spin_the_wheel

Anyone have a copy for sale of this book from last summer? Please PM me if there is one available thanks.

Not to many mid mount straight sticks being produced anymore. I can see that thing bottoming out in the rear alot. I bet it would have some problems just getting off the ramp of many firehouses and turning onto the street.

One of the most important things a Volunteer Dept can do is to create an Explorer or Juniors program. This usually creates a steady flow of interested people for the right reasons. The years spent as an Explorer/Junior gives the kids a chance to really see what its about. Do they all go on to be productive members giving 5-10 years to your Dept....no. But most do give you some years, or join another Dept if they move. The last 14 of 17 Chiefs of my department were Explorers with the next 3 of 4 coming up the ranks also being Explorers. To run for Chief you need to have 10 years in the Department. So our program has beeen a succes. We have over 20 members in the group now. Our post was created in 1964, one of the first fire Explorer programs in NY State.

Emergency service dispatchers jobs have multiple layers to it as well. It's not just answering a phone as you put it. Maybe not 100k but more then $40,000. We will agree to disagree.

I always say emergency service dispatchers should be paid like air traffic controllers. "Hold on now Spin how do you figure?" Well it's just as stressful, maybe more so and just as demanding with little error for someone to have a "bad day" as air traffic contollers. Air traffic controllers always say.."well we get paid for what MIGHT happen..when the S&^( hits the fan so to speak." This is true. Moving 1000's of people around the sky each day is no easy task and when something goes wrong they have to perform with no margin of error. And when things do go bad they are almost catastrophic. Thankfully this does not happen very often. But think about it...almost EVERY time the phone rings at the 911 center or local comm room the S&^( HAS hit the fan for SOMEONE. Maybe not 300 people on a 767, but for someone, some family or some large group (Boston, West Tx can you imagine the phone calls that these centers must have recieved.) somewhere is having the worst day of their lives. They are having their own catastrophic event if you will. Mini catastrophes day in and day out. It never ends. Dispatchers also work under the stress of a race against a clock to accurately expidite all emergencies day in and day out. No room for error. Air traffic controllers are not racing against a clock. Anyone who has sat on a runway for an extended time knows this!!! Couple of other things, its a fact that in the 80's when Regan laid off the air traffic controllers many sort jobs and were hired in emergency dispatcher jobs. MOST could not handle it and left the job. Also a friend of mine who is in the air traffic control Bizz, said its really very hard for a controller to collide 2 planes in the sky despite what everyone may think.

Elmont Long Island... Total-1764 Fire (includes MVA's)-1404 Ambulance-360 Super storm Sandy alarms 10-29-10-30-12- 99 alarms Nor' Easter 11-7-12- 43 alarms Working fires- 10 Mutual aid fire calls- 47 (FAST or additional ladder for 9 surrounding districts)

What systems are your Departments going with? Are some not getting them? My Dept. is in the process of outfitting and training all Interior firefighters with the Gemtor class 2 harness and Petzl EXO bail out system with the new hook design. We had to do a combination of 10 different jumps. 2 from window sill and 2 from substantial object in bunker pants, and helmet. The same jumps in full gear with SCBA. Then 1 with full gear on air, and the last in full gear on air and blacked out face piece. It knocked the hell out of me. The actual steps in executing the jumps are not hard at all. It was the number of jumps that wore me down. (And most of the older guys as well!) For those who have the systems in place, has any special procedures been developed with this adition to the gear? Like not having to wear pants or bag for brush fires. It really did not add alot of weight to the pants, but I have yet to work at any length at a worker yet. Driving can be a problem if your cab area is tight for the Chauff. and Officer. It sits awkard on the right side towards your back. If your used to wearing your portable radio slung to the right side this will interfere with the bag, and the moves you will need to do. If you know your getting a system wear the bag is on the right side start wearing your radio to the left. It takes some time to get used to, espiecially if you have been wearing it like this for a long period of time. Petzl has a new bag system that is on the right leg, sort of wear your pocket may be if you have them on your pants. Anybody have this bag/pocket? I have only tried 2 systems the NARS/RPI system and the Petzl which we went with. Thoughts and comments welcome.

I have since worked a few fires with the bag and to be honest during the "heat" of the moment working I did not even know it was on. During the overhaul stages, climbing up and down some stairs a few times, moving and "chucking stuff" I was starting to feel it. Working MVA's when you need a tool it can get in the way when your trying to get your body in some tight spots in and around the car while using the tool. Overall the jury is still out on my feelings on it. On a side note I do have a spare set of gear. No bail out system on it. After one of the working fires my gear was drying and I used the spare. It felt like I was wearing a pair of jeans compared to what it feels like wearing a set with the bail out system. And to think we all complained about the weight of the bunker gear when we first got it. I wonder what it would feel like wearing hip boots at a fire now!!!!

Whats the on duty staffing for greenville Seth? Sending a crew of 6 is a very large response for a paid or volunteer company to send in this day and age. Do they have a call back sytem or volunteers to back up the crew leaving district.

To date counties who have sent resources.... Albany, Allegany, Broome, Columbia, Delaware, Dutchess, Franklin, Greene, Monroe, Oneida, Orange, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Senica, Tompkins, Ulster, Warren, Westchester. Again thank you to all, some of you have traveled a very long distance with your rigs. Not an easy trip.

Before rigs are sent home they check back in at the EOC in Westbury and their rigs fuel is topped off at DPW.

A quick thanks to all the mutual aid companies coming to the island. You know the old saying..it's not a matter of "if" its a matter of "when", well for many in NJ and NY along the shore lines "when" came on October 29th. Areas have been decimated and will never be the same. A few quick pics from the EOC in Westbury at Nassau Fire communications. Oh and by the way the "Keep Calm and Carry On" sign was in place months before the storm came in! Also any emt bravo members who make it into the Comm area ask for Mike Capo. Be Safe out there guys.

I noticed some number designations as "reserved" and some "reserved" with a particular departments name attached. I would guess that the reserved numbers with department names are unit numbers that these departments had at one time, or are just reserves for the future. Who reserved the unit numbers without a department name?

Something to reflect on should you be involved with evacuations.....be safe all. http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2012/08/28/news/doc503c1f7194718916273293.txt

RIP. Thoughts and prayers go out to Family, Friends and to all the agencies he was a part of. God speed.

RIP Brother...Officer Lopez was also an active member of the Dix Hills Fire Dept in Suffolk County.

Nassau County has a very detailed plan with units going into Queens and Brooklyn. In Nassau County each one of the 9 Battalions has a Dept designated as an EOC (emergency operations center). The EOC opens up and the units/departments from that battalion participating in the drill respond to the EOC. No more then 1 Engine and 1 Ladder form any one department. The EOC records the crew memebers info making sure certain criteria is met, as well as having some accountability on who is going where, and hopefully preventing self dispatch of units into the FDNY that had happened on 9-11. Also at this point in time if a certain department that was scheduled to go does not meet the requirements, another department in that battalion can be notified to fill that assignment. The info is then faxed over to the County communications center. From the EOC the units then move up to one of the "staging areas" at a Nassau Dept on the Queens/Nasau border. At this location each Dept will meet with a Nassau County Fire Marshal who acts as a "escort" so to speak for those units and will respond to the assigned firehouse with them. From my understanding the Nassau units do have to meet certain criteria. (such as X amount of interior firefighters, NO FDNY members, NO Chiefs vehicles, they ride with the rigs) They have a "drill" 2 or 3 times a year. On a Sunday morning, departing county around 9am...Nassau will send a large assignment of units to various locations that these companies would be relocated to in the event they are called. Units rotate each time. Nassau County Fire fieldcom goes into the Queens co at times, as well as fire marshal haz mat units and members. They spend the morning with the companies and the area they would go to in the event this all went down. Companies in the past have taken in some alarms with the companies, even worked at a worker in one case I heard about. (just the man power put to work a bit, no rigs were in use) Drilled and flowed some water, had lunch with the house, and the Nassau units are back in county around 1 or 2pm. All in all the experiences have been good. The jury is still out on whether this elaborate plan will work out in a true emergency. In the end the plan will only be as good as the current leadership of the Nassau Fire service at that time. Do the right thing and follow the plan or play cowboy and rush in with no accountability whatsover.

So noted.

Ok before all you guys (and gals) go nuts, this was posted before in a thread. This was created by a local body shop, a freind of the FD for shows and to participate in the Depts. anniversary parade last summer. The Mayor, city council and the Dept approved all of this. NO ONE from the FD drives it and it is not a responding unit in the FD. It's just for show. Be safe all.

Don't let that stuff bother you. I'm sure when the volunteer Depts have large scale drills (Westchester airport) they dont invite paid Departments.

A couple of thoughts on websites. First they are really not expensive to have created and then maintain. There are a few FD related hosting companies that will create and host your sites for great prices. The tech age is here like it or not. Every department will want one and every Dept should have one if at all possible. Even if it just posts info on how to contact the department with phone #'s business #, emergency# and a valid email. Also the departments "mission staement" should be on it. (Every department should have a written mission statement) It's not so much a matter of trying to have everything the "other" guy has, even stuff you wont use, its a matter of keeping up with technology and the day and age we live in. Whats your reaction when you meet someone who does not have an email address? Could be the same reaction from the public when they go to search their hometown department and find no such site exists. The main reason I think sites are not kept up to date is the time and motivation factor as fdny 10-75 states. The reality is there are not that many people in a given department that is into this stuff. Trying to find a reliable person with the time to dedicate may not be that easy. Just like so many things in the volunteer fire service when you start a committee like a web site committee or a historical committee, you get a dozen people interested. Everyone wants to be a part of the "creation" of the site. To see their ideas and visions come to life on a new site. As time goes by the "glamorous" part of the creation so to speak wears off. The committee now dwindles down to 2 or 3 and finally 1 person. That one person may be busy with other things and does not have the same time or motivation he may have had at the start of the project. The once "cool" job is now boring or a pain in the a**. Not to mention tech problems, money problems, the one person assigned to keep the site updated is now an inactive member without the passwords now, or a number of other things that can happen.

The repair crew must love doing work to this Diaphone!

Sharp eyes notice this stuff....old paint still marks many poles in my district where fire boxes used to be.

Photo of my Depts old IH alarm repair truck in front of the alarm building. 1972 Ford replaced the IH

http://www.legotwpfire.com/gamewell.htm