xfirefighter484x

xfirefighter484x When originally signing up on AIM for a screen name, firefighter484 was taken, so I threw an 'x' on the beginning and end of it. 484 is my month and year of birth, April 1984. I had heard a few people I know talking about EMTBravo about 3 to 4 years ago, but never thought much of it. After about a year of sporadically checking out local incidents that had pictures or a write-up posted, I got suckered in. EMTBravo has absorbed me in. It now probably accounts for about 75% of my internet time. And I spend a lot of time online.

Just poking a little fun emt301!! The only job I know of that you can still get paid at after being wrong many times!!

????? You on crack?!?!!? As much as I love the snow, I think the time/season for it has come and gone! Bring on those 70-85* sunny days!!!

Yea, Tawana Brawley. Wasn't she from Poughkeepsie, or it just happened in Pk? Something like that.

I must say though, Imus is not just a guy who blabs on and on, on the radio. Every year, he holds a benefit/benefits for several charities, and has a ranch out in New Mexico for children battling cancer. He makes and sells non-toxic cleaning products, and sells foods to, that: He is a true humanitarian, who made a stupid, stupid, stupid comment. God forbid some famous black comedian, or talk show host, the "Reverend Al", Jesse Jackson, or someone to that effect calls a white guy a "crusty balding cracka", he won't be called a racist, but a white guy says something to that effect, now he is a racist.

***This may very well be a controversial subject, so all those who choose to read on, be forewarned*** DISCLAIMER: This topic IS NOT, and WILL NOT become a personalized bashing session for anyone. If it starts to go that way, I will have it deleted. Reading another thread got me to thinking, and finally to shed some light on a lot of issues we face today. Today's fire service. ESPECIALLY THE NORTHEAST. As I have heard some wise men say "200 years of tradition, unimpeded by progress". The Northeast seems to be one of the most resilient, and most resistant to change. It is 2007, and I don't remember EXACTLY where I heard this, whether it was on here, or in another place, yet NYS managed to kill MORE firefighters alone, than the rest of the "civilized/industrialized" world this past year. Who loves the New York, or Ben Franklin style helmets? As is said by the name, "Ben Franklin", the helmet gets its styling and shape from back in the days of, you guessed it, Ben Franklin. Has anyone noticed some of the pictures of fire helmets in Europe? They have fully encapsulation of the head, top to about neck region. Communication devices, i.e. radios, earbud speakers, can be integrated into them. Foll safety for the head. Will you EVER see them in the US? Maybe, but not the Northeast for probably another 200 years. Why, you ask? Tradition. Egos. We would rather see ourselves stand out, be "stylish", fit into the conformity of past practices than look down the road, for things in the long run. This may not be true for the spec-ing out of fire apparatus, one of the things we seem to be good at. On the topic of fire apparatus. This is not taking sides for either, you will understand in the next sentence. Why are most fire apparatus red? There are many explanations out there, one of which I heard was, "Red was originally the cheapest, or one of the cheapest colors of paint, and that is why the color was originally that." Yet again, a tradition that stands to this day, and is a much controverted issue. Yellow fire trucks, LIME (there ya go x635) trucks, yes, red fire trucks, blue fire trucks. Does the fire care? Ask the next time you see it. Color of bunker gear. Another issue that many debate. Pros of one color, pros of another. Cons of either. Black turnout gear. Why are there so many "Ninja Firefighters" out there? Why would you choose anything that DECREASES your visibility. Black gear, black helmets, black boots. Yes, we all have reflective striping, but I am sure without NFPA, we wouldn't have put it it on us. Why? Because it isn't traditional. These days, we need so many organizations to step in and give us regulations and standards because we are too dumb to take care of ourselves. This is a blanket statement. There are people out there smart enough, I like to consider myself one of them. I am sure there were fits thrown, fights ensued, when the transition from horse-drawn to motorized fire apparatus came about. Why? Tradition. How many fire departments in our area go out and preach about fire sprinklers, especially in the homes? Foam? Many a time I have heard senior fire personnel saying "Oh, I believe that takes away firefighters jobs." Really? So you would rather see someones possessions get lost, or lives lost, rather than simple inventions can do WONDERS. I do not have all the facts on this, and hopefully someone here can enlighten me to how it works down in Westchester. How many departments are there in Westchester? What is that average area covered by each district/department. I know it is present in some areas that several departments have minuscule areas of coverage, along with their neighboring ones. Why not join together, have a stronger, unified, more organized unit? Why not? Tradition. Pride. EGOS! Do I take pride in being in the fire service? Most definitely, I would not consider anything else for a career. Do I feel we need to show some traditional values? Most certainly. It is our heritage. It is where we came from. But there comes a point, a very fine line that we NEED to draw in the sand, and become more progressive. ITS 2007 people!! Tradition has its places. In museums for the most part. VACGUY, I want to thank you for making a statement (yes, not meant in my respect) that was one that can hopefully open our eyes. I really hope everyone takes this for an eye opener, and just a statement of facts and opinions. Do I still prefer a lot of the things I have mentioned? Sure. Is it right? Probably not. I restate here, DISCLAIMER: This topic IS NOT, and WILL NOT become a personalized bashing session for anyone. If it starts to go that way, I will have it deleted.

Sorry to repeat most of what you said partyrock! I was writing a response, and I guess you got one finished and posted before I did, and I just now noticed it!!

Blckcloud, I was not making any assumptions, or drawing any conclusions. I was merely pointing out many different observations, and some opinions. I never stated that any one firefighter has had his/her life saved by the color of their turnout gear alone, or the sole fact that their helmet is not fully encapsulating. I just see that some of the advances that can be integrated with such things is overshadowed by the fact that And to be honest, yes, there is TONS of machismo in the fire service. I am sorry, but the whole debate that went on as to "Nomex hoods vs. ears as thermometers" didn't seem to make sense to me. Sure, it seemed like a good viable option in the past, and yet many more experienced firefighters still adhere to this way of thinking, because it is how THEY WERE TAUGHT! Many of the younger guys I know have picked up on that trend from the older more seasoned guys, and not for the reason of gaging the temperature, but more for their sense of "hey, the older guys do it, so let me do it." This violates their training from day one of FFI (well, whatever day it actually is, I do not know) when they tell you to fully cover yourself. Try passing FFI without doing that. They will laugh and tell you no. My feelings, wear FULL PPE!!! If you are "afraid of going in too far", then you probably do not belong inside of a fire, because your training should teach you to KNOW WHEN YOU HAVE GONE FAR ENOUGH! If you do not have the sense to sit back and think "hey, I better watch out or I can get stuck too deep", then you do not belong inside of a fire in the first place. Also, I have the utmost respect for the member of FDNY, and all other fire departments for that matter, but is there REALLY any excuse for us to lose ANY firefighters? Give me ONE GOOD REASON that we should just sit back and think "Oh, yea, we are going to lose a few, it comes with the job." And not just due to fires. Look at accidents? What about that firefighter in Chicago just about a month ago. Going TO a call. We feel the need to drive Mach 100 to calls, when it may save us just a minute in most cases (depending on your jurisdiction, I can not speak for EVERYONE). What about cardiac issues? Do you see the majority, key word MAJORITY, of fire departments MANDATING any type of physical fitness programs? I don't. That is our #1 enemy. Gone are the days that Mr. Fire was our biggest foe. It is now ourselves. Lack of a drive to maintain ourselves. Tell me how many other professions may require a person to go from 0% (sleeping) exertion, to 100% exertion (a fire perhaps)? Add that with a terrible eating regimen (whatever is closest, quickest, and cheapest, is usually the WORST for us). So maybe tradition to specific ideals is not the biggest issue here. as Remember585 said very well: Maybe a bit more progressiveness is in order? And do we REALLY learn from our mistakes? Has the number of FF LODDs decreased? Some years we go up a few, some years we go down a few, but we remain consistently around just over 100. Have we gotten better? In some areas, yes, we have. Are we anywhere near where we should be? Not by a long shot.

Definitely a fan of seeing it make an emergence here. Am I going to go out and personally outfit myself with this stuff? Not economically feasible. The whole poor college student thing applies. If it were mandated, or even offered as an alternative, would I embrace it! Certainly!!

You may have hit the nail on the head. The probability that THOSE were the words said (that NYS alone lost more than any other nation) is quite high, and I mis-interpreted it, or the other individual I heard say it had their figures askew, and I just picked up on it! Thank you for bringing that to light Monty! -xfirefighter484x

Came up with an error message.

Many times, ego is the major hold up. No one seems to want to admit when they are wrong. The truth can hurt. There is nothing wrong with stating the obvious.

Well, I did mention foam in general, just lacked the CAFS relation.

If anyone has anything CONSTRUCTIVE to add to this, please do. I am looking for others feelings and input on this.

HAHA I try to make sure I have as many of the facts before I post anything. The last thing I WANT to do is look like a retard in front of all you guys!!

What PROBABLY happened was an admin came in, saw that the thread about WMCs new truck was going somewhere else, and rather than have us hijack that thread, moved these to a NEW thread! Also, ALS, when searching for pics to post with cop cars with "Q" type sirens, I came upon this! www.timberwolfsirens.com

LOL! I guess it is ironic I posted this thread, in Videoshare forum yesterday! http://www.break.com/index/how_to_catch_a_...er_suspect.html

http://www.break.com/index/how_to_catch_a_...er_suspect.html

You mean like the old style "Q" type mechanical sires that policevehicles had from the circa 1920s til 1950s?

http://emtbravo.net/index.php?showtopic=10307&hl=

So, today, one of my friends pointed out a few online pranks that major companies have made. For those of you on Facebook, look through your "News Feed" and see some of the fake news releases, like "Bracket Buster: Ohio State and Florida have mutually agreed on a tie and will not play the championship game. 10:52pm" On www.google.com, look at the new Google TiSP. So what have you guys heard of being done, or done yourself?

Does anyone know if it was a labeled vehicle, or more of a POV with lights and no markings on it? Regardless, it is a showing that someone associated with the Emergency Services was, well, you draw your own conclusions.

March 2nd, with 88 posts

I am pretty sure that any time Poughkeepsie calls the 10-75, Fairview Automatically gets called as a FAST, just due to teh limited manpower that Poughkeepsie has. It seems that they use Fairview for a first FAST, and utilize Arlington for a second FAST if Fairview gets put to work (which happens most of the time, as I said, due to Poughkeepsie's limited manpower). As far as automatic m/a, that is something for pre-plans. Each department submits to the County what they want. For example, When East Fishkill calls out for a 2nd Alarm assignment, they automatically get Village of Fishkill FD as their FAST (unless they are busy at some other job, but they are on the pre-planned assignment) several mutual aid tankers, as well as all tankers from their own district, and I believe m/a to backfill the main station whose area the fire is in. Village of Fishkill in turn has East Fishkill's FAST on their First Alarm assignment, and it is an automatic dispatch for anything possibly structurally related in Fishkill. Rombout FD uses Hughsonville for their FAST, but I don't know if that is automatic when they call for a FAST, or if their specific department is requested by the IC for each incident. So I guess what I am trying to say is that it is a pick and choose situation here in Dutchess. Some departments have their pre-plans and automatic assignments set up, and others just call on resources as they see fit. Hope that helps 66Alpha1!!

Don't worry, I got your back!!