JBE

There are approximately ten volunteer fire departments inside the city limits. They are separate entities from the FDNY. There are two that are recognized by the City. Those are Richmond Engine and Oceanic FD in SI. They are dispatched by the FDNY. As a matter of fact, any box that is in their response area actually says RVFD or OVFD on the assignment card. (They were there before FDNY) There are 5 in Queens, West Hamilton Beach, which is in between Howard Beach and Kennedy Airport. Broad Channel, in between Howard Beach and Rockaway. Rockaway Point, Point Breeze and Roxbury. All of these communities are isolated and it's a bit of a haul for FDNY companies to get in there. Brooklyn has Gerritsen Beach. The Bronx has Edgewater Park and Aviation. Aviation is best known for getting a bunch of rigs donated to them after Sept. 11th,(a lot of controversy about that, too) and then losing their firehouse(Vacated by 47 Truck and the 6th Division, it was falling down). There are numerous volunteer ambulance corps in the city, they are dispatched by FDNY*EMS as needed to incidents, but only if they have checked in with the EMS Dispatchers that they are crewed and ready. Then you have Hatzoloh, which operates outside of that system. You have hospitals that have their own ambulances and most of them are in the 911 system.(I'm going by memory/presumption here so correct me if I am wrong) The volunteer departments here are not for show. There are times, because of those long responses, that sometimes they are operating before or arrivng simultaneously with FDNY assets. Many of them are all state trained and regularly attend classes out at the Nassau County Fire Academy. Broad Channel, for all the problems they had in the past, actually have a pretty good relationship with the units in the 47 Battalion. Not too sure about the other Rockaway Vollies. West Hamilton Beach is not very well liked by the local fire companies, and they have a serious manpower problem. As for the Volunteer ambulance corps, I was a member of one in the Bronx when I first got on the job, saw close to the same BS that I saw when I was a member of Lake Carmel, and I walked after one meeting.

They haven't had any in a VERY long time.

As some of you know, I am a diehard Mets fan. So I can truly sympathize with you Yankee fans over your current trials and tribulations. Pitching, pitching, pitching. It's what kills ball clubs. The Mets let Al Leiter go, and keep that bum Glavine around. Trade away a hot prospect for somebody who obviously can't keep a ball in the strike zone(Zambrano) and give up a solid utility player(Wigginton) for a pitcher whose only saving grace is he's got a really hot wife.(Benson) The bullpen is fair to middling at best. I say trade up for some decent starting pitching and put Glavine in the bullpen as a middle relief or closer. As for your Yankees, Jeter has earned my respect. Giambi is a dirtbag who should just walk away. Bernie needs to retire or become a DH. How many reliable pitchers do you have other than Johnson and Mussina?? The asian guy who pitched over the weekend was pretty impressive. I will admit to laughing when Quantrill got his butt handed to him yesterday with the bases loaded.

You are correct, sir.

They are fully staffed at all times with a pilot, a wiper(engineer) and two firefighters. If they need manpower for a fire, they wait till the engine company shows up and then they depart, or they meet units at a pre designated area and then get underway. Remember we only have 3 year round fireboats and two are over 40 years old, and not very fast. Depending on where the incident is, it can take anywhere from 20 to 90 minutes for a boat to get there.

Lenox Hill has type 2's.

Come to work with me sometime. Nothing pi$$es me off more when a unit fails to put themselves available/AQ and then calls up and complains when they miss something. And believe me, it is a very common occurence.

They would turn out of the firehouse(apparatus turning a wheel) Or, members would Turn out for an event. Take up would come from the packing of hose lines/other gear. Just guesses.

It's definitely apples and oranges to out there. Different weather patterns, fuel loads, firefighting tactics. Mutual aid is probably the common feature. Strike teams are moreso mutual aid units just lined up from wherever to assist in containment/extinguishment. See ya in September Boss!!!

Now that the hangover has passed. Class 3 is our term for a privately owned internal fire alarm system, monitored by a central station(Ie, ADT). The types of alarms cover a myriad of activations, smoke/heat/CO detectors, waterflow, Class E(Office buildings) Class J(Motels/Theatres) ERS is the 2 button talk boxes. The way an alarm is received may change, but the box number that is closest to an incident is used.

Ah. Good ole WARY. "The Voice of Westchester Community College". I wonder if they actually got thier new studio. I used to DJ for a short period there many years ago. Would you believe they only transmit at (IIRC) 10 watts? :-P My brother DJ'ed there from 92-93.

OK, let's see if I can properly explain this with half a bag on. In FDNY Terms, a Box coincides with a corner on a map or a particular point on a map. Each Box number has a particular alarm assignment. Example, Queens Box 1782 is the corner of 151 Avenue and 85 Street. The units are assigned in order in 1,000 foot increments from the box in line of sight distance. If Box 1782 is transmitted Engines 331, 225, 285 and 236 are the First Alarm assignment, along with Ladders 173, 107 and 142 and the 39 Battalion. The order of assignment goes in distance. We still use a box number to get a correct alarm assignment(for the most part) on all incidents received, be it Phone, Pull Box, ERS, Class 3, Verbal, etc. Back before CADS, if a Second alarm was transmitted for a particular box, the relocators would be saddling up upon transmission because that was built into the assignment card. Mayor Giuliani, with prompting from Former FC and PC Howard Safir and a former FIRE DISPATCHER(SKELL) thought up this wonderful idea to rid the city of alarm boxes. The idea backfired when my union brought up the disabled(deaf and mute) and the poor(those who can't afford a phone). There are plenty of boxes still out there. I have to admit, as old and as antiquated as the system is or may be, it still works. For historical notes, 8084 was 1 WTC, 8087 was 2 WTC, and 8091 was either 5 or the parking garage of the WTC. I remember talking about box numbers with my cousin and mentioning 8084 and 8087 because prior to the 11th, they used to come in three or four times A DAY!!!! Back to the pull boxes for a second, imagine, if you will, having to sit there and count them as they came in. And getting it in two rounds. Another note. With the exception of Queens, if you hear an 8000 numbered box, it is either a special building(School, Hospital), or a highway. Queens has 8000 numbered street boxes. Any other questions??? PM me.

Sorry Dude, but I am not paying to listen to music. O n A aside, it's not my bag, baby.

Chicago is a big buyer of the Crimson rigs.

Not to knock the idea, because I am a proponent of it. I think it would work better with EMS units as opposed to fire trucks. I say that in the sense of the closest available unit. Say you have LCFD 17-7-1 coming out of PHC, and CVAC gets banged out for a seizure at Putnam Plaza, 17-7-1 is physically closer and can get there faster because they are crewed, where as CVAC may have to wait for a crew to staff the bus. There's another concern. Manpower. Let's face it, it's an issue that is a strong concern for many departments, so instead of spending the money for GPS, maybe recruitment/retention efforts would be more in order.

I was a dispatcher in Manhattan from 98-02 if that helps. And you have to take the test(written) and pass the physical to get on the list.

When Q-104 first got started back in 94/95, they played nothing but heavy stuff, along with some classic metal. It was great for some but not very well received by the masses. Then they went back to the old reliable classic rock format. Its only bright spot is Eddie Trunks Friday Night Rocks. A lot of old school stuff with a little bit of new stuff. A nice mix. And usually some really good interviews. I thought SOU went to a more mellow format. A station that plays the metal has to be very ummm selective in what they play as so not to alienate listeners. I mean there's only so many Slayer tunes which are suitable for broadcast radio. WARY from WCC is known for playing some good and heavy stuff(if you can pick it up).

I picked up a Fine Pix A 210 last year and I love it. Not the greatest for night photos (especially with rigs) but great for just about everything else.

It can work both ways. GPS affords you the opportunity to properly track your units, and dispatch nearest available,but it can be a nightmare at other times. How do you track your units when the GPS is down?? What if there are dead zones where you can't find units?? What if units have "disabled" GPS transmitters??

I know, in most cases, Dispatchers out there wait for word from the IC to do relocations/mutual aid. We usually wait for a preliminary report from the IC before we do anything. Any non 60 or P911 dispatchers out there have a list of their methods?? The reason why I ask this is because I had a fatal fire a few months back, and I got written up for not doing relocations in a "timely" manner. Never mind the fact that I had to wait ten minutes for a preliminary report. The report was "Transmit a 2nd Alarm" I made my moves immediately after that. Never mind the fact that it took us almost another ten minutes to get anything else out of the chiefs on scene. So, from now on, to keep me and those who work for me out of trouble, I'm relocating 1 and 1 on any 10-75 I get. I think what bugs me the most is that I thought our operation ran rather smoothly, and the powers that be in my job took 2 1/2 months to pick it apart. Whereas, myself and my crew had the luxury of 2 1/2 second to do stuff. Any constructive advice is appreciated and I apologize if seems like I am ranting. But this was something that really pi$$ed me off.

By not making moves in a "timely manner" I have failed to properly supervise my tour. It's an absolute crock of $%&*. I could be in the bathroom doubled over with the runs and something happens, I have failed to supervise. It's managements way of sticking you when they've got nothing else better to nail you on. All I got was an apology from the aide in the Divison the next night for him screwing up royally. BTW I got 8 years in the job. New boss, yes. New to dispatching, nope.

There really aren't any written guidelines on relocations, other than certain fire companies are must fills. Geographic restrictions such as isolated areas are the big one. Not really much of a disciplinary action against me. I would have liked to have gone through my probation without one, or two. It's just a formal letter advising me of my "failure to properly supervise my tour".

Fire away!!!

What are your opinions of the need to have Critical Incident Stress Debrief training/counselors in your dispatch force?? FDNY doesn't have them for us, and I doubt the city will fork over the money to train any of us. Let me give you some background on this. As we all know, the events of September 11th messed a lot of people up emotionally and mentally. We were told to "Suck it up". We were offered what was billed as a CISD and the two counselors admitted right off the bat that they knew nothing of what we do. Good intentions, and no one can fault them, but not the help we needed at the time. Agencies who had counselors willing to assist us were rebuffed. As a few of you know, aside from my obvious buffitude when it comes to FDNY, and a few departments up north, I am a HUGE LA County FD Buff. They and the departments around them have CISD Counselors ready to go. When the Ventura Mudslides occured earlier this year, they had at least two teams of counselors out there for the firefighters. I think we need them. Not for the beyond comparison events such as the 11th, but to have someone to reach out to when you have an incident where there is loss of life, or the activity of the day pushes you to a limit where you may go home and crawl into a bottle, or take the feelings out on your loved ones. Additionally, I was discussing this with a colleague whom I have tremendous respect for. The response I got was, "If they aren't emotionally strong enough to handle this job, then they shouldn't be here". I shook my head and politely disagreed as so not to lose the respect I have. Another dispatcher said, "If you don't know the person or if you're not hearing that persons last words, you're not that involved." Again I disagree. Have it there and ready so we're not reading in the papers one of our own got locked up for something or got lit and wrapped up on the Saw Mill. Or worse. Do any of you out there have the safety net?? Or do you have the resources at hand to get the help you need when you need it?? If not, do you advocate the need for Dispatchers to be trained as counselors/debriefers for the times when it just hits the fan?? Discuss.

Would putting the box on a new chassis be more or less cost effective??