PEMO3

Very early response to the World Trade Center, nothing will ever compare to that

Make a complaint to that cities Human Resources Department. If he is a CFR or EMT, make a complaint as well to the State Dept of Health. Affirmative Action may have gotten him his job, it does not give him the right to act like a boob.

Is this guy the engine officer? If not, who is and why isn't he/she doing their job? If this guy's the officer, someone above him is either in the dark or is hiding there.

Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, sex, or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group "in areas of employment, education, and business".
By no means does this scenario have anything to do with affirmative action, this is a violation of the oath this individual took when he raised his right hand and swore to faithfully discharge his duties. This type of behavior within in the department is just like a cancer in the body, not treated aggressively, they both will have the same results.

Just wondering how many of our members have a classic vehicle or a unique vehicle, I have three so I'll start off the topic with a few photos of them. 1954 Oldsmobile Super 88 Holiday Coupe with 70k original miles, total numbers matching vehicle with a 324 motor and hydramatic tranny that was built in New Jersey and sold to a couple in the Bronx, I am the third owner. 1965 Chrysler Newport with a 383 4 barrell and dual exhaust, also numbers matching and 50k original miles, car came from Alabama and a 1972 Oldsmobile 442 convertible with 33k original miles and numbers matching that had a total frame off restoration completed in 2011, these are my retirement projects, I love old cars, on the look out for an old truck to work on as well

Will this be accessible for use to agencies outside of Yonkers? If so, great! If not, I give it six months before one is sitting outside DES in Valhalla.
Also, I would imagine they don't put the Empress logo on, God forbid Empress ever changed names or lost the Yonkers contract. Re-lettering gets expensive...

I personally feel that we are trying the case based on hear say and assumptions. We have read and heard that they had 4 drinks among all 6, they had multiple drinks, they were all drunk, they were all sober, there were enough light, there were not enough lights, it met the USCG standards, the standards are too low, he should have known the barge was there, and so on. These are all fine but only those 6 people on the boat that night know the truth. We as trained professionals should know better than to draw conclusions based on assumptions and innuendos. To assume that he saw the barge when he moored his boat is to assume we know the last time he was on the river. To assume any of the BACs is to assume we know the results when they have yet to be returned. The only item that does stand out loudly to me is that the groom and the father of the deceased bride are rising to the defense of the operator which makes me wonder if this story has begun to take on a life of it own and we are being to quick to condemn and judge. Remember we are a country built on innocent until proven guilty even though in the media to opposite seems to appear to be the case. By the way I am in no way defending or condemning the operator, I am simply advocating sitting back and awaiting the fact, not the hear say and rumors.
On a separate note, KUDOS to the units involved in this job. While and S&R operation is difficult having it coupled with the emotional aspect of locating a bride to be and giving a family closure just weeks before her wedding in itself takes it toll. Once again, great job by all involved.

I personally feel that we are trying the case based on hear say and assumptions. We have read and heard that they had 4 drinks among all 6, they had multiple drinks, they were all drunk, they were all sober, there were enough light, there were not enough lights, it met the USCG standards, the standards are too low, he should have known the barge was there, and so on. These are all fine but only those 6 people on the boat that night know the truth. We as trained professionals should know better than to draw conclusions based on assumptions and innuendos. To assume that he saw the barge when he moored his boat is to assume we know the last time he was on the river. To assume any of the BACs is to assume we know the results when they have yet to be returned. The only item that does stand out loudly to me is that the groom and the father of the deceased bride are rising to the defense of the operator which makes me wonder if this story has begun to take on a life of it own and we are being to quick to condemn and judge. Remember we are a country built on innocent until proven guilty even though in the media to opposite seems to appear to be the case. By the way I am in no way defending or condemning the operator, I am simply advocating sitting back and awaiting the fact, not the hear say and rumors.
On a separate note, KUDOS to the units involved in this job. While and S&R operation is difficult having it coupled with the emotional aspect of locating a bride to be and giving a family closure just weeks before her wedding in itself takes it toll. Once again, great job by all involved.

It is my understanding based on a phone call too a friend that the units purchased in the region were $330,000.00 but the Yonkers unit was modified to accomplish local missions as well as the UASI Task Force Mission and cost over $400,000.00. Yonkers Police ESU were the lead on this project and are forming a task force which is going to consist of YPD ESU, YFD, Empress ambulance and OEM personnel. It will be a regional as well as a national asset and should be in service end of August. They haven't received it yet and have a lot of work still ahead before it hits the streets. Hopes this answers some of the questios.

Civilians need to use their heads first and foremost.
The one thing that people need to realize is that there are very few if any unmarked cars that still use cherry lights, most unmarked cars light up like christmas trees when you throw the lights on.
I have worked plain clothes for the last 7 years and all of our unmarked cars, even the good cars are well lit so if a car tries to stop you with a single light that looks shady, they should call 911 and tell them their concern while continuing to drive to a well populated, well lit area.
That is of course not to say that an impersonator wouldn't or couldn't go to great lengths to hook a car up to look legit but it is pretty unlikely.
The public also needs to be aware of light colors, if someone is trying to pull you over with a single amber, green or blue light, thats not the cops.
The flip side of this is that a perp can easily try to employ this argument while destroying evidence while he " drives to a well populated area because he is concerned with his safety." As with many things in law enforcement, there is a huge gray area here.
In regards to this clown that has been arrest 3 or 4 times now for impersonating a cop, if someone tries to flash a badge at you ( and a fugazy looking badge at that) and tells you to pull over with no lights and no sirens and you do, you are out of your mind.

Ok, I believe what Westchester is saying here (In order to prevent the age old and boring arguments) is that our career brothers and sisters are highly trained and should normally be able to operate at these type of incidents with no trouble because of their training. As volunteers, we do not get the career academy with the basic rescue training all included in one shot, we have to get all of the individual rescue trainings in order to operate at a call like this one. He states that he is proud that some of the volunteers can rise to the level of the career family in both training standards and professionalism in order to operate at a water based search operation like this one, and he is extremely proud to be a part of this group that selflessly dedicate their time with family and hours from work in order to train and respond to these incidents. I see no crack or insult at either the career or volunteer brothers so please keep it that way. For now we will leave it as is but we are watching you...
Keep it on track. Thank you.

Its been a long couple of nights and days since the horrific boating accident on July 26th. First my condolences to the families of the deceased, and my prayers to the injured and all family members.
As a member of a Volunteer Department my hats off to all that came out Friday night at 11:15pm for the search and the continuation through day and night Saturday and this morning. As Volunteers we should bow or heads down in prayer for those deceased and injured, but keep our souls high and proud for leaving our families day or night and spending countless hours searching the waters of the Hudson in hope for survivors or to bring closure to the families.
I myself am very proud to be a Volunteer. To search with my other brothers/sisters not thinking about anything else inside of our day to day jobs and lives, but to concentrate of our job at hand. We all put every bit of energy into this horrible accident. To see the amout of Volunteers from all departments on either side of the river work together as one was inspiring. Hope and Pray this never happens again.
P.S I don't care what the Tappan Zee Bridge Contractors or any other Department says YOU CAN'T SEE THOSE BARGES IF THEY WERE PARKED IN YOUR FRONT LAWN. Shame on them if they think bare minium standards are good enough. That river is DARK. Put spot lights or something else for boaters to see. It's like boating through a maze of steel death traps. In closing We all worked together, and did or job. That's what a Volunteer Firedepartment or Volunteer Ambulance or Volunteer Dive Team does. We do this because of who we are ,DEDICATED

Except the giant star of life?
Private, for-profit companies (IE: Empress) aren't granted access to UASI or other Homeland Security funds, if I'm not mistaken.

I just aquired these from my father, his uncle took them in and around 1952..... photo credit to Robert Lindgren, FDNY.

For years, I've been toying with the idea of creating a logo or patch for the site. I put it out to the members a few months ago, and we have a winner.

Paul R. Gerardi, "LTFIREPRG" (retired Deputy Chief Fairview FD), came up with this amazing design for the site, almost instantaneously. I feel it really reflects the theme of this site, and carries the "Work Together Win Together" message. The details take into account what this site is for, who it is for, and ties it all together. There are a lot of little subtle details that make it even more awesome.

I thank him so much for making this dream that I've had over the years and making it a reality. And I never knew talented artist was one of his many, many skillsets! He is a generous and frequent donor to the site, and this contribution to the site is just another way he has helped to make this site better. Thanks Chief for everything you've done for this site, for this, and for me.

As soon as I get enough funding, this design will become a patch and a decal, most likely this fall (unless someone wants to sponsor the production of this patch or decal)

So here it is:

I'd like to donate all of my DJ/ Event equipment to any FD/VAC/PD in the county, state you name it! It's everything to get going for any department event or holiday party. Please PM me and I would be more then happy to send a list of all the equipment details and answer any questions you or your department might have.

Thank You.

There is no Ego just 30+ years of experience and training speaking. Based on your profile you are still wet behind the ears as far as EMS goes. At 19 just how much studying of this field to solve the problems of FDNY EMS have you done. You even acknowledged that you aare not that familiar with the system.

There is a lot wrong with what you said. First lets make it clear that I don't want this to go down the paid vs volly road.
You are correct. EMTs fresh out of school spent 17 weeks training, but they did not spend 9 weeks, 40 hours per week training. Big difference. Second, FDNY EMS EMTs go through an extensive process before they ever step out on the street including a complete refresher regardless of when you got your card to ensure quality control. You are correct we are not looking for ER docs. Nothing against ER docs but most can not perform in the streets and conditions FDNY EMS works in.
You stated in your first post "The only difference would be in the training because you wont go through the FDNY*EMS academy but a shorter modified training program but you'll wear the same uniform and you will not get paid." Now you state "Train them to you standard because they already spent 17 weeks learning how to save lifes and at least 36 hours on the road." Which is it shorter, corners cut training or the full academy you can't have it both ways.
You have a brass pair calling it about "lining pockets" and stating "ambulance crews are sleeping off somewhere and had to get called multiple times before a response". If you want to get experience there are plenty of volunteer corps in NYC that will let you "get your feet wet". But to put it on the backs of the public by stating to solution is to bring in volunteers with less training standards is short sighted. Think about it, if you have the choice between a fully trained FDNY EMS crew or a wet behind the ears crew that is volunteering for experience, who would you want, honestly. If you choose the later then you are not honest.
The solution is public education about what is a 911 EMS call and letting the ER docs go back to signing the back of the call reports when it is not medically necessary so that Medicare & insurance pass the bill to the patients. Once they realize that the taxi with lights and sirens is about $400 more than the livery they will think twice about calling. It helped in the 90's.

30 minutes for a Priority 5 call as it was first triaged with no available buses in the system and calls waiting is not long. The heat wave is taxing the system. Quinn states that there should be more units out there to handle the call volume and that the system was not prepared. This is the same woman that voted to cut the FDNY & EMS budget and reduce the unit count. I guess it was just lip service until those cuts hit home. They also could have picked this young lady up and put her in the air conditioned SUV that she had waiting and I am sure running to ensure it was kept cool instead of "dragging" her under a tent to keep her cool.

"Quinn was speaking before cameras about the reopening of the controversial E. 91st St. marine transfer station when the 17-year-old girl suddenly dropped to the ground in front of the crowd shortly before noon, witnesses said.
The speaker ran over to the teen, who may have collapsed because of the heat, and began rubbing her arms as a member of Quinn's detail — an NYPD cop who is a trained EMT — began rendering aid to the girl.
"It's going to be okay," Quinn told the girl as another bystander called 911.
They quickly pulled the girl into the shade under a tent as Quinn's security guard grabbed an oxygen tank to help the young woman breathe.
But Quinn finally lost her patience after waiting about 30 minutes for an ambulance to arrive and dialed NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly for help.
"We were trying to get through to [FDNY Commissioner] Sal Cassano, and I was unable to get connected," Quinn said."
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2013/07/chris-quinn-slams-outrageous-30-minute-wait-for-ambulance-after-intern-collaps
Interesting, injured woman faints and is conscious and being treat by "trained personnel" (a police officer who is also an EMT). Triaged as it should and held for higher priority calls due to a 25% spike in call volume. But because it is the Speakers intern there is "outrage " because it should have been a "priority 1" call. Maybe they should hold the arrest, MI, stroke or true unconscious for her intern. This is the same Speaker that would have called for a City Council investigation if an MOS family's call was bumped up. I guess it is justified when you call the Police Commissioners private cell and pull strings to get your low priority call bumped up to a high priority "unconscious" even though the woman was conscious. Maybe the speaker and her intern should have followed her own instructions that she has been handing out since the heat wave started - stay hydrated, in the shade when possible and wear light colored, loose fitting clothing.

Facts are simple. Most of the low priority calls are simply "taxi" runs. Some are actually for late clinic appointments, ER follow ups , etc. These people would complain if the unit arrived in 10 minutes. There are the exceptions that actually do require an ambulance either due to secondary conditions or incorrect information relayed during EMD. In a perfect world extra units could be added during extreme weather but unfortunately this politician is part of the same group that imposed budget restraints on agencies and the media is the same one that will list all of the "high overtime earners" names and address because they increased their base income to add these extra units. The politicians want it both ways. The simple solution is that these politicians should have held their press conference in a less environmentally hostile environment, ensure that their staff was safe and not created the problem in the first place.

To answer your question. They don't transport the clinic appointment. The people know how to work the system. They call for a "emergency" e.g. stomach pain, nausea x 2 days, asthma, etc. They know what gets a waiting room seat and what gets inside. They get put in the waiting room, leave and go upstairs to their clinic appointment. They also know if they have public insurance (medicaid) they get a bus token or cab fare home from the social worker. Just because insurance states it pays for an ambulance does not make that ambulance ride medically necessary. I can't tell you how many times I got stuck with these "taxi rides" only to hear a true emergency like a cardiac arrest or a pedestrian struck drop and the closest unit was coming from a distance and it was our area. Just because books or studies say it is the solution does not mean it is. The people in the trenches will give you the solution before some study by a focus group. I hope that helps to give you a clearer picture of the problem-not a lack of resources but an abuse of the system.

First calling FDNY a zoo is derogatory and unprofessional. Second, listening to a scanner does not make you an authority on the subject. Yes the cut finger could be from a rusty nail but lack of cab fare does not make it a 911 EMS call. If you believe it does then you should seek out a refresher course fast. It is this thinking that is overtaxing a system. You would be surprise how many of the I don't have cab fare public take an ambulance to the ER for a clinic appointment and leave the ER as soon as they are handed over and put in the waiting room and go upstairs for their appointment.It is obvious that we disagree and that is fine. You may want to check if Quinn needs a running mate.

It just came to me, the system of volunteers suplimenting NYC*EMS was in use Citywide for 30 years. Many new EMT's got there feet wet that way. Where did it go? The EMT's figured out they could work for a transport company, get "paid" and gain experience. Thats why most of the Volunteers are no more.

You have to ask yourself how you would feel if your job used unpaid, inexperienced and perhaps under-trained personnel (based on your scenario) instead of hiring and training a sufficient number of full-time personnel?
Look at the NYPD Auxiliary - they do not replace a sector car in the precinct so they can just got "high priority" jobs.
Your suggestion is union busting, demoralizing to both those who work for FDNY and those who would do all the scut work, and reduces the standard of care in the city. The taxpayers would also have a legitimate gripe since they may receive someone who's just looking to get experience at their expense.
The point about overtime will become an issue because how long will it be before the City simply says, you work with some new EMT who isn't trained? Saying that all EMT's are the same is like saying all doctors are the same. There are differences in training, expectations, documentation, system operations, and more that surpasses simply the "EMT certificate".