emt301

Rayrider, Law states to move over if safe to do so - otherwise, SLOW DOWN and don't go blasting on by the emergency vehicle. Really, it's not rocket science.

Rest in Peace Josephine.....

You can probably add 911/Public Safety Dispatcher to the list of most stressful jobs too...

That was great !!!

Exactly. Civility is the issue here, not censorship. I agree that a good debate is welcome, but that personal attacks and bashing...whether by direct "frontal assault", or by implied subtle negative/sarcastic comments...shouldn't be welcome here. It has nothing to do with whether or not people here have thick skins... anyone that's in the emergency services has a thick skin already just to do the job...but this is supposed to be an environment for disucssion, learning, and debate...not negativity and antagonism.

From all reports it certainly looks like the 911 dispatcher screwed up in this incident, and this mistake certainly may have contributed to the officers fate. It's a true tragedy for all involved. However, I'm wondering why the "I find a lot of dispatchers are lazy" remark. Doesn't seem to accomplish anything positive here. There are plenty of lazy folks out there in ALL fields of employment, in both the public and private sector, in all fields. Most of us have come across them at some point in our lives. Yes, this unfortunately includes some dispatchers, and yes, unfortunately, even some firefighters, cops, & EMS workers too. What I think we need to remember here is that the majority of dispatchers out there really care about doing the job well, just as do the majority of our brother/sister firefighters, police officers, and EMS workers.

EMS is handled by surrounding agencies. Crash/Rescue responsibilities fall upon the airport operations staff (members of IAFF local I-62, at least as of 2001 when I was last working there), with mutual aid dispatched as deemed necessary by the aiport supervisor on duty. A member of the airport operations staff serves as incident commander on all aircraft incidents occuring on the airport property. Structural & other types of fires are handled by surrounding mutual aid departments, with their departmental officers in charge of the incident. The airport crash/rescue trucks will sometimes make an intial/first response to the scene on these non-aircraft related incidents.

Congratulations to Dave, Monique, Marty, and Mohegan FD !!!!

Sounds good - but unfortunately $50,000 to start seems to be the exception rather than the rule. Most dispatching jobs I'm familiar with start between about $28,000-$36,000, and you don't reach $50,000 until you've been on the job for a few years (and some don't even reach $50,000 at top pay !!!).

Speaking with the perspective of having been a weather forecaster for a number of years, these rounds of frequent springtime thunderstorms actually happen every few to several years here in the Hudson Valley, with quieter years in between. You probably don't recall (being the young guy that you are , but in May of 1998 we had a few rounds of severe thunderstorms, and the same thing happened again in May/June of either 2000 or 2001 (don't remember exactly which year, as I was at training in Salt Lake City both years, but my wife told me about the storms & I saw them on the weather channel). We had frequent storms once again during the Summer of either 2004 or 2005 (again, my memory is fading, but it was one of those 2 summers). Bottom line, after we go though a couple of "quiet" years, we get a busy year and it seems like the weather is getting much worse, but it really isn't. It's just cyclical.

I'll pass it along !!

There was a situation here in Dutchess a year or two ago, where a helicopter was requested for a reported motorcycle accident on one of the area highways. The helicopter was requested by a responding unit...before any FD/EMS/PD personnel had actually arrived on scene for a size-up. It ended up being a disabled motorcycle - a motorcycle that had run out of gas. Seems to me that someone (FD/EMS/PD) needs to actually assess the scene before a helicopter is put on standby or launched - this was a total waste of a valuable resource, a resource that someone else may have legitimately needed at the same time.

D.A. Difiore really dropped the ball with all of the plea deals. Kudos to the Detective for speaking the truth. If the people of Westchester are lucky, the D.A. won't get re-elected next time - someone who's actually tough on crime will get into office.

Speaking as a former Westchester Cty Airport Ops/ARFF member, I wish everyone best of luck with the upcoming drill - hopefully the changes in the plan are proven effective !!

TL2L31, No offense intended - but - if we follow this logic, then the standard "non-airport" initial 1st alarm assignment for smoke coming from a building or a possible structure fire should really be the equivalent of a 2nd or 3rd alarm assignment because the surrounding buildings, woods, cars, fields, outhouses, and any other exposures...might...be threatened. Really just doesn't make sense. The airport already responds with 2 crash trucks - with those units already enroute or on scene, I still think a tiered response from the surrounding departments is the way to go - there's no need to strip most of the fire protection from the areas surrounding the airport due to an inbound Cessna having problems. Obviously if it's a larger aircraft - i.e. more passengers & more fuel - then a larger response is certainly justified.

The plan has always been flawed since I worked at HPN back in 2001 - ya get the same mutual aid response whether it's for a Boeing 737 fully loaded, or a Cessna with 1 person on board. I understand the need for lots of equipment for a large aircraft with many souls on board and lots of fuel, but to strip the surrounding area on account of a Cessna with 1 or 2 passengers & limited fuel has always been ridiculous. A tiered response is the way to go, and should have been put in place a long time ago. The aiport's 2 crash trucks can handle the majority of small aircraft incidents, with just limited mutual aid fire assistance and an EMS/Law Enforcement response required. Just my 2 cents worth....

I agree. I just e-mailed the Governor and my Assemblyman regarding this matter - I hope it helps. He got injured trying to protect all of us, now it's our turn to help him and all NYS Troopers who could get in this situation down the road.

Sady, and once again, it seems like people are starting to take things way too personally on these forums.

First, with all due respect to your rank as a chief, I don't like your implications that I don't know what I'm talking about here. I'm sorry, but no - I don't remember the exact location, date, time, and units from the fire from 3 or 4 years ago...I've dispatched many, many, many calls since then - both in Westchester and in Dutchess where I now work. As I no longer have access to 60-control's data base, no, I can't give you those stats. However, I was working at 60 when Yonkers pulled their units from standby coverage in New Rochelle (again, I'm not sure if it was the Bonnefoy PL fire or not). I remember the incident because I was so surprised by YFD's decision to pull out. This is not "slander", it's what happened during the particular incident that I'm recalling. Apparently YFD's procedures that are NOW in place weren't followed that day. That's all I was saying. I didn't personally attack you or YFD, there was no "slander" spoken or implied. Second, what I mean by "prematurely" is that 60 control/NRFD didn't decide to release YFD - YFD advised 60 & NRFD that YFD units were returning to quarters. Normally mutual aid is released by the department running the fire, not by mutual aid departments assigned to covering stations. If you recall, in one of your posts you state that YFD REFUSES to sit in a firehouse for more than 30 minutes if that department hasn't started a recall. Kind of a bold policy...I've just never seen a mutual aid/covering department decide that they're going to leave before being relieved by the department actually running the fire scene.

No offense, but for what it's worth, I'll vouch for him - I recall that on at least one occasion while I was on duty, Yonkers FD pulled their units from standby duty out of New Rochelle's quarters pre-maturely. It's been a while since I worked at 60-control so I don't remember the specifics, but I do know that it...has....happened. Whether or not it was Bonnefoy Pl I can't say for sure.

Having grown up down there, I can tell you that the speed limit is probably in the neighborhood of 40-50 mph...so unless this person was responding to a call, 80 mph wasn't just speeding, it was downright reckless. I wonder what the union would be saying if one of it's member's vehicles was struck by a non-union member (i.e. civilian, firefighter, etc.) doing 80 mph in the same speed zone. Hmmm.

Ditto.

If things are still like they were back when I worked at 60 control, R-4 is...not...actually OOS most of the time - it's "cross-manned". The crew for TL11 also is the crew for R-4...and they will take whichever rig is appropriate for the call. If the call is a firematic one then TL11 will respond. If the call is for an MVA with extrication or some other type of rescue assignment, then R-4 responds and TL11 is left in quarters. In the event of a multi-alarm structure fire, TL11 will generally respond, and then staff re-called to station 1 will man R-4 when they arrive, bringing the rig to the scene if needed. Anyone with corrections feel free to post.....

Yes. I believe in 2 terms then they're out !!!

Nice. What about when firefighters witness a purse snatching or mugging, and then chase down the offender, holding him until the police arrive for the arrest (i.e. this has happened in NYC). I hope you're just as tough on these firefighters, and tell them that they should stick to firefighting and not police work. No offense intended, but I believe all of us in emergency services do the best we can at any given time, and in any given situation. Sure, he didn't use the best judgment, but was instinctively just trying to do the right thing. The main thing is that he's ok, and able to continue serving the public & be with his family.