61MACKBR1

On 4/26/2017 at 2:44 PM, fire patrol nyc said:

Anybody have any pics of the Yonkers Oshkosh DPW trucks?Would love to see them,Yonkers had a large fleet of Oshkosh dump trucks also called "stripper trucks" used in coal mines as well as garbage trucks...all equipped with plow  hook ups...hope this Oshkosh goes to a good home..

On April 6, 2020, both YFD Rescue 1 and Tower Ladder 71 are now officially housed and are responding to calls from the New Station 1 on 7 New School Street. In addition, Spare Rescue 1 and Spare Tower Ladder 81 will also be housed at this new facility

RIP Chief Campbell

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/mount-vernon/2017/07/15/ex-mount-vernon-fire-chief-henry-campbell-dies/481695001/

Seth - Is this an OSHKOSH Chassis? If so, yes, this is indeed a CLASSIC that the City of White Plains should keep as part of their DPW History (Gee, I remember those 1960's Yonkers DPW Grey OSHKOSH Plow and Sanitation Trucks)

God willing, this truck will not end up in a scrapyard getting chopped up.

Is Mount Vernon's fleet of Pierce and Ferrara Apparatus getting worn out, that the City of Mount Vernon would seek to suppliment their Fire Department fleet, with used apparatus (albeit from Yonkers, who does a great job in maintaining their fleet of Fire Trucks). One would suspect that the 3 used Yonkers Fire Truck that Mount Vernon is looking to purchase are some of the recently changed over American LaFrance rigs. Replacement parts for ALF rigs are hard to come by and thus the reason why a number of departments in the area (New Rochelle, Yonkers, etc) are quickly replacing their ALF Fleet with other manufactured apparatus. 

3 Bay Station 1? There goes any hope for a reactivated Engine 301, to coincide with the Downtown Development Project. And the Mayor's spokesperson, Christina Gilmartin is saying that the Ridge Hill Fire House is unnecessary (Gee, why doesn't LoHud have the guts to ask her where the $3 Million Dollars that was set aside by the developer for that Fire House is, and why the Mayor and City Council, at the time that the Ridge Hill Development was approved, wanted it in the original proposal?)

Is Chief Grogan retiring? And, who are the front runners for the New Chief Position? (Dempsey?)

Date: 3/15/2017
Time: 04:00
Location: 1 Hawley Terrace
District: Northwest Section of the Cit Of Yonkers

Battalion: Car 3

Channel:

Weather: Snow, Icy, Windy
Units: Full City of Yonkers General Alarm Assignment and 1 City of New Rochelle Ladder Company
Writer:  61MACKBR1

Description: http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/yonkers/2017/03/15/yonkers-fire-hawley-apartments/99199648/

http://westchester.news12.com/news/at-least-1-dead-in-raging-yonkers-apartment-fire-1.13266437#autoplay=true

Mutual Aid from Greenville, Eastchester and Mount Vernon

Do not know the exact alarm (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th General Alarm) assignment at this time (should anyone know this, please feel free to post)

21 hours ago, x635 said:

Could this property be a contender for the new Station 1? Article mentions moving FD HQ's there from it's current rental property just down the street. Also mentions the storage of large city vehicles as a possibis le use.

 

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/yonkers/2017/03/03/eminent-domain/98641630/

Seth - I can't see this location as a site for the New Station 1. It is essentially still in Engine 310's coverage area and there is a tremendous amount of pressure to keep Rescue 1 and TL 71 in the Downtown Southwest Yonkers Area. (This move is probably just to be able to get out of leasing the 2 buildings that YFD is currently leasing at 460 and 470 Nepp. Aveunue and move YFD Headquarters and Special Operations into this possible spot just north. (But why just build a state of the art Fire Headquarters/Station 1, in the downtown area, and be done with it

21 hours ago, kinkchaser said:

I recall Eng.1 Ldr.1 Res. 1 on School Street, additionally I remember Eng 2 an Ldr.2 on Vineyard Avenue, however what is the history of Eng. 5

The Original Engine Company 5 was originally placed into service on May 1, 1901 and deactivated from front line service on February 1, 1942. However, on July 17, 1980, Engine Company 305 was placed into Front Line Service (originally based out of Station 2 on Vineyard Avenue and subsequently moved to Station 1/Fire Headquarters (after Station 2 was condemned) and then on April 19, 1982 was de-commissioned and taken out of front line service

In June of 1983, Engine Company 302 (formally Engine 2) was removed from Front Line Service.  Engine 1 was de-commissioned and taken out of Front Line Service on January 1, 1976.

http://yonkersvoice.com/a-message-from-our-yfd-to-the-people-of-yonkers/

valuable information provided by Chief Flynn, Mr. McGoey and Former Commissioner Pagano. What was brought up and was to the point, is the how the City of Yonkers has 'over the years' reduced the Fire Department Coverage in Southwest Yonkers. First you had the removal from service, back in 1976, of Engine Company 1 (aka Engine 301) and Rescue Company 1 (along with Truck 3/Ladder 3 from Station 11 on the East Side of the City), both (Engine 1 and Rescue 1) of which were quartered at the former Fire Headquarters/Station 1 on School Street (important note that Rescue Company 1 was eventually reinstated 24 years later in 2000 at Station 1, and is currently quartered at Station 7 on Central Park Avenue on the Southeast Side of the City. Also, Engine Company 302, that was formally located at the long closed Station 2 on Vineyard Avenue, was removed from service back in the 1980's. 

So essentially, you have 2 Fire Companies from the West Side of Yonkers, along with 2 Fire Stations on the West Side of Yonkers, removed from front line service, for the past 41 Years, in addition to the 3 Fire Company (Rescue 1) being out of service on the West Side for 24 of these 41 years. 

With the population of the City of Yonkers having increased significantly since 1976, it is event that there has been a significant reduction of Fire Service to the West Side of the City of Yonkers.

Where is Mayor Spano's promise to have Architect Drawings, Final Designs and a Site Selected by October of 2015? Hmmm? We are now looking at February 2017, and nothing on any account.and ZERO updates to the community by either Mayor Spano or anyone from his Administration on the status. Poor Communication and Management on the part of the Mayor of the City of Yonkers

2 hours ago, FF1 said:

1) the county mutual aid system is broken. No depts should have the right to choose their run cards. 60 control should have full discretion based on available resources and their capabilities. All fires in this county are basically a reunion of the boys club 

 

2) . The county HAZMAT team, in its current state is a complete waste of space, time and money, I do agree with you on that. It would make more sense for the Grasslands Brigade members to be trained to the tech level and essentially staff that rig (only during work hours, but its a start) when it is called for a response.

 

3) In regards to the HFD captain / YHFD assistant chief, I do not know this person personally, but its not very hard to figure out, as the names and ranks are readily available on the internet. Again, this response cannot be justified, unless there is a HAZMAT/special ops task force made and this task force is made available for all county departments to utilize.

 

4) every fire department, career, volunteer and combination should be able to handle a hazmat incident. We all know that very few can, due to lack of trained firefighters and resources, but if a department cannot handle a room and contents fire or a small scale hazmat incident on their own, without calling mutual aid to the scene to mitigate these incidents, they should not exist as a department. Why even bother existing as a department if you must rely on others to do the basic functions of your job?  

 

5) The events occurring in Valhalla today are just as bad and the same amount of criticism should be given for skipping White Plains and Fairview.

CAN YOU SPELL 'CONSOLIDATED WESTCHESTER COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT" NO MATTER WHAT THE CITY, TOWN, OR VILLAGE (and that includes White Plains, Yonkers, New Rochelle and Mount Vernon). EVERY FIRE-FIGHTER (PAID OR VOLUNTEER) WOULD BE 'REQUIRED' TO UNDERGO THE SAME TRAINING AND CERTIFICATIONS - PERIOD !!   ALL CONTROLLED FROM WITHIN THE WESTCHESTER COUNTY DES (60 CONTROL). NO MORE 'HOME RULE' !!!  THIS WAY, THERE IS NO MORE MUTUAL AID SYSTEM, AS EVERY STATION WOULD BE DESIGNED AS 'WESTCHESTER COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT'

WAKE UP WESTCHESTER COUNTY - THIS IS NOW 2017 NOT 1967 !!

 The WPFD currently operates out of 5 Fire Stations, located throughout the city, under the command of a Deputy Chief per shift. The WPFD also operates a frontline fire apparatus fleet of 5 Engines, 3 (Now 2) Ladders, and 1 Rescue,

17 hours ago, kinkchaser said:

Some New Rochelle Fire Houses are over 100 years old and I am certain had this house not been in a prime renewal location it too would have become 100 years old in 2066

Isn't Downtown Yonkers publicized by City, County, State and Federal Politicians/Officials as being part of a "Prime Renewal Location"? At least New Rochelle FD currently has a much more modern Station 1/Fire Headquarters within their "Downtown Area" to run a Tower Ladder Company, Engine Company, Rescue Company and Ambulance in and out of (in addition to being able to house and store reserve apparatus), where as Yonkers FD doesn't even have a Station 1/Fire Headquarters in their downtown area to run anything PERIOD. 

PS - A number of Yonkers FD Fire Stations are as old, if not older that allot of the New Rochelle FD Stations 

And the Yonkers FD can't even get any traction on its proposed replacement of the condemned (not structurally maintained) YFD Station 1/Fire Headquarters, that was 88 Years old. I would not call the current New Rochelle FD Station 1/ Fire Headquarters 'aging' in any way, shape or form, in comparison to the former Yonkers FD Station 1/Fire Headquarters.

Mayor Spano had committed back in 2015 that the New YFD Station 1/Fire Headquarters would be completed by the end of 2017. (I don't see that happening, based upon the fact that they haven't even finalized a location for this new facility)

Somehow I don't see Empress losing their foothold in either Yonkers, Mount Vernon or New Rochelle (what Empress brings to the table is the fact that they have a very large fleet and a very large and "Local" [to Southern Westchester County] presence, which makes their ability to respond and to provide wide coverage (ie: Mutual Aid, etc) is very attractive to those 3 cities.

Forrest City Ratner, the developer of the Ridge Hill Property, agreed to and a provision written into the Final Agreement, when they purchased the Ridge Hill Property from the City of Yonkers, that $3 Million Dollars would be set aside for the construction of a New Fire House, to be located at or around the New Ridge Hill Complex. Where this $3 Million Dollars currently resides, is anyone's question. One of the first concepts was to build this New Fire Station, and 'possibly' relocate Engine 310 to be housed in this new station (New Station 10), along with a newly commissioned Ladder Company (Ladder 76) at this new facility (there was also talk that the city would then transform the current/existing Station 10 on Saw Mill River Road, into the YFD Fire Museum). Then, back in 2011, the City (Former Mayor Amicone's Office) indicated that the city was currently looking for a suitable property to locate this new fire station (the King Fence property at the base of Ridge Hill, was, at the time, the front runner, to be the site of this New Fire Station. Since that time, nothing has happened on this front, despite continued new development being built at or around the Ridge Hill Complex. Then the city was complaining that while a new fire house could be built, the city didn't have the funding to provide the increase in manpower needed to have a New Ladder Company [76] commissioned at housed at this new station, thus the so-called reason for the stalling.  (Yes - all of the new construction, was and is being built to the highest of Fire Prevention Codes and with State of the Art Sprinkler Systems and Building Materials.. HOWEVER, you have to factor in First Responder Medical Assist Calls at or around the Ridge Hill Complex, that taxes the manpower and response of the YFD. Also, if an automatic alarm just happens to go off at one of the buildings on or around Ridge Hill, YFD normally sends out a Full Response to such alarms. What happens if a call (Could be fire related, could be a First Responder/Medical Assist Call) comes in somewhere nearby? What will the response times be for those types of calls. The Mayor and Commissioner Sweeney can cite response times since Ridge Hill has been in place, until the cows come home. They cannot say that it hasn't impacted response times, because we all know it has. Now we are at a point in November of 2016, where Local 628 IAFF is now suing the City of Yonkers, to block the issue of a building permit for the New Lowes Department Store, demanding the city provide a permanent answer to the status of this New Fire Station at Ridge Hill.

In addition to all of this, we have the issue of the City of Yonkers apparently dragging its feet, as it relates to the construction of a New Yonkers Fire Station 1/YFD Headquarters around the Chicken Island Area. Commissioner Sweeney's comment that the city does need to build a New Fire Station, but not necessarily at Ridge Hill, but rather to replace Station 1. Well Commissioner Sweeney, the Ridge Hill Developer, Forrest City Ratner is NOT going to give you the so called $3 Million Dollars allegedly set aside for the construction of a New Fire House at Ridge Hill, to help the city build a New Station 1 on the West Side of the City. Mayor Spano in a press conference in the Summer of 2015, indicated that bid requests would go out an da bid awarded in the Fall of 2015, to begin construction of the New Station 1. Well, again, we are now in November of 2016, and still no New Station 1 in sight. The city was toying with the idea that the New Station 1, would be placed in the "Hollows" at the site of the old Longfellow Junior High School. Well, that one never panned out. Now we are allegedly back to building it at the corner of Elm Street, Palisades Avenue and New School Street, but no bids to date, have been awarded. No architectural designs and renderings have been made public. Meanwhile, you have Rescue 1, housed across the street from Yonkers Raceway at Station 7 (which is better than having it housed at Station 8). But this piece of apparatus is best served to be housed on the West Side of Yonkers (since you have Squad 11, to be able to cover 'similar' needs on the East Side of Yonkers). 

Bottom line, is that if Mayor Spano and Commissioner Sweeney were smart, they would take advantage of resources being contracted by the city, and develop and design TWO NEW FIRE HOUSES, to be built at the same time. Use the $3 Million Dollars (plus hopefully interest accrued over time) to build a New Station 10, and use the funding that the city said it had to build a New Station 1 and let everyone move on.

6 hours ago, ptwatson said:

I believe it all goes by the list 60 control has. Each department lists which departments in which order they want mutual aid from.  NR does border a majority of Eastchester and has been number 1 on there mutual aid list for a long time.

Yes, true, BUT for a job in Bronxville, definitely Yonkers FD Station 11 (and even Yonkers FD Station 12) are by far the closest Paid Fire Department, to that portion of the Eastchester Fire District. 

Something is totally a miss regarding Eastchester's Mutual Aid listing given to 60 Control, specifically pertaining to Bronxville. Maybe Chief Grogan and the Eastchester Board of Fire Commissioners can 'chime in' on this (I suspect that once those very rich home/property owners in the Village of Bronxville get wind of this, the Eastchester Board of Fire Commissioners and Chief Grogan will have allot of explaining to do !!)

Interesting question (although I know the answer is that the Yonkers Fire Department is NOT on the Mutual Aid listing for the Town of Eastchester FD (Eastchester, Bronxville, and Tuckahoe), but if you look at where today's 4 Alarm Fire was (12 Elm Rock Road, Bronxville, NY), does it make any sense, when lives and property are in danger, that you call in Mutual Aid for this location from first New Rochelle Station 2 (Engine 22 and Ladder 12), which is approximately a 13 Minute response time to the scene, then to call in Mount Vernon Engine 205, which is approximately 13 minutes to the fire scene, then to call in Scarsdale Engine 56 which is approximately 14 minutes to the fire scene, and Greenville Ladder 4, which is approximately 17 minutes to the fire scene, AHEAD of Yonkers FD Squad 11, which is approximately 6 minutes from the fire scene (less than half the response time of the first due Mutual Aid Company), and Yonkers FD Engine 312 and Tower Ladder 75 (and Battalion 2) which is approximately 10 minutes from the fire scene?

In my opinion, when lives and property are at hand, fast response times are critical. In this case (again, in my opinion) the Mutual Aid System is severely broken, and thus the topic of Regionalizing Fire Companies throughout Westchester County needs to be brought up again.

Here is the run assignment as I believe it to have been"

All of this talk is most likely tied to the most recent Eastchester Board of Fire Commissioners Meeting, to which the Board publicly announced during their July 8th televised meeting, that they are potentially dealing with a situation with the EFD Firefighters Union, that 'could' potentially cause a significant increase in the Fire District Budget, to which some people during this meeting made comments and alluded to the possibility that significant layoffs could occur should a decision not be in favor of the Town's Board of Fire Commissioners. 

Refer to the attached video and determine for yourselves:

On 6/27/2016 at 10:45 PM, dwcfireman said:

I have a couple of questions, just out of curiosity:

 

1.  I saw a picture of an older R1, which was single axle.  What was the reasoning for expanding to a tandem axle chassis?

 

2.  How much equipment is the new rescue going to carry?  I ask this because YFD has a bunch of support/task oriented units such as the collapse rescue and USAR trailer that I know carry extra equipment that can respond when necessary.

Back in 2000, when YFD Rescue 1 was recommissioned, I suspect that the amount of equipment that YFD originally thought that they would need to carry on the 2000 ALF Heavy Duty Single Axel Rescue Rig (now Rescue 2) probably ended up being a lot different than what they actually needed to carry, 5 to 6 years later. (Such as Water Rescue Equipment, HAZMAT and USAR equipment, extrication equipment, cold water suits, medical gear, traffic signage, back boards, portable lights, ropes, and much more ). So when YFD ordered the current 2007 ALF Tandem Axel Heavy Duty Rescue, they went with a Tandem-Axel rig. With a larger load, there is a greater need for more weight distribution thus, more axles.

Also, in my opinion, Tandem Axel HD Fire Rescue Rigs are safer than a marginal or max'd out single axle rear end. They (Tandem Axel) provides the added benefit of double the braking and greatly improved stability. Wheels can be adjusted for your configuration to accomodate turning radius's that are equal to that of a single axle, but again, the configuration of the vehicle needs to be narrowed down. Once that is done, any apparatus manufacturer can do a detailed weight analysis of whatever particular design any Fire Department requires, once they know what that department is looking for. 

As a side note, all of the FDNY Rescue apparatus are all Tandem-Axel rigs (albeit 'Walk Thru's), thus maybe another reason why YFD, in 2007, went with the Tandem Axel rig (PS - YFD's 1961 Mack B Rescue Rig was a Single Axel/Walk Thru Rescue Truck)

Just my two cents

Yes, I am hearing the same thing. Yonkers FD is being dispatched by 60 Control. Is the Yonkers Emergency Communications Division at 28 Wells Avenue down?

Mount Vernon FD Snorkel 1. Workhorse of a rig. Worked many major fires during its run in the Vern. This was an era of the FDMV, when Chief Campbell was running the show and they had excellent front line equipment and was running with 6 Engine Companies (plus 2 spares), 1 Snorkel, 3 Truck Companies (plus 1 spare), 1 Rescue, 1 Foam Unit, and 1 Ambulance. Sad how this department has a gone down hill as it relates to manpower and equipment (no wonder they use Mutual Aid like people drink water)

11 hours ago, nfd2004 said:

The City of Mount Vernon was mentioned as having the fire dept run the ambulance service. As I understand it, the City of Mount Vernon doesn't even have enough firefighters to do their primary job of fighting fires.

I know that this is a played out/sore subject with many on EMTBravo.net, but I will again say, if the "Powers to Be" (Politicians) would all get together, abolish the "Home Rule" permanently, and develop and implement a 100% County Run EMS and Fire Operation, with every county tax payer being held responsible for the costs of running such operation, you would stop such comments, as "The City of Mount Vernon doesn't even have enough firefighters to do their primary job of fighting fires". If you take the LOCAL BULL-DINKY POLITICS (both Governmental and Unions) out of the equation and put it in the hands of a Group of EMS and Fire Professionals throughout the county (such as say 5 to 7 "Leaders" coming out of say Yonkers, New Rochelle, White Plains, Mount Vernon, Eastchester, and possibly 1 or 2 Northern Westchester County Towns/Villages) to oversee the day to day operation of such a "Consolidated County Run EMS/Fire Service" you would never have to worry about Private Companies going bankrupt. 

When will people wake up and say "This is Enough" ?????