biglew

It's true...15 minutes could lose you 15 million!

My condolences to the family of Firefighter Joyce. May you have no more sorrow. Rest in Peace brother.

83% for me. Once a whacker,always a whacker, I guess.

Amber is the first color in the spectrum that the human eye recognizes, it is a great asset for rear facing lightbars, usually a halogen lens that compliments the other led's or strobes. As far as the arrow stick, I agree most sticks dont have the actual arrow, but I believe they still attract attention and that serves the purpose. I prefer them on the back deck of a police cruiser rather than under a lightbar on the roof. As far as FD application, I think even though everyone uses them all the time when they are responding, which is not the intent of traffic direction, the visibility of them are worth it bigtime. Lots of engine and trucks have limited lighting to the rear, a red halogen or strobe, the amber arrow stick imbedded in the rear is a plus.

a "bus" refers to an ambulance. "in the process" means units are in the process of taking up from a job, and hence will be available shortly. "forward the particulars" means that the battalion chief will not continue into the box after hearing the initial report of the alarm. So he is asking the reporting engine or truck on the scene to forward the particulars to his office after returning from the incident. '5 by 5 " Ok 99.9 percent of the readers here will know this already, but for that one... it means your radio transmission is received loud and clear .

Sometimes you cant work for someone if you cant respect them. This might be one of those times unfortunately. Might be time to volunteer for another bus. If the board is unwilling to listen to valid concerns of its members, maybe youre time is better spent somewhere else. How long are the chiefs terms?

Wow. And you staed the board picks the chief, the members do not elect thso person. Maybe someone can enlighten the board that this is highly atypical, at least from what I know. How does someone not recertify? I know you cant go into detail for personal reasons, but this seems odd. You say they cannot be removed, people can always be removed. If your other squad members agree with your position, bring it to the attention of the board.

Ok EMS is not my field of expertise, but how does someone lead a squad without some level of EMS certification? I understand commisioners dont have to come through the ranks, and usually thier authority is dotted line authority,not field or command authority, but you were referring to chiefs. I thought the protocol was some level of understanding of what and who they are supervising. Can you elaborate a little?

I think the integrity of the tower part looks OK, the square sign part looks like it might have some structural issues with the windy scenario presented, the sign already looked tilted.

Rest in peace, God give strength to your family.

Ok Oswegowind, you got me.. I've got to stop thinking FDNY all the time, thats what all that time living in NYC gets me. Ok, chief youve got 4 +2 and youre the BC on the alarm. Lets have some fun with this... Lets see if we have different approaches as to what we would do next, and what additional info we need to make our size -up.

I would have to consider it part of the collapse zone. I would love to hear Chief Flynn's size-up and attack, OK Chief, that building is on Tuckahoe Road.... and lets assume it a grocery store, based on the type of shopping carts in the pic, it doesnt look like a Home Depot/Lowes type store. Youve got 3 + 2 on the inital alarm and you pull up... whats the next move? thanks, Lew

I remember when they finally allowed the companies to have nicknames. Now they want to make them change them if their too sensitive. I think they should leave them with what they have, as long as it isnt blatently offensive. Then again, I didnt think St Johns University should have had to change their name form the Redmen to the Red Storm. Too much politics involved. But the Redskins are ok right?

Jimmy, what was the engine 75 incident? Did they have an accident recently?

youre right 9/11 should be a national holiday if ever there was one.

whats the color scheme gonna look like?

Great pics Jimmy, I see you like to play with fire !! The new place looks great. Good luck. One can never have too many screens in front of him.

So who mans ( medics?) the HAZTAC units? How many citywide on duty at any one time? What is the criteria for their response?

Calm down chopper guy !! The MOS who died from cancer happened to be a trooper, I never said cancer cant be job related, just wasnt in this case. As far as radio guys, is that stagnant air or "hot air" that comes through the speakers? LOL On aserious note, yes, we all agree the LT's death was tragic and the circumstances that surrounded it made it even more tragic.

Sage, I know where they are dispatched from. I was just saying that you can always start them out , and send them back if the situation is remedied before their arrival. They have as you know reduced the number of cars allowed in the parking lots to reduce the number of people that are there at one time, because of the small lifeguard staff on duty. Most of the Squantz Pond drownings happened in areas where they are not supposed to be swimming right? No lifeguards watching certain areas, correct. You can eliminate the Squantz Pond drownings without changing any of the emergency serives. IN MY OPINION, CHARGE THE OUT OF STATERS 100 BUCKS TO GET IN, AND THEY WONT COME. SEEMS TO ME, MOST OR ALL OF THE RECENT DROWNINGS HAVE BEEN OF OUT OF STATE RESIDENTS, I GUESS NYC PARKS DONT SUIT THEM ENOUGH. LASTLY, IF YOU CANT SWIM, STAY OUT OF THE WATER. THEY DONT LET PEOPLE WHO CANT DRIVE ON THE ROADS, WHY ARE NON- SWIMMERS IN THE WATER. AGAIN, I REPEAT, MOST OF THIS STUFF IS PREVENTABLE.

Thanks Joe, Sounds like a good start, with the marine ops etc. Is your FD the IC at a marine rescue op? Not to open up a can of worms, but your remember the FDNY and NYPD had to have certain types of rescue ops clarified as to who is in charge at the scene. Usually its the FD, especially in water ops. Thanks

From what I know, the van was running, the woman got out to ask directions to a certain family picnic she was trying to locate. Subsequent reports had said the 6 yr old, liked to " make believe drive" and might have moved to the drivers seat and shifted the vehicle from park to drive. Others have said the vehicle came of out gear. Either way a tragedy, but unfortunately preventable. as Ive maintained in earlier posts, 95 % of all acciedents are preventable, doesnt make it any less tragic, but she should have shut the car off, especially knowing her nephew liked to "play driver". I also agree with Sage, they should be more full time dive teams available, especially a paid department like bridgeport that has so much shoreline in its response area. I know that city is economically stressed, but if they gets successfully sued for whatever reason, it will be more expensive than training and out fitting a rescue company to do dives. FDNY and NYC ESU make many water rescues each year. Im not comparing, Im just acknowledging the great benefit of having the ability to be on scene in gear within minutes, whether its PD or FD. Jcoppola, please explain how this combined dive team works in Norwalk, where and how they assembele when mobilized, under whose command etc? Does Norwalk FD have a resuce company with certified divers on board each shift, I assume not if you have a separate dive team. Thanks for info. And Chris makes a great point, call for the help, the CT state police have a dive team as part of the ESU, yes it takes time to assemble, but call nonetheless, you can always 10-2. Remember Chris flies WCPD Aviaition, he knows you can get there in a hurry, no traffic, no lights, etc.

This is an interesting discusion. I am not sure its always that the municipality tries to take the cheap way out. I will give you some examples. Bear in mind Chris192 is correct, there are LODD's and deaths while on duty. They are categorically different, although most belive the benefits should be the same. remember the NY State trooper killed up in Oneonta a few years back. He was off duty in a supermarket when there was an armed robbery at the store. Now we all know, that he was killed in the performance of his duties and correct me if Im wrong, but it was categorized a LODD. I remember the department funeral and honors. Police officers are more apt to get invloved of duty than firefighters. Obviously, we have seen many off duty FF's stop to render aid at MVA's building fires, etc. But luckily, most off duty intervention does not result in death to the off duty member. As we know with PD, many an officer or trooper have been killed off duty, while in the performance of their duties. The lunch break thing is a gray area. In some jobs, you are clearly on your own time. In other places you eat the compnay meal on the clock and are on duty all of that time. I have yet to hear definitively what the story was here. Was he working that day ( training ) and in uniform on lunch break? Was he done for the day? Its somewhat unclear. Either way it is a tragedy and the department should do the right thing. But for those who say the depts always want to take the cheap way out, I beg to differ. I have seen first hand, where members that have died from cancer, non job related, were promoted on their death bed, ( they were on the list to be promoted but werent reached yet) so that the survivng spouse could get better death benefits. And thats not even job related, let alone on duty. Bottom line is that if your engine company is shopping for the company meal at the local supermarket and the memeber gets hit by a car while walking back to the rig, he/she is ON duty, and in uniform and it is an LODD as far as benefits, on the clock is on the clock, yet if they are on their day off, driving, and have to pull someone out of a burning car and die in the process when the gas tank blows, I dont think ( NOT SURE, HELP ME OUT HERE GUYS) its classified as an LODD. If I am right and they died in the performance of their duites, I believe it should be. But then you have the problem of a paid FF being 20 miles away from his work town off duty and dying on a highway? Not sure how that can be LODD for that department though.

Thank you Rescuekujo and Fireman488 fro the kind words regarding my post. Sagevigiles, I usually think your on point with your posts, but I have to disagree with your here. I dont see to many chiefs " doing nothing " at fires and I have been around quite a while. having said that, I live in CT ( next town from you) and I lived in NY for 30 years. The ex or past chief is different in NY than in CT a bit. In most NY volly depts, that ex chief will have command authority in the ABSENCE of a chief or company officer at a job. It is not written on turnout gear for ego. Anyway, we got off tangent a bit. Bottom line, chiefs shouldnt be at jobs if their dept is not operating, and if they are there by happenstance, they should assume that they will be given an assignment, period. This standing around doing nothing that has been talked about is not something Ive seen. When a job is under control , and supression ops have been reduced, then you might see a different atmosphere, but not while the battle is being fought. Question to you union guys that were commenting above. Arent FDNY union members still allowed to be members in volly depts? I was reading your posts and I am a bit perplexed, are you saying that a Norwalk paid FF cannot be a volly FF in another dept on his personal time? Is it something not allowed, but not enforced? You got my curiosity going. Thanks.

I am not sure why everytime there is a job where M/A is requested, people on this board seem to question why all 3 chiefs have to respond to the fire, I presume becuase they feel that they should stay in their own town in case a there is a fire in their own district. This is not about people who just want to go get their white helmet dirty as someone mentioned. If you look at the protocol for incident managment, it defines how many chief officers are recommended at different levels. In years past in the FDNY, you did not have an RUL, safety officer, safety battalion, and rescue balltaion respond to every second alarm. There are legitimate reasons for this level of supervision. They are supervising different aspects of the fire. We have learned over time this is the best way to supervise a fire scene. With volunteer depts, when a dept is called to cover at someones firehouse, usually a chief from that dept goes to. So you really dont have to worry about an area without a chief. You also have company officers, who are trained to lead and to give direction. When many chiefs go to a fire, it is not a social function. Should conditions deteriorate, and more units are called to the scene, which happened here, where the fast companies were put to work, at least you have chiefs there ready to take an exposure or sector and take command of the units. As long as they park out of the way of firefighting units, we should never worry about having too many chiefs at a particular fire. There is no substitute for experience and for the towns that dont get big jobs often, this is important OJT for many. You can drill all you want, there is nothing like the real thing. So lets not count the Tahoes and Suburbans at a job, we should be thankful they are there.