50-65

Mmm. I don't know. Just seems like an un-necessary and added expense and something else to go wrong. You have to rely on a phone. First problem. There are actually people out there without cell phones. If you have a phone, you have to have signal. Not a problem around here as long as you have Verizon. For where I live in Newburgh, if I used Nextel/Sprint I would have to stand with one leg in the middle of the road, the other at a 45' angle to the south with one arm pointed north and the other holding a 10' metal pole to the east and hope I could get enough signal to dial out and that it lasted long enough to make the connection. In that amount of time, I could be at the station and gearing up. For volunteer fire depts, most have been in long enough to know generally who's around when and who you can count on. For volly EMS, duty crews at the bay would eliminate the need for this. Otherwise, pay up and there is no issue. I would also hope that it works better than the text alert system that Orange County uses. Sometimes we get the text before the pager goes off, other times, we get the text 3 days later, if at all.

EMT-I original at DCC. Scheduled to start 1/26/09. TypeEMT - Intermediate OriginalSponsorDutchess Community CollegeLocationDutchess Community CollegeDates/TimesMon./Wed. 6:30pm-9:30pmStart01-26-2009Practical05-09-2009Written05-21-2009Course AdministratorSeth GoldsteinContact Phone Number845-298-0717

Looking forward to seeing you there.

"Why does it matter what label themselves, as long as she is American, her policies will better America..." And Hitler was German. I'm sure that there were those who thought his policies would bring a better (ie, "new", "hope", "change") Germany. And I'm sure that there are those who feel he did.

Through personal experience, I can tell you that in our department, any injury, no matter how insignificant it may seem, that is reported, is included in the official incident/fire report. This also goes for any unusual occurances.

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...1005&Ref=PH This is using T-Way trucks to close lanes. At our fatal on Thruway yesterday.

I wouldn't worry about doing transports. If you have the right attitude, you can really learn alot. Especially "emergency" calls from nursing homes. If you take the time to really do a thourough assessment and read the pt charts, you will learn a ton about physiology and pharmacology. Most of these pts have multiple diseases/illnesses, not to mention a 2 page med list. Also, by the time the nursing home does call, it often is a true emergency. I like the trauma stuff too, but dealing with the elderly especially will teach you about compassion and caring for the patient.

We too have had our problems on 84 and 87, but none recently that I can recall. Once the trooper demanded that we open the road when it had been shut down for an incoming medevac. He insisted no helo was coming. About that time the SP helo arrived. One of our members who was "talking" to the trooper pointed to the helo and said, " excuse me, but isn't that one of yours?" Another time, the trooper was giving the IC a hard time about traffic. IC looked around, saw that all hazards had been mitigated, called the county, and turned over the scene (O/T tractor trailer )to the lone trooper and left. Since then we have had very few problems with them.

Basically it is the rise and fall of the barrel price that drives gas prices. However, as we all know, the price goes up much faster than it goes down. Fuel oil for your home is another problem. The price is more closely tied to the barrel price. However, last spring when it was wholesaling for around $4/gal and they were predicting $5/gal for this heating season, a lot of people panicked. They pre-bought, they locked in prices, they bought price cap contracts, etc. The delivery companies had to buy contracts to ensure they could deliver what people were asking for. For a delivery company, a contract is 42,000 gals at a set price. Many companies bought these contracts at around $4/gal. Then the prices plummeted. When you have to sell oil that you paid $4 for, but can't charge that much, you also have to raise your margin on the oil that you buy at market price. This is why we are paying $2.50 +/- when the rack price has been as low as $1.35 recently. The rack price went up $.25/gal over New Years day and the following weekend.

Not sure what "teamspeak" is. I tried the site www.orangecountryfire.spaces.live.com but that didn't work either. Is there somewhere I can listen online to Orange County?

http://www.emtbravo.net/index.php?showtopi...mp;#entry163948 So as not to hijack another thread or take it off topic, I started this one in response to the referenced post.

I know what he was fishing for. But I don't have anything to hide. Only a few of the things mentioned are "taxpayer" money of which I am one. The remainder is money earned by the company through various fundraisers. If I don't approve of the way some of the money is used, I vote against it. I don't participate in out of town parades as I consider it to be a waste of resources. We don't go away to exotic destinations for conventions. We will occaissionally send a member or two to Montour Falls if the class is not available locally. The way the state laws are written, we are not supposed to go out of state for training classes, even if it closer than one in-state. I have been in career houses where the building is newer, larger, and better equipped than our own. If the taxpayers of those localities can afford it and don't have a problem with it, then fine. Our building was built in the 60's on donated land with donated labor. I don't begrudge the paid guys anything. In most cases, they certainly earn what they have. But I cannot, and most of my neighbors cannot, afford the tax bill that would come with a fully staffed, paid department. As a union man myself, I understand that they would like every firefighter to be paid and a member of the IAFF. I wish every contractor were union too. But as a former self-employed contractor, I also understand that many simply cannot afford it. And, as Tanker 10eng, mentioned in his post, those are the real rewards. The rest is incidental and in the long term mean very little.

Well, I tried, unsuccessfully, to copy the referenced post. Anyway, in addition to the mentioned wellness program, this is what I could think of off the top of my head. LOSAP - $20/month per credit to a max of 30 years. Guarenteed 10 yr payout, beginning at age 60. State mandated benefits under the VF workers comp laws. State permitted tax breaks (I think $400 this year). In addition, I also write off mileage and expenses. Well maintained apparatus and updated equipment. Annual physical. Depending on the Dr. not always that thorough but always an EKG which I am supposed to have anyway. Training. Then the "incidentals": Dumpster for garbage, "free" hall rental, Cable TV, wireless internet, 1 meal/wk (after meetings/drills), a couple of dinners/yr, etc. But, no "vacations", tuition reimbursement, scholorships, paid time off, sick leave, unemployment benefits, health insurance, uniform cleaning/allowance, overtime, shift differential, etc.

Our district reimburses 75% of your gym membership fee as long as you supply a form from the gym that says you were there at least 50 times in the past year. It doesn't matter what time of the year you join. After 1 year, you can request the reimbursement.

Apparently not illegal. Which surprises me. I always thought it was illegal to pass a responding emergency vehicle. With a top speed of about 62 mph, we are always getting passed on the Thruway. Most of the time now we ride the center to take up both lanes but we still have people who will pass on the shoulder. Usually we later pass them as they are sitting in the backed up traffic. I remember one stupid act when the responding FAST engine passed us on the right as we were laying in to a structure fire.

http://www.ocnyfire.com/ Link for Orange County (unofficial/private site).

Well then, you need to find yourself a nice Mack with a "quad box". 2 sticks, 20 speed. 1 stick has 4 gear "ranges" while the other has 5 speeds. Oh, and the gears are not "synched". You have to be able to steer, operate the clutch and accelerator, and shift both sticks at the same time.

Remember. this is the same governor that, after first calling for spending cuts in the current budget, bought an antique oriental rug for his taxpayer paid for mansion. This was just a few weeks ago. Do as I say, not as I do. When it comes to Albany, it is truely the blind leading the blind.

When I worked at St's I always tried to stay away from EPIC. Working nights helped. I was just afraid they might keep me. But seriously, they were always full. I remember several nights when nearly the entire ER was full of psych pts. A couple of times, we moved them all to the ortho room and posted security there.

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...1/NEWS/81211013 Story and pics here. Thanks to Middle Hope for the door pop so I could get out and to New Windsor EMS for the trip to Cornwall ER. A few scrapes and bruises, and right now everything hurts, but nothing that various chemical compounds won't help.

In my years of driving trucks, I have to say that I personally have had very little problems with DOT. Even the times I have had violations, they have, for the most part, been pretty cool. However, any program that relies on fines and penalties for its funding is ripe for abuse. They can take a brand new truck from the factory and find things to put it out of service. I have found that the driver's attitude has a lot to do with it. The officers have a job to do and so do I. I just try not to be doing mine where they are doing theirs. Maybe we should take the whole DOT CVE topic to another thread.

Yes. They carry a portable Hurst (?) on there and used that to pop the door. Then they let me sit in there to keep warm until NWVAC showed up.

Yeah. I guess they went over to Quality to check it and the other truck involved. Allegedly that's standard procedure. They've been a real pain in the a** lately. With the state budget cuts, they need to make up their revenue somewhere, although most of their budget comes from "enforcement". All I know is if someone were driving their car and were pulled into a police checkpoint, required to show ID, required to explain where they have been, where they are going, where they were last night, and had their vehicle and personal papers and property searched and inspected, simply because of the fact that they happened to be on that road at that time, the general public would not stand for it.

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...1013&Ref=PH Pic #10 is of the truck I was driving.

I believe that Middle Hope usually gets called for incidents on the eastbound side. Beacon for the westbound side. In this case, Beacon couldn't get through to the whole scene as well as the size of it. When my pager went off for Middle Hope, I called 36 Control and advised that traffic was shut down and for them to come east in the west bound lane. I also advised extreme caution as the bridge surface was a sheet of ice. One of our other drivers said that when they did reopen the bridge around 10:30, that it was like driving on the beach they had so much sand out there. Too bad they couldn't have gotton out there at 8 to do it.