PEMO3

WOW I wonder how many people worked out the specs for the patient a medic plus 60lbs of als gear and a patient plus two or three ambulance crew... now thinking about it that adds up pretty fast. And now the new stretchers and auto lifts that weren't original on the ambulance is some additional weight on the chassis.
has anyone thought about that? i am sure the accident investigation team would??

We found that with the E450 chassis, gear and two crew members, we rapidly approached max GVW. This is one reason we moved to the C4500 and now the Terra Star chassis.
Get in a bad wreck, your vehicle will likely get weighed. Don't end up on the wrong side of the scale.

You beat me to it! Many people forget how easy it is to overload a vehicle. Anyone who drives a commercial vehicle or even tows a trailer knows how dangerous it can be to have an overweight vehicle.

To my knowledge their are no regulations however you need to look at the Max GVW on the vehicle. Then add up the weight of all the equipment you carry (easiest to go to a truck scale). Then add up the weight of your crew (5 members who average 175 lbs. = 875 lbs. and I have seen many a crew member who is bigger than that.) Now add the patient and their family. And remember to consider that some of those family members/patients could be 200-300+ lbs.
Have you gone over you vehicle capacity? If you have then you are breaking the law and run a major risk of crashing because you are overloaded.
Many years I looked at these numbers on a type II ambulance and it worked out that after the equipment we could only care about 750 lbs. Now we only ran a 2 man crew (450 lbs) have a medic student (150 lbs.) and the family member (150 lbs.) and we had no capacity for the patient.

Monday morning quarterbacking a job becomes second nature but this is one of those times that one needs to look at the big picture. This "EDP" was armed and dangerous. If they decided to wait it out and in turn a trooper, civilian or other responder was injured or killed both the Record and this site would be asking the question "should the troopers have used deadly force and terminated the scenario sooner". These people are classified as EDP sometimes based on history and other times based on current actions but either was they are unpredictable and difficult by nature. People forget that the term EDP mean "emotional disturbed person" not crazy or insane person so the term EDP fits here.

All three agencies work together to provide the best possible care to the citizens and visitors of Yonkers. (A politically correct response?)

I have to agree. I hate being told that police on scene request that you expedite your response. Hey I'm already doing 60 mph on country roads and you want me to expedite??? Correct me if I'm wrong, but the old addage is still being taught. Priority 1 is your own safety, 2nd is your partner, 3rd is by-standers, and 4th is the patient. The newspaper headline would read...EMS responder killed en route to call, police report excessive speed as the primary cause. This would be followed up by a story line of how EMS responders think they are aove the law.

The storms over the past couple of years have highlighted some needs for us, and we have either received those or are in the process of securing them.
We lost our old, aluminum "Rescue Boat" during Irene. With the FEMA money we replaced it with a 14' Mercury RIB w/ 25 HP motor. We (prior to this) expanded our water rescue abilities with training and equipment, as well as dual-responses with neighboring Yorktown FD's Water Rescue Team. During Sandy, we were able to put this boat on the ready as well as our spare 12' inflatable.
Sandy knocked out power to our only firehouse without a generator. Although it is in the Capital Budget for next year, our village has approved to pursue a federal grant now to install it. Hopefully it works out.
The storms have sent us on dozens of calls that don't truly require the response of our larger apparatus, nor a ton of manpower. This year we were able to get the village to purchase us a Utility Truck, which we are in the process of getting ready to purchase and build.
This vehicle will be outfitted with extra saws, traffic barricades, trash pumps and the like for storm-related calls. It will also allow us to take specialized equipment from a rig going out of service and keep it on a vehicle so we don't lose it - something we've lacked for a long time.
Lastly, our "Radio Room" has seen some equipment additions and upgrades, and more on the way. This will give us a better place to set up and dispatch our units from during storms. A secondary communications system has been built and put on another firehouse - which is also our Village's backup EOC now.
I believe anytime we come up short on something, that should be the last time. If we don't learn from our mistakes, we are doing a disservice to everyone.

Hot sticks are you kidding ? all wires are LIVE, put tape around make it as safe as you can. We are not Con Ed. Chief gave them to us once and we gave them back. Hot sticks we don't need no stinking hot sticks !

Due to the Federal Shut Down. FEMA has cancelled all storms.

I want to preface this post with the fact that I have been in the fire service for 17 years both Vollie and Career so please don't interpret this as Vollie bashing... I just think the volunteer chief officers have to be a little more conscious about where they bring their District Vehicle.
Yesterday while shopping at the Woodbury Commons with the family I stumbled upon a Chief's vehicle from Jerico, NY. The first thing I thought of was "typical Long Island again", but then I tried to give this guy the benefit of the doubt and say he was probably coming back from Montour Falls (even though no classes ended yesterday).
Whatever the reason was that brought him 90 minutes outside his district....it does nothing for the public perception of the "Extravagant Long Island Fire Departments" to have your vehicle sitting in the Woodbury Commons parking lot.

New trucks for the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services - Office of Emergency Mangement
2013 Chevrolet Tahoe
1 of several new vehicles
Unit: RD - 3 - CD (Region 3, Capital District Response Zone)
Plate# 133505

It means someone forgot that BLS comes before ALS.

Some cool new tools.

PHOTO GALLERY: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fdnyhome/sets/72157637133411574/

From FDNY.gov:


PHOTO GALLERY: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fdnyhome/sets/72157637133411574/

That only works with a wild animal. Hazmat you have to out run the chemical and it does not stop at the 1st victim

RUN!!!!!

First of all its a Clean Harbors truck, so you know its going to be a nightmare sorting through all the different products you're going to have inside. But it should be run the same way any other HAZMAT call runs, use the 8-Step Process:
1. Site Management and Control - Isolate the area, evacuate anyone nearby, set up some initial zones based on an unknown product, since this is a Clean Harbors truck and is likely a collection of various HAZMATs picked up from locations all over the place. Start ICS and make sure you have an IC and a Safety Officer. In CT we're also going to call the Dept. of Energy and Environmental Protection as required by state statute, they'll send one or two of their Emergency Response Coordinators out to assist. Regional (or in NY's case, County) HAZMAT team also added and EMS for standby.
2. Identify Product - The placards are only telling me so much. We're going to need some kind of paperwork on the products involved. If the leak isn't all over the place, we can likely send someone into the cab to get some shipping papers. If not, remember we're dealing with Clean Harbors here, not Crazy Joe's Overnight Waste Removal and Handyman Services. Its a HUGE environmental company with some professional management staff, and I wouldn't be totally surprised if they had an electronic database that will tell me exactly what's supposed to be inside that truck. Obviously we're going to trust but verify, but it will give me a starting point to get my research guys on.
3. Hazard and Risk Evaluation - Sure, the placards look scary, but realistically what states of matter am I dealing with? What's the hazard to my personnel if I send them in there? What are the exposure limits, etc?
4. PPE and Equipment - Based on the info from 2 and 3, I'm going to confer with my HAZMAT guys to determine what the right suit is to wear. Say it with me: NOT EVERY HAZMAT CALL REQUIRES LEVEL A!!!! Our team uses the HAZMATIQ system in our region, so based on the chemical name the "playbook" we use tells us what our PPE should be for our mission posture, either "Rescue" or "Plumbing," and what the metering package is that's relevant for that/those products. It will also lay out the "red light" meters, ones that, if they go off, indicate there's something unexpected happening or something we haven't accounted for in our plan. It really simplifies the process and cuts back on a lot of the chemistry lessons we need to give non-HAZMAT geek Chiefs and ICs on scene. Based on the video these guys are in turnouts and SCBA and some of the guys were in the Lion or Blauer suits with the Nomex outer shell so its probably pretty safe to assume the flammables were really their main concern, along with the respiratory hazards that we almost always protect ourselves from.
Most likely we're bringing in pH and F paper to ensure its not a corrosive atmosphere before we bring in the expensive toys, then a 4-gas, PID, Drager Chipset if you can narrow things down, maybe a First Defender or other Raman Spectroscopy device if you're really coming up with nothing at all (but only if you're sure its not a flammable)
5. Information Management and Resource Coordination - Do I have my ICS set up to make sure the right people are running the right operations? Do I have all the personnel and equipment I'm going to need for this operation? If not, who am I calling to get them? Do I have a RIT/Backup team in place? Am I going to need a forklift and/or jack for moving some of these drums?
6 - Implement Response Objectives - Now that we have ourselves organized and know what we're dealing with, lets go in and start moving some drums. Sort them out, figure out what's leaking and how to stop it. If we can't stop it, lets over-pack it and let the cleanup company get it the hell out of my district. But remember, we can't do anything until we have #7 at least set up first!
7 - Decontamination - Clean up the guys, the gear and the other drums that weren't leaking but have some product on them. Assuming the product wasn't that "Dangerous When Wet" one, we're probably just talking about soap and water, but again its based off what my research came back in steps 2/3.
8 - Termination - Brief everyone on short/long term symptoms of exposure, quick hotwash of what went well and what we can improve on. Start taking up and handing off the scene to the cleanup company (who will probably just end up being Clean Harbors again anyway.)

Photo courtesy of FDNY Emerald Society Facebook Page.

Photo courtesy of R4 Facebook Page.

From NYCOEM: On Wednesday, October 23, 2013, between 7:00 AM - 7:30 AM, N615JB, an Airbus A320 painted with FDNY theme will overfly the Hudson River from the Verrazano Bridge north to the George Washington Bridge at 2,000 feet. The aircraft will be subsequently be vectored to JFK.

The flight over the Hudson River will be filmed by news media, both airborne in helicopters and on the ground. The flight and the following ceremony at JFK will be featured on morning news shows.