spin_the_wheel

No more then 10 years consecutive. Do you have 5 year terms? If term limits are good enough for the President of these United States then it sure should be good enough for Fire Commisioners.

Not everywhere on LI.

Time and time again you hear these stories.....you can never get in trouble if you send someone to check it out, but you will always get in trouble if you dont and the s^%$ hits the fan. Its like a game of hot potato..never get left holding the potato!!!

pcfdeng58 I sent you a private email....great pics!

Nyack FD in Rockland still uses wood ladders on both the tillers in service.

I noticed a rapid intervention team rig in the thread on the new Ossining Chiefs car. How is this unit used? Is it a dept. wide squad or do the 2 truck companies and rescue man it? any pics of the rig? Thanks guys be safe.

whats lidsville......

X635 any pics of the other station being built? Was'nt there a second company getting a new house down the road? Are they still building the second station?

If the Mods want to move this elsewhere it's ok....but thought someone could post pics of the real rig if you got em......this is on ebay now. If it were maybe $100 I would be bidding on it I think!!!! Code 3 needs to produce somemore old school stuff! http://cgi.ebay.com/AHRENS-FOX-1939-ONE-OF...1QQcmdZViewItem

Whats wrong with trying to make the Volunteers feel more like a part of the team? yes to 9 out of 10 its a calling, but even if you are part of that 9 and if as a volunteer you are limited to the responses you can go to (brush, cars, dumpsters, wires, carb all handled by a still paid engine) cant ride the rigs, go straight to the scene in your auto, the only time you really do any work is at a working fire...and if your department only gets 3 a year...I can see how you feel like you are not doing much. Im not saying this is how Rye is doing it, but I do know some other combo dept.s and how the volunteers are used. So if letting the Volunteers train on a spare rig and use it for some alarm assignments ,go out on training by themselves, allow them to go out of town on mutula aide calls, makes them feel like they belong to the team so be it.

Big difference between driving it and operating it......I hate to burst your bubble but.....It's not rocket science to "fly the stick", this is a small wheel base rig, no pump on it, with a pre piped water way...no big deal it should be very user friendly. On another note the volunteers cant take an engine and ladder not manned by the paid guys to an alarm?

Is there a messgae board like emtbravo for Bergen County NJ FD's? Thanks Be Safe.

Hey is it a promotion exam for the Fire Alarm Dispatchers if they take the test....or even the Shop Mechanics and Electricians? They all work for FDNY?

Interesting how the tillerman spot was filled, I had thought 1 ladder was a paid ladder and the other was the volunteer rig. was this system always used with 1 paid driver waiting on a voulunteer response, or were there 2 man paid crews at one time and cuts forced the ladder to have only 1 man? Thanks guys be safe.

First Rye now Port Chester...2 more tillers are no more.

What are the freq.s for Port Chester? A few years back they were on the main county freq. I believe, do they tone out on a different freq. now? Also is 60 control doing the dispatch full time 24/7. Thanks be safe.

I noticed the haz-mat rig on the front cover of the Jan-Feb Fire Apparatus Journal....who mans this rig and does it respond on anything other then a special call from one of the County departments. Thanks guys be safe.

Yes interesting...one question when an alarm comes in do the volunteers respond to the stations and respond like this, or do they go to scene. If the f/f is out on a als call does a volunteer Chauff respond to get the engine that is unmanned. Long Beach on LI had a signal years back that would indicate to the volunteers that the ladder Chauff was on a ambulance call and a Ladder Chauff was needed to take the ladder. Thanks for the info.

Every rig is assigned a paid Chauff.....are there any other paid f/f's also how many stations..sorry if this has been covered before.

Does a paid crew guys run this rig? Are there any rigs in Peekskill operated just by the Volunteers? This seems to be a Dept. that runs well with the combo status.

You know what I notice sometimes. for a given area there is a paid FD with 2-4 on duty and and run 600 calls...they same area is sometimes covered by a separate EMS service that runs 2500 calls...but its all voulunteer? Go figure

I hate to say it but it seems like this comes down to a career vs. Volunteer Union vs. Non union issue. I'm not saying its right but everyone else speaks whats on their mind...... The IAFF has been trying to get a foothold on Long Island for decades and its not going to happen anytime soon. I was speaking to someone about this and they told me that there is a Dept. in Suffolk county with an x amount of Housemen and they are in the IAFF!! Its from a good source, if thats the case why did they accept them? Union dues? Years ago a wise old FDNY Chief once told me hanging out inj our Voulunteer house..."laddie if the 10,000 volunteers on Long Island were card carrying, dues paying members of the IAFF you would never hear a peep from the Unions against the Vollies" Hey it is what it is.

thanks guys Im not hearing them, maybe the transmitter 60 is using is not as powerful as when it was done in house in Port Chester.

It's ok, I'm not here to try and casue a p$^%ing match, but they really are hired to do other things. They do routine maintenance on the rigs, complete work orders that are done for the rigs (replace lights, bulbs, fix sirens, mount tools, replace broken tools or repair) repair gear or bring it to be repaired if they can't, fuel the the trucks once a week, take rigs out to be serviced that are under warrenty, ladder testing, pump testing. They do the state fire reports as well as the attendance reports for the companies (after each alarm a check in sheet is faxed to the district building) Maintain the scba bottles, they have to be hydrostatic tested on a schedule, refill scba bottles at scenes and whenever it is needed. Mask fit testing, hand out pagers, gear, keep track of the yearly physicals and notify each member, we must do one during the month of their birthday. They keep up the grounds and the 3 buildings that are owned by the district. Paint, wax floors, snow plow duties when needed. Maintain the few remaining alarm boxes left. We have our own training tower in town and they basicly built the interior walls and change them around from time to time. Meet with outside vendors for any work that must be done to the buildings or rigs. These are only some of the things I see them doing. There are many things that have to be done by nfpa and Osha Im sure that have to be done once a year that I have no idea about. Dont most departments have a support staff to do these things? Larger departments have 30 or 40...so why is it hard to believe a smaller department can have 2-4 doing this. I guess we will agree to disagree on the purpose of the housemen. Anyone coming to the island drop me a pm if you want to check out my department, your always welcome. Be safe.