spin_the_wheel

Date:9-26-05 Time:12:26 Location: 459 Morris Dr. Frequency: 484.9625 Units Operating: All of Elmont FD, fast team from Franklin Sq., Engine from Malverne FD,Nassau County PD ambulance, standby Elmont HQ Floral park Ladder and West Hempstead FD Description Of Incident: Heavy fire entire first floor 2 story cape p/d. Writer:

Date: 9-21-05 Time:20:55 Location: 53 Buffalo St. Frequency: 484.9625 Units Operating: Elmont 2 Engines, 1 Tower Ladder, 2 ambulances, 1 rehab unit. (2 engines, Tiller Ladder and Heavy Rescue truck at Nassau County Fire Service academy training.) Fast Truck from Franklin Sq. FD. Standby at Elmont HQ Ladder from Floral Park and Engine from West Hempstead FD. Description Of Incident:Working Kitchen Fire 1 story ranch p/d. Writer: Ladder47

I am not sure if this topic has been covered before........How many Westchester Departments still use Gamewell Street Alarm Boxes or a similar system? Also which Departments used to have them...street boxes are very rare in this day and age and I bet many of the Jr. Firefighters have never seen one in person.

Date: 9-8-05 Time:08:43 Location: 1656 Greenway Blvd. Frequency: 484.9625 Units Operating: All of Elmont FD...4 Engines, 1 Tower Ladder, 1 Tiller Ladder, 1 ambulance, 1 Heavy Rescue, 1 rehab unit. Fast Team from Valley Stream FD, 1 Engine Malverne FD. Nassau County Police Ambulances. 1 Ladder Floral Park FD, 1 Engine West Hempstead FD Standby Elmont Fire HQ. Description Of Incident: 20ft. Boat in driveway between 2 1 story ranch p/d's. Boat destroyed and heavy fire damage to exposures on both houses facing driveway. Homeowner and another person second degree burns, transported to NUMC Burn Center. Writer: LaDDER 47

Date: 9-6-05 Time:07:56 Location: 1768 Dutch Broadway Frequency: 484.9625 Units Operating: All of Elmont Fd...4 Engines, 1 Tower Ladder, 1 Tiller Ladder, 1 ambulance, 1 Heavy Rescue, 1 Rehab unit. Fast Team from Franklin Sq. FD, 1 Ladder Valley Stream FD, 1 Ladder Floral Park FD. Nassau County PD Ambulances. Standby at Elmont Fire HQ 1 Ladder Malverne FD, 1 Engine West Hempstead FD. Description Of Incident: Multiple fires in large split level p/d. Writer: Ladder 47

very interesting about the ryebrook deal...do they have Captains or Officers???? NO Chiefs for RyeBrook???

Date: 8-26-05 Time:18:31 Location: V/O 127 Elzey Ave. Frequency: 484.9625 Units Operating: All of Elmont FD, 4 engines, 1 tower ladder, 1 tiller ladder, 1 ambulance, 1 heavy rescue, 1 rehab unit. Nassau county Police ambulance, Floral Park FD tower ladder, Fast team from Franklin Square FD. 1 Engine West Hempstead FD satndby at Elmont FD HQ. Description Of Incident: Heavy fire to rear wood deck, enclosed additon to rear of house and second floor of 2 story private dwelling. Damage houses on exposures on 2,3 and 4 sides. Trees in vicinity of exposures also on fire. Writer: Ladder 47

Date: 8-25-05 Time:02:50 Location: 26 Virginia Dr. Frequency:484.9625 Units Operating: All of Elmont FD...4 engines, 1 tower ladder, 1 tiller ladder, 1 ambulance, 1 heavy Rescue, 1 rehab unit. Fast team from Franklin Square FD. 1 engine from West Hempstead and 1 Ladder from Floral Park standby at Elmont Fire HQ. Description Of Incident: 2 story private dwelling,working Kitchen fire upon arrival. Writer: Ladder 47

if u are speaking of my post...no im not, check your history, back in the day fire companies would compete with each other to a degree that was almost unthinkable today, cutting hoses from water sources so the other company could get water on the fire, fist fights.....Check out old district maps from the late 1800's and early 1900's....the stations are all around the center of town which was the most built up areas on the maps.......they all would build stations near the center of town to beat each other to the fire. Some departments have many companies with the "#1" designation...engine co.1, hose co.1, steamer co.1, ladder co.1, chemical co. 1...everyone wanted to be #1...really.

In Nassau County Elmont has the most active stations...7.

I am not from Westchester but enjoy this site, one of the best sites dedicated to a single county. As for station placement I think this seems to be true for any county, the older Departments that run or ran as individual companies seem to have multiple stations in the same area as others. This was caused by the towns way back when being smaller and the "downtown" area being in one place. When Companies were formed many were formed to compete with each other, and as social clubs. In many towns being part of a Fire Company was the thing to do. As communities grew, and were built up most firehouses stayed put. 100 years later you have 2 or 3 stations sometimes within a small radius. Newer Departments were able to form and place stations in more strategic locations.

On Long Island Elmont FD is 100% volunteer, one of the truck companies in town replaced a rear mount with a tiller and they get out all the time in fact 708 is one of the first trucks out all the time. I guess it depends on the makeup of the company. They have 16 chauff.s' of a company of about 27 members.

Will they be looking to replace this rig in the near future?? And if so will they get a new Tiller rig???

Almost anyone who has used a tiller and no longer do will tell you the reason they no longer run one is the need for 2 chauffeurs, not for what the truck can do. They are the most versatile ladder truck you can get, as far as maneuvering through congested streets and setting up in just about any placement situation. I know of a Volunteer Company on LI who for 75 years never ran with a tiller rig, and in 2004 put in service a Spartan LTI tiller, it's the best rig they have ever used and have adapted to its use very well. Of course the are not the norm when it comes to this but they have a strong shift worker force of members who are around during the day and also have 16 chauffers in the company.

As for the previous post of dispatching your own department and knowing it better.......are all the paid Port Chester firemen who acted as dispatchers from Port Chester? Or are they from a civil service list where the last 3 hired are from various parts of Westchester or out of county? If so they are no better then some one at 60 control untill they learn the area and system. I'm from Nassau and we hear the same excuses about "knowing your own department" and its just not true. If you have a decent cad system and quality dispatchers who know how to call take there is no problem at all period. Maybe this was so decades ago when there was little use of a cad system and the callers would say "there is a barn burning next to old man cartwrights place" then knowing the area would be a must...not anymore. It may take time to work the "kinks" out, but I cant imagine a kink being so big to delay an alarm where it is a life hazard with the exception of equipment failure which would not be the fault of the dispatcher. 99% of any major fire gets multuple phone calls so even if the first call there was confusion of an address the second or third calls would clear it up where there would be no delay in getting the call out. The kinks I see when a larger department moves to another dispatch agency is usually with unit response when a box or zone system is involved, and in Port's case they have a paid engine on the road in an instant, any problem with engines being assigned when they should not be would not matter as the paid crew will get there in no time.

They are not in a union and "clock out" to respond to fire calls, most of the time only general alarms or working fires...I'm told the time lost is made up somewhere in the pay period. Compensation from injuries would come from that departments procedure for workmans comp or line of death compensations, all of this would be considered working as a volunteer, not as a "houseman". I know this does not sit well with the paid unions, in Nassau we are lucky we do not have to deal with the animosity between the paid and Volunteer population. Of the 71 Departments only 2 have a small paid force on duty, 1 uses this force to run ambulance calls. Both of these Departments have had this situation since the time they formed almost. I remeber a few years back didnt the paid union in westchester have a demonstration at the Purchase firehouse when that district hired a paid person who did "other" work and also responded to alarms?

maybe so...the "Firehouseman" title....but most are getting paid a very good wage..in fact I know a Department that hired 2 at almost 50,000 to start.

Without giving away a figure, is the amount per alarm a standard throughout NJ..or is it up to each County or even Department on what the figure is. On Long Island most Departments have a LOSAP program, my Department you can collect at age 55, but I would prefer a system with a check every few months.

In Nassau County on Long Island most larger Departments and even some smaller ones have this type of system. In Nassau there is a civil service title of "Firehouseman" as far as payscale goes it varies from Department to Department.

Reading some of these posts you would think you were in Nassau County...my neck of the woods, Nassau County Firecom has had a few larger departments switch over to them in the past few years and it is the same thing, it takes awhile to get the kinks out....now my question I met some guys from Port Chester a few years back who explained the system they had with the paid guys, if I am correct it was 2 paid engines at opposite ends of the district with 2 guys each. Depending on where the alarm was determined which engine responded and which stayed back to dispatch. If a second alarm came in the paid engine that was on radio handed the whole ball of wax over to 60 control..radio and phones.....correct?? Not for anything thtat seemed like a poor resource of manpower. My question is now that 60 is dispatching full time, are all the on duty paid manpower responding on one engine? This would make a for a first due truck with at least a crew to do something with....and I say it with all do respect, Nassau has a simillar problem with a department that has some paid crews on duty, and rather then combine all the manpower on 1 rig, they have them relocating to HQ for radio, and a second engine with only 2. Stay safe all.

Is 60 control doing dispatch full time or does the PD dispatch FD as well.......

the PD a year or so back did them full time am I correct? p.s.I am not from Westchester so excuse my questions if they are off topic. thanks or somewhat behind the times.

Greetings new to this site, who did the dispatch for New Rochelle prior to 60 control? I'm surprised they do not have their own dispatch since they are somewhat of a large city. Also from reading some back threads it seems some people think 60 control still has alot to prove, I would think having New Rochelle on board would be a positive and a feather in their cap.

about when did 60 Control take over dispatch and was it an easy transition?

In Nassau some departments have an automatic mutual aide system in place that the dispatchers follow......"2nd alarm, 3rd alarm ect.....but there are still Chiefs who call mutual aide based on "who's your freind this month" and "You got us in last month , we'll return the favor" which can result in apparatus being called that is not the closest to the fire scene. Back to the New Rochelle question, did they have their own Fire Dispatchers or did the PD dispatch them? Was it a $$ issue? Was it the cities decision or did the FD want to do it?