ffdude13

You are trying to compare an ADULT ONLY retirement community in sunny Florida to a congested NY county. You say you spent 30+ years as a FDNR dispatcher? You must know the area Eastchester FD serves. Do you think that 2 firefighters on a rig is a waste of money? I caught a fire the other nite on the 8th floor of a senior citizen apartment. 2 Eng. 1 Ladder and my Duty car : TOTAL 8 MEN. You pay low taxes because the Villages doesn't have to build or run SCHOOLS! Plus the SCAB labor of Rural Metro doesn't provide pensions to it's workers. I'm sure you retired in either Tier 1 or 2 of the NYS Pension system and every month you cash your check. Yet you defend Rural Metro and speak of wasteful spending and "Breaking the Bank". Shame on you, sir.

Hats off to the Brothers from Yonkers and Pelham Manor for going above and beyond away from " home". Mount Vernon and the victim were fortunate to have you in town.

(Ret) FDNY Battalion Chief Salka's response:
http://mobile.firehouse.com/blog/11152215/john-salka-reacts-to-boston-globe-article-on-fire-department-staffing

1) "Mutual" Aid does mean you help me and I help you. If you need a million $$$ ladder everytime you have a call and you cant send one to me when I need it, its no longer mutual, its just your cheap taxpayers leaching of mine.
2) ISO requires every response to have a ladder or service company (based on building size and fire flow requirement). If you do not have one your rating goes up. Depending on what their rating is, it could cost millions per year in increased insurance premiums to not have a ladder.

From the Empress EMS Facebook page:

On April 1st 2013, Scotland's 8 regional Fire & Rescue services were merged into a single national department. The 8 regional police services were also merged into a single national service.
The 8 regions were originally made up of many smaller depts. but during and after world war IIthey were merged.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-21938388
Wow, 8 depts are too many for an entire nation so they are merging them into 1. We have 59 in just our county and they all believe that their community would not survive without them. Infact we have whole towns with 8 departments. What was most interesting is their reasoning for the merge, they wanted to save money, but most important they did not want to reduce services. All over America we see depts cutting staffing, cutting companies, cutting houses, cutting salaries and the number of volunteers dropping, but still no one is willing to merge to make sure the services delivered in the field remain strong? So this merger will save enough money to maintain every company, every station and the minimum manning on an engine will remain at 6 (1 officer, 1 driver & 4 firefighters).We really need to rethink how we do this and why we do this.

Date: 4/26/13
Time: 11:45
Incident Type: Fire between floors of 3-story 150' x 50' theater-style building
District: City of Yonkers
Location: 51 Buena Vista Avenue
Initial Units: E303, E306, E304, E308, TL71, L74, R1, B1
2nd Alarm: E309, E312, TL75, B2
Extra: E310 (Safety), E313, L70, L73 (FAST), Car 4, Car 6, MSU, Rehab
Mutual Aid: New Rochelle E23 & L12 to Station 12. Mount Vernon TL63 to Station 1.
Yonkers Companies in Service: E307 @ Station 1 / E319 (Sqd11) at Sta. 11 / L72 ? / E314 @ Sta. 14
Frequencies: 46.50 / 484.7125
Weather Conditions: Sunny, 58*
Reporters: Using All Hands

Description: Fire between floors of 3-story 150' x 50' theater-style building. E303 10-84 with light-smoke showing. Update from Battalion 1, fire between first and second floors in rear of building.
Exposure 1 - Street
Exposure 2 - 1-Story commercial
Exposure 3 - Unknown
Exposure 4 - 2-Story similar
11:54 - Car 4 assuming Command, Bat 1 is Ops, Bat 2 is Interior Sector Chief.
12:04 - E313 relocating to Station 1.
12:05 - Car 4 reports companies making progress, fire contained to 1st and 2nd floors, all hands working.
12:06 - Bat. 1 reports companies making progress, fire on 2nd & 3rd floors, multiple lines in operation and Trucks opening up and conducting searches.
12:07 - Car 2 inquiring who has Command of job. Rehab Unit responding.
12:11 - L70 relocating Station 12.
12:17 - New Rochelle L12 relocating Yonkers Station 1 (School Street).
12:19 - Car 4 requesting an additional Engine to scene. E313 assigned. Crew to Command Post on arrival.
12:20 - New Rochelle E23 relocating Yonkers Station 12.
12:24 - Car 4 requesting L70 to scene. Crew to Command Post on arrival.
12:25 - E307 relocating to Station 1.
12:26 - Bat. 1 reports all companies working, multiple L/S/O, roof opened up, using all hands.
12:27 - 60 Control redirecting E23 & L12 to Station 12 (Fortfield Avenue).
12:32 - Mount Vernon TL63 relocating Station 1.

In this post anonymity has been used for a reason, as it is in the past, and not to detract from the point of this post.
I noticed on the yonkers tribune this morning, which for those of you who do not know, follows the coy and yfd matter very closely, and noticed that a negative post here on emtbravo regarding yfd was splashed across more than one article on the yonkers tribune in the comment section, with a preface explaining, look at what this person thought of a medical call with yfd. I personally do not see any evidence it was the original poster here on emtbravo himself who posted to that website, however, I would say 90% of members on emtbravo if not more, have or are currently involved in either police, fire, or ems and since you have to be a member to view posts, it is unfortunately probable, that the other person here on emtbravo who has been copying this post is mos. Regardless, this type of behavior and attempt to undermine the yfd is weak, extremely dissapointing, and leaves me shaking my head vigorously.
I do not and have not ever worked for yfd or empress, however as a resident of yonkers I do follow this matter. In a neutral view and my own opinion, it is clear that all backs have been turned against yfd despite attempts to convince me otherwise. I have yet to understand any reason at all why this is the case and why no one will reach out to them, all the while they move forward with dismantling in less than 12 months the cfr program; a cornerstone of public safety in yonkers that has been in place for over 20 years. I can never turn my back with so much left unanswered.

In this post anonymity has been used for a reason, as it is in the past, and not to detract from the point of this post.
I noticed on the yonkers tribune this morning, which for those of you who do not know, follows the coy and yfd matter very closely, and noticed that a negative post here on emtbravo regarding yfd was splashed across more than one article on the yonkers tribune in the comment section, with a preface explaining, look at what this person thought of a medical call with yfd. I personally do not see any evidence it was the original poster here on emtbravo himself who posted to that website, however, I would say 90% of members on emtbravo if not more, have or are currently involved in either police, fire, or ems and since you have to be a member to view posts, it is unfortunately probable, that the other person here on emtbravo who has been copying this post is mos. Regardless, this type of behavior and attempt to undermine the yfd is weak, extremely dissapointing, and leaves me shaking my head vigorously.
I do not and have not ever worked for yfd or empress, however as a resident of yonkers I do follow this matter. In a neutral view and my own opinion, it is clear that all backs have been turned against yfd despite attempts to convince me otherwise. I have yet to understand any reason at all why this is the case and why no one will reach out to them, all the while they move forward with dismantling in less than 12 months the cfr program; a cornerstone of public safety in yonkers that has been in place for over 20 years. I can never turn my back with so much left unanswered.

In this post anonymity has been used for a reason, as it is in the past, and not to detract from the point of this post.
I noticed on the yonkers tribune this morning, which for those of you who do not know, follows the coy and yfd matter very closely, and noticed that a negative post here on emtbravo regarding yfd was splashed across more than one article on the yonkers tribune in the comment section, with a preface explaining, look at what this person thought of a medical call with yfd. I personally do not see any evidence it was the original poster here on emtbravo himself who posted to that website, however, I would say 90% of members on emtbravo if not more, have or are currently involved in either police, fire, or ems and since you have to be a member to view posts, it is unfortunately probable, that the other person here on emtbravo who has been copying this post is mos. Regardless, this type of behavior and attempt to undermine the yfd is weak, extremely dissapointing, and leaves me shaking my head vigorously.
I do not and have not ever worked for yfd or empress, however as a resident of yonkers I do follow this matter. In a neutral view and my own opinion, it is clear that all backs have been turned against yfd despite attempts to convince me otherwise. I have yet to understand any reason at all why this is the case and why no one will reach out to them, all the while they move forward with dismantling in less than 12 months the cfr program; a cornerstone of public safety in yonkers that has been in place for over 20 years. I can never turn my back with so much left unanswered.

In this post anonymity has been used for a reason, as it is in the past, and not to detract from the point of this post.
I noticed on the yonkers tribune this morning, which for those of you who do not know, follows the coy and yfd matter very closely, and noticed that a negative post here on emtbravo regarding yfd was splashed across more than one article on the yonkers tribune in the comment section, with a preface explaining, look at what this person thought of a medical call with yfd. I personally do not see any evidence it was the original poster here on emtbravo himself who posted to that website, however, I would say 90% of members on emtbravo if not more, have or are currently involved in either police, fire, or ems and since you have to be a member to view posts, it is unfortunately probable, that the other person here on emtbravo who has been copying this post is mos. Regardless, this type of behavior and attempt to undermine the yfd is weak, extremely dissapointing, and leaves me shaking my head vigorously.
I do not and have not ever worked for yfd or empress, however as a resident of yonkers I do follow this matter. In a neutral view and my own opinion, it is clear that all backs have been turned against yfd despite attempts to convince me otherwise. I have yet to understand any reason at all why this is the case and why no one will reach out to them, all the while they move forward with dismantling in less than 12 months the cfr program; a cornerstone of public safety in yonkers that has been in place for over 20 years. I can never turn my back with so much left unanswered.

If this in fact is happening please report it through the proper channels. The Public Safety Dispatchers are a dedicated group. They are civilians and they are supervised by the Yonkers Police Department. The YFD administration is unaware of this and frankly, I doubt it is happening, but if you have knowledge of such occurences please report it rather than make allegations on here.

I rarely comment on this guys posts because they are usually so incredibly off base, incorrect, disrespectful, and inflamatory when it comes to YFD. However, I can assure all that this has never been discussed at any time during the last 7 years that I have been a member of senior management and to be absolutely clear, it is not being discussed now, and I do not anticipate it will be discussed or considered at any time in the foreseeable future.

With all due respect, CPR and Defib ARE the essence of first response, and should be done by a CFR and not a medic, so the medic may continue to drop a tube and a line. It is hard enough to deliver a shock within 90 seconds and not have interrupted resperations of more than 20 seconds when trying to hook up BVM/o2 just by fumbling through all the tubing and aed wires by yourself, and now one medic is supposed to do all this, and tube, and get a line. I would rather see 4 people set up a BVM with continious breaths and o2, and shock, and the medic can be a medic, not a CFR.

What really is mind boggling about some of these posts is how people can perceive the yfd of going after empress when in fact it is empress who is trying to take all control over the 1st responder program which would result in the possibility of the yfd losing several fire companies. Can someone explain to me what empress would lose (not gain) if the system would remain the same? Thanks!

Well, as someone who has been a part of the first response in the YFD for the past 22 years, I couldn't care less about what you Bull might find overdramatic, or what you Jack might find unnecessary and unprofessional. I've spent the majority of my career in SW yonkers and have seen good and i have seen bad when it comes to Empress. I, like JFlynn believe the 2 entities work well together (give or take a nut in a safari hat). But I believe the first salvo fired in this episode came from the bosses at Empress when they stated blatantly false response times in an effort to seize sole control over EMS in Yonkers, knowing full well it would cost jobs in the yfd, and worse yet, put the lives of the citzens at risk. So what would the main benefit be ? Greater profit maybe ? I don't know what was uglier , the false numbers being produced by Empress, or the roll the dice attitude exhibited by the city for the sole purpose of breaking contracts. It seems to me the Bosses at Empress were well aware of what the repercussions were to be had the first responder program ended . For the most part , the buses arrive in a timely manner, but I have witnessed 10 minute plus response way too often, and for Empress to tell the city that there would be no difference in service without the YFD is misleading at best. That to me is unprofessional. This, coming from someone who has delivered 2 chlidren , shocked and initiated cpr on too many to count, all because Empress wasn't on scene in a timely manner. Capt. Geo. Smith YFD

Or All departments that meet the minimum training and staffing requirements as established by FDNY and OFPC. Since it is their drill to exersize their plan and the state mobilization plan.

Why does it matter aside from maybe helping figure out what is wrong with the patient? Forget about how its just wrong to treat someone differently based upon a medical condition, what if they don't know they're carrying some disease. Everyone gets treated the same unless I suspect an infection requiring droplet precautions.
Moderator note: This was the very last post made by Lenny, before he left us for keeps. RIP.

I agree that the employees of Empress are not the problem and anger should not be directed at them. The YFD has worked well with the dedicated and professional employees of Empress for many years now. In light of the current situation and rumors, we have proactively let our members know that anger or disrespect should not be directed at Empress members. However, this was just precautionary...our people are professional and respectful as well and we have no reason to believe that YFD members have in any way expressed anger or disrespect toward Empress employees.
Many Empress employees have expressed to YFD members how much they value the YFD First Responder Program, and how many times they have personally witnessed lives being saved or positively impacted by YFD members as a result of this program, and we appreciate that. (Don't worry, we will not identify you to management of Empress for making such statements).
I would encourage both YFD members and Empress employees to continue to reach out to one another to express mutual respect and appreciation where warranted in these trying times.
We are hoping that our communication with ownership of Empress ambulance will improve going forward...
In regard to these rumors, or for any other issue an Empress employee may have with members of the YFD, or advice on how the First Responder Program might be improved, please feel free to contact me directly. (914) 377-7582.

The truth about unions? They are there to protect their members. After the infamous Diallo shooting, and the Abner Louima torture there were calls by some in the community to disband the PBA because they stood up and provided legal consul and support. My union provides my dental and vision benefits, not the City of New York. I am supposed to believe that my employer will treat me fairly? Out of 14 years on the job, I have only worked under a contract for two and a half of them, because the city constantly cries we have no money. Even when the coffers were full. People are shocked when we go to arbitration. Its not like we just declare impasse and call an arbitrator up, it must be proven to the arbitration board. We once settled a contract 3 years out of date, and asked the city to begin negotiations on the next contract, only to be told by the city "we are not ready." The city was not ready for another 2 years. Just recently Mayor Bloomberg attempted to take away our defined benefit calling it a "Christmas Bonus" . My union protected that right, which had been negotiated by three different Mayors. Even today, I have a captain who insists that he can order people into work on their scheduled days off, for only 4 hours,even though that provision of the contract which guarantees a full days pay has not been discussed in decades. So tell me again why unions are bad? There are two sides to every negotiation, its not a one sided deal. WE have given back items in that past when times were tough and promised "we will get them back when times are good" . Im still waiting for all our give backs to be returned.

I have een retired from Yonkers for about 2 1/2 years after a 30+ year career. I don't know who writes these things but as over my entire career this story is filled with wrong information. This is typical for the politicians and press in Yonkers, if the facts don't work for you just make it up as you go. The sick leave statement has been wrong in the past and I'm sure it's wrong again here. The line about 10 minutes early for a weeks pay is wrong, to begin with it's 12 minutes, and it's for one crew to pass on information to the next crew, and it's not a weeks pay. Why should that lead to more sick leave, it does'nt make sense? The manning clause is 57 not 54 and is a safety issue. Also talks about preventing "abusers" from working mutual shifts, makes it sound like 25% of the job are abusers, which is total BS, not to mention mutuals are contractual, but they have been trying to rip up the NEGOTIATED contract for years. The City negotiated the contracts and now they want just throw them out, very typical from politicians.

Over to Vail…

Video of flight to Denver:

Video of flight to New York (LGA)

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