LTNRFD

"ONE" I think you might be a little on the low side with that number !!!!!!! And don't forget the firehouse lawyers !!!!!!

I second that !!! If you ever get a chance to hear the audio from the Bronx CO to 60-Control, you will realize that even FDNY didn't know what they needed and where to send the units. They basically said send what ever you can spare. The dispatchers at 60 used their knowledge of the evolving situation and their experience to decide, based on what was available, what to send into N.Y.C.

George...your are 100% right. Glenn at 60 got on the radio and said ' all Westchester county units from south of 287 that are responding to Baily Ave in the Bronx, are now to respond into Manhattan.' When those companies asked, where to respond to in Manhattan, the response was, respond into Manhattan and find someone to direct you. So most of the companies responded to ground zero. There they found out that a staging are was being set up at the Westside Dr. and Canal St. At this staging there was not anyone from FDNY that would take control or was in a position to take control. It was decided between some of the Westchester companies that the need to cover firehouses was more important then waiting to help at ground zero. So off went a few companies to find firehouses in the area. There were Westchester County compainies that found empty houses, check in with the officer there who notified the Manhattan dispatcher of the M/A companies in that firehoues. They then covered calls for that house till well after midnight. The Manhattan dispatcher might not have known exactly who was in the firehouse, just that an engine and ladder was there. The officer of the firehouse took ALL the info that might be needed to account for the people standing by at his firehouse.

I stand corrected. That was not how it was explained to me when I was going through the process. The fact that it didn't effect me, it was a non-issue for me.

How would it an unknown ??? If a firefighter would have received a $100 raise in 2010, then when that same firefighter retires in 2015 the city would put into his final paycheck an additional $100. This would benefit the retiree in the long run (a boost to final year average). The firefighter just has to get through the short run.

Point taken. Although it was not a give back, it was a change to the contract. Changes to contracts happen from time to time for the right reasons. i.e. changes to work charts that benefits both management and labor. I hope all other municipalities see this change for it's true meaning and not an open door for the municipalities to take back from labor.

NRFD did not give back their contracted raise for 2010. They have agreed to defer the raise until the member retires. As I understand it, all parts of the contract are in place, just that the members will not see the cash for the 2010 increase in 2010.

Understood about the 'real' officers. The P.D. has more low level positions that can be trimmed before they actually get to the street cops. The down side is the street cop has to replace/do the work of those positions getting laid off. I believe I heard Commissioner Carroll state during the budget hearings that they would be losing positions due to retirement in 2010. How many and what positions was not discussed. In any case everyone suffers. Hopefully Albany will streamline all disability retirement applications and get those guys off the payroll. That will help stave off layoffs in 2010. I just hope that conditions improve, even slightly, in 2010.

No department was able to restore any open positions. The city budget also calls for about 12 addtional postions to be vacated during 2010. This means that in theory if 12 firefighters retire in 2010 and no one in any other city department retires, the NRFD could be down 12 additional postions. Within all of the city departments, there must be 12 employees retire, otherwise there could still be lay offs. Hopefully the retirements will be evenly distributed over all city departments.

I believe the 3 members of the C.S.C.E. that will be layed off work as community service officers (CSO's). They are the civilian employees in the P.D. This means less parking, city code and quality of life tickets will be issused unless the police officers issue them. They also are the police dispatchers, which could now force a police officer off the street to dispatch. Also the NRPD has been effected by the hiring freeze and they also will not have position filled as members take retirement this year. However they were not put into the 'rock and a hard place' position the NRFD was. All this reduction in services, employees having to chose whether to defer pay increases that will benefit their families, or to do much more with less. Work in a more dangerous job due to the lack of proper staffing (city wide services), all to save the average New Rochelle taxpayer less than $100 in tax increase in 2010. We are still getting a tax increase, add the additional onto the bill and keep the level of service at the 2009 level!!!!!

Here comes the bigger question. What will happen with NRFD and mutual aid ??????? If Sta-4 closes and L-12 gets places out of service due to a shortage of manning on a shift, that would put NRFD down to 4 engines and 2 ladders. If there is a request from a neighboring department for assistance, 1 and 1, the City of New Rochelle would be then down to 3 and 1 in the city of 78,000. That would leave about 15 total on the manpower. I don't know if I could accept the lack of coverage in my city with NRFD in another area because that municipality also didn't raise taxes enough to provide adequate essential services. Back in the 1960's, NRFD would run 7 engines and 3 ladders out of 7 stations, with a manpower nearly 200, in a city with a population of about 60,000. The tallest building at the time was the 14 story K building at North Ave and Huguenot St. Yearly run totals were about 2800. This included EMS (inhalator calls).

There's nothing new or rocket scientific about the numbers. The city council is well aware of what the actual dollar figures are. It's John Q. Public that's the problem. Many of the citizens think that the emergency services get paid way too much for the "little amount of work they do". They forget how many fires and emergencies that the emergency services respond to, or they are home sleeping when the emergency happens. The public wants the workers of the city to make up the difference (short fall) in the budget. Instead of every citizen paying their fair share for the services they have and deserve. There is a group that wants the emergency services downsized. They just can't stomach the budgeted dollar figure. When you get into the double digit millions of dollars for a single service, people think that there is a lot of fat. When actually it is paying a person a fair salary for a days work. Work that 95% of the citizens of the city would never do.

What I can't figure out with the city budget is we are talking just a few dollars per household to maintain the level of service we have now. As an example, I am paying around $17,000 a year in taxes. Of that $17,000 only about 18-20% goes toward my city portion. The rest goes to school, county, sewer, library and garbage. My taxes are above the median level for the city. If you break down the 3 increases proposed you we see we are talking dollars per month. $17,000 @ 20% ( for round numbers) = City tax for 2009 of $3400. A 5.9% ( I believe this is the rate that city council has adopted) increase is $200 increase over 2009. A 8% increase is $272 increase. And a 9% increase is $306 increase. The 9% figure for no reduction of service in 2010. This is for ALL city services, not just the fire department. Take the 9% increase of $306 minus the adopted increase of $200 and that equals $106 more in 2010 for NO REDUCTION in services. That's $8.00 per month. Many residents of New Rochelle pay far less than I do and many pay half. Now many of the older residents on fixed income would only have an additional $50 above the adopted increase for the year to maintain services at the 2009 level.

Lads!!! You are getting old....

Here are a few more pictures of the "Weaver Street Special".

I'll try to post some others in a couple of days.......

Here is a picture of the sale of the old 1947 ALF "Weaver Street Special". It was replaced by a 1971 ALF reamount.

At the same meeting the Mayor asked the Fire Commissioner about the Regionalization Plan. The Fire Commissioner advised that the report was done and the Mayor asked that copies be made available to all the Council Members to read. I don't think they are trying to put any wedge in any plan at this time. Most of the council only know that a study was being done and not to any of the specifics. They are all aware that the plan will attempt to provide the same or better service at equal to or less cost.

The City Council meeting of Nov. 24, 2009, the city manager presented 3 scenarios. 1) a 21 % tax increase and no reduction in any city services. 2) approx. 8 % tax increase and there will be a reduction in ALL services. The F.D. would lose 10 position. 3) a tax increase in relation to the C.P.I. and other factors would increase taxes approximately 3.9 % and the F.D. would lose 11 position. This is on top of the vacant position do to the hiring freeze. With some retiring in 2010, this would reduce the number of lay offs but not the total positions. This is what I remember from the council meeting. If the numbers ( % ) are not correct, they are close. The city manager has stated that they will not raise taxes by 21%, so there will be some loss of positions. Hopefully it will be positions lost through retirement and not lay offs. Any way you look at it, the F.D. will have to do more with less. This includes reduction in services to maintain the core services of fire supression. Some of the council members asked about the use of mutual aid to assist in the manpower reduction. The city manager stated that they will not use that as an option. He said mutual aid is a 2 way street and we need to find a way to maintain New Rochelle level of service without the use of mutual aid.

In the early 80's, Empress was awarded a no bid contract for the City of New Rochelle. This was done after Affiliated Ambulance notified the city that they exercising the 30 day and out clause. Affililate could not keep up their end of the contract and left. The city had less then 30 days to put an EMS provider in the city with out any disruption in coverage. Not knowing all the facts of the Mt.Vernon situation, it could be all on the up and up. Good luck to Transcare and the Empress employees. BTW in the early 80's, Mt Vernon was covered by 1 ambulance dedicated to the city and 1 transport ambulance that "IF" available would handle 2nd calls.

I saw this in a local blog for Larchmont. I guess everyone is entitled to hosting a web site. http://www.newyorkinjurynews.com

Any pictures of the ejection seat ??? What frequency does the remote control for th seat operate on????? No plasma cutter ?????

Buckout road made the top 10 of creepiest roads in America. http://www.digitalcity.com/2009/10/14/amer...ds-buckout-road

If you click on this link just below the picture in the article, it gives a good history of the Buckouts and the area. this fantastically thorough rundown

You might have to watch a 24 second advertisement first.