F.A.S.T. in Putnam County

[Guest]

What departments have F.A.S.T in Putnam County?

[mfvfd 1]

Brewster, North Highlands and Mahopac Falls

[Guest]

What  departments have F.A.S.T in Putnam County?

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thats all?

[EJS1810 7]

Brewster, North Highlands, & Lake Carmel are recognized by PCBES. Mahopac Falls has not been recognized yet

[CG206 29]

Mohegan FD's FASTeam from Westchester County has been running FAST for Putnam Valley and Mahopac Falls for quite some time now. We even went to Mahopac to backup Brewster's team earlier this year

[xfirefighter484x 234]

Found it interesting that my department got called mutual aid with our FAST a few months ago to Patterson. We had a nice 30-35 minute trip, got to the scene, sat around for 5 minutes, adn then got returned.

[LCFD968 10]

We find it interesting too!!!!!!

[Guest]

this is pc-420,

i was working that night, lake carmel wasnt dispatched cause they were busy working a major extrication mva, then brewster was sent but they were put to work when they arrived, so pattersons chief requested east fishkill

[xfirefighter484x 234]

Ohhh, I see. Thats cool though. East Fishkill was more than happy to go out. We really do not get many calls for our FAST. I am relatively new in our FAST, so I get excited when we get called out. Thanks for the info!! Feel free to call us as you need us!

[Guest DADAY]

What about East Fishkill?

[JohnnyOV 2]

Found it interesting that my department got called mutual aid with our FAST a few months ago to Patterson. We had a nice 30-35 minute trip, got to the scene, sat around for 5 minutes, adn then got returned.

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FAST / RIT should be called from the neighboring town, not one thats half an hour away

im not going to rant cuz i think you all understand why theres no need.

[Guest]

Again EMS junkie, the closest possible FAST team was requested then put to work so thenext closest was sent

[Guest alsfirefighter]

You call a FAST that is a half hour away if that is the closest appropriate resource. This is to not drain neighboring resources you may need as well and in fact good incident commanders whether performing it themselves, or assigning the staging officer to request mutual aid often will use a skip process to keep some equipment in areas to keep consistant coverage.

If that is 30 mins away, so be it, better call quick, at least they still tried to get one on scene for their personnel. Problem is 1 FAST team isn't enough, most incidents need 2, and commericial with interior ops even more.

[DMA327 12]

If there isn't another FAST for 30 minutes just leave them as FAST; everybody else always has engines and trucks to go mutual aid. You can always backfill as well.

[jd783 64]

If the fire is not out in 20 min the building is going to be lost a fast team should be established 1st and foremost it seems that after 20 min no one should be in the building

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Since when are FAST/RIT only for units operating on the interior?

There have been several major incidents where FAST/RIT application occurred when units were on the defensive. One in Philly where heavy masonry collapsed from a church onto firefighters. Second, Mr. LA himself EMTBRAVO posted about a successful RIC (they just have to be different) after a collapse occurred trapping several firefighters. How about large brush fires where heat stress is a severe risk, why not have fresh firefighters with equipment appropriate to get our personnel out and start treating them for whatever may strike them in regard to the incident type. Organized response to incidents is a must especially if a firefighter has a emergency or incident themselves.

Think outside the box and get it done, you do what you must incident by incident. If you have the resources make your own FAST/RIT until you can get the resources you need there as you see fit.

Backfill to what point? If you have a major incident, and your surroundings also have incident(s). Backfilling to a point has to occur obviously, but not to the point where you have start backfilling like moving chess pieces up on a board. Your better off leaving some areas in their stations and have them start to cover larger areas of their own district tied in with some mutual aid for numerous reasons, like familiarity with the area/roads/structures/water supply etc. That function is just as, if not more critical then being called in for a surround and drown.

[tjd1012 5]

Brewster, North Highlands, & Lake Carmel are recognized by PCBES.  Mahopac Falls has not been recognized yet

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why has the falls not been recognized by PCBES.

[foreman1923 22]

The falls hasnt been recognized yet because we have the guyz just with the class however we dont drill enough to keep a fast status. Mostly because we focus on our dive team which is the only in the county. Maybe in a couple years you can us but thats a big maybe

[JohnnyOV 2]

Sorry for the ignorance, but what is PCBES?

[Medic137 6]

Sorry for the ignorance, but what is PCBES?

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Putnam County Bureau of Emergency Services

[Guest]

All fire depts should have training in R.I.T. / F.A.S.T. opps this is not a new thing to our world. Maybe it should be part of the firefighter 1 or 2 program. Any truck co. or rescue co. can do the job as far as tools go. I also see a lot of engine's running around with most of the equipment if they dont have it on the rig it will be at the scene on someone's truck. sorry just my 2 cents.

chris

[Turborich 12]

Found it interesting that my department got called mutual aid with our FAST a few months ago to Patterson. We had a nice 30-35 minute trip, got to the scene, sat around for 5 minutes, adn then got returned.

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HAHAHAHA.. Ya know... I must say I found it interesting that my volunteer dept. (PVFD) was called as a FAST team to EFFD just a month ago and did the same thing... literally

Oh well.. same idea.. if the closest FAST/RIT is OOS or put to work you bring the closest (or in our case the first recollected... no offense to Steve) to your scene.

Good stuff though... I must say it's nice to see that more Depts. in the Hudson Valley are taking the reigns as far as FAST/RIT with proper training/equipment/etc.... kinda gives you more faith in the service, regardless of whether you're paid or volunteer.

Rich

FF/EMT-P

[xfirefighter484x 234]

Good stuff though... I must say it's nice to see that more Depts. in the Hudson Valley are taking the reigns as far as FAST/RIT with proper training/equipment/etc.... kinda gives you more faith in the service, regardless of whether you're paid or volunteer

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You make a very good point Rich, I think it is a wonderful thing to see more and more properly trained, and maintained FAST's around. The next hurdle is to use them more often. Unfortunately, in a few recent conversations with members from neighboring FDs, some have pointed out to me their lack of using FAST's. In a pinch, an interior qualified crew standing by, acting as a FAST in theory works, but in my mind, nothing compares to having a working, trained, appropriately designated crew standing by, especially these days, when getting sufficient manpower from your own department to run the actual operations can be an issue.

Since when are FAST/RIT only for units operating on the interior?

There have been several major incidents where FAST/RIT application occurred when units were on the defensive.  One in Philly where heavy masonry collapsed from a church onto firefighters.  Second, Mr. LA himself EMTBRAVO posted about a successful RIC (they just have to be different) after a collapse occurred trapping several firefighters.  How about large brush fires where heat stress is a severe risk, why not have fresh firefighters with equipment appropriate to get our personnel out and start treating them for whatever may strike them in regard to the incident type.  Organized response to incidents is a must especially if a firefighter has a emergency or incident themselves.

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You are completely right yourself too ALS. Within the past month, for the structural collapse my department had (11-2-05), as well as the most recent structure fire we had (11-23-05), which ended up being and exterior operation, but in both cases, we called Village of Fishkill with their FAST, and had them proceed to the scenes. You can never know, or plan out exactly when things can, or will go wrong. Worst case scenario, if you determine that you will not need them, you can always cancel an incoming crew, but it would be a tragedy if one was not there, or even worse, had not even been called for, and the metaphorical sh*t hits the fan.

Edited November 25, 2005 by xfirefighter484x