JBE

Did they have any equipment to render aid?? Did they at least call upstairs to the dispatch office and get a bus over there?? What aid could they have rendered?? I'm not taking sides here, but I honestly think these two, no matter what their defense may be, will be, and should be hung out to dry. Then, we wait for the city to pay out a few million in hush money to the family. PS, the Post used to be a decent read. The Daily News is also turning into a rag as well.

Good article, very well done. Nice to see us behind the scenes folks shown in a good light.

First glance it seems like a Rural/Urban Interface type of rig. With a bit of tanker thrown in and first due engine ingredients. Whoever did the specs for this really did their homework. Small town departments could definitely take a look at this and maybe incorporate what's seen here into a new rig. I'm very impressed with what I see.

They'll settle out of court. I was working Thanksgiving Day when our illustrious mayor came to visit. Bad enough he didn't knock with his elbows because he gave all his goodies to the PD operators. He said to my call takers, "If 79th and 5th comes in, make sure it goes out first." I wish I had been on that side of the room when he said it. I would have told him with UCT, he should be thankful it doesn't end up going to Brooklyn as 79th and 5th in Bay Ridge as opposed to his town house on the Upper East Side. Jerk..

Easier to add the pages to the existing editions and turn a profit.

Date:12-15-09 Time:2330 Location: Box 1177 333 Beach 32 Street Off of Brookhaven Avenue Frequency: 154.400 Units Operating: Engines 265,264,328,266,331(High Rise Fan) 308(High Rise Nozzle) 314(CFR) Ladders 121,134,137,158,173(FAST) Battalions 47,54,50,51(Safety) RB-1 SB-1 Div 13 Field Comm, R-4, Sq-270, Rac-2, Command Tactical Unit. Weather Conditions: Cold, Windy Description Of Incident: Fire on 19th Floor 20 story 100x50 OMD 10-77 at 2334 by E-265 All hands by Bn-47 At 2341. Reporters/Writer: JBE

Just a shame. What's worse is they will shut down a house, and relocate another to fill it. That happened the last time I was down there. I forget what engine got shut down for the day, but Engine 13(quartered with the slated to be closed Truck 16 GREAT HOUSE BTW) got moved to cover.

Why do I see this thread getting locked in the next few hours??

Point taken..I am truly aggravated that part of my job has been taken away by IMO incompetent, undereducated, uncaring people, who as far as I am concerned have no business trying to do my job.

I called PD a little while ago to give them a report of a person struck by a car at Suffolk Street and Delancey Street. when PD Answered, I said, I have a 53 Henry(Person struck) at Suffolk Street and Delancey Street. After a moment the operator said, 53 Henry Street?? Need I say more?? Oh but I will!!! Person struck by a car, Apartment 7E, the Engine company says, I don't think the car could make it down the hallway. Apparently the person got hit earlier, and then came up and called for help. Or, fire in the garbage shoot!!! The problem has existed for years, long before UCT got started.

I've re-read this thread and read the complaints of the Firefighters. Getting just an intersection and no second source and it turning out to be a job does happen. It even happened prior to UCT. Prior to UCT, we would just mutter a few choice words, followed by, that one sure snuck up on us. APCO, you say, Izzy?? HA!!!! You're talking about the FDNY. APCO standards etc mean absolutely nothing to the department. We tend to do things our way and disregard national standards. I haven't run a tour monitoring my calltakers since we started listening in, and I probably won't till Friday at the earliest, so I'll let you guys know then how it's working out. I have seen numerous mistakes made by PD at the end of the tour when the calltakers hand me the error reporting logs.

Best of luck with the new rig, guys. Looking very sharp.

The modification is really just a reversal of what we were doing pre-UCT. Only this time, they conference into us, and we just type while the PD does the interrogation, and we jump in if necessary. This could go both ways. It could be the start of us taking calls back, or we will be under the microscope just as bad. We've already put the word out, no more fat finger typos on addresses. Heads will roll. PS NYPD lost its CAD tonight so we were taking calls for about 4 hours.

This trip was a few months in the making. Delays and events pushed it back a month, but here we go. I'm off to California for the 11th time in nearly 9 years. But first, a quick pit stop in Cuddebackville, the morning of the Middletown parade, and Port Jervis the day I left. Rescue Engine 805 and Rescue Engine 822. Could the PJ guys make this thing any more buffy with the compartment handles?? Next, we arrive in San Francisco to spend some time with my cousin. We stop at Engine 31, the house first due to where I was staying. We also hit 14's, but I'm still getting used to the new camera and it was quite blurry. You guys deserve better. So we were on out way over to Communications when we happened upon Engine 5. I kinda like this Anniversary paint job. We came up on a pre plan drill they were having for one of the schools in the area and got Engine 21, Truck 10, Battalion 7 and a Medic. More coming..

The LA County USAR is like the FDNY Rescue/Collapse Unit combned. The Haz Mat is just like our Haz Mat, although I believe they go out with Engine 105.

Another story in todays Daily News as well..

It could be 4 to 5 minutes. We have had long phone calls when we had to figure out where the person in, but that's the exception rather than the norm. Here's the thing, like I said before, the clock on response times doesn't start until we get it via computer. The PD operators don't want to be doing it. It got forced on them by the city.

UFA is calling it out again. This time after the fire in Crown Heights today that took the lives of a father and his two kids. What's the count now?? 7 dead in the past month?? There will be a City Council Hearing on this December 10th. Let's see if this brings about any change. PS the story I was telling you about with the water leak/pregnant lady?? It made the news not too long ago. Almost forgot, I'm filling out at least one or two correction forms a TOUR!!! That's four to eight mistakes per week for me. Had a good one yesterday, came to us as Smoke Scene, further info shows a commercial burglary alarm. We see Smoke Scene and we treat it like a fire. Out it goes, 3x2, BC and R-1 first due box. Then we get the message from PD that Smoke Scene is the name of the store. 10-92. You can bet my pen was writing after that one. I will admit, it is funny to read some of the text of these calls. The misspelling is horrendous. Another giggleworthy situation is when they type in what the caller is saying word for word. Example: 3rd Alarm in Queens.. Units on scene and operating for about 45 minutes, row of taxpayers going, this gem comes in from PD. MC STS WHOLE BLOCK IS ON FIRE, SEND MORE FIRE TRUCKS!!!! And furthermore, it's getting to a point where I'm sending stuff out just to cover the respective butts of me and my tour. Luckily I haven't gotten the opportunity to send an engine to a cell site for a 911 cell phone hang up. That was the city's reaction to the City Island incident last month. Had a good one yesterday (Tuesday) as well. Sent to us as gas tanks in the street. Turned out to be a lady complaining that the street vendors were using illegal propane tanks.

Thx, glad you guys like. I have one or two places I want to hit the next time I head out there. I think my next excursion will be out to South Jersey and Philly, w/some Orange County.

Station 45 is the first LA County house I ever did a ride along with, so this place has a special spot in my heart. Old Squaddie helmet. A Captain who used to work here is the president of the Museum Association We went over to 116's and traffic was bad due to an LA Galaxy game at the Home Depot Center across the street. Now, I said this place was a tight fit, and I wasn't kidding. The squad is backed in far enough to just clear the door, and the rear bumper rests on TOP of the front bumper of the Engine. After this, we headed up to Station 36, right down the road from the famous station 127. Sorry guys, I've been there more times than I care to count, so no pix today!! Here's Engine 236. This Engine does have a first due area in Carson, but they also go out on Strike Teams and they get relocated, A LOT!!! Their motto is "Seeing the County, One move up at a time!!" I did get some sweet video of 36 going out on a run, and the Squad was already out. So, I made a final stop over in Venice Beach, LA City Station 63. The first firehouse on the West Coast I ever visited on my first trip back in February of 01. Due to crappy lighting and other things, this is the best I got. After a whirlwind night of running back and forth between Yorba Linda, Anaheim, and then to Santa Monica, and back, my final stop the next day was Station 3. I got the Squad, and I like the gold leaf 3. A few other missed opportunities and I bid farewell to one of my favorite buffing destinations, and headed on home where I was greeted with two all hands and a second alarm up in the Bronx my first night back to work(I was on a detail from Manhattan). Almost forgot Battalion 7 Coast Guard Stuff too!!! Here's Station Golden Gate!!! Huge thank you's to all who helped out. Enjoy!!!

After going to visit a friend or two at Long Beach Fire Dispatch, I called it a night and got up the next morning ready to have a productive day. I met up with Bernie Deyo, LA County Photographer, and Derek Cutler from FAJ. Our first stop was Station 105 on the border of Carson and Compton. They run an Engine, the Haz Mat, and a Deluge wagon. Here's Deluge 105. It's just an old Squad chassis with a honking big deck gun attached. Haz Mat 105 was out getting the meal or something, so we went to see one of my pals at Station 10. Here's Engine 10. For those of you who know, Foam 10 was being covered by Foam 5127 while it is out of service yet again. We went back to 105's to get the Haz Mat, and they got special called to a car wreck involving a DWI on the border of LA and Compton. Here's 105 at the wreck, followed by a Compton Medic, Squad and Truck 116. Truck 116 is the only Rear Mount Aerial in the County. you'll see why in a bit. Now right about here was where I got kicked off the scene by the cops. This accident was a fatal involving a car and SUV. The driver of the SUV was DWI. WHO THE HELL gets loaded at 11am and gets behind the wheel with their family in the car?? Sorry, no pix of that, but here's that Compton Medic!!! Next stop Station 30. Squad 30 is brand new and all LA County Squads will be delivered in this fashion, with the covered bed in the rear. Engine and Quint 30 Next stop, 45's, a tight fit and move up city!!!

It is a little embarassing for a guy who gives directions all day to get lost, and sure enough, I did. But, I did get some really nice scenery shots on my way up to Santa Clarita and Lancaster. Here's my first stop, Station 126. Reserve Truck 5118 and Quint 126. I then ran over to 73's and got the Engine, Squad and Water Tender. My time was getting short, and I got lost again, so as the sun was slowly starting to fade, I went over to Station 33. Squad 33 is the busiest Paramedic Unit in the country, they got back from a run as I was getting to the door, and I was luckily able to shoot them just before they went out on another run. Quint 33 Emergency Support Team 33 Did I happen to mention I was in the desert, and jeeze does it get cold up there. My last stop for day 1 was Station 129. Sunlight had pretty much gone to poop, but I was able to snag Call FireFighter Engine 269 and Copter 14 before my fun was done for the day. Day 2 coming up...

After this, we ran over to get Engine 34 and the Coastal Rescue rig. With Day 1 completed we head on home and map out day 2. We really didn't do much in the way of apparatus photography since we took a tour of the ballpark and went to visit a friend of mine over at Public Safety Training Consultants.(PSTC) They do a lot of dispatcher related classes and merchandise. But we did catch Engine 16 and Presidio Medic 51. we also stopped by M5 Industries, home of the Mythbusters and they don't give tours, photos, autographs, nada. I bid San Francisco farewell and headed down to LA. I stopped in Command and Control to visit some pals, and unfortunately, turn down a job again. FDNY dispatchers went to wearing uniforms about three months ago, and the LA folks used to fume when they heard me say, as I walk in wearing shorts and a hoodie, "This is how I go to work" The following morning, I happened to be leaving my hotel when I bumped into Anaheim Engine 3 testing hydrants and pumps. They have a Bronto Skylift on an E-One chassis as Truck 3. They normally don't pull rigs out, but they were working on it on the apron, so I lucked out big time. I got some shots of it as I was leaving a bar outside of Disney at 3am as well. I ran up north to finally start shooting rigs in the North end of LA County. Territory I have never travelled before. Here's Engine and Light Force 82. Engine 82 is a CAFS equipped Engine, hence the Chicago style(poorly done, IMHO) paint job. Engine 282 is driving a spare. Next up, a little further north..

Holy Crap on toast, Shawn. Nice shots and it is truly amazing that this guy just might walk away.

I don't think it's going away any time soon, if at all. Too much money invested and the city isn't going to come out and say that it's a failure. Even now, my people are going down to the PD side and showing them how to properly fill out a fire ticket. Instead of MC Smith STS SMELLS LIKE FIRE IN HIS HOUSE APT 5D, They are being told to do it like we do it. Smoke 5D.