STAT213

I would rather have the "extra" guy on the floor. All day, everyday. Having a trained firefighter stuck in a room answering a phone and yapping on a radio instead of pulling hose is a waste of resources. Especially considering 60 control is there AND available to do the job FOR you.
Can you really look me in the face and say "I'd rather have firefighter Joe in the radio room and not helping us make the stretch down a smoke filled hallway because he really is more helpful to me on the radio than on the line." If so, you are whacked.

I would rather have the "extra" guy on the floor. All day, everyday. Having a trained firefighter stuck in a room answering a phone and yapping on a radio instead of pulling hose is a waste of resources. Especially considering 60 control is there AND available to do the job FOR you.
Can you really look me in the face and say "I'd rather have firefighter Joe in the radio room and not helping us make the stretch down a smoke filled hallway because he really is more helpful to me on the radio than on the line." If so, you are whacked.

I would rather have the "extra" guy on the floor. All day, everyday. Having a trained firefighter stuck in a room answering a phone and yapping on a radio instead of pulling hose is a waste of resources. Especially considering 60 control is there AND available to do the job FOR you.
Can you really look me in the face and say "I'd rather have firefighter Joe in the radio room and not helping us make the stretch down a smoke filled hallway because he really is more helpful to me on the radio than on the line." If so, you are whacked.

60 Control is incompetent. They could never handle Fairview or Hartsdale....
#givemeaf***ingbreak

Finally is an interesting way to put replacing a 2001 ladder truck. Look around New England, a 13 or 14 year old truck ain't old. Ours is a 1995 with NO plans of replacement.
Sometimes I wonder about how some people on this board miss reality a bit. They seem to think that money for equipment grows on trees and how we deserve certain kinds of equipment. I deserve a safe working environment. It's up to the taxpayers and the elected officials to decide what to provide me as far as equipment goes. It's the leaderships job to educate them as to how to best spend their money.
As far as saying a dept is finally replacing something that many other departments would be thrilled to have...doesn't quite jive for me with most jurisdiction's financial realities.

So all those animal rescues we've all done....we've been breaking the law?? I'll go turn myself in now.
And those pet oxygen masks on my engine? Those are illegal?
We don't need more laws. We need more common sense.

So all those animal rescues we've all done....we've been breaking the law?? I'll go turn myself in now.
And those pet oxygen masks on my engine? Those are illegal?
We don't need more laws. We need more common sense.

So all those animal rescues we've all done....we've been breaking the law?? I'll go turn myself in now.
And those pet oxygen masks on my engine? Those are illegal?
We don't need more laws. We need more common sense.

So all those animal rescues we've all done....we've been breaking the law?? I'll go turn myself in now.
And those pet oxygen masks on my engine? Those are illegal?
We don't need more laws. We need more common sense.

The main issue here is that everyone is comparing FDNY's tactics, to their own and others. If your department can place 4 fully staffed engines, 3 full staffed ladders, a fully staffed rescue, 2 battalion chiefs on location, all trained to FDNY's minimum training standards, then by all means, compare away. FDNY's guys arrive on scene and each member basically has 1 function to perform... and that's it. 99.99% of other departments, when you arrive, are going to be expected to multitask and call audibles on the fly.
However, most of us are showing up with less then the NFPA's required 16 personnel for a single family residential home (2,000 sqft) within the first 8 minutes. That doesn't even account for larger McMansions or even high rise or OMDs. Each department must look at their manpower on any given moment, and make prudent tactical decisions based off of the situation that has been presented at that very moment.

Showing up with 2 guys and no officer on the first due engine, with no confirmed reports or identifying signs of people inside? Stretch your handline, IF NEEDED, give it a quick shot before you mask up, make entry and perform an aggressive interior attack, while your backup man and or second due companies search off the line.

Same staffing, but with confirmed reports of people trapped with a known location? Life above all else. Mask up, and either perform a normal search, or VES the area where the victim is expected to be.
Basement fire? Whats the harm of popping the bilco door, or venting a small basement window and giving it a quick shot, and allow the gasses to vent and cool, and maybe flash BEFORE you make entry and flash on you and your crew.
To sit here and say that every situation should require transitional (which, btw, is just a fancy name for a task that has been employed since the dawn of firefighting with a new fancy buzz name now) or strictly aggressive interior, or defensive attack, is ludicrous. Proper training, and knowledge of situational awareness and the ability to properly apply each individual tactic and strategy appropriately is what we should be discussing.
I highly recommend people read "Suburban Fire Tactics," by Jim Silvernail. He addresses issues that minimally staffed departments around the country face everyday, and goes over tactics and strategies to bring back and apply to your departments as necessary. Here is a fire engineering article he wrote that discusses some of the aforementioned points, and a link to purchase his book:
http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/print/volume-164/issue-3/features/suburban-fire-tactics-prioritizing-functions-and-developing-preferred-operating-methods.html

https://books.google.com/books/about/Suburban_Fire_Tactics.html?id=QYDAxE_8e_QC&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false

Anyone know what daily staffing in WP is, and how many members per piece/company?
EMS units too.
Thanks! All out of curiousity.

Seth,
I work for a career department with four stations and fifteen members on duty per shift. We are frequently down to one single resource in town. (We only have one engine that doesn't cross-staff an ambulance.) We handle the calls as they come in, and yes, when an EMS call comes in and we only have one resource left, we send it. HOW COULD YOU NOT? Someone has called for help. You're going to tell them: sorry, can't come, there MIGHT be a fire. Good luck explaining THAT one.
It is far easier to explain that someone had to wait for help because ALL resources were tied up than to try to explain that you were saving an engine for a REAL call.
And yes, if ANY higher priority call comes in and you haven't made contact with the patient yet, I would divert to that call. Falls under doing what is right.
Rob

Seems like someone out there is doing quite the pierce/aerialscope refurb business.

What is current staffing?

I have NO idea what lead those departments to set their run cards that way. Some ideas:
-Level of training of members a department sends on a mutual aid response.
-number of members responding on each piece.
I was a volunteer in a town that would go mutual aid into a local city with a career department. They made it quite clear that only members with FF1 and a crew of 3 of said members would be tolerated at their fires. Anything but that and we were sent home.
Could be the same there. Got tired of asking the volunteer departments to meet a standard. Easiest way to deal with the problem is to call departments you KNOW will show up with the right number of trained members.

Who is the police force assigned to Stewart?
And National Guard provides fire and crash/rescue, right?

Is Stewart a PA Airport?

Thanks for the answers!

I much prefer the push back into the station tradition.
My biggest issue is tying up the road and acting like what you're doing is so damn important and that its okay to impact other people's lives. That and the lights and sirens. You Just look like idiots. Go do this in a school parking lot on a weekend.

Wow. Just wow. That was embarrassing.

Wow. Just wow. That was embarrassing.

Wow. Just wow. That was embarrassing.

Wow. Just wow. That was embarrassing.

Wow. Just wow. That was embarrassing.

I understand the nature of some FD's response areas makes POV response necessary, but there are ways to offset the "need" for members to get to the station or scene "hot" in a private vehicle. Chief among these is what volunteer EMS organizations have been doing for years...duty crew staffing. A crew of four in house will get that first rig on the road and on scene with a crew on board prepared and ready to work while the rest of the off-duty members are responding at a reasonble pace, and it will shave minutes off the response time to boot. Add in staffed mutual aid companies and the overriding need for members to speed around town, blue (or red, or green or whatever colored) lights flashing diminishes considerably...even if for only a part of each day.
It's 2015 well into the 21st century....maybe it's time to reevaluate HOW we volunteer as opposed to simply why. And here's one more bonus from a recruiting standpoint: if members know they only have to be available for set hours (where they can train as well), then that will relieve them of having to drop everything for every call and they can schedule the rest of their lives, i.e families, work, hobbies...whatever, while still providing what I truly believe is a higher level of service. A win win in my book.