LTFIREPRG

His actions (reckless driving) are totally unacceptable while operating any emergency vehicle, let alone his private vehicle. New York State Vehicle & Traffic Law is clear as I’m sure the V & T law is in Ohio. New York Laws > Vehicle & Traffic > Title 7 > Article 23 > § 1104. Authorized emergency vehicles § 1104. Authorized emergency vehicles. (a) The driver of an authorized emergency vehicle, when involved in an emergency operation, may exercise the privileges set forth in this section, but subject to the conditions herein stated. b. The driver of an authorized emergency vehicle may: 1. Stop, stand or park irrespective of the provisions of this title; 2. Proceed past a steady red signal, a flashing red signal or a stop sign, but only after slowing down as may be necessary for safe operation; 3. Exceed the maximum speed limits so long as he does not endanger life or property; 4. Disregard regulations governing directions of movement or turning in specified directions. c. Except for an authorized emergency vehicle operated as a police vehicle or bicycle, the exemptions herein granted to an authorized emergency vehicle shall apply only when audible signals are sounded from any said vehicle while in motion by bell, horn, siren, electronic device or exhaust whistle as may be reasonably necessary, and when the vehicle is equipped with at least one lighted lamp so that from any direction, under normal atmospheric conditions from a distance of five hundred feet from such vehicle, at least one red light will be displayed and visible. (d) An authorized emergency vehicle operated as a police, sheriff or deputy sheriff vehicle may exceed the maximum speed limits for the purpose of calibrating such vehicles' speedometer. Notwithstanding any other law, rule or regulation to the contrary, a police, sheriff or deputy sheriff bicycle operated as an authorized emergency vehicle shall not be prohibited from using any sidewalk, highway, street or roadway during an emergency operation. (e) The foregoing provisions shall not relieve the driver of an authorized emergency vehicle from the duty to drive with due regard for the safety of all persons, nor shall such provisions protect the driver from the consequences of his reckless disregard for the safety of others. (f) Notwithstanding any other law, rule or regulation to the contrary, an ambulance operated in the course of an emergency shall not be prohibited from using any highway, street or roadway; provided, however, that an authority having jurisdiction over any such highway, street or roadway may specifically prohibit travel thereon by ambulances if such authority shall deem such travel to be extremely hazardous and would endanger patients being transported thereby. The bottom line is his actions were reckless and with total disregard for the safety of others. While responding in his private vehicle he should have been following all the rules of the road. The point is clear regardless if you are operating an authorized emergency vehicle or your private vehicle responding to an emergency, you are going to be held accountable for you

The bottom line is as an incident commander when I call for a mutual aid engine/ladder, I want a staffed engine/ladder with fully qualified firefighter’s (career or volunteer) to be able to perform what ever assignment they are needed for. I don’t want an engine/ladder with 2 firefighters and 3 helpers. If your are not a fully qualified firefighter then you should not be responding on mutual aid.

It makes perfect sense to have to closest available (qualified) units respond to a mutual aid call. The first and most important information that should be used in determining your mutual aid coverage is their qualifications and training. For example, just because a department claims to have a fast team and are ready to respond county wide and beyond, the lack of accredited, initial and continual training should cause an IC to by pass them. The second important factor is resources, both manpower and apparatus/equipment. Does the closest department have adequate resources to be able to provide the mutual aid required. Mutual aid should not be based on whether or not the department is career or volunteer but on their abilities (training and resources). Unfortunately the statement about who was or was not invited to the company BBQ, or who peed in who’s corn flakes and super egos play and will continue to play a large role in the determination of departments mutual aid responses. Here are two prime examples. I had a call one day on a highway, a mini van left the roadway and rolled down a steep embankment approximately 30 feet into a wooded area. The vehicle was badly damaged on its roof and the occupants were missing. The call was in our district by about a mile. The Chief of the bordering department about 15/20 min into the call shows up and his first question was “how did you get this call, I think its mine”. Not what do you have, do you need anything. The second was on the same highway, a van parked on the center maiden was on fire, the fire was located in the bordering district. Upon our arrival the chief quickly waved us off telling us he had it. We asked if he wanted us to assist or stand by encase they need additional water. We were told he had it and we were not needed. The long and short of it is 45 minutes later they were still doing water shuttles for the van and now grass fire. The point being how about working together, providing the best possible service, as quick and safe as possible and leaving your egos at home.

Chimney

A couple of key points: · There is no such thing as a routine call. · Complacency kills. · Train like your fight – fight like you train. CO can be an intermitting problem; it can be generated each time an improperly functioning or vented furnace, water heater or appliance starts up or runs. Just because your meter is not showing any CO upon your arrival, don’t assume it is another false alarm, especially if it is for a prior alarm location. You either have a CO problem or a faulty detector. Take the time to perform a complete investigation, fire up each and every fuel burning appliance and all sources of CO and check with a properly calibrated meter. And on a side note, if you are looking to save fuel, stop riding around in the apparatus for hours on end and calling it driver training. NOTE: This is my opinion and is based on my 36+ years in the fire service! Not looking for a debate, if the shoe fits were it.

Also regardless of the fact that the buildings are owned by the municipality, if you are selling alcohol, regardless of how much your selling it for, you need a liquor license in NYS. The bottom line is alcohol and fighting fires don’t mix, especially driving a rig after consuming any amount.

Judging from the comments in the last link, it appears that the apparatus was properly maintained in accordance with the Sutphen’s recommendations and that it also received annual ladder testing by a certified company. Seems like it was just a freak failure of the cable. With the design of Sutphen’s boom where the cables are located inside the boom box, it is not that easy, especially on the third section to see any flaws in the cable during routine operations. Maybe the manufacture should look into placing a safety stop that engages when ever the ladder is stopped or if there is a failure and the ladder suddenly starts to retract.

The Governor should declare a state of emergency in Newburgh, send in the National Guard to assist the PD & FD and use his power to remove the Mayor and Council Members and replace them with competent individuals.

NFPA 1851 Standard on Selection, Care, and Maintenance of Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting Chapter 3 Definitions 3.3.31 Ensemble. The compliant products that provide protection to the upper and lower torso, arms, legs, head, hands, and feet. Chapter 10 Retirement, Disposition, and Special Incident Procedure 10.1.2* shall be retired in accordance with 10.2.1, no more than 10 years from the date the ensembles or ensemble elements were manufactured. A.10.1.1 Retirement criteria should be based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the following: (1) Overall condition of the item (2) Specific deterioration of materials or components beyond their economic repair (3) Ability to adequately remove hazardous materials and other contaminants (4) Age of structural or proximity ensemble or ensemble elements Physical damage from use, detrimental effects from improper cleaning procedures, and fabric failure of an ensemble and ensemble elements that can make repairs impossible are other factors that can affect when an item should be retired. Where ensembles and ensemble elements are worn, damaged, or contaminated, organizations should determine if it would be more appropriate for them to be repaired, decontaminated, or replaced. One general guideline is if the cost of the repair or decontamination is greater than 50 percent of the replacement cost of the ensemble or ensemble elements, replacement should be considered. A typical guideline that can be used involves the use of a matrix that takes into account the current age of the gear and the cost of the repair versus the replacement cost of the item. (See A.10.1.4.) Experience suggests that ensembles and ensemble elements that are approaching 10 years since the date of their manufacture have a high likelihood of performance deficiencies in multiple areas that can often be detected only by destructive testing. Additionally, experience suggests that the reflective outer shell of proximity elements that are approaching 5 years since the date of their manufacture have a high likelihood of performance failures that can be detected only by destructive testing. Such performance failures could compromise fire fighter safety. It is important to understand that the actual service life of ensembles and ensemble elements varies depending on the amount of their use and the care they receive. Factors such as the size of the department, area covered, types of exposures, and the aggressiveness of the individual fire fighter are all considerations in how long any ensemble element will last. It is possible that a protective element could be exposed to circumstances that totally destroy it the first time it is utilized. Since the purpose of fire fighters’ protective elements is to protect the wearer, if the element has saved a life or prevented serious injury, even just once, it has done its job. In many cases, an ensemble or ensemble element will need to be retired sooner than 10 years (or 5 years for the proximity reflective outer shell component). Organizations should use members who have received training in the inspection of ensembles and ensemble elements, who understand the limitations of each ensemble and ensemble element, and who recognize the signs of failure to help make decisions as to the integrity of an ensemble or ensemble element. An additional consideration that can influence the decision to repair or replace an ensemble or ensemble element centers on the advances in technology that occur through each revision of NFPA 1971, Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting. These technological advances might be deemed important enough by an organization to influence its criteria for replacement of ensembles or ensemble elements. A.10.1.2 After discussion of the concept of mandatory retirement for protective elements, the consensus of the technical committee, led by the fire service segment, is that the life of a turnout suit is generally less than 10 years. Regardless of when the element was originally produced, it is imperative that the protective elements be routinely inspected to ensure that they are clean, well maintained, and still safe. Just knowing the age of the elements cannot do that.

It's not required by law in New York. The New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control administers the testing for National "Pro Board" Certification. They offer testing at the state fire academy or on an outreach need basis. It is up to the individual after completing all the requirements for a particular Pro Board Certification, to apply for and take the test. After taken any New York State fire training course, the individual either will receive a certificate of attendance or a certificate of completion, the certificate of completion indicates you passed all the required testing and are New York State Certified in that course.

It’s good that you and some of the younger guys are perusing you fire service instructor certification. Be a sponge, attend as many courses and seminar as you can. There is always some new information or technique to learn. It is a difficult thing to try and get older members to participate in training, especially in the volunteer setting. I’m sure you have heard some of the standard reply’s “I have more time on the siren, then you have been on this earth son” or “the new broom sweeps clean”. Don’t get discouraged, continue to increase your knowledge and skills and share what you have learned with anyone who wants to learn and grow. I beleive and would tell everyone of my classes to new firefighters I tought, weather career or volunteer, that training is a career long commitment. As I have said before, the fire does not care if you are getting paid or volunteering, if you are required by law to have 300 hours or 8 hours of training, its will kill you just the same. One way you might accomplish getting senior members to participate is to form a training committee and invite some of the senior influential members to be part of the committee. Tell them you would like their input on the difficulties and issues they have faced in the past during fire and emergency operations so you (the company, department, the training committee) can focus the training in these as well as the other necessary areas. Remember the old saying; people tend to support what they help create. Also now these senior influential members of your committee will hopefully motivate the other senior members to participate in the training that they are a part of developing. Even if you get 25% of the senior members, you have increased the overall safety of the department and others may follow. Don’t get discouraged, keep plugging along it’s not going to happen over night.

First and foremost, all of the emergency responders, police, fire and ems to this horrific act of home grown terror should be commended for their ability and composure to operate under these extreme and taxing conditions, as well as the civilians who assisted. As emergency responders we must continually train and prepare for all types of incidents that we are going to be called upon to mitigate. While this training, Standard Operating Procedures, Standard Operating Guidelines, policies and procedures will help prepare us to deal with these incidents and situations, they are never going to cover every aspect of every type incident we are going to respond to. We must never become comfortable when responding to a call and think that we have been to this type of incident 100 times before, no sweat. Compliancy is what gets us into trouble and results in a bad outcome. No call should ever be considered routine. I can recall one of our crews getting a call that came through the PD for a report of a fire, upon arrival it was determined the call was for “shots fired”. Here you think you are responded to a fire call and you pull up right in the middle of a crime scene. Bottom line is we need to treat each and every call as if the first time we are responded to this type of incident, keep and open mind, rely on our training, experience and policy and procedure to guide us, and most of all do not be come lazy and complacent. My the victims, their families, all of the emergency responders and the entire City of Aurora, find peace and comfort as the deal with and move forward after this tragic event.

I find it interesting how every post generally turns into a Paid vs. Volunteer issue or a Fire vs. Police issue. As a former NYS Fire Instructor who has trained many volunteers and a former director of the Westchester Career Fire Academy who has trained many career firefighters, there are many excellent and dedicated career and volunteer firefighters as there are many not so excellent career and volunteer firefighters. You are always going to have individuals who are going to play the system (career and volunteer), using it to their advantage, and getting everything out of it for themselves that they can. This is a fact of life and it’s not changing anytime soon. Let’s all wake up, the fire really doesn’t care if you are paid or volunteer, it’s not going to say “lets take it easy on them, they are volunteers”. It is paramount that all firefighter’s career and volunteer keep current skills and training. The same applies to the poor victim trapped in a fire or motor vehicle, do you really think they care what the patch on your sleeve states, FD, PD, paid or volunteer! Everyone’s time would be better spent working together, FD, PD, paid and volunteer, for the common good and betterment of emergencies services, rather then bickering over who is better or who’s doing who’s job.

If a career firefighter wishes not to belong to the union, that’s his option. However he would be required to pay a percentage of dues (fee) to the union, as he is reaping the benefits of the cost incurred by the union when they negotiate on behalf of their members.

Shots I took of the Space Shuttle Enterprise on its way to the Intrepid taken about 20 min ago.

As stated, a total waste of money. Definitely an advertising ploy, and it was in poor taste that the fire department allowed them to use the fire house and model in turnout gear for the photo spread. If they wanted to pay tribute to the local fire department, buy them a useful piece of equipment, they could have still put their name on the side of it. This vehicle has disaster written all over it, lets see how long before we are reading a post on how they lost control of the vehicle while responding, I just pray that no one gets hurt.

The bottom line is you can do all the Monday morning quarterbacking you want, but unless you were the I/C at this incident or were there and witnessed some event that grossly jeopardized firefighter or the State Police Officers safety, you have no right to call his judgment to utilize the officers into question. Did anyone take into consideration it was Christmas Eve and that probably contributed to the manpower shortage? It’s easy to say pick up the radio and call for help, how far is the help and how long is it going to take to get them there. What was the I/C faced with at the time? It is quite obvious the Ancram Chief and department were very much appreciative of the assistance rendered by the State Police in the mitigation of this incident. Instead of bickering about doing each others jobs, how about being pro active and working together to enhance the protection of life and property of the “tax payers” we serve. I can tell you when police and fire want to, they can work very well together to accomplish this. Greenburgh Police and Fairview Fire have been working together for years with EMS and Technical Rescue providing the best emergency services available. The Ancram Fire Chief should be commended for having the guts to employ the assistance on the State Police, and the State Police should be commended for assisting.

The problem with operating special operations units is four fold, the initial start up cost of equipment & training, cost of maintaining and replacing equipment, cost of continuing education and training and the extensive commitment of members of the unit. Let’s start with any unit’s most valuable resource, personnel. There is a tremendous amount of time that will be required to be devoted to learning and becoming proficient in the skills needed to perform as a member of the special operations unit. Then there is the commitment of maintaining and advancing those skills. All training should meet the minimum requirements as out lined in the appropriate NFPA Professional Qualifications Standard. Keep in mind this is in addition to your regular firefighting and EMS skills and training. The cost of equipment is extremely expensive to purchase and maintain. Make no mistake; if you are going to start a special operations unit, then you must be committed to purchasing ALL the required equipment needed to carry out a safe and successful operation. Based on the cost and commitment to establish and maintain a special operations team, it is not practical or in some cases achievable. While it may be beneficial to establish specialized units in locations that warrant them, such as a Sound Shore Water Rescue Unit, this would be better accomplished by a multi jurisdictional unit funded by and made up of members of several departments, all sharing equally in the cost, administration and staffing of the unit. Westchester County Special Operations Team is open to all members, both career and volunteer. This is a good fit for anyone who has the desire and commitment to serve on a special operations team.

Took these photo at 10:35 this morning from my office.

3 simple rules to follow, 1. If you are going to dish it out, then you better be able to take it in return. 2. Before you dish it out, ask yourself how you would feel if the shoe was on the other foot. 3. When someone tells you to stop, stop, it is no longer busting chops but now harassment.

While experience can play a key role when hiring an individual for a specific job function, is not necessarily the answer for entry level positions. With civil service positions such as police and fire, you have the academies to determine if the individual is going to work out, as well as their probationary period where they can be released. Tom, makes a great point, where did they work, did they even have to interact with coworkers or customers/public in their former jobs. Also the civil service process takes into consideration experience when it comes time for promotions, in most cases you need 4 to 5 years on the job before you are eligible to participate in a promotional exam, and 1 year in rank before taking the next promotional exam. You also receive points on the exam based on service credits for your years of experience on the job.

Attached is the New York State Law for the minimum training requirements for firefighters in New York State. Minimum Standards for Firefighting Personnel NYCRR Part 426 (Rev. 9/08) and Minimum Standards for Firefighting Personnel Administrative Procedures NYCRR Part 427 (Rev. 9/08). Part426LawBook.pdfPart427LawBook.pdf

They are blowers. The ones on the track next to them are sweepers. We also have snow throwers, see the attached photos.

So true. It should not only be a campaign, it should be a law. Their quick to criticize “what took you so long” but don’t give a hoot about having their house clearly numbered.

Mike, The cart runs on batteries not AC. For the most part it is really used; the hand carts are used do to the ease of getting them into the subway. I’m sending you an e-mail shortly. Paul