spin_the_wheel

Stop the Nonsence? What brought that on....1 or 2 housemen...some are not even chauff's are going to get the rigs out and make a difference no way. Speaking from my department of 4 engines 1 heavy rescue and 2 ladders...one a tiller this is not going to solve the problem. There is no need for a paid fire dept. in the town of hempstead...the system still works. People hate to hear this that there are still some very busy departments with alot of work still getting rigs out all the time on the island that are all volunteer. granted anywhere else in the country an area like LI would be paid, but the system still works. Deal with it. Also you state "If you must double the taxes for career firefighters at least you can gaurantee response of qualified personnel" What the mutual aide dept coming in is not qualified? Is this a career vs. volunteer issue?

That's ok I think they have there hands full with the pending federal fruad charges against 7 employees........also to answer your other question about if the housemen are forced to volunteer, not at all....in the past the housemen that have worked for my dept. were a 50 something non firefighter resident who was laid off or I guess let go from TWA. A 50 something mechanic that had to many health issues to ever think about running into a burning building. Only within the past 10 years have there been a few younger guys that were also members of the dept. to take these positions. Also in my department this all started as "alarm maintenance" we had close to 300 gamewell street boxes and the original function of the person was to maintain the alarm system, I did some looking into our history book and as far back as the 30's we had an "alarm maintenance man" and he also responded to alarms and was a member of the dept.

The only reason I say this is that Newsday spent all that mmoney and time on doing that series on the fire service on LI.....they went after anything they could to hammer certain districts and departments, if this practice was in the wrong I am sure it would have been brought out and a stop would have been put to this. Also every district has a lawyer, I am sure if something was not right it would be brought to their attention...espiecially regarding employees, also there is an official title with the nassau county civil service of "firehouse maintainer" If it was against some sort of law someone or some union would have put a stop to it along time ago.

It's not.....there have been "housemen" working for FD's on the island since the 50's...maybe even earlier.

Be careful what you read from that paper...they are the same paper that the feds are ready to sentence 7 because of a phoney circualtion #'s scam. Ok I'm a Long Island F/F, and I see how we are always taking a beating for certain things....rightly so in some areas but thats mostly Fire Districts and there are now new rules to help "police" the spending of some. Also that series singled out maybe a dozen Departments out of almost 200 in nassau and Suffolk. Don't put us all in the same group. A comment on the Housemen....NO distrcit I know of has ever hired a houseman for the reason of solving the problem of not getting firefighters out on alarms. Like many of you have stated in posts what good is a 60 y/o f/f driving the ladder alone.....or 1 or 2 on an Engine alone. The Housemen were hired for just that, to maintain the station(s) and do the day to day business of the Fire Departments. Many are volunteer f/f's in the same department or elsewhere in nassau or suffolk The Departments have decided since they have the guys woprking and if they are interior class A firefighters to let some respond to alarms. Whats wrong with that? Again in my Department of close to 200 and 7 stations we are speaking of 3 people. It does not make a difference if they go or not. Some departments only let the housemen leave if its a working fire, and some are not allowed to go to calls at all. If the figure is right of the 1,200 I wonder how many are retired older guys working for the department, Class B firefighters not interior class, and just plain ordinary Joe's not firefighters working in those positions.

Do the recall members live in town? Who does the recall, wil it tie up a Dispatcher? How fast can they get back in town, without driving crazy. What apparatus do they use, or do they go right to scene? Do they have to get gear at the station first? All this sounds good to get the guys some OT but how fast and efficient is this system? Mutual aid = Manpower.

In Nassau and Suffolk counties there is a civil service title of "Firehouse Maintainer", there is no test for it but there is a title. The Departments I know that allow the guys to go to calls (and not every dept. allows it) they "punch" out and become Firefighters and are covered in case of injury under the Departments coverage as they are acting as Volunteer Firefighters. They have to make up the hours during the week. So for example one maintainer will be doing the yearly scba mask fit tests at night on a Monday...you may think he's making OT but he is making up hours on straight time. Refilling scba bottles at fires, snow plow duty ect.... I'm not saying its right, but its getting jobs done that have to be done, and of course paying not nearly the amount a paid F?F title would receive.

Is it me or it seems every time I put on Westchester to listen to I hear Purchase getting called to the college for an alarm. How many times do they run there? Does the college have their own fire safety group? Thanks be safe.

I noticed on Irvingtons website a section for Horn signals....do they still blow audibles? Are these street alarm boxes? Also does 60 control dispatch them and if so how do they know what code to blow....thanks.

Thanks for the info it sort of looked that way, a group of streets in a certain map box. Does 60 control blow the box #, or do they just do a general horn? Does the pd then take over and sound the correct box#. Also I noticed a "under control" horn code. Do they still use this code? How did this work? Sorry for all the questions but this is interesting, in the year 2008 a dept. still using these horn codes.

Is the Consolidated company the merge of Irving Hose and Jackson Engine?

I agree about the abuse...but I dont think going to and from work is an abuse. If the guy works 100 miles away thats a different story. I onlly brought up the paid thing becasue people are talking about the taxpayer. What costs the taxpayer more a Chiefs car being used for 6 years or a paid Chief getting 100,000 a year for 6 years...and probably a car also! As far as my Dept.s ex Chief status...no red lite, no portable radio and as far as IC, we do not respond in private autos to scenes. If he happens to live down the block and got there first he would call the dispatcher via landline to give him an update, "member on scene reports smoke showing, working fire, recomends sig.12" (slow down). That info is relayed to the incoming units, the highest ranking Officer on the air, a Chief, ...Lt. riding the first due Engine. Once on scene if there are no current Line Officers, (which hardly ever happens) the most recent ex-Chief or Capt will run the scene. An ex-Chief still has to make his % of alarms for the year, Drills Dept. meetings, co.meetings. The only thing he gets is "life Membership status" otherwise you need to do 20 active years for this, and whats that get you....an invitation to the yearly Dept. diner wow. Guys dont get me wrong, I know there are silly abuses of the car, but i dont feel using it to go back and forth to work is an abuse.

On the plus side if you have Interspiro SCBA you can do some diving!....or they say.

Again we will agree to disagree...if you really want to get down to $ and cents...the taxpayer is getting a break, as a Volly Chief you are doing a job that would pay that person upwards of $100,000 not counting medical, and your doing it for free. I think use of the Chiefs car is a deal for the taxpayer. And like I said in my original post, using it for certain things I do agree is wrong...but not using it to go back and forth to ones employment.

we will agree to disagree...I guess its what area you are from and on Long Island this is how it's done...I know there is a lot of LI bashing as of late.....I did not create the system, Im just a part of it...I never once said I was looking for perks......If I choose to be Chief it's what I can offer to my Dept. and what new ideas I may be able to implement. Again I guess you do things different, and have different views on things. Trust me when I tell you I dont care about the car, Id rather be sitting behind the wheel in the tillermans seat responding to calls, but if they do give you a car why let it sit in the driveway 5 days out of the week.

This is one topic that pisses me off...its a well deserved perk. How many poitical positions have a car they take home on the tax payer. Many you don't even know about. Unless you have ever been in the position of Chief you really don't know how much work is involved. Now dont get me wrong taking a trip to Pa. for the day with your wife to the outlet malls or going upstate to a nascar race with your buddies....then of course not, I would not take it. But travel back and forth to work is not a problem in my eyes. To the average joe your doing that 5 times a week ad that up over the course of the year, thats a lot of travel time. The Fire service likes to talk about "what if's" You read all sorts of posts on this board, articles in magazines, books, all about being prepared and how to handle that one event that may happen once in a few years, or maybe never in your own dept. If I were driving home from work and an alarm came in of a house fire with someone trapped...Im no better then a passing motorist at this point. Don't say it can't happen espiecally if your in a busy dept. Not just the house fire case..how about mva's, car fires, wires down ect...you take over the scene, and establish a command presence in your command vehilce. What looks better, you pulling up in the Chiefs car, or some guy runnning around after he's jumped out of his Hyundai trying to get control of the scene. Being in your own car when you have one to use is the WASTE of taxpayer money. I know of one district near me that gives the Chiefs a cap on the gas they get form the district, anything over a certain amount it comes out of the Chiefs pocket. I have no problem with that, but I do have a problem with rules put on using your car to and from your work.

Thanks for the info.

The ebay ad copy staes 1 of 3 made...so If the other 2 are still around I would hope Faireview FD has one of the 2. These were built I think by a Captain of LA City FD back in the 70's. fireengines.net has a thread on this with other pics of his models.

Thanks Brother road trip in my future!!!!!

Does this also mean a Seagrave tiller soon?????

A few towns away from Elmont is Hempstead they had a sister truck but painted yellow, a few acton shots from the mid 80's

Another 2...

Thanks for the info Brother!!! What town is that in? Is the truck still red and white or is it painted another color now? Is it still owned by the tree trim company? Here's some pics of it in action in Elmont.

Anyone out there give me some info on the name and where abouts of the tree trim company that has/had the Elmont/East fFshkill young snorkel in Dutchess county. I am the Historian for the Elmont FD...thanks

Back in the day did'nt the Ladder truck driver tone out the call and wait for a voulnteer tillerman to arrive to roll the ladder. Then 60 control took over dispatch? Does 60 control handle all the dispatch now? thanks guys be safe.