engine968

For the last 40 years Troop K has operated on a base freq. of 155.505. Lately though, I'm only hearing very occasional messages on that frequency. Anyone know if they've moved to a different frequency or maybe to a trunked system? Encrypted or NOT encrypted? I know there is a new trunked system called Metro-25 that some allied agencies are using. Did they maybe move to that?

Thanks Avon Rob, but you don't want a police dept. dispatching fire depts. It's two different worlds and police depts. just don't understand fire dispatching. The fire dispatch office should be run by the fire service and be staffed by fire dispatchers. Ideally it should also be physically separate from police dispatch, though it could be located in the same building.

As an outside observer from another county, it sounds to me like the real issue here is the union is worried that the position will be lost if they go with county-dispatch. Has anyone considered a compromise solution? The Town of Greenburgh could run its own dispatch center (with civilian dispatchers) that would dispatch all companies in the Township, eliminating the positions at each fire company. This would provide the cost efficiency of some degree of centralized dispatching but keep a reasonable amount of local control. Similar dispatching centers exist on Long Island that include Babylon Town Central Fire Alarm in Suffolk County, and in Nassau County the North Bellmore FD dispatches for themselves and several other neighboring depts. Before I retired, I dispatched for 30 years at every level, my own dept, the North Bellmore FD, and Nassau County Firecom. And the best operation, the "happy medium" was the North Bellmore FD which is similar to what a Town dispatch center in Greenburgh might look like.

I have 3 scanners in different parts of my house and they all receive differently using the original telescoping antennas. The one in the largest room with the biggest windows receives the best. The second one also in a large room with a little less windows receives almost as well, but better when placed on a high shelf than on a table in the same room. The 3rd one in a small room with small windows near a TV and computer receives the worst. But scanners vary too. You could put 2 identical model scanners next to each other with the same antennas and they might receive differently. Radio reception is weird like that. And as someone said above, an outside antenna is usually more effective than any indoor antenna.

Question re: Fort Worth's practice. Unlike Syracuse where the company would split their personnnel and be able to roll both units, Ft. Worth seems to be either/or. They take one unit or the other. So what happens when a structure fire comes in and all the first-due engine companies are already on the road returning from minor calls with their mini-pumper. Do they lose time going back to quarters to get the "big rig" or do 3 mini-pumpers come in to a working structure fire. On a house fire, it might still work out. Each of those units can probably pump 2 atttack lines, but they won't have much booster tank capacity, which could be a problem. And on a major structure fire, the lack of sufficient pumping capacity could be an issue.

The mini-pumper re-invented 40 years later. Like everything else this concept has advantages and disadvantages. Every FD needs to evaluate their particular run patterns and usage and decide which of several alternatives is the most cost and tactical effective. Here's my alternative: Instead of a huge engine and a mini-pumper why not make the big engine a little smaller so it would be more practical and cost effective for all types of runs. A slightly smaller, more maneuverable engine could carry say 800 ft. instead of 1000 or 1200 ft. of 5-inch hose. Could have a 500 gallon tank instead of 750. A shorter wheelbase, etc. In my opinion, a more practical solution to the whole issue.

Like so many fatal fires, it just didn't have to happen, if the adults in the house would have used their heads...... And yes, it's inexcusable not to have temporarily placed a few battery powered smoke detectors during the renovations while the hardwired system was out-of-service. Good transcript of the radio tapes.

And just how much will they charge us for the privilege of displaying these plates?

The fact that the young man's blood alcohol level (as reported by the media) was .13 speaks for itself. He should not have been at the wheel of a car, and a tragedy of one kind or another was bound to happen. This should serve as a wake-up call, not a condemnation of the police who had to deal as best they could with an instantly unfolding situation.

I'm in central Long Island and I didn't feel a thing.........

Re: the earlier inquiries about the government entity involved in this case. Freeport is an incorporated village, and it is a "village" fire dept, not a fire district. So, presumably the mayor is "the boss".

This law is mostly a formality that legalizes what was already a common practice, at least in my area. What's regrettable is that unlike some other states (notably California) there is virtually no enforcement of emergency light laws in New York. For years many police and fire depts. have had blue lights to the front and nothing gets done about it. Ditto re: some volunteer F/F's that have illegal blue and white lights on their pov's. What's also regrettable is that the ignorant public probably doesn't know the difference anyway......

I was looking at Scarsdale Amb's website which apparently has not been updated since 2006. It says at that time they were desperately seeking funding to build a new station to replace their old one that was falling down (literally). Is Scarsdale Ambulance still in operation? And was their new station actually built? I'm not from Westchester so I don't know the political/funding set-up. But according to the news articles in the website, the Village of Scarsdale wouldn't pay for the new station, though they do fund the ambulances themselves. That seems unusual. Do they not pay for police and fire stations too? In addition, the Village was insisting that the Corps. build a more expensive structure that met their residenial appearance requirements. (Chuckle!) You certainly wouldn't want it to actually look like an ambulance station. What an eyesore that would be! So let me get this straight: The Village insisted that the station they won't pay for, has to be more expensive than even the modest design proposed by the Ambulance people themselves. The Corps. was seeking sufficient donations from their residents to build it. And apparently the good residents of Scarsdale were not contributing anywhere near the amount of money required for construction. All of this is surprising to me, knowing that the Village and its residents have ample financial resourses. Many years ago I had friends living in New Rochelle, a short distance from the old Scarsdale Amb. Station, and I was surprised that they had such a small seemingly inadequate building, so inconsistent with the character of the community. So I assume that the residents of Scarsdale didn't want to part with the bucks and just take the volunteer EMS system for granted, and who cares if they don't have building? Maybe some of you can enlighten this Long Island firefighter as to what actually happened up there and if they finally got their well deserved new station. Thanks!

Has anybody talked to the dispatchers who handled this call? Are they okay? A few years back I was a Nassau County dispatcher involved in a similar incident over July 4th weekend in 2005. A wrong-way drunk driver hit a limousine full of people on the Meadowbrook State Pkwy. at 2AM. 2 were killed; a little girl was decapitated and the drunk driver was later convicted of depraved indifference murder. So I've been where your dispatchers are today. If any are on this board and you want to talk about it, send me P.M.

Izzy, are you sure about Connecticut S.P. being the oldest in the country, (1903)? One book I read said the Massachusetts S.P. was the oldest, having started in 1865............ Also, can you or BMeehan282 explain to a non-Connecticut resident what a "resident trooper" is and how one can be a resident trooper without living in the area. I thought "resident" means you live there. And what is the difference between a regular trooper and a resident trooper? Thanks guys!

I recently heard a rumor that the City of Orange Fire Dept. in Essex County might be merged with some other Fire Depts. in that area. Does anybody know if this is true? Do you have any specifics? Will it be something like the North Hudson FD?

Or even if no one has photos; can anyone update us on the progress of construction? When is the station slated for completion? Some of us Long Island guys might take a ride up there for the dedication or whatever kind of opening ceremony takes place.

Whether or not you need a blue/green light depends on how far you live from your station and what kind of traffic conditions you normally encounter enroute. If I lived only a few blocks away thru side streets I might not need a blue light. But I happen to live a mile-and-a-half from my station in an urban area. First it's 3/4 mile with 6 stop-signs thru side streets just to get to the main road. Then 4 traffic lights along the main road to my station. Not all drivers on the road give us any courtesy, but some do, and it does help get to the station faster. So I'd say if you live some distance from your station, it probably is worth using the light.

BUT DOES IT HAVE WINDOWS? (No, not the computer kind!) I don't care how modern it is. If it's a basement and the people working there can't see outside, then it's a bad place for a com center.

Thanks for a very interesting FDNY update. I had no idea such big changes were in the works. One cautionary note: Don't be too quick to knock the older software. The Nassau County Firecom center where I work is still running on an old DOS program from 1990 that works pretty well. It doesn't do everything we would like, but it is generally accurate and reliable. And it's far better than the new Intergraph map-based system that the Nassau County Police put into service last year. That system has been a disaster since day one.

Are you saying the TMC Communications Center is in a windowless basement? I sure hope not. You'd think in such a modern facility mangement would have thought a little smarter. I don't know why dispatchers so often end up in the basement. I've suffered in a place like that (Nassau County Fire Communications) for 24 years and I really wish com center planners would wise up.

I think the Village of Mamaroneck took a more intelligent approach. Building one new large station to house an engine and a truck co. that were located in separate houses in the same neighborhood. Gotta be more cost effective and more practical. I'm surprised that Tarrytown isn't at least building them as 2 bay stations. After all, there's a reasonable possibility that in the next 40 years, they might want to house a second unit in one or both of those stations. One large station with 3 bays might have been the most practical way to go.

This issue of median barriers has always been an uphill battle with NYS DOT. You should have been around back in the late 1960's when the AAA Club was campaigning to get barriers on the Cross Westchester Expwy, which orginally had just a grass strip about a lane wide. Ditto for the stretch of N.Y. Thruway from the Tappan Zee Bridge south to Yonkers. And the Taconic Pkwy. older sections had no divider at all, but finally got box-beam barrier. All done between 1967-1970, after enough crossover accidents got DOT's attention...................sigh.

I once read a very good book about Newark EMS. I got the idea that in that city the division of responsibility was EMS Heavy-Rescue handled MVA's and that FD Heavy-Rescue handled working fires. I might be mistaken but that was the impression I got. Also, ya' have to wonder what the politically appointed Director was doing showing up at an accident scene at that time of the morning. I'm sure that isn't SOP. One can't help but wonder if the Director might have been returning home from a social event, and might have been "under the influence". That sometimes accounts for unusual behavior of public officials in the wee hours of the morning. I'm not saying that was necessarily the case here, but ya' can't help but wonder.............

I have a BC-785-D; I assume that's the scanner you mean, right? I don't think you can change the actual color of the display. But there are adjustments for brightness; you just have to find them in the menu system.