emt301

In other words, if you don't have at least a 90 on the test, the odds of getting hired aren't very good....

It does sound like a lot...but the 3 tankers really are needed...the fire district covers approximately 50 square miles, most of which doesn't have hydrants.

A bit off the subject, but perhaps if some (not all) teacher salaries weren't so out of hand ($95,000/yr for a kindergarten teacher in the district where I live), there'd be more money to cover classroom costs. Just my opinion.....

My point exactly about the 23 year old assistant chief. Yes, many young firefighters are good officer material...but in most suburban or rural volunteer departments, how many working fires has a 23 year old been to...training is great, but it needs to be combined with experience. Let the young firefighters put in a few years as firefighters and perhaps lieutenants actually going into fires and getting to know the capabilities of their fellow department members...then let them become captains and chiefs as they become more mature. And, yes AJSbear, the department I was refering to has some very young lieutenants also.

You think that's bad, I know of a department were the ASST CHIEF is 23 years old...really makes you wonder about the state of today's Fire Service.....

Also, don't know who the director and assistant director will be, but last I heard the academy is tentatively scheduled to begin on Monday September 11th.

Rye Brook, Town of Mamaroneck, Pelham Manor, and Larchmont have all sent out canvas letters. Don't know about anyone else.... Physical agility test to be given this coming Saturday, August 12th.

Rest in peace Firefighter Giampapa. My prayers are with your family & Greenville FD.

Westchester County residents can be given preference, but county residency is not a requirement of this job. I live in Dutchess County and had no problem getting on the job.

Westchester County is now accepting applications for the Communication Operator Trainee Exam to be given on October 15th. The list will be used to fill positions in the Department of Emergency Services at 60-control, as well as at Westchester County Police.

The same thing has been done in Dutchess County. The county traiining center is in the Town of Poughkeepsie, and East Fishkill FD has their own training center in the southern part of the county. It works out very well...they alternate giving state courses between the 2 training centers thru the year, cutting down on travel time for participants from the northern & southern parts of the county respectively. It also makes it easier to schedule live burns and other training, since with 2 burn buildings you have less scheduling conflicts between departments trying to train on the same nights.

Not sure what was going on this week, but... Often times when FD/EMS units are dispatched for a lift assist it's actually an invalid assist. The elevator in a particular building may be out of service, and someone needs assistance in getting an invalid to an upper floor in an apartment building. Sometimes it's a case of an elderly person falling out of bed or out of a wheel chair, and just needing to be picked up. Other times, assistance is requested in getting an invalid from a car into a house. Bottom line, many of the lift assists are not due to an obesity issue with the patient.

From what I know of the department... Starting salary of $20,000/year (choke), climbing to about $65-70,000/year once you reach 5 years...trick is surviving the first year or two, which is near impossible if you're supporting a family. Of course, you can always try food stamps... That being said, SFD has a real solid group of guys in the department...good firefighters who look out for each other both on the fireground and around the firehouse as well. Just have to watch out for the Scarsdale Village government & personnel department...they don't always stand behind their firefighters...have heard of a couple of cases where probies got injuried, and the village didn't stand behind them like they should have in terms of workers compensation coverage (which is really a crime when the probies are making a lousy $20,000/yr in one of the wealthiest communities in America). Anyway, the department consists of about 45-50 career staff, supplemented by volunteers if there's a structure fire or numerous weather related calls. The department runs approximately 1600 calls per year, but very few working fires, and no ems. They do go out on MVA's if extrication or fluid spills are involved. It's actually a pretty good job if you can make it financially during the first couple of years.

In Dutchess County, East Fishkill FD has 4 stations, and 2 sub-stations, protecting 52 square miles: Station 1 - Hopewell Hose Station 2 - Stormville Fire Company Sub-station 2, also in Stormville Station 3 - Hillside Lake Fire Company Station 4 - Wiccopee Fire Company Sub-station 4, near Wiccopee/Hopewell border Believe this is the most stations for any dept in Dutchess.

Obviously, if you dispatched the units out, you should know where the call is. The point of units repeating the location back to you when responding is to verify that they got it right. As a dispatcher, I never have a problem when a unit repeats the address of the incident back to me. There have been several times recently where a responding unit has repeated back an...incorrect...address, and I was able to correct him before he ended up at the wrong spot, which would have delayed his response to someone in need of help.

I think we're getting off the point here. I don't think X635 was trying to start a "bash 60-control fest" with his post. As stated NUMEROUS times in the past...in most instances when a unit isn't being answered it has nothing to do with the professionalism/competence of the dispatchers....rather it has to do with a poor county radio system, lack of radio discipline in the field (i.e. units stepping all over each other), and a lack of staffing so that too few dispatchers are monitoring too many frequencies & answering too many calls at the same time. Try sitting in for a busy tour at 60-control with multiple alarms going on or a storm in progress...you'll understand what a good job the dispatchers actually do, given what they have to work with.

It takes about 5 years to get to that 50K, but sooner if you do significant amounts of overtime.

Oswego.... I DO work there...and YES there are a lot of issues that need to be addressed, such as the ones you described above...but it's better than a lot of jobs out there in the private sector where you don't have any health insurance, you're constantly worried about being laid off, and you hardly get any paid time off. I've been laid off from jobs in the past, and had to pay $300/month out of pocket for health insurance for my family in other jobs...being short staffed sometimes and getting forced once in a while during the summer aren't that bad of a trade off compared to those things.

Under the new contract, Westchester County dispatchers do significantly better than the 2004 numbers given above. Once off probation (1 year), salary is 35,990/year, with 4 additional steps up to about 45,000/year. When you factor in shift differentials, certification stipends, and holiday pay a dispatcher is looking at around 50,000/year...then add in some overtime. Really not a bad job.

ALS, You are right about the "ya'll come and get nosy" thing. One night I responded to my next door neighbor's house for an EDP call, and not only did a medic, ambulance, and police officer show up, but also 5 additional rescue squad members who were not needed. (I was only there because my neighbor knows I'm with the fire dept & called me before calling 911). Anyway, it got to the point where I had to ask the cop to escort some of the "extra" EMS personnel out of the house, so we could attempt to keep the patient calm & get her down the hallway & to the front door. It got out of hand, and given that the "extra" personnel all have EMS training, once they got inside the house they should have known they weren't needed and left on their own, without the "prompting" of a cop. I'm done ranting now....

Actually, I believe leaving the gear in your POV makes the most sense. If the scene is between where you are responding from and the firehouse, and if apparatus has already responded, you may as well have your gear with you so you can go right to the scene and be of some use. On the other hand, if you go to the firehourse for the apparatus, you still have your gear with you in your POV, and can don it before heading out on the rig.

Hopefully, if he's guilty he pleads such, and spares his family and brothers in the FD the pain of a trial and its associated media coverage/bad publicity. He should also, obviously, be permanently removed from the FD.

I agree...as a dispatcher I've had units transmit back the incorrect address to me upon their becoming 10-17...I was VERY glad that they read it back, so I could correct them and get them going to the right location. This being the case, I'm always glad when someone verifies the address so I know that we're all on the same page and help is headed to where it is needed.

" With all due respect, I have to disagree with this one. As a dispatcher and firefighter, I've dealt with enough calls to know that in most instances even if a particular unit is actually "still in the process of picking up" at the end of a call, and not technically 10-8....that if a structure fire call or mva with extrication call comes in, the unit will certainly be responding, even if it's just with a couple of minutes additional delay. In other words, the unit will be/is 10-8 if it really needs to be. Having an IC call all units clear is good use of ICS, and saves valuable radio airtime, as opposed to each & every unit calling 10-8.