/O/
Reporters/Writer: PFDRes47cue
Engines: 88, 48, 90
Ladders: 41 (FAST), 27
Squad 61
BC 19
DC 7

Date: 2-11-2011
Time: 00:35
Location: 1488 Sutter Avenue
Frequency: FDNY Brooklyn
Units Operating: FDNY Brooklyn
Weather Conditions: Cold
Description Of Incident: Working fire in the basement of a 2-story 20x40 P/D. 3 L/S/O. 1 line stretched into exposure 4 (1-story).
Reporters/Writer: PFDRes47cue
1ST ALARM:
BATTALION 39, 51
ENGINES: 225, 236, 285, 293
TRUCKS: 107, 142, 175 FT
RESCUE 2
SQUAD 252
DIVISION 15
2ND ALARM:
BATTALION 44 SAFETY OFFICER
BATTALION 58 RESOURCE UNIT LEADER
ENGINES: 332, 331, 294, 290, 207
LADDERS: 173, 143, 103 (S/C)
SATELLITE 6
RESCUE BATTALION / SAFETY BATTALION
TACTICAL SUPPORT #2
COMMAND TACTICAL #1
FIELD COMM #1

City Of White Plains Fire Headquarters , Mamaroneck Ave in the 1950's. Protection from the Past.

LOL, it happened before that portion of the city was annexed. I think it's original use was different from what it is now (small office suites). I know there's got to be some story behind it.
This is the first due truck:

Second due truck:

BOTH are equipped for rope rescue.

Push the cop car (that will probably be in front ) down the hill and stand on the roof.

We use nylon laid rope, i believe it's 15/16th' diameter. It's 200' feet long. Heavy duty clips are spliced into each end. That's all there is too it. That rope, coupled with the Gemtor harness everyone has, is all you need. A couple of good truckies can have this set-up with a member ready to be lowered in seconds. It's quick and simple, but yes, needs to be gone over all of the time. Both the engine and the truck carry the rope, but the rope is not assigned to a position in the engine as it is in the truck. It will serve as a back-up when the truck is repacking their rope. Trucks repack the rope every Monday. Typically we'll take the rope out, dump it and run through the evolution a couple of times. (The pole hole serves this activity well!) Then the the rope is inspected as it's repacked, changing which end starts the pack. This all helps eliminate the rope's "memory". We'll go through this same deal with the engine's rope every Tuesday.
The key to the fireground rope rescue is knowing the knots and the procedure COLD. There's really only one knot involved in the deployment, and in some cases none. HOWEVER, it's a long rope and you need to makes sure that you have a handle on the correct portion. The lowerer needs to be properly anchored and the lowered member has to be make sure they are properly secured and that the member handling the lowering has done everything correctly. Their life will be in that members hands!

I hate to sound like a sap, but this is a truly touching story and i wanted to share it here. I read this in the paper today and it made me think of how precious life really is.
Kudos to the brothers of Engine Co.1 and Ladder Company 24 for showing this brave little angel what the Brotherhood is all about.
I was truly touched and impressed on how the brothers took this child in as one of their own and made his dreams come true.
Little Liams family is a very strong one and my heart goes out to them.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/columnists/molloy/index.html

Most rope rescues (technical rescue) involve more equipment, including belays and more solid anchor systems. These rescues take more time to set up and complete. In many cases the victim is stuck and part of the rescue involves freeing or lifting them. Rappelling is a common skill. Generally these involve more advanced training and lots of scenarios to gain experience.
Fire Ground rope rescue general has only a few minutes to get in position, set up and perform, before the victim jumps. In addition the crew generally brings the equipment along with its normal truck gear, so they are very limited in what can be carried. Minimal anchors (often made with a haligan, ladders or even firefighters), generally no belays, lowering is prefered to rappelling as it keeps the rescuers arms free. This training is much more basic and requires lots of practice to be able to perform quickly without hesitation or much time to consider set up.

Spring Hill Ambulance in Rockland has been remounting since before I can remember. They operate five ambulances, so it might not be an issue that one is out of service at a time.
http://www.springhillems.org

It is important to remember that there is a big difference between rope rescue and fire ground rope rescue.

Soft ground? Realistically, if burning up is the alternative, I think you could hang from a sill and drop to the ground.
If a F.D. had to effect a rescue, you could employ a roof rope rescue and then be lowered to the ground. The member to be lowered could be lowered from the roof using the tip of an aerial as an anchor point. The pitch of the roof might make this difficult and a rescue of this sort is ideally performed on a flat roof. Well...it's an odd situation. I'm thinking outside the box.
As for a ground ladder finding solid ground; those pillars could easily be 40+ feet into the ground to find stable footing. The ground ladder might not be stable at all. Remember, a 35' extension ladder weights 135 lbs. Add the rescuer and the "rescuee" and you could be sinking fast.
...I still think that someone would he apt to hang and drop. From the looks of that photo, it looks like hanging would leave you about 10-12 feet up. Not too bad considering.

Roto-Ray... Either you love them or hate them. Personally I think a roto-ray in the center with a pair of Mars 888's on the outer edge of the windshield make for a great looking rig... At the same time though, flashing lights don't put out fires so I wouldn't break the budget for the several grand that a setup like that costs if the rig is lacking in other equipment...

Perhaps someone has an actual answer to this and not just opinions.
Why do some fire and police departments respond to EMS calls that aren't CFRs, EMTs or Medics? What is the point and what value does it have for the patient or victim to have untrained people standing there with them, waiting on an ambulance?
As for lift assists, why do PDs and FDs handle these? Is there any kind of liability if "XYZ PD" or "FD" responds on a lift assist, moves a patient and further injures them?
I only ask because our FD only responds at the request of EMS, but discussion has come up about lift assists and what to do when the ambulance doesn't get out for a lift assist. Should Mutual Aid have to handle it, or is another emergency service in town (PD or FD) capable to handle this?
On a personal note, if there's a call for a cardiac arrest, I think no harm would come from sending all 3 services if they have AEDs - get someone with the right equipment to the scene as soon as possible.
Thanks

What exactly do you mean by... "when the ambulance doesn't get out for a lift assist" ?
To answer your question, as you have already noted, this is handled differently from place to place, however what we should all keep foremost in our minds is that, while these "lift assists" may not seem so glamorous to us as responders (no hero factor here whatsoever), to the patient and their family, this is a true emergency. These patients should not have to wait inordinately long periods of time for adequate help to arrive, and when the help arrives the responders (from whatever agency) should be capable and well trained. If this is not the case in any jurisdiction, immediate steps should be put in place to solve this serious problem. Some suggestions I would suggest be explored are cross training FD/ PD, regionalization or consolidation, and / or hiring career staff.

Ah the lift assist! This run varies for us. The engine is often sent on an EMS assist when the bus is already on scene. This is not an EMS run for the engine, as they are not requesting any EMS services. These seem to run the gamut. Sometimes it is some who is so large that the two EMS workers cannot lift the stretcher from it's lowest position to one that will allow them to get the patient into the bus. Other times it's a person who has been placed in a stair chair, but they project elevators aren't working and they need help carrying this person down 20 flights. I've even responded to assist the M.E. with a 500 lb corpse. You never know.
This run, at least for the FDNY, turns us into simple, reliable grunt labor. Which is fine! EMS has it tough out there sometimes. They carry a lot of heavy equipment and it's often two people left all by their lonesome. 95% of the time, we're happy to help them out. You get the occasional person who hands off the patient and vanishes until you've arrived at the bus, but that's rare.
As for liability....well, if we didn't help do what had to be done to get them out, they'd be in deep trouble. So....

Ah the lift assist! This run varies for us. The engine is often sent on an EMS assist when the bus is already on scene. This is not an EMS run for the engine, as they are not requesting any EMS services. These seem to run the gamut. Sometimes it is some who is so large that the two EMS workers cannot lift the stretcher from it's lowest position to one that will allow them to get the patient into the bus. Other times it's a person who has been placed in a stair chair, but they project elevators aren't working and they need help carrying this person down 20 flights. I've even responded to assist the M.E. with a 500 lb corpse. You never know.
This run, at least for the FDNY, turns us into simple, reliable grunt labor. Which is fine! EMS has it tough out there sometimes. They carry a lot of heavy equipment and it's often two people left all by their lonesome. 95% of the time, we're happy to help them out. You get the occasional person who hands off the patient and vanishes until you've arrived at the bus, but that's rare.
As for liability....well, if we didn't help do what had to be done to get them out, they'd be in deep trouble. So....

Ah the lift assist! This run varies for us. The engine is often sent on an EMS assist when the bus is already on scene. This is not an EMS run for the engine, as they are not requesting any EMS services. These seem to run the gamut. Sometimes it is some who is so large that the two EMS workers cannot lift the stretcher from it's lowest position to one that will allow them to get the patient into the bus. Other times it's a person who has been placed in a stair chair, but they project elevators aren't working and they need help carrying this person down 20 flights. I've even responded to assist the M.E. with a 500 lb corpse. You never know.
This run, at least for the FDNY, turns us into simple, reliable grunt labor. Which is fine! EMS has it tough out there sometimes. They carry a lot of heavy equipment and it's often two people left all by their lonesome. 95% of the time, we're happy to help them out. You get the occasional person who hands off the patient and vanishes until you've arrived at the bus, but that's rare.
As for liability....well, if we didn't help do what had to be done to get them out, they'd be in deep trouble. So....

I took this shot of the City of Poughkeepsie this past August from the Hudson River Walkway...... It was taken at dusk just before the walkway closes (Which BTW, also happens to be the optimal time for photography) and I almost didn't finish it... I had a few minutes to go and then I had a less that pleasurable encounter with a NYSPP officer who apparently was having an off day :angry: ......... They put in and make a big deal about all this LED energy efficient lighting and yet the walkway closes at dusk.....Go figure...
I have printed this out on my printer at a size of 24" high by 120" wide and it is highly detailed...... I have a friend who has as a 24" H x ~80" W version and his kids had it framed for him as a Christmas gift.... It now occupies his living room and it looks gorgeous..... I have many other landscape panoramas that I have done and my intent is to try to sell these as a means to pay some of my photography expenses...... Doing the fire photography has put me in the hole as far as expenses go and hopefully I can use photos such as this to offset some of my expenses.....
If you have yet to go to the walkway, you should do it...... It really is a great place to go .....

Considering there is a few feet of snow around most NYC sidewalks and many hydrants are buried in snow I find it hard to believe the monday morning quarterbacking going on here. There are times when stopping before building to get hydrant is a good move, this street was wide enough to allow 2 aerial ladders to get the front of the fire building and place there ladders, unless you know the area the next hydrant may have been around a corner either left or right which places hose in street and that could lead to problems and delays in stretching due to engine being around corner. With the 5th man in squad this stretch was a simple text book operation probably 5 lengths of 1 3/4 and fire is done. The videos are about a minute or so long not sure if they run continous or if there is a little time lapse but in the 2 videos you see engine on hydrant line stretched, ladders in place, members going about the routine of FDNY ops and then water out fire apt windows all in a few minutes, simply put another job well done by the brothers.