mstrang1

Wait a second, Barry. Are you telling me that NRFD personnel worked hand in hand with -gasp- volunteers?!?! Were the Union reps freaking out?!?!

On a serious note, the drill sounds like it was highly successful. It always seems like if you want to do a foam drill, people are worried about environmental and financial worries more than the actual training. Maybe someone can provide, if not done already, a list of what specialized equipment was used and it's location to departments. Or at least on this website.

Working Engine 9 for this. We felt nothing at fire station, but some members at E5 did. We received multiple calls for transformers blowing or "a loud boom that shook the house". We found no damage or cause at the time.

Cogs-

I am confused. You state that by voting YES that we are putting it in the hands of politicians. That may be true, but further along in your post you mention the "fairness" of elected civilians (quotes my own, because I did not copy the post on my phone). Isn't an elected civilian a politician? Would they not run on a party ticket and vote on party lines, just like any other "elected civilian"(again, paraphrasing...)?

In addition, being this is a Presidential election, there will be a large turnout of voters. If there is some special election as you say, it will essentially be a"whoever can muster enough friends to vote" election. Probably getting a 65-35 NUMBER OF VOTERS, as opposed to a large pool of voters on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

Cogs-

In your previous post, you "magically predicted" 35% of the people will vote against this Prop. Are you trying to get your numbers up so you win the pool? Seems you are talking about rhetoric, with rhetoric.

Right, if you increase the amount of hours you will have a standard that will be uniform, that will have no one doing.

Is NYS an alternate reality universe? A lot of other states require equal training whether you get a paycheck or not. Why should NYS VFFs be so "special" as to require less training? Are they super firefighters right out of the box?

You are assuming EVERYONE only has just the minimum amount of training. Would you allow two probies to go in to a fire with just 40 hours of training? I didn't think so. You have senior members showing them what and how to do it. And how often do you encounter water reactive materials on a daily basis? Maybe a bit of magnesium in a car fire here or there, but eventually the water puts that out too. And I would much rather have a guy who has the minimum training and the wits and common sense over the guy who takes every class in the world and can't figure out how to change the blade on the roof saw. Everyone over complicates this job, and in the last ten years it has become ridiculous in the amount of BS you need. 90% of the class material could be done online, with the practical evolutions done in 5 or 6 nights and a saturday. Make things easier for people not harder. They even cut the hours on EMT cause they knew no one could commit to the amount of hours.

The problem is, is that you must ASSUME that, especially in a volunteer organization, the entire first due crew MAY be rookies. I have been on calls at work where the average age of the crew from TORFD cannot legally have a beer. The senior guys that can teach those younger guys do not always make it to all of the calls. Yes, more stuff can be done online, but even 5 or 6 nights and Saturday equates to about 28 hours. The "ridiculous amount of BS" that you need is not nearly enough to put someone on the street. My first day at the CT Fire Academy, they told us, "CT requires 400 hours (10 weeks) of training to become a firefighter. CT also requires 800 hours (20 weeks) of training to become a hairdresser".

By the way, I believe CT just raised the number of hours for EMT from 120 to the 150 range, plus increased ride-along and ER time.

Hope they had insurance...

RIP Brother.

RIP. I often looked at posts just because I saw he posted.

I imagine a good person to start dealing with any issues that come up would be the newly appointed assistant chief in charge of volunteer services in conjunction with the career chiefs. You keep forgetting that the paid staff don't have a say in where they work or who they work with. Some of the career staff may not like where they are assigned or who they are assigned with, but unless they want to find another line of work, they will have to make the best of it. If the volunteers don't like it, well either they can grin and bear it, give it the old college try, or go some place else. And not for nothing, for the most part, the ff's on both sides that are responding on calls (except for a few isolated incidents) are working just fine together. Perhaps instead of being so afraid of the negative "what if's" and spreading fear about the way this is being forced on you, we can all look at all the positive "what if's"? Like what if this really works and lives and property are saved? What if we become one big happy progressive combo dept? Kinda hard to look at all the positive when you drown us with the possible negatives all the time. Lets be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

I imagine nothing will change November 7. Or 8. Or 9. The Charter change, if passed, will create a new fire department. The fire commission, board of reps, the current SFRD and volunteer organizations all still have a lot of work ahead. The charter is a framework. Once passed, the real work begins. Once the inevitable lawsuits are settled, everything from new logos to letterhead to naming a Chief of the newly formed Stamford Fire Department must be dealt with. The volunteer organizations will be busy electing a new assistant chief, etc. I will come in to work every shift, just like usual. And you, Cogs, will report to BFD for coverage and respond on calls like usual. Like FD828 said, let's look for some positives.

I've been on trains where the conductor never made it to me to take my ticket. Also, people can scam now by buying a ticket for ludlow and staying on until croton.

Compared to NYC its definitely not a "high-rise" but I live in CT, very few buildings more than 4-5 stories. Nothing tall enough for wind to be a serious factor, etc.

The building that pops into my mind within our first due is 8 stories. We have a few 4-5 story buildings at the University that we go to for smells and bells or the occasional kitchen fire, but nothing huge. Lots of commercial storefronts along the Post Road, some industrial/storage facilities tucked away. But probably over 85% of our district is 3 family balloon frame houses. I just don't think we practice standpipe operations enough.

Height is not the only thing when it comes to wind driven fires. I just got the new fire engineering, and while I have not read the article yet, they talk about a 1 story wind driven fire.

One thing is for sure, no way The High Emporer Doomberg would ever do this

RIP Tyler. My condolences to the Rush,EFD,HFD families.

Imagine if that money were invested personally and privately. The result would be better and something to pass on to your family. Not the SS way though.

And yes, almost every single municipality that enacts a private pension plan in lieu of SS has garnered better outcomes for their participants. It's the same for all our members of Congress who have their own retirement system separate from SS. They can, you can't. Is that fair? But if everyone was allowed to opt out of SS the pyramid would collapse, that's why they fight so furiously to prevent even a portion of someone's contributions to be privately placed. So guess what? the majority of workers who actually pay into the system will get what they can, when they can according to the politicians who will keep changing the rules while the game is being played.

If the money were invested personally and privately, what happens to all of those people who (wanted to) retire in 2008ish? They lost 100s of thousands in the market, all the while, the stockbroker is wiping his butt with $100 bills. Who do you think is pushing people away from defined benefits? Wall Street! Say a defined benefit program has $50 million in it. They are paying 1% of that in commission($500k/yr). Now a personal investment plan, they get 3-5%! So who wins with personal investments? Lets see, the stockbroker wins, the politician wins. That's it. Notice I did not say the taxpayer wins. That is because they lose.

If the fund is properly funded, like it should have been, instead of the $400 MILLION LOAN that the state of NJ took against the NJS Pension Fund with no plan to repay it, then it is totally self sufficient with no taxpayer input.

A mouse started the fire...

As long as we are talking rumors, the talk is that Springdale signed onto the Mayors plan on the very same day the Shaun Fahan got a job as a city electrician.

Why not create a "live in" program at the new firehouse for staffing?

I believe they did not provide for bunks or living quarters.

So the engine was driven by a Captain. 253-4 is no longer "Captain", he is "Engine xxx Driver". S/He cannot act as both positions. Now, if they do not have enough members/drivers to fill those spots with the current station for a daytime alarm, how do they propose this new station will be staffed? I'm not terribly familiar with Yorktown demographics/geography/zoning etc, but it seems like the southern part of town is mostly residential. So even if they recruit new members that live near Station 3, I would think most of them would be at work, again, not staffing for daytime alarms. Unless they propose a live in station system, but no living/bunk areas are being provided.

I am one for Consolidation. I think if done right it could save taxpayers in Westchester money and possibly be more beneficial to the FD for service and operations. IF DONE RIGHT!

With that said why does it matter so much to everyone who does not live in Yorktown. Wether it will turn to be a mistake in the future or a added benefit why do we as memebers of this forum demand to seek answers.....if in a educational way than I could see it.

Questions like does this help your response time,will it benefit the district and the people living in it better. I would assume without asking...... that answer would be yes. Ive had the pleasure of working with Yorktown as a Mutual aid department over the years and they are a Proactive aggressive knowlegdible department. Thats why Yorktown has a Mayor, board of trustees, fire commisioners, fire cheifs etc.......Let them and thier taxpayers worry ......

And if one day we consolidate as districts and a county to provide fire protection etc then thats when we can worry how many Firehouses and trucks we have and where thier located.....And we should stop using the word consolidation including myself, WE CANT EVEN COME TO HAVE THE SAME GEAR AND ACCOUNTABILITY TAGS, Some say its cause of the small tight knit commutnitys that are impeeding progress and the politicians....wrong....its the fire service as a whole and greed. The fire service is 100 years of progress impeeded by tradition......We are all to blame. So for now why not just worry about your District unless its for a educational purpose.....cause no matter what we think , Yorktown is going to do what Yorktown feels is best for them. Just as a big city like Yonkers would.

By the way looks like a nice Firehouse.

It matters to everyone outside of Yorktown because this is not just a Yorktown issue. Why wait until "one day" to consolidate? Why wait until "one day" to get the same turnout gear or accountability tags?

A direct quote from you "The fire service is 100 years of progress impeeded(sic) by tradition". So one sentence you are saying that we should mind our own business and deal with it when we deal with it, and the next sentence you are saying that we are impeeded(sic) by tradition. We all should talk about it because if every day we say "for now...", then tomorrow never comes, now does it? Consolidation does no good to the taxpayers after they paid for that extra firehouse, and extra engine, and that 100' tower ladder that every department also has, etc. If consolidation occurs, yes you can sell that stuff, but for a major loss.

By the way, from what I understand, that Mayor, board of trustees, fire commisioners, fire cheifs etc(sicand sic)put this to a vote, had the vote turned down, then overcharged taxpayers to get money for something that the taxpayers explicitly voted against. They are not worrying at all, they got their way, it's the taxpayers that should be worrying. Just because "Yorktown is going to do what Yorktown feels is best for them. Just like a big city like Yonkers would", does not make it right. It also makes it a dig at Yonkers.

I remember in the late 90s taking some kind of class at WCFTC with a bunch of Aviation guys. My chief at the time ended up digging out some old turnout gear/tools that were taking up space and donating it. I used to be friends with a girl from BCVFD and she was amazed we had blue, black AND red pens at the firehouse.

I am never one to trust cancellations. I one time pulled up to a homeowner standing at the front door shouting that it was a false alarm. Unbeknownst to her, smoke was pushing out the eave right above her head! Do an investigation! Even a cursory look and a sniff is better than nothing.

I see 4 or 5 guys lost their job over this incident. Now my question is, if a Captain is a)lazy or b)doing back to back calls, and is in a rush to leave the scene, what responsibility does a junior firefighter have in correcting this supposed experienced captains decision? How many guys have been with a boneheaded officer doing something boneheaded, and just let it go? I'm not sure how much experience the firefighters had in this case, but imagine you were a probie on that engine. The Captain says its all good, who the heck are you to say otherwise?

I'm not sure of the result, but did anything happen to the dispatcher/dispatch center? Seems the errors started there and continued on through the night.

PS. (I am in no way advocating anything illegal/immoral, etc..) If you want to discuss something off the record that may lead to fault/litigation, NEVER USE EMAIL OR A RECORDED LINE. In this case it was available through FOIL to the press and, I assume, subpoenaed by the courts. Also, do not try and get around it with personal email or phones(Illegal, I believe).

And a decent tax break for ConEd

RIP Brother

RIP Brother.