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Congrats Adam and family!!!

FDNY Restores Engine Staffing Levels http://www.firehouse.com/topics/top-headlines/fdny-restores-engine-staffing

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/63313

Any update-has this bid been awarded yet?

Friend of mine said Lake Mohegan Fire District has ordered a new engine....anyone know from whom and when will it be delivered?

Oh, and I might add that other forums I've been studying and other webmasters I've been talking to use a reputation system and it works very well for them once members get used to it and you fine tune it to your particular forum.

Look up the word "reputation" in the dictionary, please.

UPDATED: -Members now may give up to 4 positive reputation points per day. -Members can also give up to 1 NEGATIVE reputation point per day. So, if you don't like a member or what they have to say, or you do like what they have to say, then "rep" them. Also, you can only give one rep per post, either negative or positive. Negative point "spamming" will not be tolerated. You can add a message as to why you are repping the post, or just hit send and you DON'T have to enter a message. This system is ANONYMOUS, and the person can't see who "repped" them. Still testing this system and playing with the settings, will see how the negative reputation system works.

I'll admit...there was a lot going on that day.....maybe one of the County cars transmitted it......but all I know is with the information I had units were to respond to specific staging points and that's what I relayed.....I'm not sure if I was on the radio much giving direction, as I spent a lot of time on the phone with the Bronx CO trying to help them out with what they needed and relaying that to everyone else. I completly believe what you guys said and heard, I just don't recall it being said. It really doesn't matter now, though. I think the important point that Chief Fitz made is that nothing major has really changed in Westchester. All the accomplishments that Spano touts, nothing really has to do with 60 Control (the dispatch agency, NOT DES). Sure, they got a fieldcom and some better staffing and bosses, but has Westchester County expandaded and modernized 60 Control to meet the current needs of the County? Or is that building they purchased 10 years ago for that now just a general supply warehouse for the county? Has the pay been increased to a realistic level for dispatchers in this day and age? Have they increased dispatch staffing? Departments like Yonkers, New Rochelle, Eastchester, Greenville and White Plains to name a few have really taken the lead post 9/11 to prepare for future situations. Some of their concepts have even been adopted nationally. Most of Westchester DES's "OEM"'s concern is with Indian Point. Does 60 Control have SOP's now to deal with something like 9/11? (that is a question)

This style van has been used in Europe for numerous years now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Transit The Econoline is still in production, this is a seperate product line. Ford Transit Up to 22MPG 25MPG highway It is peppy and handles really nicely, although I didn't get up to it, I was told top speed during testing was 92MPH.

Oh, and I'm just giving the situation from my point of view and to the best of my recollection. I can't give an 100%accurate recollection of things that happened almost 10 years ago, but I'm pretty sure everything I did I made sure to log into the CAD.

The tranmission was for certain units to respond to a staging area in Manhattan, to again, backfill as requested by the Bronx CO-who were overwhelmed themselves with good reason. I remember calling Yonkers FD dispatch and a couple of other southern Westchester career departments and asking them to send units to that staging area, knowing that they were at the time probaly the best resource to send to that location. To the best of my recollection, no units were told to go to Ground Zero and work- I remember watching the news that afternoon and being frusterated seeing select departments at Ground Zero. The staging areas were changed several times by FDNY, and the resources they needed changed by the minute. The incident was a cluster on so many levels, but blaming the 4 initial dispatchers themselves who were doing the best they could given the complexity and size of the incident without a single protocol or a unified command is absolutely ridiculous. It was not an easy task.

DES was not really "in sync" with 60 Control that morning, and it's unfair to make accusations towards 60 Control DISPATCHERS based on things we had no control over through no fault of our own. It's easy to blame dispatchers, who were only doing what they could with NO SOP to follow-including handling several other serious unrelated incidents in Westchester at the same time. 60 Control paged out on that morning for all departments to standby in their quarters, not knowing the full scale of the incident. Some units were requested to stage at the training center based on anticipated need. NO transmission was ever sent out stating for units to respond to Manhattan. There were numerous departments, not only in Westchester, that chose to disregard this order and do what they wanted. 60 Control emphasized that units not strip down their communities and not respond to the scene numerous times. I was on the line with directly with the Bronx CO a few minutes after the incident myself and maintained contact while the events were unfolding, and I relayed to my supervisor what they were requesting at the time and where to send them (staging areas). We were also listening directly to the radio traffic as it happened at the WTC from the minute it happened. The concern was covering incidents in the Bronx because everyone was in Manhattan, and not Ground Zero itself. There were a lot of emotions and ego conflicts that day that were way,way beyond our control. And for the record, NYSOFPC didn't get involved to later that day, and set up the staging area at Yonkers Raceway without even telling 60 Control. 60 Control had no control over that either, but was forced to go there to coordinate the units that somehow ended up there. Everyone was basically doing what they wanted, and we were just trying to keep up. Additionally, units from CT and Rockland ended up at the WCFTC. Also, 60 Control coordinated a lot more then meets the eye that day, including dispatching Westchester units to the Bronx that were cascade equipped to fill FDNY SCBA bottles. Several departments also took and washed gear. That night, 60 Control dispatchers went to inventory Westchester units,and the day after, dispatchers, including myself, went to the Bronx CO and coordinated/innventoried Westchester units that responded along with FDNY units. That's why there is hole in the wall at the Bronx CO....drilled by their fire alarm technicians so we could plug our Mobile Command Center in. We were also included in their meal. 60 Control has no authority to tell departments what to do, but I have a photo documenting that 60 Control was tracking every unit they could,and keeping track of other things, like hospital beds available for victims that never were. Also, this event was unprecendented in this country.We had numerous departments calling from all over, including NEBRASKA, offering assistance. A lot of Long Island units went directly to the scene because the missing were members of their company. Everyone wanted to help. Again, it's unfair to blame the 4 dispatchers working 60 Control that day, including myself, who were victims of circumstance. DES had no plan, there was no SOP in Westchester, and to blame the dispatchers who were overwhelemed and had no protocol or plan to follow is not fair. We did our jobs to the best of our abilities, and to blame this whole thing on "the dispatchers" is just ignorant. This was not a simple cut-and-dry incident.

Just for right now, while the system's new. Once I have a chance to work on it some more, members will be able to give a reputation point (which is the phrase I should have used) more then once a day. One thing is that I am just making sure that member's can't log in under a different screen name and give themselves reputation points for their other screen name (which they cannot-against forum rules), and so we don't have gigantic leaps in numbers right now. That's right, a reputation is subjective. So far, it seems to me that the members who put a lot of constructive information in their posts are rating the highest, which is exactly the way it should be working. Again, I just want to reiterate to everyone it's a "reputation point", not a vote.

http://www.lohud.com/article/20091124/NEWS02/911240373/Mount-Vernon-man-shot-in-leg--city’-s-gunfire-detector-triggered

Great topic! Just out of curiosity, does any department actively promote chimmney cleaning before the cold season as a method of fire prevention?

For the ones using them in Westchester, does WCREMSCO have a standard for electronic reporting, and/or does NYS have a standard "EPCR" like they do the paper ones? I know that some agencies love them because of one reason......billing. Also, what are your agencies using for the EPCR? Tablet, Toughbook?

Happy Birthday, Duane!

So then what is the point of your post other than to taunt the moderators, insult this forum, and stir the pot? Your question is completly irrelevant, and intent is obvious. So, also explain to me why it fits in this thread?

Yorktown Heights Fire Department Rescue Comapny 16 2009 Spartan/Rescue 1 Special thanks to 2531 for the photos and sharing his departments latest aqquisition with us! As always, Martin and his members have added another AWESOME and well thought out apparatus to their fleet. I expected nothing less from the man who was behind Engine 270, MA-8, Ladder 51 and bringing Yorktown back to red amongst many other things. Congrats and best of luck with the new Rescue 16! Also, at the link below are some photos of the custom tool mounting: http://www.plcustom.com/recentdeliveries/gallery.aspx?galleryid=273&year=&archive=0&template=rescue1 Again, special thanks to 2531 for the photos!!

Excellent Job, Mike!

Congrats! Great post, BTW. Very honorable to reconize these instructors. Stuff like this is what this forum is all about.

Hello? Anyone there? Are my posts invisible? Is anyone reading what I am writing? What reason would we have to "censor" these threads, and what are you defining as censoring?

And, for the record, blame the Dutchess decision on me, not the rest of the staff here. The staff here does a damn good job moderating these forums. It's not an easy task, and each staff member sacrifices hours of their personal time each day to deal with the stress of running this site for all of you.