Anthony Tester

MTA - New York City Transit is currently hiring a Fire Safety Specialist for our Fire Detection Division. Strong background in Fire Detection, Codes, Plan Review, etc. Excellent opportunity, pay, retirement, and benefits. This posting closes in 2 weeks, so if you are interested and think you meet the qualifications, please apply. Go to: http://www.mta.info/mta/employment/ Click on New York City Transit. The job posting is under System Safety Specialist. if you have questions, e mail me at: anthony.tester@nyct.com

I think LTPRG laid down the rules to follow if one was to create an "alternate playbook" (or any fireground playbook for that matter) in regards to reduced manpower situations. He gave you the basic rules. You do want you have to do as the situation warrants and expand on that. I am sure there are many here you can tell you story after story of what they had to do with little or no manpower. Why? Because they had to. Minimum staffing levels are just that, the minimum amount of personnel it takes to perform a task, safely. To start thinking about alternative practices because someone is looking to cut the budget, reduce manpower, etc., is ridiculous (to me anyway). Instead of progress, we regress? There is nothing guaranteed on the fireground. There are constantly split second decisions that have to be made. Risk versus benefit and working with what you have, safely, so that everyone goes home. We have the minimum standards that we follow. And they are just that, minimum.

Here was the reasoning in NYC: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/nyregion/city-is-ordered-to-keep-emergency-help-boxes.html?_r=1

Get some pre hung doors donated along with some 2 x 4's and of course, locks. Or, make a steel frame with the strike section of the lock out of wood (so you can replace the wood and the strikes). A simulator can get old after awhile. Change it up try different locks and combination's on different types of doors. For through the lock forcible entry drilling. you just need the doors and not the frames or hinges. You can also use 2 x 6's or larger and set up a mock up like a door. Be creative and have fun.

Good eye. That is why I posted the color photos (for a little perspective). Nice to see the scene from a different angle.

Knickerbocker Avenue & Bleeker Street, July 18, 1977. If you search around the web, there are some great shots of this fire. I believe this went to 10 alarms.

NYCT uses specially built train snow throwers and turbine powered snow blowers. Very effective, but the high winds (and probably the rate the snow came down) caused some serious issues throughout. Below are some pictures of some of the equipment.

Go on E-bay. There are a few Yonkers FD on there.

I hope this is the case. Maybe things can move forward in the County after this debacle.

Its sad all the way around. The fire victims, the fire setters family, the department, and the entire fire service. There are many factors that propel a person to do this heinous act. Know the signs and be aware. If there is anyone or anything that does not appear "just right", talk to an officer. It happens and has happened throughout the County over the years. If you have ever gone through it in your own department, it is devastating. It goes against everything we stand for, yet sometimes these people are standing right beside you. Glad to see justice was served. Be Safe.

For those of you who think that the training is minimal, you better think again. In your free time pick up NFPA 921 (or if you really want to be on up to date, the new edition should be out anytime now). I encourage you to read and comprehend the entire document. When you have completely absorbed all of it, pick up NFPA 1033. And when you have understood Daubert and Gate keeping, by all means do not stop there... Fire Investigation HAS NEVER been so comprehensive and scientific than it is right now. If you think a fire chief is going to stroll into court, state the facts, and not be shredded on the stand, it is not just going to happen.Cases are now being overturned because of "junk science". Look up the Todd Willingham case if you really want an eye opener. I have been doing this as a career for the last several years and it has become such a specialized field it almost to the point you have to be an engineer in the particular case you are working on. Most investigators now have so many letters and advanced degrees after their names its almost funny. Support the Dutchess County FID. They as a team serve a very important function for the county, and they do it without getting paid. If you do not realize their importance now, maybe you will when the DA cannot get a conviction because he / she does not have the resources.

Do everything possible to help the Brothers in Newburgh. Their backs are against the wall and literally, are in dire straits. The statistics do not lie. Talk to anyone who is over there. I have, and its a very dangerous situation (for everyone) that is on the table. Hang in there guys, you have our support !

Sadness, the feeling I get every time I read about a brother who passes. Line of duty deaths strike a nerve unlike any other, emotions run wild, and well my heart hangs heavy. If in this day in age you, your department , your town, village, city, etc., are not following what the Department of Labor says, OSHA, NFPA, NYS Building and Fire Codes, OFPC, Nationally Acceptable Practices, NIMS, etc., then please quit the fire service NOW. I do not know all the facts of the Tarrytown FD and cannot comment on this incident, but I would sure hope they have followed all of these guidelines and any other applicable guideline(s). If you really think it cannot happen in your department, you are sadly mistaken. My sincere Condolences to the Tarrytown Fire Department and to the friends and families of these two brothers.

LOL... East 28th between Z and Voorhies...between the two of us we probably know the entire neighborhood. Shoot me an e-mail: anthony.tester@yahoo.com Small world!

I rode my bike to the scene after hearing it on the scanner, I was 9 at the time (there is a picture out there with me and my dad online). I had never seen anything like it. Ocean Avenue was filled with apparatus, hoses were everywhere, ambulances, police cars, etc, lined the side streets. I remember standing next to someone who went to our Church (St.Marks) watching the fire when all hell broke loose. IT was just chaos. My Dad told me there where guys that fell through the roof and he was going to assist (he was an EMT at the time). I remember the exterior wall on the Avenue Y side that they breached, it was awful when they pulled those guys out. There were so many of us who knew someone or was related to someone. Everyone from the neighborhood was there lending a hand. A very surreal moment indeed.