jack10562

Already there have been twice the typical expected number of tornado's reported thus far this year, and based on that it looks like it could be shaping up to be another very active spring severe-weather season. The southern and mid-western states typically bear the brunt of these outbreaks, however we have to keep in mind that the northeast is hardly immune from seeing severe weather. Let me ask you this: How many of you have a NOAA All Hazards radio receiver to get severe weather warnings broadcast from the National Weather Service? In my opinion, having one of these is just as important as having (working) smoke and CO detectors in your house. Tornado's can easily form from within a thunderstorm under the right conditions, how will you know if you are in the path of one of these if you're asleep, or don't have a TV on, or you're just not paying attention...? These radio's are relatively inexpensive and could even save your life. they come in desktop and portable versions. You can sign up for severe weather text alerts delivered to your cell phone from WeatherUnderground.com or Weather.com, or you can get weather APPs for your android or iPhone. Also many mid-to-higher-end programmable scanners will accept Weather Alert S.A.M.E. (Specific Area Message Encoding) codes to alert you to county specific warning broadcasts. See your instruction manual for programming steps. (I still prefer a stand-alone weather alert radio.) http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/ http://www.nws.noaa....nwr/nwrrcvr.htm

You'll notice the black bell crown uniform cap is one traditional design that hasn't changed much in over a hundred years!

This is an unusual case plus there is too little information in this news blurb for us to determine the validity of the lawsuit. If water the fire department dispensed subsequently froze and formed a layer of ice, then clearly the homeowner is blameless. If there was a sheet of ice pre-existing on the ground then there might be cause for a claim, in either case we don't know very much of the relevant facts.

My understanding is an alarm activation transmits directly to a proprietary alarm monitoring service (subscription), who in turn relays the alarm to the local authorities. The detector doesn't dial the local police desk or fire dispatch by itself.

As seen in Fire Engineering, and available at Home Depot This seems like an economical alternative to an expensive fire alarm and security system installation for someone only wanting fire protection. http://www.fireengin...affordably.html http://www.homedepot...r&storeId=10051 https://directconnect911.com/

The northbound bridge closure almost $26,000,000.00 (26million!) 8-1/2 month-long project start date is March 26. Glad I'm not commuting on the Taconic in Westchester, ( or anywhere else, for that matter! ) https://www.dot.ny.gov/tspnewcroton

+1 on that video!!! Priceless! LOL Good job! VOTE

RIP My condolences to your family and friends who will miss you.

#%&@# Politicians... Christie is exploiting the emotional wave resulting from the death of a very well known figure who just happens to have local roots , and his action is nothing more than a self-serving opportunity for exposure and to get the minority vote in an election year. *&^%Dirtbag. BTW, his facebook pages have been cleared of remarks and no longer accepting public comments. Hmmm... Wonder why?

And she was a drug abuser for most of the last twenty or so, years.

They are nothing more than "keyboard commandos" where they can unload anonymously behind a fictitious screen name, and then they either disappear into thin air when challenged or simply continue to display their immaturity. It's quite common, actually.

Gerry, there is no comparison of this site to facebook or twitter, we're talking apples and oranges with that. Those social sites are personal/public venues, where the account holder has free reign over the messages posted and other content published. This site is a private community with posting guidelines and membership rules. We allow practically any discussion to take place here, provided it meets the guidelines spelled out in our site rules and conditions. Posts only get moderated if they fail to adhere to those guidelines. It's that simple. Individual(s) who continually and repeatedly fail to follow the site guidelines and/or publicly taunts the staff on here or elsewhere, are not welcome.

This statement couldn't be further from the truth. This website (and others like it) is a private entity, and as such, your "civil rights" that you might enjoy elsewhere gets checked at the door. This site has rules, one of them being that the site staff decides what gets published and what goes in the trash. However we don't just dump any member content on a whim. If we feel it's offensive, then it probably is. Nobody can come along and expect everything they say and do to stand and be covered free speech, it's not.

That's another perfect example, 99subi. While displaying any symbol may be considered a form of free speech, some people might interpret the confederate flag as nothing more than an innocent display of southern-pride, others see it as an evil symbol representing treason, racism, hatred and bigotry. Pretty wide emotional swing happening right there. You don't even need to make a sound, just displaying something seemingly innocuous like a sticker or paraphernalia on your gear or equipment can have negative implications. For the viewer who does not find any cuteness of what may be regarded as an offensive symbol, it can make them very uneasy and automatically creates an entirely different perception of the wearer, usually contempt.

All this discussion regarding training and minimum knowledge requirements is all well and good, however, (and there is always a however) how many departments have minimum PHYSICAL requirements, other than being able to show up for a call or drill, or class,... and MAYBE fog-up a mirror ... How many places have real department "physicals" other than the bare-bones minimum documentation required for wearing a respirator, and maybe monitoring blood pressure, vision, hearing, but what about testing a firefighter for strength, and even endurance, for working under at times dangerous and physically stressful (exhausting) working conditions? How many times does someone have to take/ pass a CPAT? Once, to get hired? annually? I know (today) I would not be able to run up several flights of stairs with full gear, pulling a hose line, even when I (thought I) was in pretty good shape it would be a fairly decent challenge. And now I'm nearing the upper edge of my profile age bracket. The majority of firefighter fatalities is coronary related. 44 percent, in fact. Heart attacks. (based on a USFA 1990-2000 study) Something to think about, is all. Get in shape, stay in shape. [/soapbox]

Searching online for (free) legal notice archives is somewhat fruitless, however I did find the Kitchawan project was knocked down by Yorktown taxpayers three times over 3 years! A lawsuit brought by taxpayers forcing the sale of the land purchase and seeking a refund of tax dollars spent on it was thrown out because of technicalities. (full disclosure: I have no personal axe to grind over the outcome of this since I am not a Yorktown taxpayer, however I have several friends and acquaintances that are resident taxpayers who do.) {edit} If they pulled a stunt like that in my town, I would be furious, along with hundreds and hundreds of other residents. Fur would fly, heads would roll. (figuratively speaking, of course) [/edit]

Barry pretty much summed up my general feelings. In my opinion, Yorktown taxpayers explicitly said NO, and the commissioners (essentially) said: FU., we're doing what we want, regardless what you say... Using the word: "Sneaky" was simply a nice way of conveying my thoughts, I have other choice adjectives which also fit, but this is a public forum.

All I'm going to say is I still think it was very sneaky the way the construction is being funded, by forging ahead and making the project funds a district budget item, despite the fact Yorktown taxpayers previously knocked down the construction bond proposals.

Thanks, Syd, the FD site is back up! At least there are no blizzards forecast for this Saturday! Here's to another successful event!

The Elmsford FD site link (above) is temporarily down, here is a breakdown of the event schedule: http://www.emtbravo....minar-exhibits/ There is still time to pre-register online: http://www.regonline...EventID=1024905

The name FASNY is being improperly tossed around like it's some kind of sanctioning body or clearing house, that membership equals approval to operate at incidents. This they're not. FASNY is an organization that was formed to advocate for the betterment of the volunteer fire service and it's members. FASNY and FDNY really have nothing to do with each other on any level, and it's not because of any kind of animosity, it's because FDNY members are represented by their own professional firefighter union affiliations. Avaition and it's members may or may not belong to FASNY, and either way, if they're not sanctioned, contracted or authorized to respond within the jurisdiction of the city, they have no choice but to stay out of the way.

Does the city fire commissioner actually have the power and/or legal authority to issue a cease and desist order, or does that have to come from the judicial branch of city government? In the meantime, they can make their lives miserable if they do show up on incidents by calling the cops and having them locked up, and even impound their trucks, for "obstructing governmental administration" or some other catch-all legal grounds.

I created a reader Poll for this topic using responses thus far, please "vote" for your favorite, and if you have a preference that's not listed, please post and I'll add it to the choices! Tell us about any pros / cons you found with these. Thanks!

From a forensic standpoint, you can sometimes get an idea from the degree of damage when the gas ignition took place. If the gas-air ratio was just at the LEL (Lower Explosive Limit=5% gas-in-air) ignition will blow out windows and doors but leave the structure otherwise more or less intact. If the ignition occurred while the gas was venting down from above the UEL (Upper Explosive Limit=15% gas-in-air) you will get a huge fireball and everything combustible will char. If you get ignition with the fuel-air ratio right in the sweet-spot, in the middle (10%), there will be nothing left but splinters and the rest will be scattered for blocks. You can never rely on the smell of gas to determine the levels, so you need to measure carefully, and don't operate any switches, on or off.

I'd like to add a few thoughts, if you get a contractor damage and the gas is blowing uncontrollably, resist the urge to open up a line to "disperse" the gas. Natural Gas is lighter than air and disperses all by itself rather nicely. Even if there is ignition and you have a gas-fed fire, don't attempt to "put it out" because, A: you more than likely won't be able to put it out anyway, and B: if you do somehow manage to put it out, you still have an uncontrolled gas leak. At least with it burning you know where it is, and don't have to worry about an invisible cloud of gas working it's way down the block. Also if you do open up a line, all you will be doing is filling the hole with water and thereby making it impossible for gas company crews to see the break that they might otherwise have been able to get in there and simply squeeze it off or perhaps insert a stopper to control the leak. Adding water to a blowing gas incident only makes for a huge mess. In addition to the gas leaking, you will now have mud flying all over the place. This is really not so much your concern, however, but it does add a new element for eventually making repairs to the broken pipe. Now the gas company crews has to deal with de-watering what was once a nice and clean, dry gas line, in addition to making repairs to the damaged pipe. Go ahead stretch a line but please, don't use it. The gas guys who will be working in the trench for hours after you are long gone will thank you!