x635

This is a great group. Both the NAEMT and NREMT have lobbying arms as well, however they aren't very effective. There was going to be a whole EMS branch of the Federal Goverment a few years back, but it didn't go through after the IAFF lobbied against it because they percieved that FD's would lose funding to EMS. The IAFF has a very strong lobby in Washington that also influences EMS decisions. Maybe with the new adminstration we can bring EMS into 2009 in DC.

I think ny10570's point was proven this morning in Scarsdale, where a Police Officer rescued civilians from a house that was on fire secondary to a gas explosion.....he suffered smoke inhalation. Police officers, by nature of always being on the road, are often several minutes ahead of FD/EMS....sometimes they have to do what they have to do.

And here is Engine 29: http://www.x635photos.com/displayimage-113-0.html

Here is the current Engine 28, as she looked in October of 2006.

Looks awesome and most importantly functional, thanks for the updated shots, Barry! And I got my front bumper chevrons

Just an update, I know the Westchester list will be coming soon. I got a "sneak peek", and as always, Truck4 has done yet another AWESOME job with this EMTBravo tradition. I know many of you will very pleased with it, as I really am excited to see it unveiled!

Best wishes to the injured FF's and PD officer for a speedy recovery.........if someone could PM me with who they were, it would be greatly appreciated. And is it just me, or has Scarsdale been really busy lately??????

Hopefully, the spec's are broad enough to include a variety of manufaturers to bid. It should be interesting, especially with all the dealer changes that have taken place and all the manufacturers looking to get into the Westchester market, and add more tillers to their portfolio...especially Smeal. But, as I was taught in LA City and LA County, which both utilize an all-tiller fleet, a tiller is only as good as the driver and tillerman, and their being able to communicate and work together. Takes a lot of training and experience, as with any piece of equipment, but the tiller can be so verstatile if used correctly. And, once again, thanks to LFD171 for the heads up on this!!

I was watching "Cops" today, and the officer remarked that often people make assumption about his personality based on his shaved head, thinking he is more militaristic and I guess more "intimidating. The officer remarked it was more because he was going bald anyways/ I agree, I clean shaven Police Officer can look very intimiadting, but in my eyes, professional as well. Have any of you encountered such an issue?

FULL STORY: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/odd_bizarre_burning

'Supergraphics' anger tenants in L.A. office buildings FULL STORY: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/f...0,6970964.story

I knew this was only a matter of time....how could this company justify continuing it's operation in Yonkers....they make the little valves that are found in spray paints cans, etc. The reason I'm bringing this up here is because not only is this a big blow to Yonkers, as it's one of the last major industrial manufaturers left in the city, but many of us are familiar with the plant, since it sits ajacent to "722", or Empress EMS HQ's. Many of us have had to park our cars in front of this plant. This will leave a huge gap on Nepperhan Ave. I've never been inside, but maybe this would be a great place for Yonkers FD to move it's HQ's, Spec Ops, and Training Operations, yet that would take this property off the tax roles. FULL STORY: http://www.lohud.com/article/20090122/NEWS...447/1018/NEWS02

Most EMS providers don't even have a chance to eat or in a lot of cases, facilities to cook in. Our version of a "ruined meal" is called a regular shift. Most of the time, when you see an EMS Vehicle at a fast food resturant, they are combining it inbetween transports or hoping they don't get a run- which, 9 times out of 10, they do. In a lot of cases, the only meal is the pop tart you stick in the door pocket or something you steal out of the nurses lounge. And you often have to eat while enroute somehwere, in the front of the ambulance where you live for 8, 12, or even 24 hours. To make or bring a meal with you....most providers work too many jobs to make ends meet and are too tired to deal with that when they get home. What an unhealthy career.

Me too. It was especially great because they had that 24/7 "security guard" who sat in a booth within visible distance.

Any hospital fire safety director's worst nightmare.... Full Story: http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/a...mp;sectionId=46

Does anyone have photos of Phillipstown EMS units? Also, where do they operate from and cover?

You've never taken the keys away from someone who was to drunk to drive? I have, on several occasions. We're in this business to help people, and that includes our own. It's one thing to sit here and preach about what should happen in an ideal world, and a tottally different thing to actually take action and suggest solutions based on facts.

Having been in L.A. City numerous times, especially on the "Sunset Strip" where several of these signs are, they are made from material only meant for short term use, to promote a movie to boost the egos of directors driving home to Beverly Hills, etc. One issue I could see is this gigantic vinyl based supergraphic catching fire and raining down on those below, especially on a windy day....which could also set off brush fires easily.....not good in that area.

To clarify, I was sent a video of an incident in which I was mentioned during a event, in addition to being told by numerous different people about things said at various times over the past few years. I never recorded anybody's conversations. My point being is that people can be your friend one minute in Westchester, yet the next day turn around and stab you in the back. So many people claimed to be Aaron's friend as is obvious by his Facebook page, yet now no one wants anything to do with him. Obviously, he made a serious mistake, but the people around him need to stick by him, especially now. I wonder if there's anyone thinking how they can get Arron the help he probaly needs. My comment was because I was irritated that this person who embelishes himself is in that position to do so, yet has decided to all of a sudden be this person's worst critic. I'm going to end it at that. Also, Sleepy Hollow VAC has really come a long way in recent years, and is one of the better VAC's in the county. This incident shouldn't grey that out.

Please, let's knock off the debate about who should have flycars or chiefs vehicles, etc, and who shouldn't, because that's really irrelevant to this incident. If you wish to disucss the flycar issue, you should start a seperate thread. Any further discussion on the above is subject to seperation into another thread or deletion.

I said "COULD HAVE", meaning that we don't know all the facts yet, so all we can do is speculate as to how to correct the problem, if there even was one. Even the best agencies with the strictest rules have issues. Quite obviously, Sleepy Hollow needs to respond to the media with more force, and that is just my opinion. They need to hire a consullting firm to do an independent evaluation on these types of personel issues that they have, so at the very least they have something to start with and show the citizens/media that they are accepting this and looking to prevent it in the future. Sleepy Hollow VAC has done a TON to turn itself around from previous years, and this one persons indiscretion shouldn't completly distract from that. I agree EMS is serious business, but beyond that, it is a professional service that no one truly wants to pay for. And, honestly, you get what you pay for. In these days of poor municipal funding for EMS-if any, little medicare reimbursment, rising fuel costs, a service who's patient population consists mostly of illegal & legal immigrants and senior citizens, I'm sure volunteers get burnt out fast. So do paid EMT's. Add in little community support, and you have an ambulance services struggling to survive, and get the ambulance out the door any way they can. Add into that the personal investment of the hundreds of hours of training. Until EMS becomes some sort of muncipal agency or consortium with strong leadership and community support, with civil service employees that are paid and given benefits that parity firefighters and police officers, nothing in Westchester is going to change anytime soon.

FULL STORY: http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/a...mp;sectionId=46

FULL STORY: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0...4-23272,00.html

I've known Aaron for a long time-longer then everybody who knows him in Westchester's emergency services community, since he was 14. I know his father and his family. He was a member of the Ardsley FD Explorer post when I was an advisor several years ago. He had his issues there (mostly relating to maintaining his grades, which was an Explorer Post bylaw), but Aaron is a good kid with the right intentions, sometimes overzealous. He can sometimes have a temper, sometimes say the wrong things, sometimes an attitude, but again that's Aaron and I have witnessed it is because he has hung out with the wrong people growing up and nobody really was willing to help him, and those that were found it challenging. Aaron has always aspired high but has run into obstacles. I ran into him in Ardsley last year, and was pleased to learn that he was an active volunteer EMT and was an career EMT with a southern Westchester EMS agency. He really wanted to become a police officer or go to Paramedic school, and we talked about it for a while. I occasionally correspond with him via email to see what he's up to, and how he's doing. The last I had heard from him a couple of days ago, is that he let his EMT expire because he was sick of the politics that went with it. I didn't have a chance to write back, and regret it. In fact, at one of the agencies he's worked for, there is a Paramedic who also was in the Explorer Post and Department with him at the time also, and knew him well, and went to high school with him only a couple of years apart- someone who I'm dissapointed in for not following through in guiding him along the right path while he could, and is badmouthing him right now like he does me as I'm told by a few different people who work there, confirmed by recorded document. He does this for his own gain and to boost his ego and image....to those who know who I'm talking about, DO NOT LISTEN TO A WORD HE HAS TO SAY, ever, pathological liar, I've known this person over 15 years now and am shocked at who he's become........anyways....... Everybody makes mistakes, and Aaron's made the one that's destroyed any future career in emergency services. The issue Aaron's brought to light, in my eyes, is alcholol use and abuse in the fire and EMS service. It's often laughed and joked about, but no one that I know of has really tried to tackle the problems. "Getting wasted" seems to occur with any social event in both the volunteer service, where it's consumed at parades and even in firehouses, and the career services, where it's consumed at union halls and softball games. Many use it to "self medicate" without anyone reconozing the issue. I've known many to have gotten into a car and driven. In some communities where the DWI offender is caught in the past, the PO has quietly let that person go due to their status. The difference here is, Aaron got caught, and Sleepy Hollow has had MUCH more then their fair share of sometimes unfair publicity in the media due to things beyond their control. BUT, this could have happened to any number of people in numerous communties throughout the area- and it's just a matter of time before it happens again, somewhere. I don't know Sleepy Hollow VAC's policies, but I am intereted to see the official report and facts on what really happened, because I suspect, knowing Aaron and SHVAC, that this could have been well beyond their control. To all the officers out there in every agency reading this- what will you do to prevent something like this from happening in your agency?

According to PL Custom's websites, Somer recieved a new ambulance: http://www.plcustom.com/recentdeliveries/g...0&template= Is this a new paint scheme? It could just be my memory, but I though Somers FD's last two ambulances were solid red.