JBE

Here's my resume. Lake Carmel Explorer 1987-1991 Lake Carmel Firefighter 1991-1998 (EMT 1996-1998) FDNY Communications 1997-Present. FDNY Buff going on 28 years, LA County Buff 5 years. Fountain of useless information. The screen name is my first name and my supposedly most alluring feature.

Rassum frassum darn wedding plans and work. This would be an absolute home run for me to get up and picture take. Color me bummed out and disappointed.

How's that working out for you guys?? Isn't there also some sort of center for the TA being set up in Midtown??

I was reading on another board about necesaary tools to keep on your person. This doesn't necessarily apply as much to my line of work other than maybe a spanner wrench or Halligan for instant attitude adjustment.(Anybody from LCFD who knew me back then knows I preached that a lot with the explorers) Anyhoo, in the same vein as my making life easier threads, I recommend the following tools for people in the dispatch community. Map Book-Hagstrom makes one of the best, after that Rand Mc Nally. The ones with the laminated pages are probably the better way to go. And you'll see why in a second. Circular, colored stickers. And/Or Magic Markers. You can do this one of two ways. Write firehouse names/numbers on the stickers and affix them to the map pages. Or, just use the markers and write on the pages. If you're an EMT/Medic and you work for one of the regional care providers, you can also mark off the hospitals, maybe use different colored ink/stickers for the capacity levels of each hospital. Blue for a trauma center, red for a burn unit, green for one that has a neo natal ICU, etc. For us dispatchers, red for firehouses, blue for hospitals, green for VAC's, yellow for the Police stations. Or just mark the pages as necessary. Another one I missed, and I mentioned in my earlier threads, LANDMARKS!!!!!! I would also recommend the map book for any piece of apparatus. If it's not already in use. Stick it behind the officers seat or in the glove box. Might come in handy when you're heading on a long Mutual Aid run, or going somewhere unfamiliar and your department hasn't been up to date on the route cards. Back to the dispatchers, a three ring binder. I'm not talking one of those Eric Cartman sized Dawsons' Creek style Trapper Keepers with the built in pencil sharpener and calculator. Simple three ring binder with a few of those dividers with tabs. One section you keep your apparatus line ups. Who has what and where. You can optionally add direct numbers to each firehouse, if need be. For some of you who may be novices and didn't grow up around the Fire or EMS services, see if you can get some pictures of local apparatus. So when you hear 12-6-1 sign on, you can look and see what a heavy rescue looks like. Get that idea in your head and it'll click from there. These can either go up front in this section, or in the back in the last section. Another section you keep a list of handy phone numbers that you commonly use for notifications. Things like Stat Flight, NYSP, County Police or Sheriff. Other Dispatchers offices in the event you're requested to go out of county for Mutual Aid, County Coordinators/Battalion Chiefs, and of course, Hospital ER phone numbers. There were quite a few times when 40 Control had to Landline PHC and give them info if we were coming in with a CPR case, or they couldn't answer us on high band. The next section can be used for miscellaneous things like detailed maps of certain areas, such as large parks. Quick references for who to turn out if an alarm comes in on a highway. What departments cover which exits, or mile markers. This comes in very handy when working with a CAD crash. Or if you're not quite sure who responds to a certain landmark and the computer doesn't necessarily give you the right info. The other tool, is a scanner. Once again, you don't need one of those super pimped out, trunked everything, digital whatchahoosits that can allow you to hear a pilot breaking wind at 35,000 feet. Just one that you can easily program and listen to. I learned more about properly talking on FDNY radio from about two or three years straight of just listening, than I did in 6 weeks of class. Not to toot my own horn, but when I was in probie school I carried on a radio conversation in class with one of my instructors(A legend of FDNY Communications), and he really swelled my ego when we finished by telling me, "Sounded like you had 15 years on the job, kid." Try some of these inexpensive(except the scanner for the most part), very basic implements. With a little bit of practice and a lot of patience, or vice versa, you can become an asset to whomever you're serving. If anyone else would like to add to this, please do. I'm always looking for new ideas that I can use to improve my performance and the performance of those who work with and for me.

The problem is, smaller cities are going with these PSAC, or PSAP(public service answering points) and singing the praises. IMHO, yet again, is the powers that be in City Hall think this is the way to go for NYC. Unfortunately, the PSAC model for us is best served as a back up, or kept open with a skeleton crew in the event there is a major problem and there is no loss of function in the time it takes for the dispatchers to man the fallback positions.

They are 100 percent right. It's disgraceful that they are driving around in rigs like this. Granted L-706 is a reserve, but L-142 was driving around in Reserve Ladder 704 for MONTHS!!! Tower Ladders having to drive around with rear mounts?? No good.

Normally I disagree with my union president on a number of things. But this is one I am with him 100 percent. Renovate the FDNY dispatchers offices and leave things alone. Putting us in Metrotech is a dangerous gamble to take. I've said it a million times, it isn't too far fetched for Johnny Jihad to take a Ryder truck filled with explosives and drive it right down Flatbush Avenue and BOOM!!! 2/3 of the cities' emergency communications are wiped out in one shot. Truck bomb number two down Jay Street, BOOM!!! EMS Communications gone. I honestly don't have a problem with EMS moving into our offices. I really don't. The PSAC idea, IMHO is not feasible in this city. The only good thing to come out of it would be a computer system that we can all use. If they want to build these centers as back ups in case the main buildings get wiped out, fine. You don't want to put all your eggs in one basket.

And Von Essen, who ordered the ropes taken away in 2000, walks away scot free. No justice in this world.

There's some department in either PA or one of the Mid-Western states that uses a Heavy Rescue type apparatus as an ambulance. I thought it was a bit of overkill, but apparently they were ahead of the curve.

It was actually the decision of the court of appeals to release only our voices. Citing privacy concerns. What about my privacy??? I know once someone from the press finds out who I am, I'm going to get phone calls up the wazoo. My other concern is the eventual lawsuits that will probably come out of this. Don't really feel like dealing with that stuff. I've been asked about this day more times than I like to admit. I tend not to talk about it with people who aren't in the Fire/PD/EMS line of work. If they push, I give them one or two little stories that quickly shut them up. One of them quickly edited, goes like this. "Fire Dep.." "Never mind," "Whaddaya mean, never mind??" "He just jumped" "Ok" (CLICK) Do the public or the vultures in the press want to hear that??? I think not.

I'm wondering what you guys think about these tapes being released. I think it's going to reopen a lot of old wounds for everyone involved. Not only the families of the deceased, but the folks, like me, who were the last person someone spoke to before the caller met their fate. I have no desire to listen to them, but if the families want to listen to give them whatever closure they need/want. So be it. What I don't understand, is why the tapes are edited so that only our voices can be heard. If it was such a big deal that the NY Times and a number of families sued to have those tapes released, why not just release them in the unedited, uncensored version for everyone to hear?? I'm sorry, but I don't buy this whole privacy thing. To me, it seems, you want the details, you should have every single word that was spoken on those phones. People asking dispatchers to call relatives. People threatening to, and ultimately, jumping. Others begging for help, when all we can tell them is to stay put and wait for help. The backlash is already beginning from some of the relatives. People pi$$ed off or upset they weren't given proper notice that these tapes are coming out. The press are licking their chops over this one. Wait till later this week when the tapes get released. It's going to be a feeding frenzy. I've pretty much held the same feelings since after everything happened. The press, nor the public really need to hear these tapes. Stay safe, everyone.

I wish they had this class when I went to DCC.

Not necessarily. Newark EMS runs a heavy rescue, as do a number of the volunteer ambulance corps in Jersey. Point Pleasant Beach, for example, runs two fire stations and the First Aid Squad runs one station(right across the street from PPB Station 2) with something like 3 or 4 ambulances and a heavy rescue.

I think pictures such as this can be used as an educational tool. Learn from what you see, so when you're faced with a similar situation, you can take action to prevent mistakes made by others in the past. Other sites, as many of us probably know, show the gory stuuff just for the sake of blood and guts. Disclaimers are important. It also boils down to a simple freedom, choice. You don't like what you're seeing, click the mouse, or turn the page. Fortunately, our countries' media is very careful about what they put in their print or on the TV. I have seen pictures and film of incidents in other parts of the world that would never make it past the Standards and Practices folks.

Snap on Tool Bike

Danny's a good kid. It's nice to see he got this honor.

I'm going to go along with our pal from LA. What we term a brush fire is nothing compared to what those guys get out there. Most, if not all of LA Countys' Water Tenders are 3000 gallon tanks. They also run patrols, which are just like the brush units you see out here. Nothing like the FDNY steroid infused brush trucks. They also run helicopters, which is something I think FDNY needs, not only for brush fires. 2 or 3 acres is kid stuff for them. We could learn a lot from them when it comes to that sort of thing. Tower ladders get used extensively for observation at fires like this, and every so often, you may actually see them operating.

I think it depends on how far the boom is extended on a TL. LAFD has one of those Heavy Rescue(wrecker) type rigs. The closest thing they have to the Box type rescue is their USAR units. The TAC Units' crane is for the boat. If my memory serves me right, I think either Haz Mat 1 or Squad 1's second piece has a small crane on the backstep.

Lake Carmel had a 1970 Mack CF TeleSqurt (the old 17-5-1, Ex FDNY E-70) from 1987-1992. It was sold to a department in PA, who in turn sold it to a department somewhere in Texas.

Still doesn't say why he was locked up. Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't the EMT badge look like an NYPD detectives shield?? (Quote) And don't tell me to identify ones self while OFF DUTY, BUFFING A SCENE.(Quote) And what, pray tell, is wrong with buffing??

Where's Tackleberry when you need him???

I guess it just goes back to what works best for a particular department. I wouldn't go so far as to say they are "EXTREME" but each one has a qualities to it that make it unique. I really dig the Atlanta crash truck, and that Orange County brush truck is close in design to FDNY's BFUs. Although, when I think heavy rescue, LAFDs' and the one from Germany IMHO are big @$$ wreckers and not recues.

Tractor for the SP: 255 HP @ 2300RPM Pump: 2400 HP @1800 RPM It was started by compressed air. It could pump 8800 GPM @350 PSI or 4400 GPM @ 700 PSI. The tender tractor had outriggers to stabilize it when the water cannon got put to work. The tiller position was used the same way a tiller is used on a ladder truck. It was eventually removed. I was only 8 when this rig was retired, however I have seen video of it being put to work. It's rather impressive. The SPS was the only one of its kind.

No. It's not necessarily feasible to have BFU-7 schlep all the way up from the Rockaways unless it's something major. By the time it would get up there(in todays case) the fire was already knocked down.

I wish they would give us APCO. The tight pursed FDNY won't give us jack for any training aside from the stuff they already teach.