x635

Any relation to the Califano's of Yonkers and/or Chief of Police for the Village Of Ardsley?

Steve-the whole project is amazing. You have quite a talent! The detail work (toolboxes, etc) are awesome! Thanks for keeping us up to date!

In regards to Westchester County PD's Field Com, does it respond with other WCPD resources on serious incidents? Also, who drives and staffs this unit when it does go out? And, is it still painted blue and white, or has it been repainted and restriped to match the current fleet?

Date: 2-24-2011 Time: 1300hrs Approx Location: 2810 Crest Park Lane Houston TX Departments: Houston FD, Houston FD*EMS, Houston PD, Local-County-Federal agencies Description: 3 children killed, 4 seriously injured in a daycare fire Links: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7444462.html Writer: x635

Awesome photo! Was Engine 58 career then?

I second that...thank you! +1 Rep, as I'm sure many members will do as a show of appreciation.

Do the "trained personel" include the Civilian Dispatchers?

This idea is spawned from another thread..... I know the current budget in Westchester will probaly not allow this right now, but has hiring (paid) Scene Support Technicians been considered? Considering they have recieved all this equipment via grants, I feel there should be someone there 24/7 to get it to the scene when needed in a timely manner. There should also be someone who is responsible for the daily checks of the equipment. Also, someone to do light maintainence and refuel the vehicles when needed. The only other function they should do is to educate responders about the equipment by particpating in local drills, etc. There should be at least two SST there at all times, and assigned "on call" days. A 60 Control dispatcher should be available to respond with the Field Com, like in NYC. Knowledge of operations at a large scale incident and training to use the equipment should be required. DES should run an academy on everything they need to know. And there should be at least 2 SST's available at all times. And they should be dedicated to this role....have nothing to do with training, Grasslands response, the fire apparatus, etc. But, as long as people volunteer, DES will have an excuse not to properly staff these units. And I'm not trying to insult any volunteers, but if this were to become paid positions, there may be a job in it for them. There are grants availablle to do this.

To add to what TaskForce7 was saying, Williamson County EMS has a passing rate of 8% for the academic part of their entrance exam. It gives you added angle and intersection coverage. I can't think of how to describe it. Here's more of a close up of a prototype version I photographed at Firehouse Central Expo in Dallas this past September. I'm not sure, but the air ride lowers the back of the ambulance when loading. Also, I think these new ambulances are coming with Stryker's new hydraulic lift system for stretchers, which really require no lifting or loading of the stretcher into the ambulance whatsoever.

Gonna make a nice FD, PD, or EMS car!! (Just delivered to dealer lot this AM)

They buy through a statewide purchasing cooperative. I'm not sure about the price, but I want to say it's probaly around $100,000. The box is completly custom built for their agency, and is not your typical Wheeled Coach. They run a lot, sometimes on very rough roads in rural areas, so it's very important to them that the ambulances are very reliable. The ambulances they do trade in after service as a backup unit have a higher resale value, and they offset the cost of buying the new ones. Also, most stations have a back up ambulance (I previously reffered to them as "spares"). This way, if a crew comes on duty and the primary ambulance is out, they can get to work right away while the other crew is out. Some of the older ambulances are also kept for the supply unit, etc.

Hey, does anyone have a copy of this paper they could send me? I can't believe I made that typo, lol!!! West Texas is where the oil's at. Most people there work in the drilling industry, or related. Midland-Odessa (which is like 10 hours west of here) probaly profits the most from crude. Houston has a lot of energy related corporate offices. And if you filled up at $2.41 a gallon, it's much better then here! We're almost at $3.00 a gallon! (at least it comes with a free car wash) I don't have the energy or time to tell you why your first paragraph is completly and utterly incorrect.I don't even know where to start on that one. Just remember you can't always use Wikipedia as as basis for your arguments. I have lived in both Ardsley and Round Rock and think I know a little bit about the contrast. Your statement about the oil company taxes is absolutely incorrect. Property, sales, automobile registration are some of the taxes that have the bearing, and oil has nothing to do with taxes being so low at all. Our oil is NOTHING at all like Alaska, and has no bearing on taxes. Ever buy a Dell computer? Have you used Google? Ever flown Continental, American Airlines, or Southwest? Ever hear of Fort Hood? The list can go on and on...... Texas Economy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Texas

I'm not sure what you mean by that? Have you filled up your car in Round Rock recently and paid the sales tax? Our economy in the Austin area is largely technology based. Apple, Freescale Semiconductor, Google, Facebook, IBM, Motorola, etc are some of the companies that haveo ffices here. Dell's world headquarters is located here. The computer on Jeporady, "Watson", was built here, We are also the State Capital and home to the University Of Austin. And the famous "6th Street". And we constantly rank #1 in a variety of lifestyle and business surveys.

Off topic discussion split into the thread in the "On The Homefront" section.

Yes, because they are. The high cost of Westcheser is due to out of control, egotistical people who could care less about the taxpayers, and politicans who can't plan for the future. I have a: -Fully staffed career FD, with new apparatus and new stations planned and excellent response times. More training is required for firefighters down here then in Westchester. Some Engines are ALS first responders. -COUNTY based operated EMS system with all dual Medic MICU ambulances, the medics respond from a station and start around $55,000 a year and a 23 year retirement pension, with excellent response times. They respond from dedicated EMS stations. Ambulances are replaced every two years. -A Police Department that focuses on crime, and actually patrols proactively instead of reactively with excellent response times. -Emergency services share an MDT system -Excellent School system -Abundant recreational oppurtunities -Abundant higher education oppurtunites -New hospitals being built and opened -DPW which is on the ball and takes care of problems quickly, and require education and continuing education Where in Hartsdale, I paid for a Ladder truck that was falling apart and staffed by one firefighter/driver, down here for less taxes I have a 5 man Tower Ladder Quint in great condition that responds with a 4 man Engine company with a brand new Engine. Greenburgh ambulances have a high response time, weren't properly staffed, and often called mutual aid. Most ambulance calls took two police officers off the street for a couple of hours. For half the taxes I was paying for in Greenburgh. All this because it's not about the egos down here, and the governments have master planned for everything. Also, the community is very involved and the agencies make sure of that. I agree with the expenses in Westchester, but these governments are getting more money in taxes the down here, yet the whole emergency services system is in shambles, and I don't see it ever getting better. I feel the rigs that I comment on are really spec'd nicely, because they are. We have really well-spec'd rigs down here as well. Westchester has very old strutures, and very unique challenges. The taxpayers could really give a crap, and no department (FD-EMS-PD) wants to work together to eliminate redundancies and increase service. Things are never going to change because no one can get along. Westchester is light years behind us......it's 2011, and having a unified MDT system still isn't a standard. And, emergency service personel can afford to live in the communities they serve, and don't have to commute a couple of hours to get to work. And that's just one of many reasons I moved down here.

http://www.lohud.com/article/20110221/NEWS04/102210352/Del-Goldsmith--Putnam-s-oldest-volunteer-firefighter--dies-at-104

It was about the lettering, not the car. The debate was hijacking the topic, so it was split into it's own discussion. The photo forum is mainly for the posting of photos and no-agenda questions regarding such. And this isn't "my board", it is the community's. This is a rule a lot of photographers supported and we developed. The rule is clearly posted, and explained why. And if you have any problems with the rules or moderation, please contact a staff member. Please, any further discussion post in the above linked thread. No need to hijack this thread any further. Thanks.

Great shot. To answer your question, I would assume it carries equipment for DPW workers to safely enter sewers, etc. Since the Tarrytown tragedy, I think more departments are training and buying special confined space equipment.Kudos to Rye FD.

The difference is, these cars are not just for the Chief to drive around. They are (supposed to be) Incident Command vehicles, capable of transporting an IC and the various equipment he or she needs to do the job. If the striping is for low conspicuity, then let the Chief drive his personal vehicle. The only two excuses I can think of is that it looks cool, or to lesssen visibilty of the car. The white is visible during the day, but is barely visible. There is no contrasting colors which does lessen visibility. Ultimately, it is the department's leadership that it's up to. I just don't like the concept for FD vehicles.

For any questions or discussion of the rule: http://www.emtbravo.net/index.php/topic/38017-important-information-for-those-replying-to-photo-posts/

This style was orginally designed for PD use. Many PD's use these in their traffic enforcement cars, to blend in with other traffic, and the ghost lettering is good at night when hunting DWI drivers. Mostly all the ghost lettering PD car's don't have lightbars, either. AND, they 99% of the time don't respond Code 3. I don't see the rationale on putting them on Chief's cars. Would this be appropropriate to do on fire apparatus as well? No. Why wouldn't you want your vehicle identified easily? Why would you want to LOWER your daytime visibilty? I really don't understand this concept.

The discussion regarding the lettering style on this car as well as other has been moved to it's own topic, "Ghost Lettering" in the "Apparatus" forum. All posts regarding this have been moved there. Please see this rule for further information:

Cool. I was looking for that article the other day online and couldn't find it. Thanks for the heads up! It's a whole different world down here. It really makes Westchester look pathetic and Westchester is at least 10-20 years behind us. More to follow....

It's bad enough that the exit off the highway to my house is right next to Round Rock Harley Davidson and I have to drool over the bikes shining out front everyday, but this one did it for me. I recently saw this Harley Davidson Sportster on display, and I was in love. But, with everything that's happened to me, and with a 3 month old daughter, I'm highly doubtful my wife would allow this, nor could I afford this right now....unless I could sell my car...which is feabile because you can ride almost year round here in Texas, and most places have designated motorcycle parking. I'd also be scared with the way some people drive, but some of the Texas backroads and Texas Highways (different from regular highways) would be great places to ride. Also worked EMS near Fort Hood, where soldiers would get back and buy themselves a motorcycle, and then go "ride" it, and I've seen some hell-acious trauma for motorcycle wrecks that has me scared. Anyways, here's a photo:

That's a REALLY good idea, especially in states where the sun is strong.