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One that was out of the City: New Rochelle Rd., Chester Heights. Lost a whole block. Snorkel came in and doused a lot of flame....

Feature piece coming up on the show about volunteer firefighters.

Very short report, highlighting the firefighter who was killed in the dumpster explosion in Wisconsin that we discussed here in depth. Showed the National Memorial Service in Maryland, gave some statistics. Ironically, much of the fire footage shown in the piece was from Chicago FD. Edit: posted this same time as the above post with the link, making this post basically irrelevant. Was going to delete this post, noticed the "delete post" feature has disappeared? Where'd that go?

I totally understand what you are saying with regard to the FID. It is an invaluable resource, apparently shared by all the FDs within the county. Funding for this unit should never have been in question. The fact that it has been apparently eliminated is truly wrong. But I have to say, the boat argument just doesn't fit in with the FID issue. Looking at it from the outside, I read the link posted about the boat. The Port Authority for some reason wants to bolster the Sheriff's boat capability, and they are giving them some money to accomplish that. The other money is forfeiture money, probably from drug asset seizures. Once the purchase is completed, what has changed? The sheriff still has a boat, just a newer larger one that they will use for patrol. The staffing of the boat is where most of the budgeted money from the sheriffs department will go toward. So I ask again, what has changed besides the size of the boat? Nothing really. I'm confident in writing this that there are laws about what and where they can use those seized funds from; and more than likely it can't be used to fund the FID. When all is said and done, the boat purchase has virtually no effect on the budget of the sheriff, or the lack of funding for the FID. Just a suggestion; but the county should be writing a 2010 AFG grant to try and get funding for the FID restored.

As per Thebravest.com: Bronx firefighter dies at firehouse. More details to follow, following family notifications.

Good luck with the new training aid. Not being critical, just pointing out the member in the maze is not wearing gloves. It is essential to do so when performing the training in a simulated emergency.

Happy Thanksgiving Brothers. For all of you working the shift today, stay safe.

Interesting that Miami-Dade Fire Rescue of all places runs motorcycle units on the Road-King platform; air-cooled and hot running like Seth pointed out. Just my opinion but I think something built on the V-Rod; water-cooled, low C.O.G., quite nimble, could be a highly successful cross-over into emergency services. And nobody would get there quicker. Thanks for the photo.

Seth, REALLY nice job with the camera, as usual. My vote for most unique piece of equipment goes to the wilderness stretcher towed behind the ATV. I'd love to see an EMS motorcycle set-up on a Harley platform...but I am biased. Thanks for sharing these great pics.

I SEE...(get it Barry?). Thank you Chris!

Ahhhh...you got me. Like you said, "be careful of the packages you open".....lol

Sorry I couldn't help myself. 36,000 horsepower, 7.8 second quarter mile, 206 mph, THE fastest truck in the world, and the exhaust comes out everywhere as the cameraman found out. Youtube credit: kipkay

Question for Chris; Are Air Ambulance Pilots ever trained and equipped with night-vision equipment? If not, is it suggested anywhere, by anybody that maybe they should be? Also, where do these companies traditionally get their pilots from? It would seem to me to be a logical extension to try and recruit former military chopper pilots, already trained in night-vision flying and med-evac, especially since the statistics you sited show a pattern regarding poor visibility accidents.

I don't know the process of how guys get out on disability. My understanding is they have to go before a medical review board. Here's the problem. We had a discussion about the condition of the NYSRS (separate from FDNY/NYPD I think) that showed the system to be 107% funded. The coming storm is two fold; the baby boom generation is retiring, and the proposed change to the way the municipalities have to pay into the system. If it passes the NYS Senate and Cuomo signs it, they can defer payment at a 5% interest rate of repayment. Problem is, take a look at New Jersey. Once a pension system starts going into the "underfunded" class, it only seems to get worse. I think they are at 40% underfunded. That's huge. Now those of us who work/ed municipal systems all hear the stories, have all seen the examples of guys who try to game the system. Some succeed. This is not good. GREED will kill us all(this comment in no way is meant to slander legitimate disability pensioners). Take a look at the latest audit of the pension system. Get down to page 127 and beyond for some real numbers. Look at the yearly escalation in payouts. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/retire/word_and_pdf_documents/publications/cafr/cafr_10.pdf I don't know, but I think speaking economically here, we are in for a kind of a "lost decade" where housing prices continue to slump or remain flat due to the oversupply and the mortgage bubble, the new unemployment "norm" is like 10%, the dollar has lost value, the whole thing looks and feels to me like a deflationary to low inflationary environment for years to come. At some point the pension payouts have got to get in line with the realities of what the system can handle, and what is going to be "enough" for members getting out. That's going to be a subjective number; I took the pay cut and moved to Florida to lower my cost of living, but it really isn't that much lower here. So lifestyle changes have to be made, less dining out, more cooking at home, etc. But some guys can't just pick up and leave. They have a house they invested in, kids in schools they don't want to pull them from. So they obviously need more than me. At some point the escalation has to level out, keeping in line with the realities of the system's ability to fund pensioners, and taxpayers ability to pay their taxes. People see things like these couple of guys they pointed out in that rag Post, and they condemn us all. The ironic part is many guys that get put out on disability really don't want to leave the job.

Sure, I'd personally love to see the other restorations. Yeah like Code 3....make a great model it would.

This is what people in the United States take for granted. While they are busy nit-picking on guys with disability pensions, they NEVER take into account that building codes, and fire protection WAS ALWAYS PROACTIVELY PUSHED BY THE FIRE SERVICE. The hotels we stay in with the sprinkler heads right in the rooms, the design and construction of fire stairwells, you know the drill here. (PS NOTE: The World Trade Center was exempted from the NYC building code because it was Port Authority property. I think it Chief John O'Hagan who tried to fight them, and told them to build better stairwells, instead of the two sheet-rock thick walls that were used, he called for the NYC standard fire escape stairwells, made out of brick at least. He lost the argument, we saw the results.) How about the way the fire service responds? Like you pointed out, a couple of lines from the outside. Sure 5 truck companies would have been on scene back home. But those companies would have been inside and up the stairs doing the search. I read they had over 100 fire trucks on the scene eventually at this fire. But like so many things in China, their first response, when it was most needed was obviously inept and inadequate, and they have 54 bodies to show for it so far. They arrested the welders; they should arrest the Jackie Chan film admirer who allows them to use bamboo scaffolding. But that's probably a higher up in the communist regime; for the most part they are untouchable.

I'd like to add that is an amazing job you're doing. I've got a suggestion. You should contact one of those model making companies. They could reproduce this thing in miniature. Bet it'd be a big seller. And you might get royalties? Truly this Jeep is awesome, I commend you for the work and the detail you are putting in to restoring this interesting piece of firefighting history. As far as any other equipment in the cage how about some hose straps? Best of luck to you.

Whoa this situation for that website is totally f****d. These lawyers went after the website owner. He's got a "legal fund" contribution tab and asking members for $150 for a lifetime membership. He's also stating in his legal updater that he's going to settle because his attorney fees are running up too quickly. Guess he couldn't get any help from a legal defense fund. The amount of the legal fund is TEN GRAND. He's also stated that there will probably be stipulations in his agreement which will prevent him from discussing the case if he settles. Now; that website is eerily similar to this one. They even have their own "rep points." But; I was able to access the site and read the content. I haven't registered. I read one thread in patient care and was pretty much blown away by the sophistication of the discussion. STILL: like this site, you can't see any of the posts except the first one if you aren't registered, am I correct? Every computer I've gone on Bravo, I've had to sign in to read posts. I would suggest EMTCity do the same thing immediately, but the damage is already done. They are going after THE OWNER of the site. I don't know if it was he who posted the infringed material. One guy on the news blog called it when he said these attorneys were S*** B****. I couldn't agree more, but we've really got to start watching ourselves on here. Another thing I would do; check out where there might be an "ACLU" for the internet. There's got to be some kind of legal help out there from somebody, you know that will take up the cause for the principle involved (there is a pun there). Alright onward we go...........

Youtube credit: Berryzpaul Shows the first due engine, and the first line stretched on the fire. Note the lack of any aerial devices....

Suddenly it seems like nobody wants to have their own fire chief anymore. They all want to share one.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/911-health-care-bill-passes/

Lawsuit settlement in NYC: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101119/ap_on_re_us/us_attacks_health

"Yes, I'll try the extra hot and spicy chihuahua chili please,.......but if you touch my junk I'll have you arrested."

I'm pretty sure for them to get around this insanity, they just have to move the cook-off to the firehouse property and call it an "invite only." The invite is bought with the $5 admission ticket. The reason the Health Dept. shut it down is because it would be on Village property open to the public. Somebody gets sick and they can sue the Village. dial 1-800-fast-money-lawyers....

All photos from the Iamonico family collection: