ny10570

Three medics is not enough. If it were, the ALS transport or supervisors wouldn't be a a regular supplement to the system. A few years ago there was a push to add a 4th medic. I don't remember if WEMS or the municipalities initiated it, but when it came time to cough up the dough the communities didn't want to pay.

I haven't seen what is being tested, but I don't think either is an iPad

The stability of iOS and the durability of solid state flash memory makes the iPad extremely durable. Add a bomb proof Otter Box or Pelican style case and you have a device that should be able to preform on par with the tough books.

For all the impatient and search impaired brethren... Due to all of the rumors regarding the test I decided to submit a FOIL request to get the facts. Here is the response I received from HR. Quote I am in receipt of your FOIL request, dated October 14th, regarding the Firefighter Examination #62-909 held March 5, 2011. You requested “the full results of the Firefighter Examination be posted in the public domain within the legal time limit of this FOIL request” and “an explanation of the delay in providing scores to candidates”. Your request is granted. This department anticipates establishing a new eligible list for Firefighter on or about November 2, 2011. Individual grades will be mailed to candidates, and the new eligible list will be available to the public for review at our HR Reception Desk or via FOIL. A copy of the eligible will be e-mailed to you. As per your FOIL request, this date is “within the legal time limit of this FOIL request”. The Freedom of Information Law mandates the time frames for acknowledgments of FOIL requests (five business days), and up to twenty business days from acknowledgment to grant or deny the request for information. As for “an explanation of the delay”, although not required by the Freedom of Information Law, please be advised that the current eligible list for Firefighter was established on 11/2/07 and is valid until 11/1/2011. This list has 418 eligible candidates on it. Fire Districts are required to use this list until November 1st. 2011. The establishment of the new list was scheduled so candidates would not lose time from their four year eligibility period.

Aren't there vehicle based systems that can rebroadcast the simplex transmissions to the repeaters so that they can be monitored and recorded by your dispatchers?

What about radio id capabilities for accountability? Is that available with analog systems?

Fleet services field units. Respond 24/7 to broken or damaged dept vehicles.

AFG and SAFER are both great programs. I'd rather see more money pumped into them than the creation of more programs with more bureaucracy and more headaches.

I am all for stimulus spending, but I don't believe that this will work. As others have pointed out, once the cash dries up we're back to square one. Spending money on infrastructure and public works is the way to go. It creates jobs immediately and gets manufacturers and other private industry involved. More jobs and more manufacturing will feed cash into the local governments where they can continue to misappropriate it at their leisure. I'm not buying into right wing trickle down bullshit. Giving cash to corporate entities only serves to strengthen their financials. They hire when they have more product to produce and need more people.

True, the rescue swimmer would be tethered to a quick release, but not the victims or in this case film crew. If I'm not mistaken, the victim is almost never tethered. With a tethered rescuer, as the victim and rescuer float downstream they are drawn towards the shore into an area of refuge where they can then be removed from the water. The belay team is the pivot point and the force of water pushes then into shore. Anyone who's gone fishing in from a river bank has seen this. Cast out in front of you, and as the line drifts downstream it draws back closer to shore.

Its here... http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/10/lytro-camera/

Tying off is only beneficial if it can keep you out of the water. Tied off and in the water you can become dragged under. Tied off in the middle of the current you become an obstruction. Water builds behind you and creates an eddy in front of you. This sinks you lower and lower until the water can start over topping you. At this point you have the full force of the river holding you under. This all takes places in seconds.

BINGO!!! Publicity is nice, but all this money is being wasted on BS. A few firefighters wearing pink shirts is not going to raise awareness. The money they wasted on those pink shirts will help. The Susan G Kohman fund is a fiscally responsible charity with appropriate expenditures in executive compensation and advertising, but the vast amount of money other groups dump in the name of the charity is not tracked. How much has the NFL spent? Corporations funding the lighting of the pyramids, stringing bridges with bras, etc. is all money not going to research. Lung cancer kills nearly twice as many women while affecting %60 fewer. It is a far more lethal cancer in both its efficiency and scope. Then we have number one killer of women, heart disease at 25% of all deaths and combined with stroke, you now can account for 1/3 of all deaths. In the end, breast cancer is number 6 on the list. Yes, breast cancer is terrible and one victim is enough to justify research and investment. My issue is with the disproportionate focus. If you want to give, choose someone like the American Cancer Society, funding research against all types of cancer affecting men, women, and children.

There were 8 documented leaks nationwide. I don't think you're going to see much of a bump

JFLYNN nailed it. Get that brick and start banging. Seriously, use this opportunity to get yourself an education. Take classes in everything until you find something else that you like. A degree can serve to both assist your career and provide you a back-up plan. Stuff happens and even the most passionate are at times forced to change their plans. Myself and several others have had concrete career plans completely thrown into chaos through injury, economics, and just life. Don't forget that it takes time for the civil service process and you could be years away from working. Get your degree started. If college is just that unpalatable to you at this time, learn a trade or skill. I've noticed it in my peers, and its rapidly getting worse, no one knows how to do things with their hands.

Highly recommended. Employers can make it a condition of employment baring a medical complication, but otherwise it is optional.

But LVADs are soo cool. Even Dick Cheney has one! Its disturbing that change is so slow to come, but look at any industry. Substantial change comes with either great profit or after substantial loss. We need to be pushed to change. I hope that changes.

What about the beat cop, that actually saved the day?? Early CPR saves lives. Defibrillator is important, but useless without early CPR.

Woah, ease up on the hyperbole there big guy. While I don't agree with placing these convicts into the firehouse these programs are generally for non-violent offenders. No one is letting pedos and murders into these programs.

I'm not such a fan of a national organization. Economy of scale is only beneficial to a point before the organization becomes so unwieldy that inefficiency of a different sort takes over. The big cities have a valid argument against consolidation. Their population density allows greater services for less money per resident. The cost of providing a NYC level of response(both in number and response time) in Putnam would be astronomical. Starting with similar sized communities of similar demographics makes the math much easier and can pave the way for further improvements. The sound shore area is one example. Mt. Pleasant is one I'm very familiar with. There is no excuse for Mt. Pleasant to still have so many fire districts. PVAC is covering Pleasantville and Thornwood without issue. Mt. Pleasant successfully consolidated their different water depts into one. The fire districts already all work so closely between dual response agreements on the highways and mutual aid required for most every fire that it shouldn't be this big deal. Ego's are the last remaining hurdle and need to go.

So, FDNY getting dual dispatched gets an immediate response of any required resources. How long does a formal mutual aid request take to get fulfilled at that hour?

True, there are limitations to any garment, however before this PPE we had nothing and our protection was strictly for escape.

The gear, gloves, and boots are NFPA 1992 complaint for chemical and hazmat protection. Combined with our APRs we're deemed to be adequately protected for operations in the warm zone.

No one is arguing that we look ridiculous standing there in our PPE while cops, firefighters, and everyone else on scene walk around closer to the incident wearing much less. That is an ego thing where our chief loved being able to clearly see ems members in his gear at incidents on the web and in the news. The gear is overkill for the average incident but its designed for the next major disaster. The module is largely unchanged since at least 97. Some minor changes over the years were longboards going vertically, sharps container relocated, etc. Larger changes like utilizing more of the ceiling space have been discussed but discarded as they didn't free up enough space. We also pay a space penalty in our electronics cabinet. Everything is designed to be immediately reachable and able to be replaced in the field. This results in a lot of dead space. I'm not saying the space couldn't be found with the current chassis but any time you do something by committee you end up with a compromise. At least this compromise benefits the members without a substantial added cost to the taxpayer. For simplicity sake especially when it comes to spare vehicles and running extra units both BLS and ALS have identical boxes. On a personal note the two door fords are now too small with the larger engine compartments for the new diesel emissions controls. If you're tall or fat 8 hours is rough and 16 nothing short of torture. The ambulances say ambulance because we reuse ambulances as a variety of other vehicles. Changing it isn't going to change the public from thinking were firefighters. Even with paramedic plastered on my chest and back they call me firefighter or officer. The specs are very specific concerning structural integrity. No matter who builds it, it will be heavy and strong. Remount every 2 years?! The replacement plan is 5 years front line and 5 years spare. My current truck is an early 2004 with 79,000 miles mostly in Manhattan all brutal stop and go. A long highway run is from south to 30th on the FDR. Remounts occur but usually to bolster a depleted spare fleet. Our gear is essentially bunker gear with a vapor barrier instead of thermal protection. I believe morning pride markets it as USAR PPE.

Just to expand on what MCD87 posted, after 9/11 many lessons were learned. One is that EMS had no equipment capable of properly protecting them for operations in that type of environment. The same applied to much more typical incidents, MVAs, structure fires, construction accidents, etc. As Capt Nechis pointed out NFP requires protection for all hazards we face and for years it just wasn't addressed. We had a jacket and helmet. Hardly the all hazards protection required. As an added bonus the new PPE allows all members to operate in the warm zone of a hazmat incident bringing more hands to provide patient care and allowing us to safely transport critical patients not fully contaminated to medical facilities with decon stations. Maybe the gear is overkill (flash protection without airway protection seems pointless to me) but its what we have. BLS units have no problem securing all of the equipment. ALS now that we're carrying our cold saline coolers have zero free space. My truck is as stripped as possible, but between our fisher price snow shovels and sked removing the scoop is actually dangerous. In the patient compartment it is now impossible to secure all of our bags, and our WMD mark 1 kits are either locked up and stuffed in without our spare drugs or stuffed behind a difficult to remove trauma bag about 6' off the ground. Its nearly impossible for shorter members to get to. The haztac style extra compartment was considered, but the extra space it offered while substantial would be under utilized. Going with the crew cab gives us more options for patient family transport, a better seat for ride alongs(currently to converse with the crew up front ride alongs end up in a very dangerous position were there a collision), and keeps our gear within reach. Were we to roll up on that chemical or biological incident we can at least mask up before retreating to properly prepare to enter the scene. As for the safety of storing our gear in the passenger compartment, we are not regularly exposed to the toxins and carcinogens that bunker gear is exposed to. Still not ideal, but its better than what we have now.