nfd2004

Just as a point of interest.
 
Last month, August, 2016, the FDNY had (Unofficially) 166 All Hands Fires. Fires ONLY. This Excludes any all hands operating for things such as Haz Mat incidents, MVAs, Water Rescue, Confined Space Rescue etc.
 
  In addition City Wide there were:
   8 - Second Alarms
   2 - Third Alarms
   1 - 4th Alarm
   1 - 5th Alarm
   1 - 6th Alarm

Laytheline,
 
Sorry, but you are about 8 years late to this story and discussion. The time to debate structure, charter requirements, chain of command, etc. has long been established through a series of charter revisions, court actions, and collective bargaining agreements. 
 
The staffing and number of career apparatus are contained within the CBA and recently include an increase by 2 per shift. 
 
I am sure that future CBAs with the Union will discuss and hopefully include staffing adjustments to include additional Battalion Chief or equivalent level supervision. In addition, the Long Ridge paid drivers issue will eventually and inevitably include some type of incorporation into the City staffing levels. 
 
The chain of command has also now been clearly defined within the latest CBA.
 
As far as the fate of the remaining volunteer companies, with the exception of one, they are almost all now nonexistent.
 
Simply put, due to the woefully inept "leaders" that continue to be voted into place by their members, they have allowed themselves to serve more as gadflies then a respectable ally in service. I do not believe any of them have the ability to assess the pathetic state of their organizations or their future.
 
They only know strife and discontent and now appear to relish at new opportunities to spend their energy and money on issues outside of public safety or strengthening their Departments.
 
Sad, but the crafty lingo that some of their T shirts would be more appropriate to read: "I have seen the enemy and the enemy is us".
 
 
 
 

The Chiefs are their own worst enemy and they have dragged the entire volunteer system and alot of good, hardworking and skilled volunteer firemen down with them. Not even to save their own asses and that of their departments could they suck it up and work together..and that even after a variety of means to do so were handed to them. And that my friend is not only irresponsible, it constitutes a dereliction of duty.  The founding members of each VFD must be rolling over in their graves, thoroughly disgusted with what has become of their hard work and dedication. What a sad legacy for over 100 years of service to that city. 
 
After all that's been said and done...but more importantly not done...I think it may be time to thank the VFDs for their years of service and shut them down. Maybe after that it might be possible to build a new volunteer service more in tune with the realities, but quite frankly after so much damage that may prove impossible. Like many other communities, the VFDs of Stamford have become an anachronism at this point, and one that is no longer needed. For the annual price of the VFDs collectively, about 20 new career personnel (or one company and a second DC x 4 groups ) could be put on the books. That along with a redistribution of some apparatus and all of Stamford could be covered 24/7 365 by SFD. As you well know, that fact was the premise on which a few of us, with just a microscopic speck of forethought, based our attempts to develop a workable and valuable volunteer system. One that would serve into the future with,  not instead of, our career colleagues. But alas it was not to be, even that speck of forethought was too much to accept. Better these "leaders" thought, to rest on the laurels and revel in the glory of the good ole days while pining and scheming for a return of their paid driver pals....what a pathetic joke, the brunt of which was borne by the residents served by the VFDs. 
 
Sorry but in the big picture, the days of the VFDs being a financial and operational value are long gone and aren't going to return. Sadly now there's not even a minimal return on the investment made in them when taken as a whole....and like it or not, in 2016 they are taken as a whole by both the politicians and average Joe on the street alike.  As painful as may be to admit, it's time to pack it in and call it a day...and by doing so they just might be able to salvage a modicum of the dignity and respect so tirelessly earned by so many in the good ole days. 

I read this second letter and here's my answer to it. You gotta produce to be heard. To date and to the best of my knowledge NONE of the VFDs produce fully.  BFD does make all their calls with a completely volunteer staff save a houseman, but the level of FFs responding is often in question. Long Ridge makes theirs due to paid drivers 24/7,  but they are often responding alone. As for the rest, well...anything under 100% response is not producing at even a marginal level.
Beyond that;
NONE of them can bring a quantifiable means of measuring the competency of their officers to the table.
NONE of them can produce training records for ALL of their active members that meet even a minimal standard.
NONE of them ensure all of their active members attend even one live burn annually per OSHA
NONE of them can say 100% of their active members are physically fit per NFPA 1582
NONE of them can guarantee a response 24/7 or try to even reach that goal
NONE of them can cooperate to meet the needs of the residents they are there to serve...NONE of them. All are too concerned with only themselves and there own agendas instead of the only agenda that they should be concerned with...SERVING IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE PEOPLE OF STAMFORD who have donated to all of them for decades.
 
I think you get the idea. 
 
As one who fought for years to build things up to meet the challenges listed above and many more beyond them, I can say this: I have absolutely no sympathy for their whining and foot stomping.  Boo hoo hoo, whaah whaah whaah, somebody call a Whaaahmbulance for these poor Chiefs. 
Look,  I sat with all of these Chiefs alone and as a group too many times to count to try to work out ways to meet the coming storm. Time after time I watched as heads nodded yes but actions said no to facing the realities of firefighting in Stamford in 2010,11,12, 13 14, 15. I bit my tongue then in the interest of keeping everyone together and trying to move forward. But no more. The whole "Pavia plan" and everything subsequent to it were a farce that even the Marx Brothers couldn't dream up...and to top it off they left Mike out to dry by not taking responsibility for the abortion of a plan it was that THEY THEMSELVES dreamed up.  No...no sympathy here, these Chiefs made the bed they all must now lie in because of their own arrogance.  ignorance, ineptitude and pettiness and frankly they deserve what they get, or don't I should say....I only wish the memberships had been better served by their "leaders".

On Sunday, September 4th, the annual Father Mychal Judge Walk of Remembrance  will take place.
 
The day will start at St Francis of Assisi Church on 31st St between Sixth and Seventh Aves, just opposite the quarters of Eng 1, Lad 24. With a rosary at 8:45 am followed by a Catholic Mass at 9:30 am.
 
The Walk is scheduled to commence at 10:30 am and will follow the route taken by Fr Judge to the Trade Center. With stops at the firehouses and police precinct station houses along the way. Father Judge was the FDNY Chaplain who is listed as Victim # 0001. The walk is meant to honor Father Judge, the members of the Uniformed Services, and all those whose lives were so brutally taken on September 11, 2001 and by disease since then.
 
 A NYPD Auxiliary formation will be formed at Seventh Ave and 19th St, at the quarters of Eng 3/Lad 12/Batt 7. A bugler at that location will present taps. There will also be a second buglar who will blow Taps at the processions end at St Peters Church, Barclay and Church starting at approximately 1:30 pm. One block north of the Trade Center Site. St Peter's is where Fr Judge's body was placed upon after following his removal from the site.
 
  Anyone who can do so, please join in either at St Francis or the firehouse at Seventh Ave/19th St., or St Peters Church. A large turnout is the hope of those who organize this.
 
  Too many people have forgotten the events and what they mean. Here is a video from the Father Judge walk of Rememberance of September 5, 2010 as we remember FDNYs Chaplain Father Mychal Judge.
 
  www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce6UD-n3cQg

http://www.bankinginvestment.net/article/607842769/out-spotlight/

 
 "babhits16", I couldn't tell you the call volume of the Rye Brook FD. But I sure think you told a great story in your post above.
 
 I must also agree with you that there are many volunteer firefighters that do a GREAT JOB. I give them credit for what they do. I have many friends, basically throughout the entire country, who are volunteer firefighters. Some have been career firefighters who I can only dream or wish that I had one tenth their firefighting and rescue experience. I have one volunteer firefighter/chief friend who owns a major insurance company, another who is an oral surgeon, another a retired U.S. Army Colonel, an accountant, a retired Con Ed supervisor responsible for the entire Westchester County area, a plumber and it goes on and on.
 
 These guys are GREAT people and their goal is to just go out there and help their communities and the people within them. They also show me a great amount of respect towards career firefighters and I myself, have the same degree of respect for them in what they do.
 
  Then I read here of a group of volunteer firefighters, led by a guy named Chief Quinn in Port Chester. This reminds me of the War Zone where I was a career firefighter. Years and years of battling over a thing called "the fire service". Where we are all supposed to do basically the same job. But where the term "Brotherhood" has been replaced with the term "Battlehood". Where are group of volunteer firefighters, led by some very jealous fire chiefs, had recently proposed the elimination of a 3 man career engine company, a fourth firefighter position in one of the busier engine companies, and eliminate four battalion chiefs positions for a total of 16 firefighter positions to be eliminated. These proposals were brought on by some of the same individuals who I know, took that same career firefighter test (in some cases several times), but were never successful in getting that job. So I guess the thinking must be, "if they can't have it, then nobody else should have it".
 
  I certainly wish all the best to those PCFD8 group of guys. Nothing would make my day better than for me to read on here that they win their lawsuit and all are hired elsewhere to work as career firefighters in a community where they will be much more appreciated for the job they do.
 
 As for the younger members of those fire departments in Port Chester who have a goal to become a career firefighter, "don't forget to give FULL credit to your fire commanders for just cutting your chances even more of reaching your lifetime goal". Maybe they couldn't get the job, but they shouldn't have cut your chances for what you wanted.

 
  These are jobs that if those Port Chester Firefighters had NOT been eliminated, perhaps could have been filled by younger volunteer members currently from within the Town of Port Chester. They sure  MIGHT have had a better chance of becoming a career firefighter if not taken by those Port Chester Firefighters. But can you blame these places like Rye Brook and Rye. Those guys can just step right into these jobs.
 
  So those younger wanna be career firefighters just think about this. Not only did your leaders sell those Port Chester Firefighters down the river, "they did it to you too". So you all can personally thank your Fire Service Leaders for taking a great possible future away from "YOU TOO".  
 
  And for the younger volunteer members OUTSIDE of Port Chester who have any hopes of someday becoming a career firefighter, "just remember what happened here". It won't affect me, but it sure might have an affect on you.

4, 2 in Rye Brook and now 2 in the City of Rye . 4 more to go !
 

As stated, the petition lacked the signers voting district thereby invalidating the petition.  Also stated, the signers addresses were listed and could easily be added.  So add the voting districts and re-submit the petition.  It did not indicate that the signer needed to include the district at the time of signing so just do it now.
 
That said, the three trustees seeking to invalidate the petition are true politicians subverting the will of the people.

Looks like Rye has picked up 2 of the firefighters who were laid off.
 
http://www.local2029.com/news-and-events/2016/8/29/new-hires

Nice job by Rye stepping up and hiring 2.  Slowly the 8 will be in better departments with better leadership.  How many are now employed in new departments? 

When the Sh** is hitting the fan on the fire floor or the floor above, language frequently gets salty. Anyone who has spent some time in zero visibility and high heat while searching for life, forcing doors, getting a line into position or trying to find their way out would likely agree.

Some years ago I would have agreed with this, but today F@#k this, F@#k that and f@#k the other thing, IS the language of the public realm. Nobody cares how many f@#ks one gives anymore. I mean jeez, just about any movie you see has more F bombs than anything else in the dialogue for Christ's sake.
 
On the video, honestly, if telling a crew to get their line in place and "put the f@#king fire out" over the radio gets them moving to do just that...well then that's A-OK in my book. But hey, my ears lost their virginity a long long time ago so...
 

Are we really trying to make an issue on this ?   Did you write this from your safe space?  If you have a problem with the way the chief spoke why don't you take a drive to talk to him.  And I'm sure he'll tell you to get the f*** outta his office.  If you're not gonna do that I suggest you stop being a keyboard warrior and focus on something else that matters more 

Given the circumstances they get a by. Sounds like he was calling for a line and it wasn't coming fast enough. I think we all have been in situations where the last thing we are worried about is our language. What is important is they got the job done and went home to their families

Seriously you are upset over language on a fire ground /tac radio?  As long as it's not over main communications talk to each other however you want.  On my jobs tac channel we speak anyway which way to get the job done or get a point across. As long as FCC and scanner buffs listening everywhere don't hear it who cares.  This sounds like more PC BS that doesn't need to be brought up or have a topic thread open about it.  Nice video though hope everyone got home safe. 

If that's what it takes to get your point across to get the job done, so be it.
Hope everyone went home safe.
 
We've become so PC and pussified in recent years, it's scary.
Does is sound professional? Maybe not. But the men making these statements are likely some of the most professional in the business. 

The privilege of driving fire department apparatus, including command vehicles, vans, and utility style trucks, is often abused because a deep thought that, "Oh, I can do what I want," or, "The cops won't stop this vehicle."  The abuse then leads to the public seeing us acting as morons, and occasionally we screw ourselves in the end by crashing (or severely damaging) the vehicle, never mind killing someone due to carelessness!  And, the privilege is abused by both paid and volunteer firefighters alike.  I've even seen a large FD owned van fly by me on Rt. 17 up near Roscoe (it belonged to a large city FD with BIG unmistakable markings on it).  But, this isn't about the type of firefighter who's driving the vehicle, because this kind of crap happens every where!  Rigs rolled over while out for a joy ride, command vehicles crashed resulting from DUI, apparatus wrecked de to a lack of situational awareness.  It happens all of the time, and it needs to stop!
 
The bottom line is, if you are given the privilege to drive any type of fire apparatus, remember that you are representing your department the entire time you are in control of that vehicle.  It has your markings, your patch, and your colors on it.  The public knows who that vehicle belongs to.  Drive in a manner that the public knows that you are safer than them.  Drive defensively.  When responding to alarms, drive like someone's life depends on it (because it may), but do it in a safe manner (remember the term "due regard" before you blow through that red light with red lights and siren blaring).  And, most of all, just use common sense!  Keep your eyes peeled and your ears tuned for traffic and pedestrians.  Stay alert to changing road conditions.  Stay in the moment and focus on what you are doing.  If we stay safe, the public stays safe.  If the public is safe, we have nothing to worry about.

In 1975 I took the test for Bridgeport. Didn't get the job because I didn't look the way they wanted me too. Basically I didn't get it because of Affirmative Action. Yet I grew up in the same neighborhood and went to the same schools as some of those that did get it.
 
Shortly after I got a job as a firefighter in another smaller Connecticut city. Where I spent 30 years on the job, 13 of which as an officer. 
 
Later one of the affirmative action candidates was arrested for driving a get away car in a murder. Others got two years back pay and benefits after winning their court case. Some worked the job for two or three months, took all that back pay and quit the job never to be seen again. 
 
Hartford has had similar cases. What is really sad is the decent people who earned these jobs, some who would have easily gotten them without putting affirmative action to work for them. 

The rig for sale is the "old" Eng 58. it was replaced in 2010 by a Pierce. It was used as a spare for the two "paid rigs" (E 58 & 59) and also as a fill in for R40.
 
The village is considering selling the present 58 and 59. Sad part is, they'll get pennies on the dollar, especially in the case of E58. It's a well thought out rig, perfect for use as a squad. If sold, the taxpayers of Port Chester will be paying for it for a good many years to come. That $800k they saved is small compared to the amount of money it's costing them.

 
There isn't "ENOUGH help" in any Westchester County department anymore.  I don't care if it's paid or volunteer; the first due doesn't meet NFPA1710 or 1720 anywhere but perhaps Yonkers and even Yonkers has been cut back. 

At this fire and at most other fires there is no staging of additional resources; everyone is working and then they put the FAST to work so there's NOBODY left if something untoward happens.  There should be some resources available at the scene to go to work when it gets ahead of you.  We don't do that and it's going to bite us in the rear one of these days.  Luck only lasts for so long.

As for 1&1 on additional alarms, when it's all you can get...  It's what it is my friend. 

Contrary to this experience, consider the recent fire in Staten Island that went to a 6th Alarm.  I would guess that's close to 250 FDNY members.  How many did Bronxville have on their 4th?  Or even on the initial response.

The system is broken but nobody, and I mean nobody, will say that the emperor has no clothes!
 
 

 
That is an interesting point. In particular the part about "renting out a room to someone who could assist". That was exactly the case recently I know of.
 
An honest, trustworthy woman, moved in to care for an elderly person. She was NOT a certified CNA, and did NOT drive a car. But she was there to take care of that person and a family member did the shopping etc, or to cover for a day off that this caregiver was given. She was NOT employed through any agency. She took very good care of this elderly person until the person passed away. The problem for her was once she passed away, she was out of work. With no other skills and no drivers license, she was then had no place to go.
 
 As a result, she had to move out of state where I believe she is now living with her son. She is willing to work but few will offer her the chance.

Yes the community must decide, but they must also be given information that is truthful. We just witnessed in Portchester the mayor and chief swear they had 150 interior volunteers, when the records show less than 60. They said, don't worry, the dept. didn't need career personnel, but in two months time their are now mounting complaints that the response times are noticeably worst. If the dept. lies to itself and the public, how can the public make a proper judgement?
 
you are correct that this attitude exists, but in far to many VFD the real threat to the members is, declining membership, failing to respond in a timely manner and lack of training.

 
 Interesting video to say the least. This is the "cost factor" that most people don't really see. My educated guess is that the least amount of fires occur in areas generally served by volunteer firefighters, but those fires that DO OCCUR, would account for the highest losses.
 
  When I look at that video, I can certainly relate to that being my house. Of course like most people who own a home, we have our insurance premiums paid to cover most of the damages to the building and hopefully it's contents. But what can't be replaced is all the personnel belongings that we gather over the years. Photos of our family members that can't be replaced, maybe our long time pet friends, and we of course are not counting the life hazard that is involved here waiting for a fire dept to show up.
 
 No folks, the price goes way beyond that cost of a few firefighters being able to quickly get that first and most important line in place. Somebody in the comments section of this video mentions that this is a place with a population of 47,000 people. Why isn't there at least some career firefighters on duty ? If that's true, "I have the same question".
 
  I felt this video explained so much what words could not. So I decided to passed it on to our city officials here in Norwich, Ct. (see thread - Fractured Fire Service of Norwich, Ct).  Along with the newspaper article that came out on July 3, 2016. Because what I find significant in the comparison of BOTH places is that one Norwich Volunteer Fire Chief even stated that: "they meet the NFPA Standard of answering 90 percent of their calls in 10 minutes". Well, in the case of this video, that department met that standard as well. It's just that as we wait and wait, this building continues to burn as the clock ticks. We basically get the full effect of what words just can not express. And as I watch it, I can certainly picture that being my house as I watch that fire chief, the only guy on the scene, do his 360 walk around and then try to look like he's actually doing something.