SFRD372

The biggest "scam" in City of Stamford history is still moving forward! What a joke, a "paid" volunteer fire department. It didn't work in the past and it won't work in the future! I worked in the system, I've seen first hand all the "tom fuckery" that goes on in the volunteer houses. When will this City wake up!!!!

Date:3-25-2011 Time:2023 Location: 35 Webster Rd. ( Cove area) Frequency: 800 Trunk Units Operating: E4,E1,E6,E5,E2 RIT, E3,T1,R1,DC1, FM102, FM109,FM110, SPD Weather Conditions: Clear and cold Description Of Incident: Fire in a 2 1/2 story wood frame residential structure, Primary search negative, 4 lines stretches and in operation, Truck crews opening roof, Secondary Search negative Reporters: SFRD372 Writer:SFRD372

The "train" is getting ready to leave the station tonight! The Mayor and his chronies are going to shove this "fire plan" down the throats of the Board of Representatives this evening. What a joke......this plan is about as good as the Jim Jones "cool-aid"........

The bottom line in this entire "Merger" is personalities, not public safety. The volunteer chiefs ( who are elected by a popularity vote, not credentials) cant stand the fact that they might not be able to issue an order! That's ridiculous......working at Eng. 8 &9 and being stationed at Eng. 7 for a few years there were many times that we followed orders from volunteer Chiefs! Remove the volunteer chief's from LRFCo. TRFD, and Springdale and things would be fine! Have you ever worked with any of them? It's better than any Barnum & Bailey side show! All they are interested in saying is 711, 611 and 511 "are command".....Many, many times they have made the "wrong" decision...who do they answer to? No one! Make some of the bonehead calls that they made in SFRD and you would be looking at a few days off without pay! The volunteer firefighting forces (firefighters) are great people. Do what you do best! Continue to VOLUNTEER! Stop all this nonsense of "we know how to manage paid staff"...concentrate on managing your Volunteer staff. Develop more volunteer drivers.....what good is Rescue 66 responding to every call in TRFD. Get these volunteers out there as qualified drivers on engines, trucks and tankers! Over the past 10 years the volunteer departments wanted noting more than have the City take over the paid staff. And thats what happened..starting with Springdale over 13 years ago. Chief John Hoyt had the right idea. The total protection of his district and citizens was in jeopardy. He did what he thought best( as did the entire company by vote at a meeting). Everything was going smoothly there. Qualified volunteers were permitted to ride on Engine 7. When Chief Hoyt passed away things changed. It's all about personalities! Since Chief Fahan took over there has been nothing but problems between volunteers and career staff. Doesn't that make you stop and think? Could it be 511?? I sure think so! Belltown has the right idea...continue to volunteer in the great fashion that they have for years! They never, ever create a problem with career vs. volunteer! Perhaps the other remaining 3 volunteer departments should follow by example with Belltown!

What a joke that is! Wow, Political payback is alive and well in Stamford, CT. Become a member of the Mayor's Task Force concerning a new fire plan, agree with the Mayor and guess what....you're now Public Safety Director. Hey Bobby...stay with baseball.....you know nothing about the intricate operations of a fire department...don't try to pretend that you do.

Date:10-14-2010 Time:1749 Location: 72 Bungalow Park Frequency: 800 Units Operating: E1,E3,E4,E6,E2(RIT)R1,T2,U4,M2, M901 Weather Conditions: Overcast Description Of Incident:Fire in a two-family duplex Reporters: Writer:SFRD372 Fire on the first floor of a 2 1/2 story wood frame dwelling. Fire venting from front door and two windows upon arrival. Quick knock down with all searches negative. FM's called to scene. Red Cross relocated four (4) occupants.

Take a look at my safety vest shortly after the crash ......think the large two "crosses" protected me and my crew? Kind of spooky!

As the driver of SFRD Engine 1 this morning I just want to say that ALL precautions were taken while we were operating at a fully involved vehicle fire. The vehicle that was on fire was located in the breakdown lane of I-95 southbound. CSP had two patrol cars on scene , both with their emergency lights operating, both blocking the breakdown lane. As we approached the scene I positioned the engine approximately 75' short of the fire and at an angle that took control of the center and right lanes of I-95. CSP had also put out road flares to warn southbound vehicles of the hazard. Second due SFRD Engine 6 arrived shortly thereafter and also blocked the right two lanes of I95. During the incident the left lane of I-95 remained open and vehicle traffic was passing the scene at full posted speed limit (55) and at much greater speeds, in my estimation. After extinguishment Engine 6 was clesared and Engine 1 remained on scene. The crash ocurred as the damaged vehicle from the fire was being loaded on a flatbed wrecker. The impact was immense! The tractor trailer continued down I95 approximately 600 yards after impact. Fortunately all three firefighters and our Officer were unhurt by the impact or flying debris. One of the CSP Troopers was hit by debris and was transported to Stamford Hospital for minor injuries. The tow operator was uninjured. The impact from the tractor trailer lifted the rear of the apparatus 1-2' off the ground and forward approximately 4'. The vehicle's maxi brake was applied as well as the rear tire being chocked. All members were wearing high reflective safety vests over turn-out gear. The cab and trailer suffered signifigant damage as well. The SOG's developed by the SFRD concerning apparatus placement at vehicle fires DEFINATELY prevented injury to SFRD personel. <br>

Hey Pete Cogs....what is your educational qualifications, fire training, supervisory skills, etc. to even dream up such a plan.......and stop harping on the only thread that you have left that the career firefighters want to get rid of the volunteers, that simply IS NOT the TRUTH!

Date:July 22, 2010 Time:2250 Location: 60 Strawberry Hill Avenue ( La Pavillion) Frequency: 800 Units Operating: E1,E2,E4,E5,E6,T1,R1,U4 Weather Conditions: Clear, hot and humid Description Of Incident:Fire on the 11th. floor of occupied building Reporters: Writer:

When is all this BS gonna stop! Form your own single VOLUNTEER fire department in the City of Stamford. No one is questioning that. Start VOLUNTEERING by manning and responding with the support vehicle's (additional engine's, trucks, tankers and rescues) necessary to compliment the paid engine companies. Also, while you are condemning and bad-mouthing the SFRD career engine companies why don't you publish the TRUE FACTS of the large amounts of dispatched incident where NO VOLUNTEER ENGINE, TRUCK, RESCUE, TANKER companies ever responded! How convenient that those TRUE FACTS are always left-out when you address the public or the elected official's in the City of Stamford. Leave the paid firefighting forces to SFRD and just keep volunteering. This entire dilema is nothing more than personality conflicts. Those conflicts can be addressed and dealt with accordingly. There has to be a little give and take on each side of this dilema. And in my opinion you, Pete Cog's, are the one volunteer who is always trying to stir up the hornet's nest by ranting and raving about UNION firefighter's having their own agenda and trying to kill or stomp out the volunteers. Nothing can be further from the truth! You say their statements are "outright lies"....I'm afraid I am going to have to differ with you on that one. Are you insinuating that the figures maintained by the Dispatch Center for lack of responses are false? Why don't you ask one of the many career staff members who worked in the "old system" about how disfunctional it truly was....I can peronally attest to that! I lived it and worked it for almost 15 years!! True, there are a handful of current career SFRD members that were absorbed from the "old system" that will differ but the large majority will not. Deceased Chief John Hoyt, along with current Chief Frank Passero are the only two Chief's who put personalities aside and realized that their current VOLUNTEER forses were not enough to adequately protect the residents and properties in their districts, they should be aplauded for what they did. Their volunteer's kept volunteering and their respective district's have been protected by two fully staffed 4-man engine companies. What is your logic that replacing these two 4-man engine companies with two 2-man engine companies is better fire protection for the residents and property in those districts??? You cannot argue that fact at all! Stop all of your rant and raving and just continue VOLUNTEERING!

From a firefighter who came from the "old system" this new system certainly WILL NOT work. The volunteer firefighters from each and every department in the City of Stamford are forgetting one major aspect of all this. They are VOLUNTEERS!!! The Union, nor the City of Stamford, want to remove or get rid of volunteer firefighters. That is a TRUTH! The volunteers hid behind this wall that they will be removed or abolished, nonsense! Let's talk about the facts......the career (past) employee's from Belltown, Glenbrook, Springdale, and Turn of River did all of the paperwork in reference to payroll, vacations, sick-time, hiring, uniform ordering, benefits, etc. If it were not for the career employee's these MAJOR functions would not have been completed. Approximately nine (9) years ago the volunteer fire departments decided it was in their "best interests" to hand over the employee's to The City of Stamford as municipal employees. It was just too time consuming and overbearing to handle all of the paperwork necessary for employees. They all stated they just wanted to be "volunteers"...From that date until the career employees were "merged" with The City of Stamford Fire Rescue Dept. all was good. Now, all of a sudden and out of the blue the alledged volunteer houses want to have this all dumped back in their laps. I can tell you from past experience THIS WILL NOT WORK. How can a volunteer fire Chief, or the Mayor of Stamford defend that replacing a 3 or 4 man engine company with 2 firefighters will provide "better" fire protection for all City residents??? That is absured. I have arrived at many working fires with just two career firefighters and it simply is a "bad situation". The volunteer firefighters respond by saying that the career firefighters cannot possibly staff all types of fire apparatus with the current workforce in place. That is true, the career firefighters will stay on their respective apparatus and the VOLUNTEER"S will respond with the other apparatus, after all, the volunteer's state that they can adequately staff and respond with their own apparatus!! Then let them do so......I agree that the volunteers in Stamford should merge into one (1) VOLUNTEER fire department.....by all means be there for your neighbor! Continue volunteering and leave career employees up to the City of Stamford Fire Rescue Dept.

Sounds from your account that there might have been a 20lb. propane cylinder in that dumpster. Perhaps we should start with just dropping a pony length of 3" into the dumpster and filling it up with water. As the age of recycling becomes more prevalent it is increasingly harder for the public to recycle correctly and they just dump all kinds of hazardous substances into dumpsters, which results in us (firefighters) becoming exposed if the dumpster is ignited. Godspeed with the courageous Calumet firefighter, and prayers and condolences to his family.

Date:12/19/2009 Time:1804 Location: 217 Bridge Street Frequency: Units Operating: E5,E2,E3,T3,R1,DC4,E1 (RIT) Weather Conditions: Cold, overcast Description Of Incident:Reported as chimney fire, Engine 5 arrived and reported working fire Reporters: Writer:

Bruce Rossmeyer, owner of the world famous Destination Daytona was killed yesterday while riding from Denver, Colorado to Sturgis, South Dakota. Rossmeyer and a group of other riders were in Wyoming attempting to pass a RV when Rossmeyer was struck by the RV and died as a result of injuries he received in the crash. No other riders were injured.

Date: July 20, 2009 Time: Approx. 1508 hrs. Location: Dolsen Place, Stamford, CT. Frequency: Units Operating: E2,E4,E5,E6,T1,T3,R1,DC4 Weather Conditions: Clear and hot Description Of Incident: Working fire in 3 story residential..heavy fire on #2,3 floors with extension to attic. Primary search completed, negetive Reporters: SFRD372 Writer: