spin_the_wheel

I'll see if I can get a picture, New Hyde park is only 2 towns to the North of me. When it was in service at "Estates Engine Co.3" it was painted all White.

Im pretty sure FD's and PD's get a special rate for gasoline that is still in the low 3's per gallon, most agencies that have their own pumps are not paying what you see at gas stations.

About 95,000 came from outside grants. Oh and whats wrong with hiring a mechanic or custodian? Guess its the lidsville thing.

Not for nothing but I think 2 lives are worth $225,00 a year, and Im sure their family members will agree.

Is it true what I heard that the career staff consists of a driver for each rig.....so the rigs are responding with driver only? And if a career f/f calls in sick and it does not get covered that unit is OOS for the shift? That makes no sense, why not train some volunteers as Chauff.s so the rig does not have to go OOS, is it a union issue? If all the rigs will be in one house the best way to go would be to have the 6 (assuming its 1 carrer man per rig, 6 ) on duty career staff man 1 Engine with 4 and the Ladder with 2. Have the other rigs respond with the volunteers. Just asking, everyone has their own way of doing things and what works for some does not work for all.

looks like a Seagrave.

yes and I can see it eliminating some paid positions as well, if alll those towns combine manpower, stations, apparatus ect....the small paid crews in some of those depts. can be eliminated in favor of an all volunteer system, pooling the combined manpower of all those depts. into less stations and less rigs to man. Big $ savings there.

and your point is?

Old Elmont 707, 1987 Mack, first due truck to Belmont Race Track.

Yes it is out for this year.

Mamoroneck village has a Sutphen tiller, do they still make them? I know there were very few made, a dozen or so. Im sure if you wanted one they would build one since the design and mechanics are there. Anyone know anything else?

Interesting, I heard a rumor Ferrara is working on one, now that would be interesting.

Hey look at all the free soup you can get! I started way before any of these things happened, LOSAP, tax breaks ect....and I will still be around if they dissapeared tomorrow. It is what it is the Unions hate this stuff because it helps the Volunteer system...at least where Im from. But thats jmo. Be safe.

How is that hypocrisy that Volunteers get some benefits? Sounds like you dont like this idea because it is helping retain the Volunteers and keep the Voulunteer system alive and well in many many places.

Geez it cant get any further away from traditions with yellow trucks and silver gear. Good God.

Now that would be a nice Code 3 model.........Lord knows they need something new to jump start that company...but thats another story for a another day.

As long as you are not doing volunteer work in the Dept. you also are getting paid with, or go mutual aide to that Dept. like going m/a into FDNY with your hometown dept. if you are also a FDNY member, the union cannot tell you not to volunteer in your hometowns, unless they try and bully you or make it hard for you. Just look at the dozens and dozens of FDNY firefighters who died on 9-11, that were also Volunteers in Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland ect....big names, well respected around the country, training instructors, Chiefs, ex Chiefs of their hometown Depts. NO unon was going to tell them NOT to volunteer. And NO union is going to tell me NOT to, unless it is the above situation. I respect that "rule" but being a paid firefighter and a volunteer nearby should be NO problem.

As far as the gas costs...Im sure your district gets the government rate which is still under $2 a gallon. Just because the pump at the corner is close to $4, thats not what FD's and PD's pay for gas.

As some of you may know from my past posts ,and private im's, I am from Long Island and get bashed every now and then, it comes with the territory I guess. There was a prior thread here where this was brought up and I got bashed for defending the use of a Chiefs vehicle going to and from work no less. I Happen to be running for 3rd assistant in my Dept. this April. If I win and get a car to use I will use it to go to and from work (about 5 miles one way), will I use it to go to a Mets game....no, could I probably. Will I use it to visit my Brother in Suffolk, yes. Will I use it to visit my wifes sister in CT., no way. Will I dig into my own pocket for gas from time to time, of course even though I dont have to. To me it all comes down to common sense, especially when there are people out there who take note of this stuff. To be honest with you 99% of the people in my district could care less about how the FD is run no matter how many Newsday articles are run. The fire tax is only $231 a year. Peanuts compared to the rest of the county and school taxes. So the Chiefs get a county bid vehicle to use, we dont have a paid Chief making $190,000 a year, the tax payers dont have to pay for that, so they are still way ahead of the game. Wear and tear from personal use, come on give me a break, the wear and tear is coming from the over 2000 calls a year my Dept. does, all the "hot" runs produce the wear and tear. Your always going to have some people complain, but the majority are in favor of what we do, at least in my neck of the woods.

Any pics of the rig?

I thought so, and thanks for the update, I will pass this along to a few com centers, 25 years would be great, if I remember right this was up to pass a few months after 9-11 years back and was defeated. I had thought during that time it would have been a lock to pass. People dont understand the stress of the job. Alot of high paying jobs, the people are getting paid for "what may happen, when the S%$t hits the fan" well.....almost every time the phone rings, the S%$t has hit the fan for someone. The worst thing in the world is happening to that person on the other end of the phone, and emergency service dispatchers are dealing with it. Many years ago I was talking to a well respected person in the emergency dispatcher field and he was telling me a story about when Regan fired all those air traffic controllers in the 80's, many of them got hired as emergency service dispatchers. he told me 75% of them washed out, and many said it was to hard of a job to handle. Imagine that.

Isnt NY State retirement system 30 years and age 55?

Go join www.nassaufdrant.com there are 4 pages of threads dedicated to newsday and the back and forth with the FD's the last few years.

Read this..... http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=34512

let me just add to my post above about a 10 year cap. In MOST cases, the commisioners are EX Chiefs, (in a Volunteer system) so figure the years they were a line officer, then in the Chiefs office...its close to, or more then 10 years. Now 10 years as a commissioner...your talking close to 20 years as someone with power to run things. Thats plenty of time to make your mark, time to move on and let new blood run the ship.