wraftery

You hit it right on the head, Hudson 144, with the reasons for not putting FAST to work. Also, by law, FAST has to be continuous. If you put a FAST team to work, there has to be another team ready to take its place immediately. The old team should brief the new team before the change as to the situation, and what Fast measures are in place. This fact alone would mean that putting your FAST to work is a move that is not worth the effort. You would be better off leaving your FAST where it is and putting the second company to work. There is one time, however, that putting FAST team #1 to work might be a good move. Once the job slows down somewhat and crews are leaving rehab, you can take a fresh crew to relieve FAST #1, once they go thru the briefing I mentioned above. This eases the boredom factor for the FAST #1 guys that had to "watch and plan" from the outside. FAST #1 also gets to see if the actions they took (placing egress ladders, etc) were effective, and would they do it differently. This also produces good input for the post-fire critique. (We DO conduct post-fire critiques, don't we?)

Not really a discussion topic but good pics for your perusal. Check out Virginia Beach Fire Departnent on Facebook for some really good pics of a Collapse Rescue Course given this week. Think the Brothers are coming home tired?

Good topic, Cap, and Dinosaur's addition was exactly what I was getting ready to say. I, too have been away from Westchester for a while, but from reading other threads, it seems that not much progress has been made. FAST is still slow. Everybody seems to understand 2 in 2 out. And everybody seems to understand the concept of a dedicated FAST company for larger incidents. There is still, for some departments, a "foggy" time between the initial 2 in 2 out and the arrival of that "qualified" FAST team that may be 20 minutes away. I would like to know what departments have in place in that foggy time. Also, do you have a written FAST policy?

Even us professionals have to rant on occasion. It's good for your mental well being and is sometimes necessary to get things under control. But rants,like everything else in life, have ground rules. 1. Make sure you are right, or, at least believable before you start. I know, sometimes it's spontaneous and it just comes out. 2. After your rant, you don't necessarily have to apologize, but realize you said your peace and now it's over. Don't hold a grudge. 3. Keep a count. One or two conniption fits a year are needed to put things back on track or make your point. Any more that that, you may be the problem, not the solution. I know a Deputy Chief that, immediately after a run, called his whole first alarm assignment to a shopping center parking lot to throw a fit over how that response was handled. It was about 3am when he threw his rant. It was certainly effective. If you have to throw a fit, at least try to be creative.

Good luck. These books have always been hard to get. Try the Fire Academy at Montour Falls, either the office or the library. At least they'll call you back. Next try the state Chiefs (NYSAFC) by phone. Next SEMO who probably won't call you back. There is also that NY State "bunker" near you in P'keeps on the road to the DC Training Center. It would be strange if they didn't have those documents, but not surprising.

After 34 years OTJ, I can tell you there are many, many more Collyers Mansion places out there than you would tend to think. The ones on the TV show are mild cases compared to what you might respond to. My first was as a FF. It was an ordinary multiple dwelling, six floors, open stairs, fire reported on about floor 3. We forced the door at the lock side, but it refused to swing. One FF reached around the door to feel for a possible victim and felt furniture. We went to the hinge side and when that side was free the door still stood there. We managed to get the door out into the hall and my partner started passing furniture to me so the hose line could advance. Things were getting a little touchy at this point since the fire was growing fast and we had no way to control the doorway. After we removed maybe a room and a half of furniture, my partner and I started a search and the hose line went to the fire. I remember not being able to crawl because the floor was COVERED with booze bottles that rolled as you tried to crawl across the floor. I felt what appeared to be a doorjamb. I felt clothes up at about 3 ft off the floor and shoes on the floor beneath the clothes. OK, it's a closet. I'll move forward til I hit the other door jamb. Next thing I know iI was feeling a couch and coffee table. What happened to what I thought was a closet? I completely lost my bearings. The hose team bumped into the victim as they advanced, also sliding on the bottles. They passed the victim to us and we were 1...2...3... yanking her toward the door as the bottles piled up into a mound. The more we moved the higher the mound got. I finally took my flashlight, look at her signs of life from about 2 inches away because that's the visibility allowed. I pronounced her dead, pulled my mask out from my chin so I could be heard, and announced her death to the Chief who was outside the door. The answer back was to "get on the fire." The cleanup after the fire found she had over 500 bottles in a 1-bedroom apartment. Not only was she a hoarder, but a recluse and alcoholic. Sadly, there was a picture on a table that was charred pretty badly, but you could make out the form of a Firefighter. So, back to business. What can you expect when you discover you've got a Collyer's Mansion? Anything.

Look at the side of your fire engine. It used to say Fire Dept. Now it says Fire-Rescue Dept. It will soon say Rescue-Fire Dept. Why not hire an EMS consulting firm if this is the direction the Fire Service is headed? Ray Downey is probably rolling over in his grave at the number of people who think an ambulance is a Rescue Company.

Yes! Bring back the negative points and the comments too. I will lose 300 a day too. but look on the bright side: at least it shows that the numbskulls out there are reading something. And Jflynn, I haven't heard "CRAWL" in a while. Time to bring that back too.

I think I would trust a trained NYPD officer with a sidewinder more than I would trust Barack Obama. At least the cop passed a background check. Just sayin'

Check your smoke detectors, check your dog. What did you do, Loo, bring your dog to the firehouse for dinner?

Shake, shake The Ketchup Bottle None will come And then a lot'll

Me too...Big Sigh

Decimated was when budget cuts came and the aide was the first to go because the powers that be thought he was just a driver. Without even going into the on-scene duties of an aide. think about what a duty chief does just driving to a fire by himself: Drive the car Talk on the radio Insure assignment is responding Read the computer Drive against traffic Size up the building Text while driving Listen to arrival report of first due company Etc, etc. Naw, the Chief doesn't need an aide

You can have 3 or 4 vehicles named CHIEF. You can't have more than one Incident Commander. Maybe all 8 extra cars at the scene should be marked JUDGE because they show up, rate (or berate) the IC, and tell the world how they would have done it better. Didya ever see one of those JUDGES go up to the IC and say "Need a hand?" My best score was only a 8.2. How did you guys do?

Try going to a main intersection and waiting. Eventually you will see it from there.

Didja Know: When wired correctly (many are not) a Gamewell Box system has these features: When several boxes are pulled they will get in line and wait their turn to transmit. The box will wait for the beginning of a round to transmit, never in the middle. The box will try 26 times to gain access to a busy circuit and then take over the circuit before its spring winds down. If a wire is broken, the box will transmit thru the ground. Boxes have a telegraph key for two way communiation. Even in a place like the Bronx, as busy as they were in the 60's, boxes gave the quickest response times. Companies knew by the first two digits whether the box was theirs or not. There are only three certainties in this world-Death, Taxes, and if you pull that red box, firemen show up in three minutes.

Yes I was. What a pain in the Wazoo. But I think some guys paid the guy to KEEP me from coming home.

It may not even be my post. You could be hacking my computer, Barry

Folks, a rare treat...... this is probably the most intelligent point that I have read on this site in the last two years. And in the same thread, another poster directs those ignorant of Islam to learn from the unquestionable source for all things factual- Youtube!!! Classic, and one of the dumbest things I have read on here in two years. Why not add Wikipedia as well? You can go on Youtube and find all kinds of groups (or "friends" thereof) that post junk. I can't beleive that after all these years, there are still people that believe that "it's on the internet, so it must be true". I agree. The internet has stuff that's made up, false, hearsay and so on. I used Youtube because it also contains alot of easy-to-find valid info. Allen West is a retired Colonel and member of Congress. I wouldn't have cited it if I wasn't sure and I should have made that clear, Thanks for bringing that up, fireguy43 and PR5012. Just so ya know, EMT Bravo is the internet too!

Once again, we should try to differentiate between the Moslem religion and Islamic radicals. You are accusing some of us of Pigeon-holing people and doing this by creating another box which contains the likes of Timothy McVey. Let's call this box "People Who Are Not Moslems But Bomb Places For A Cause" In it, along with McVey let's put Adolph Hitler, Harry Truman, and Seal Team Six. Now let's throw out all the boxes because they are irrelevent to this discussion. I was looking at the ages of the guys that are arguing with me. Many are 21-24, and so you were in 4th to 8th grade on 9/11. Do you remember your parents crying? Do you remember them opening the paper each morning and scrutinizing the "Missing" list on page 3? And the funerals...over and over. Your teacher may be the one who fed you that peace and love line and you believed it. I'll bet she told you Columbus discovered America,too? NYPD still has a terrorism task force. If there were no threat it would have been dissolved. Who do you think they are watching?

Muslim religion and Islam are two different entities. I fear one, I watch the other like a hawk. 1993- The first WTC bombing is all but forgotten, along with "The Blind Cleric" 2001- Who flew into the WTC, Ralph Waldo Emerson? 2011- Bin Ladin is dead, but radical Islam is alive and flourishing.

Here's a start to learning about the threat of Islam and then You also ,ight want to check out the background dection of the Response to Terrorism Course

Good work post, Cap. I suggest that every American do some research into the goals of Islam over the years. It will be an eye opener. Look at Europe now and it will be in America's future. Wonder why they try to gain converts in ghettos and prisons. Yes, there may indeed be good Moslems. What does Sharia law say about them should they speak out to infidels against Islam? If I even start posting some of these facts, our moderators will ban me for life. Be afraid, America

Try this at your next training burn (or actual 1-room fire). Somebody called "tried but true" ( That means it worked for a very long time). Engine company: Stretch 1 3/4 with SB to the fire room and control the door. Keep it closed if possible. Ladder Company or the company performing vent: Find the window showing fire behind it and vent same. Engine Company: You will hear the glass break. Open the door, let the fire "light," bang your stream off the ceiling for a few seconds then hit the seat of the fire. I Said nothing but "try it". If you like it, use it. Oh, by the way, if you all have radios, the Engine guys don't have to listen for breaking glass.

Why should we be very careful about discontinuing responses in a hurricane? Let's say you are a city of 100,000 that ceased response for above tropical storm force winds (That's only 35kts if I'm right). For a one day storm in modified rsponse, you had a handful of ems calls advanced because you didn't respond th other calls. Also, no wires down, trees down, auto alarms because you calltakers are screening runs. You did have one structure that was fully involved and deck gunned by a single engine since it was not proper to send more resources in a storm. The day was a success. A month later, you are at City Hall explaining to the Hon. Councilman Tightwad Nobux why you need four- man companies, and a NFPA response. He comes back at you with house closures, layoffs, pension cuts. He is citing your hurricane day as an example. I don't disregard safety, Watch out for all threats to your well being, particularly the guy with a pen.