x635

This past week, I was in NY/NJ for a family reunion in NJ. On Thursday, July 21st, I had the opportunity to take a photo hunt in Westchester County and a brief sweep through NYC. I managed to get all photos within 10 hours, yet there was so much I wanted to photograph, I ended up missing out on a lot of apparatus I wanted to shoot and friends I wanted to visit. I apologize for no captions on the photos, too tired, if you have a question just ask. Hope you enjoy these photos (at the following link) x635's Westchester Photo Hunt: http://www.emtbravo.com/x635photohunts/westco0711.html For 60 more photos from this photo hunt, visit: http://www.emtbravo.com/x635photohunts/westco0711.html

Thanks, Joe! I would have loved to get up that way to photograph the new Rescue and TIller, and Darien's Aerialscope, but the logisitics didn't work out. Hopefully next time I'm up I can make my way up...really want to see the tiller in person as well. And I agree....she is priceless!

Anyone have details on this tech rescue?

Interesting piece in today's paper. I'm always impressed by the progressive nature of most of the departments and their officers and firefighters, and willingness to try new things. I know jobs are one of the primary issues for the merger, but they are at least facing reality and the concept of the future. FULL ARTICLE: http://www.statesman.com/news/local/lake-travis-firefighters-in-talks-to-merge-with-1754612.html?cxtype=ynews_rss And I photographed their two new engines and quint last year:

Yes, but most people lose out on the benefits by fighting it in the Hudson Valley. And, of the departments in the article, none of these departments are volunteer.

Wow! It is FAR more complicated and deeper then everyone is making it out to be.....would someone just READ THIS LINK AND THE ARTICLES: http://atabexarvfd.org/esd.html It's not like they took out a loan and defaulted on it, it's a MUCH bigger situation. Again: http://atabexarvfd.org/esd.html

Nice message on the sign of one of the local FD's....always good messages hard to keep up with.

This is the way I think about it. They wouldn't take pull stations out of buildings, or safety pulls at colleges, would they? Given the population density of NYC, and the amount of tourist and visitors who have no ideas where they are, these boxes are vital. Maybe thier could be some sort of techy thing they can do to prevent false alarms, like immediately take a photo of the person pulling the box, similar to what they do at ATM's.

Read the link I posted above. Far more complicated then a possible repo.

Thanks for the true insight on what's REALLY going on, Sean. It seems like there is always some sort of political conterversy going on. The Union is what holds BFD together, and is the reason why unions were formed decades ago. +1

All it is is basically an ESD (sort of like a Texas version of a Fire District-Emergency Services District) who pays for what battle. It's been an ongoing situation.... http://atabexarvfd.org/esd.html Also, it's to note that a lot of ESD's contract with municiplaities or neighborhoods for fire coverage, especially in unincorporated areas. And Bexar County is pronounced "Bear" county......there's a lot of that kind of thing. This ESD is in a VERY rural part of this county.

Cops get paid "too much" according to the government all over. It doesn't take into account the cost of living, and the risk every tour the fact they might lose their life. Cops aren't just cops anymore. They are highly trained to deal with a variety of criminal incidents, many of which they have to put their life directly on the line, from active shooters to terrorism to gangs,and so much more. And when they pull their gun, they have to worry their life or their career? Troopers have to also worry about working on some of the nations deadliest highways, as well as protecting one of the most visible states and cities in the world.

County Exec's State Of Westchester Speech 2011

Absolutely a tragic situation. A tremendous loss of experience in such a great department. Rest in peace.

If properly implemented, the current model nationwide is a calltaker/dispatcher system. A Dispatcher in a large agency should focus on the radio and other tasks. Calltakers can be training to take calls, enter them into the CAD, and route them to the proper dispatcher. They would also have time to do EMD. And, most CAD's have a instant messaging feature so the dispatcher can ask calltaker questions and vice versa, and dispatchers can also see updates to the call. Granted, this doesn't work for all agencies, but there's only so much a Dispatcher can multitask. And to do EMD too? Sometime with only 4 dispatchers? 60 Control will need to be upgraded and expanded. But where? That's been put off for years and is overdue. The DPS Dispatch room isn't what it should be. But DPS is also short on space. Sharing a facility would benefit both agencies, and maintaining the current 60 Control and WCPD Dispatch centers as backups would be a smart choice. And the building should be a secured facility all around. And, these Dispatchers go far and beyond other dispatchers. They have to remember different rules for what, 57 Fire and 38 EMS agencies? They, along with WCPD dispatchers, need a raise. This is the type of mergers and improvements that should be taking place. The first reponder to any incident are the calltakers and dispatchers. Not the politicians. Westchester County bought a building in an Elmsford Executive Park, so 60 Control and other DES functions could expand there. What is it now? A county warehouse having nothing to do with DES. When the new Special Operations garages, which they've already outgrown. The promise then was that they'd make the current apparatus bays into a large auditorium and more office space? Is that even happening? A large multi-function "taxpayer" structure was supposed to be built- where is that? There are a few people at DES that are responsible for the massive upgrades of systems in the past few years. They are very proactive, knowledgable, and hard working members of DES. The County Executive(s) makes all these promises, but never follow through in a proper manner, and neither does the legislature. It's always a fight, and that's the reason why DES is years behind where it should be. And right now, we know nothing about what the County Executive's master plan is. All I've heard is that he doesn't want any input from the Fire and EMS agencies. And they are only reactionary to "problems" that they think they know about, not procative on the issues that need to be corrected. I know it's alll just rumors right now, but there will be massive changes, and, in my OPINION, are not going to be good for DES. And that's because the politicians do whatever the heck they want, and play by their own rules. Again, put the pieces together. Tony's not going to be the first person to go at DES. I have tremendous respect for WCPD, but they are a busy Law Enforcement agency. Their leaders were promoted because of their knowledge and ability to lead in Law Enforcement. And the same goes with Fire and EMS. How can someone with a Law Enforcement background lead a Fire/EMS agency. And vice versa....how could a fire service leader properly run a law enforcement agency. Where WCPD is a single agency, DES is made up of a lot of different pieces dealing with a lot of agencies. Again, how are the two budgets going to be merged? I think that there are benefits to merging certain parts of the agencies, but not as drastically as proposed. And the Board Of Legislatures theoratically represents the citizens of Westchester. They voted it down. So he admitted he is going to find a way to get around that. Where is the "check and balance"? It is Astorino's way or the highway. (Note: I can't comment on DPS as I am not in touch with their operations besides communications.

Wow. We have those stages for a big music festival coming up here in Austin next month. We haven't seen rain or storms in months, but you never know. I hope they learn from this, because ACL has multiple stages like this. And, as far as the Indianna incident, if you cancel the show and try to move people away, there would have been mass pandomnium causing other issues. Tragic.

Looks like Mount Vernon Police ESU is getting a new Firematic BRAT ESU Truck: http://firematic.com/cgi-bin/bratprogress.cgi?path=mt_vernon11&dept=Mt.+Vernon Can't wait to see the finished product! They picked a great builder.

Hey, in Mount Vernon you never know? Riot control maybe? Seriously, I think the BRAT became more of a brand name then it's acronym when people see what Firematic is capable of, and they built from the BRAT's excellent reputation.

But it's not done like that in Westchester. It's done because someone has an agenda, and is going about it the wrong way.

John Cullen is an excellent choice to lead DES, and I don't see why it needs to even be temporary...why not just appoint him Commisioner? What's going to happen to him after they find a new Commisioner though? Another question is, was Tony Sutton forced out, either he didn't want to be part of Astorino's plan and stepped down, or was he forced to resign? Is this going to happen to any other talented and longtime DES staff members? Is DES going to regress? And Henry Campbell, who was really brought in to take hold and and make things right as a consultant, was the man who was responsible for really turning things around and pointing DES in the right direction, after an article in the Journal News exposed the massive failings of the then the Department Of Fire Services under previous leadership. The egos and "resist progress" nature of Fire and EMS in Westchester will always cause a failure to thrive for the Commisioner. I don't think even the best leader in the fire service, whoever that is in your opinion, could change anything in Westchester in the appropriate amount of time. There's too much "Nobody's going to tell me what to do" or local fire commisioners fear of losing control. This comment does not apply to Yonkers, Mount Vernon, White Plains or New Rochelle as they are unique and seperate career fire agencies, which, like in a hybrid system let's say Baltimore County for example, doesn't include Baltimore City. But you see these agencies and "combination" department's where volunteers don't really exist anymore all working together. And technically, White Plains is a combination department on paper.....but where are the volunteers in a suppresion or rescue capacity? Or a lot of departments that have no to little volunteers left, and use that as a reason to lower staffing? Who's going to take control of all this? Who has the power to push aside politics and really stand up and not be a puppet who fears for their job by being outspoken? DPS also has very talented leadership, and I hope the same doesn't happen to anyone there. I guess the future will tell. (And to note, for those of you who don't know,just because I live in Texas now doesn't mean that I spent 28 years living and working in Westchester County in a variety of roles. I worked at 60 Control. I worked for Walter Groden, Henry Campbell, Patrick Kelly, and Tony Sutton. And there has ALWAYS been drama regarding the Commisioner in one way or the other.)

Car outfitted by The Cruisers Division of Mamaroneck, NY. They can be found online at http://www.copcars.net. Thanks to TCD for the photos to post here! Harrison PD Car 102 2011 Dodge Charger Photos © The Cruisers Division

It does say "Town Of Harrison" on the seal, which is much bolder. It's a lot bigger then it looks, and is actually just as big on the car as the old cars. Also, there is a Harrison Police memorial graphic on the posts behind the rear doors. I should also note that the car has dual license plate readers mounted on the rear trunk.

Here's the story, per local media: FULL STORY: http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/williamson/new-design-for-round-rock-patrol-fleet

Is St. Vincent's In Harrison still in operation, or did they close with all the main hospital's operations. Makes you wonder when you drive through Dutchess County, actually basically all of NY, and see all those abandoned psych facilities. and wonder where are all those inpatients now? Obviously, there's not a lot of money in psych services, which in turn places the burden on the rest of the medical community, the prison system, and the homeless. I agree they need to be medically cleared, but what after that? Many of us know we go to the same psych patients routinely.

WOW! Talk about right place at the right time!