mllax14

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Posts posted by mllax14

  1. Posted · Edited by mllax14

    this may be true, do we know what type of system PG county in maryland uses

    In December 2009 the county officially launched the new Motorola 700 MHZ digital public safety communications radio system and to accommodate the new system, the county built 21 new radio towers, partnering with the state to build five of those. The total cost of the system was approximately $76 million, with $14 million in federal and state grants. The system is operated by PSC (public safety communications) that moved to their new building in May 2011. PSC dispatches the Fire/EMS department, County Police Department and County Sheriffs office. Basically each Dept (fire/ems, PD and SO) have their own dispatchers, supervisors and call takers that all fall under the PSC umbrella, the fire dept works off of talkgroups. With a main channel used for dispatch then units switch over to the designated talk group for that specific call all of which have a dispatcher that is dedicated to that channel. The system works pretty well.

    The COG is short for metropolitan Washington Council of Governments each county works together on a multitude of levels including public safety/ homeland security

    COG numbers

    0 - DCFD

    1 - Arlington County

    2 - City of Alexandria

    3 - MWAA (Metro Washington Airports Authority - Dulles & Reagan)

    4 - Fairfax County (includes Fairfax City)

    5 - Prince William County (includes Manassas and Manassas Park)

    6 - Loudoun County

    7 - Montgomery County, MD

    8 - Prince George's County, MD

    9 - Frederick County, MD

    hopefully the links help with the info you want.

    http://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/sites/911/Pages/default.aspx

    and here is some info about the COG radio system

    http://www.mwcog.org/uploads/committee-documents/aF5YWFhf20100917063924.pdf

  2. Posted

    The Westchester County method of identifying apparatus is a$$ backwards. There is no reasoning to it. Departments have been able to reserve whatever number they want for their rigs with no relation to what department they are part of. The Putnam and Rockland methods at least follow a formula but are still overly complicated. The easiest way to do it, and the way the majority of our countrymen have chosen to do so is to number each department in the county... For Westchester county that would be 59 departments. If a particular department was number 25 take my former department of Millwood and it's current lineup of apparatus it would be as follows....Station 25-1Truck 25Rescue 25Engine 25-1 (Engine Twenty Five One)Mini Attack 25Utility 25Station 25-2Tanker 25Engine 25-2 (Engine Twenty Five Two)Chief 25Assistant 25-1 (Assistant Twenty Five One)Assistant 25-2 (Assistant Twenty Five Two)This way when you hear an identifier on the radio you know exactly what department it's from (If you hear Twenty Five you know it's Millwood). Now it's insane....Engine 10 is in HarrisonMini Attack 10 is in MillwoodTruck 10 is in MoheganRescue 10 is in Bedford HillsTanker 10 is in CrotonUtility 10 is in PurchaseReally?

    I agree and I think a system like this would make a lot of sense, but I can see it meeting some resistance from people that don't want to lose that traditional numbers.

    Now this might seem like a silly question and I'm not a radio guy, but why don't we have a digitall radio system? It just doesn't make sense to me that Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and even the City apparatus can't communicate easily on not only a regular basis, but on large scale incidents such as the brush fire in rockland today.

    The Westchester County method of identifying apparatus is a$$ backwards. There is no reasoning to it. Departments have been able to reserve whatever number they want for their rigs with no relation to what department they are part of. The Putnam and Rockland methods at least follow a formula but are still overly complicated. The easiest way to do it, and the way the majority of our countrymen have chosen to do so is to number each department in the county... For Westchester county that would be 59 departments. If a particular department was number 25 take my former department of Millwood and it's current lineup of apparatus it would be as follows....Station 25-1Truck 25Rescue 25Engine 25-1 (Engine Twenty Five One)Mini Attack 25Utility 25Station 25-2Tanker 25Engine 25-2 (Engine Twenty Five Two)Chief 25Assistant 25-1 (Assistant Twenty Five One)Assistant 25-2 (Assistant Twenty Five Two)This way when you hear an identifier on the radio you know exactly what department it's from (If you hear Twenty Five you know it's Millwood). Now it's insane....Engine 10 is in HarrisonMini Attack 10 is in MillwoodTruck 10 is in MoheganRescue 10 is in Bedford HillsTanker 10 is in CrotonUtility 10 is in PurchaseReally?

    I agree and I think a system like this would make a lot of sense, but I can see it meeting some resistance from people that don't want to lose that traditional numbers.

    Now this might seem like a silly question and I'm not a radio guy, but why don't we have a digitall radio system? It just doesn't make sense to me that Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and even the City apparatus can't communicate easily on not only a regular basis, but on large scale incidents such as the brush fire in rockland today.

  3. Posted

    Personally i think part of the problem is with the terminology commonly used Such as "mutual aid" which I feel is used to mask the problem that plagues our area.

    From what I was originally taught and understood was that "mutual aid" meant 1) you needed additional resources such as manpower, or additional apparatus to assist you at the scene. 2) you need a specific reasource that you or another agency/department don't not have 3) you are already committed to a incident or whatever and need "mutual aid" to handle an additional call while you operate at your initial incident.

    But, what I see "mutual aid" used for around here is a loophole to cover up the all but true actuality of what many have pointed out here that calls are going unanswered. I would like to see is the term (FTR) "Failure To Respond" used which would keep agency's/ departments more accountable for their inability to perform their primarily function and respond to emergencies within the acceptable standard. If that were actually used the facts would be presented front and center to the public and state that there is a problem and it needs to be addressed. Otherwise it just seems like this problem will continue to fly under the radar and put the public and first responders In danger.

    Just my 2 cents.

    Remember585, Capejake72, Bnechis and 4 others like this

  8. Posted

    This is the video (in three parts) the ATF produced to accompany its engineering analysis utilizing Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) of the fire that killed Lutherville VFC Firefighter Mark Falkenhan last year. There are links above to the ATF report by Adam St. John P.E., Fire Protection Engineer ATF Fire Research Laboratory and the internal report the Baltimore County Fire Department released in March. The modeling is matched with the fireground and dispatch radio traffic.

    I never had the privilege of knowing Mark personally, but i'm friends with a few of the guys at Lutherville that did and i must say it was one of the largest LODD funerals i have ever been to. The show of support was unbelievable. These videos in conjunction of the ATF report offer alot of insight as to what happened that night and the things we can take away from this tragedy, especially with the 3rd video showing the alternative models that show how different things could have been if doors were shut, i know while operating on the fireground it can easily be forgotten, but it could make a tremendous difference in conditions.

    http://statter911.co...mark-falkenhan/

    FDNY 10-75 and 16fire5 like this

  9. Posted

    Alright guys,

    As some of you may or may not know on February 24th, 7 PGFD Firefighters were injured while operating at a house fire In Riverdale, Maryland that has since been declared arson. Of those 7 injured, 2 were admitted to the Burn Unit at Washington Hospital Center with serious burns, Bladensburg Co.9 FF's Ethan Sorrell had respiratory burns and has since been released and FF Kevin O'Toole who is still currently recovering in the Hospital with burns over 40% of his body. I personally know both of these guys and was at the fire the night they were both injured and can honestly say they are two of the strongest people i know. Kevin has had multiple skin graph operations and has made great strides in the past few weeks enough so to be admitted in the step down unit from the ICU. With being said Kevin still has a long road to recovery.

    So here is what he needs Kevin (A Native of New York, from Bethpage, Long Island) as you can imagine spends alot of time in his hospital room. Although his family and at least two firefighters from either Company 9 or Company 1 have been at his side 24 hours a day he would like to make his room feel a little more like home. So he is asking that any of those following his recovery could send him a company or department patch to liven up the room a little bit.

    Any departments wising to send a patch and or a card to Kevin they are to be sent to 4213 Edmonston Road, Bladensburg MD 20710 and they will be sure to find a place on his wall.

    I will be home this week for a few days if you would like to PM me i may be available to pick up the patch if that makes things easier before i head back to Maryland.

    Here are a few of the news articles incase you have no idea what im talking about to bring you up to speed.

    http://statter911.co...fe-threatening/

    http://statter911.co...s-kevin-otoole/

    http://pgfdpio.blogs...vin-otoole.html

    Again Thank you guys for your support and we hope to see a few patches on the wall to show Kev some love from New York.

    Thank You,

    Matt Lauria

    FF/EMT-YHFD

    Live-In FF/EMT- Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department Co. 1

    x4093k and SageVigiles like this

  13. Posted

    Isn't anybody getting tired of sleeping in chairs or on the floor during stand-bys? And, sooner or later, long before the buildings being built and renovated today are obsolete, there will undoubtably be the need for some paid personnel in many of these stations.

    In this case, 18,000 Sf and no allowance for a couple 10 x 12 dorm room type bunk rooms to accommodate maybe 4 persons, up to 8 with bunk beds, for an overnite stand-by?

    If you build the bunk rooms then some day you might hire personnel. If you don't build them, then you can argee we can't hire because of the building.

    Bunk rooms don’t have to just be for the stand-by or the 1 way street to career staff. They can be used to ensure adequate volunteer staffing for the future. Live-In programs which are quite popular in Maryland, PA, and Virginia have been around for years and have been proven successful time and time again keeping some of the busiest Volunteer Fire Departments in the Country with reliable staffing day in and day out. I never understood why nobody in the area has a program like this the only two I can think of is Purchase and Moyers corners.

    Check out this site for more information about live-in programs and the departments that utilize them.

    www.fdlivein.com

  15. Posted

    The 58-member Yorktown Police Department has a $9 million annual budget. Its officers make hundreds of criminal and motor-vehicle arrests each year and Yorktown is considered a safe community.

    Why does this sound like the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard? So because the Police have a pretty big budget and they do a really good job why would you want to get rid of them?

  16. Posted

    Just a quick question has any one has read the article on LoHud saying that the neighbor first say it at around 5:15pm and the FD called at 6pm????

    I agree with the whole countywide department thing but as much of good idea as it sounds you have to look at the whole picture. Let’s face it pretty much every department is struggling in one way or another with some hurting more than others. A county wide or closet unit response could put an even bigger strain of departments already hurting; meaning departments that are having a tough time with manpower or getting out on calls…etc would be doing even more calls. Also how would the closet unit response work would it be closest departments sends multiple pieces of equipment or one or two pieces from multiple departments this could also mean that you could have a number of departments responding to a single call so you could feasible have 3-4 departments responding to a residential alarm? It works great in places like Greenburg and southern part of the county where the paid staff is able to handle it. But if it were to happen in the northern part of the county I think you might see some departments start to sink and the stronger departments start to take over and then they even might start to struggle because they would be covering for the other departments so much.

    Just my 2 cents.

  20. Posted

    Someone should buy that thing and keep it local for parades and such. What a great antique piece...and it was only recently re-placed.

    Yes, the rig really belongs in a museum, I’m really going to miss that rig, the first set of gear that I had came off it, and to answer the question when L-51 was out of service L-68 (former L-51) would be relocated to HQ it was sort of a spare, but probably could run second due if they didn’t take most of the equipment off. But I won best overall apparatus with it for this year’s inspection some how. Now I’m just going to have to figure out what to do since I’m the only guy with a Ladder 68 shield in the department.

  21. Posted · Edited by mllax14

    I actually think that they are under the Continuum Health Partners that run a bunch of Hospitals in the city. They are two different hospitals Saint Luke’s Hospital located around West 115th street and West 114th street by Columbia University and Roosevelt Hospital that located between West 59th and 58th streets. Yes, the hospital is located right next to CUNY John Jays “North Hall” building on W59th and directly across from the “T” building on 10th Avenue. I briefly got to know some of the guys at Roosevelt when I went to John Jay there is a little garage on West 59th street where they keep a bunch of Ambulances and a Medic Supervisors truck, the rest stay out on the street waiting for a call. I don’t know how many they run, but they have to have a decent amount of them sine the garage was always full and the street was usually lined up with them, you had to be careful when going to class as to make sure you didn’t get clocked by one of them going to a call. I would rarely see a FDNY Ambulance usually just a SUV with and EMS and FDNY stickers on them the rest were common private Ambulances, from various companies. I don’t have a clue how they are incorporated into the 911 system except for the Saint Luke’s- Roosevelt’s Ambulances have a big FDNY participating sticker on them. A lot of the other private companies don’t have them; I can't imagine how somebody can organize a system with so many different companies and hospitals running around with their own ambulances.

  22. Posted

    Follow up article

    Mamaroneck to review response to deadly fire

    By REKA BALA

    THE JOURNAL NEWS

    (Original Publication: April 19, 2007)

    MAMARONECK - Village officials expressed their condolences yesterday to the family of 78-year-old resident Jacques Kirsch, who died in a fire earlier this week, and announced they were planning to conduct a review of the incident and how it was handled.

    Village Fire Chief Barry J. Casterella said the review of the early Monday morning fire would begin immediately but could not specify how long it would take until a conclusion was reached.

    "It is premature to draw any conclusions or give any opinions regarding this incident until a complete review of the facts regarding this incident has been completed," Casterella said in a statement.

    William Ciraco of the Mamaroneck Village Manager's Office, who has been assigned the task of reviewing the incident, said the review could take days to complete.

    Around 2 a.m. Sunday, firefighters responded to 243 Knollwood Ave., where Kirsch was reportedly stranded on the home's second floor. Although 911 calls showed the fire was called in much closer to 1:30 a.m., officials said excessive flooding from the weekend's storm prevented crews from using their usual routes to get to that neighborhood and instead had to get there by taking a much longer route.

    The typical response time to the house is three to four minutes from Jefferson Avenue, where the West Harrison team was stationed on mutual aid, said Steve Surace, a West Harrison firefighter and Harrison fire marshal. However, because of flooding on Mamaroneck Avenue in Mamaroneck and south from White Plains through Harrison, Surace said, the firetruck had to go up Halstead Avenue to Playland Parkway, then come back down Interstate 95 to the Mamaroneck Avenue exit, 18A and B.

    Dan Kirsch said house alarms alerted his parents, Jeannine and Jacques Kirsch, to the fire at 1:21 a.m. His mother made her first of three 911 calls at 1:26 a.m., he said after confirming the call time on her cell phone. The house had no electricity or phone service because of the flooding, he said. The alarm company, ADT, responding to the 1:21 a.m. alarm signal, called a sister, Monique Kirsch Sloane, in New Rochelle

    I’m not knocking anybody because I feel that everybody did the best job possible with the resources available. And I feel for the family, but just a question why would an elderly couple stay in the house with flood waters that high, there were shelters around why couldn’t they just call to be transported to a shelter just in case there was an emergency and needed help quickly! I just don’t understand why you would stay in a house where you had no phone or electricity DURING A FLOOD. I just don’t get it. Buildings and belongings can be replacing and rebuilt but lives cannot. Let it go… it’s only a house you still have the memories.

  23. Posted

    I’m not an apparatus driver so I can’t really say weather its right or wrong, but I found as much information of the incident as I could so maybe this could help determine if it was the right action or if we would see this type of placement in our area.

    This is a quote from the website

    “Springhill Lake Apartments, the largest garden apartment complex on the east coast, has been plagued recently with a series of fires. All the fires have been determined to be electrical in nature and have started in the terrace-level laundry rooms where the main electrical boxes are located for the apartments. From Monday at 0011 hours to Tuesday afternoon, Berwyn Heights VFD operated on three working fires including a three alarm fire and a two alarm fire just hours apart”

    By reading this and looking at some of the pictures where you see hose lines and no engines could it be justifiable to place the Truck there as apposed taking the time to carry the amount of ground ladders needed that far of a distance to efficiently and safely conduct roof operations? I know ladders are expensive, but can you put a price on a human life if a civilian’s life was in danger or if a firefighter needed to get off the rood fast is it necessary then? (I’m not saying that this was the case in this incident I’m just trying to understand what the right reason would be for positioning that way) If I’m wrong please correct me.

    http://www.bhvfd14.org/news/fr070326-27.htm

    http://www.bv9fd.com/

  25. Posted

    Special Weather Statement

    NORTHERN FAIRFIELD-NORTHERN NEW HAVEN- ORANGE-PUTNAM-ROCKLAND- NORTHERN WESTCHESTER- 534 AM EST THU MAR 1 2007...POTENTIAL FOR LIGHT ACCUMULATION OF ICE TONIGHT ACROSS INTERIOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWESTERN CONNECTICUT AND THE LOWER HUDSON VALLEY...

    AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL DEVELOP NEAR THE MASON DIXON LINE TONIGHT... THEN CROSS OVER WESTERN LONG ISLAND BY AROUND MIDDAY FRIDAY. LOW LEVEL COLD AIR...CURRENTLY BEING FED INTO THE REGION FROM HIGH PRESSURE NOSING DOWN FROM HUDSON BAY...WILL POTENTIALLY REMAIN IN PLACE WELL INTO TONIGHT. THE COMBINATION OF THE DEVELOPING STORM... AND COLD AIR ALREADY IN PLACE...WILL LIKELY LEAD TO A MIXTURE OF SNOW... SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN AS THE PRECIPITATION BEGINS THIS EVENING ACROSS THE INTERIOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWESTERN CONNECTICUT AND THE LOWER HUDSON VALLEY. THE PRECIPITATION WILL GRADUALLY MIX WITH...THEN CHANGE TO ALL RAIN FROM SOUTHEAST TO NORTHWEST STARTING LATE THIS EVENING AS RELATIVELY MILD ATLANTIC AIR GETS PUSHED INTO THE REGION AHEAD OF THE DEVELOPING LOW. CURRENTLY EXPECT NORTHERN ORANGE AND PUTNAM COUNTIES TO BE THE LAST TO TURN TO ALL RAIN LATE TONIGHT.

    WHILE LITTLE OR NO SNOW OR SLEET ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED...A LIGHT ACCUMULATION OF ICE COULD OCCUR ACROSS INTERIOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWESTERN CONNECTICUT AND THE LOWER HUDSON VALLEY TONIGHT. THE EXACT EXTENT AND AMOUNT OF ANY ICE ACCUMULATION IS DEPENDANT ON HOW LONG IT TAKES FOR THE TURN OVER TO ALL RAIN TO OCCUR. IT IS ON THIS POINT THAT THERE IS STILL A DEGREE OF UNCERTAINTY.

    Flood Watch

    /O.EXB.KOKX.FA.A.0001.070302T0300Z- 070302T1800Z/ /00000.0.ER.000000T0000Z. 000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/ NORTHERN FAIRFIELD-SOUTHERN FAIRFIELD-WESTERN PASSAIC-BERGEN- EASTERN PASSAIC-ESSEX- HUDSON-UNION-ROCKLAND-NORTHERN WESTCHESTER- SOUTHERN WESTCHESTER-NEW YORK (MANHATTAN)-BRONX- RICHMOND (STATEN ISLAND)-KINGS (BROOKLYN)- QUEENS-NASSAU- NORTHWESTERN SUFFOLK- SOUTHWESTERN SUFFOLK- 454 AM EST THU MAR 1 2007...FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH FRIDAY AFTERNOON...

    THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN UPTON HAS EXPANDED THE

    * FLOOD WATCH TO INCLUDE PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT... NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND SOUTHEAST NEW YORK... INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING AREAS...IN SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT...NORTHERN FAIRFIELD AND SOUTHERN FAIRFIELD. IN NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY...BERGEN... EASTERN PASSAIC...ESSEX...HUDSON... UNION AND WESTERN PASSAIC. IN SOUTHEAST NEW YORK...BRONX...KINGS (BROOKLYN)...NASSAU... NEW YORK (MANHATTAN)...NORTHERN WESTCHESTER... NORTHWESTERN SUFFOLK...QUEENS... RICHMOND (STATEN ISLAND)... ROCKLAND... SOUTHERN WESTCHESTER AND SOUTHWESTERN SUFFOLK.

    * FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH FRIDAY AFTERNOON

    * HEAVY RAIN IS EXPECTED ACROSS THE LOWER HUDSON VALLEY...WESTERN CONNECTICUT AND LONG ISLAND... NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND NEW YORK CITY AFTER MIDNIGHT THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY MORNING. EXPECT PRECIPITATION TO DEVELOP THURSDAY EVENING...THEN BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES FROM AFTER MIDNIGHT INTO FRIDAY MORNING. THE PRECIPITATION SHOULD TAPER OFF FROM WEST TO EAST EARLY FRIDAY AFTERNOON. WHILE NEW YORK CITY AND LONG ISLAND AND MOST OF NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY WILL SEE ONLY RAIN...INTERIOR PORTIONS WILL LIKELY START WITH A WINTRY MIX OF SNOW...SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN... BEFORE CHANGING TO ALL RAIN AT MOST LOCATIONS BY AFTER MIDNIGHT. RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1.5 TO 2 INCHES WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE LOWER HUDSON VALLEY AND INTERIOR WESTERN CONNECTICUT...WITH TO 2 TO 2.5 INCHES WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE ACROSS NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY...NEW YORK CITY AND LONG ISLAND.

    * THE COMBINATION OF THE HEAVY RAIN ALONG WITH RUNOFF FROM SNOW MELT IN INTERIOR AREAS WOULD BE ENOUGH TO PRODUCE FLOODING ON SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS...AND CAUSE MINOR TO POTENTIALLY MODERATE URBAN FLOODING.

    A FLOOD WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR FLOODING BASED ON CURRENT FORECASTS.

    YOU SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS AND BE ALERT FOR POSSIBLE FLOOD WARNINGS. THOSE LIVING IN AREAS PRONE TO FLOODING SHOULD BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION SHOULD FLOODING DEVELOP.

    Where the hell did this come from? blink.gif

    Am I the only one getting the feeling that this is going severely suck? mad.gif