BMeehan282

Mike Kehoe is a great guy, and he's working through a lot of things with this incident. However, here's the thing - All "those ambulances" were requested through the police dispatchers, not from any EMS or Fire unit on the scene. Both Troop A and Newtown Dispatch called Northwest and South Central CMED's and said "send every ambulance you can", which is why you saw all these ambulances from the Lower Naugatuck Valley and elsewhere, and not ones like Stony Hill or Bethel from next door. He is correct that it would be a good idea to manage all those ambulances, or for that matter the 300 cops that were there, the fire service is really the only discipline that is ready to manage large scale incidents. Just from a common sense standpoint, cops and EMS people are just not accustomed to pulling up to a scene and looking to the guy with the white hat for direction. From a global response standpoint EMS and LE need to get better at entering and operating within an Incident Management System, because those two disciplines rarely are involved with ICS on a tactical basis. bernie

Funny you should say that.... I received an Inquiry call here in danbury tonight from the Yonkers FD asking if we had portable tanks available to send there should they need them.. Bernie Meehan Asst Fire Chief Danbury CT

It would not appear that we're hiring anyone anytime soon... At least there is no discussion or even rumors.. Bernie Meehan Captain Danbury FD

Nothing to do with the cellphone, just alerts randomly for no reason. I've had the minitors alert many times from the cellphones.. If you want really durable pagers, buy some used Minitor II's on ebay and recrystal them... Personally I really like the Swissphone, but it's not heavy duty enough for the vast majority of volunteer firefighters. Bernie

I've had a VHF-Hi Swissphone pager for over a year now and I'll give you my opinion on it. On the positive side: Small size Can be programmed with up to 50 channels. Excellent for use as a small scanner to monitor multiple channels great audio multiple options, vibe, silent, etc. recorder On the negative side Menu driven controls with only two buttons - far too complicated for most casual users Falsely alerts very often. (not sure why it does this, the alert tone just sounds for no apparent reason) No where near as durable as Motorola stuff. Belt clip is fragile, breaks off easily, you can replace it in seconds with a new one, best bet is to keep pager in a belt case. Overall it's a pretty cool little device, especially handy to the user who has some experience/skill with radio equipment. It is not suitable for volunteers who arent technically savvy, or working where the thing will take any kind of a beating.. bernie

If anyone is interested in getting the Ardis Tool, contact me directly at BMeehan282@aol.com the cost is $120. Bernie Meehan Captain Danbury CT

You are correct. A municipal employee cannot 'volunteer' for the same job he is paid for in the same jurisdiction. It's called "coercion" and there are PLENTY of cases where one of these "good natured" volunteer-paid guys, files a lawsuit demanding back pay for all the hours the paid guy "volunteered" for over the years as he makes his "exit" for whatever reason (usually he's jilted) and the courts then award him all those ""volunteer hours" as back pay. It is called the Fair Labors Standard Act, or the "Garcia Law". Any combination department that allows paid guys to "volunteer" is in absolute violation of the law and will at some point be writing a check to those paid guys who submit a bill for their "volunteer" time.. bernie meehan

I would disagree with this, or at least your definition of "relevant" and "useful". Danbury is a combination department where the career department is the 'primary' responder for all calls in the city, with the volunteers providing back-up or fill-in responses. Our volunteer division is comprised of twelve separate fire companies, who all typically meet minimum standards. Those minimum standards in order to be a "interior qualified" fire company, include FF-1, ICS (NIMS), Bloodborne pathogens, and Current quarterly training attendence. The volunteer companies must respond with "interior qualified" guys, three minimum, in order to be an "Engine Company". We have one squad company that is NOT interior qualified, but they fill air bottles and do emergency lighting. Other companies have Tankers and they only need a qualified driver/operator to respond. The career department provides the instructors for the volunteer training. There are virtually ZERO issues between the career staff and the volunteer staff. We have occassional issues between volunteer companies. In essence, the danbury volunteers provide decent back up to the career guys at working fires and more involved emergencies. They also provide a valuable service as they "back fill" the career department when we are tied up. I think the best way to describe what the volunteers do for us, is provide our own "mutual aid". Only one company of the twelve is equipped to do EMS calls in our absence. There are approximately 100 interior qualified volunteers between the twelve volunteer companies in danbury. Is it an "ideal" system? Maybe not, but I would never describe them as "irrevelant" or "useless". bernie meehan captain danbury fire department

You're on the money! Miry Brook has a Class A Pumper, a 1991 Marion/Spartan "Engine 13". A tanker, A 1978 Dodge/E-1 mini that was formerly Sandy Hooks, an ancient Ford/Redding Utility (1970's) that was a rescue truck used at the old race track which is a Fire Police wagon now, and the Canteen step van which is run by the ladies auxillary. Mill Plain has a Class A pumper which is a 1986 Ward 79, i think they are replacing it. A Big As* Kenworth Pumper Tanker (you've all seen it at parades), a brush truck and a older suburban they got from Brewster. Mill Plain is affectionately also known as Brewster (NY) Station 3, as they provide mutual aid to Brewster. King Street Vol. Fire Company (located at 171 SOUTH King St.) does indeed own the building that houses both the KSVFD # 14, and Career Engine 25. Eng 25s side of the building was extensively rebuilt 3 years ago and is completely separate from the volunteers. King Street VFD has Two Tankers, and a brush truck. They no longer have a pumper. Yes, there are very, very few (if any) issues between volunteer and career these days. I would liken that to a few things. First, since we train the volunteers they get to know who we are. Many of the classes are held at HQ and the volunteers come to class, or come down and visit, there are really no problems there. In the past three years we have hired about 50 new guys. That's half of the department! Of those 50, I would say 48 of them were volunteers somewhere, so they get the whole volunteer thing. Many of our members are volunteer EMTs, or work for various EMS outfits, and now that the law changed, some are even openly volunteering in their own home towns. As stated before, when we have a big fire, or a big storm, or something that requires extra guys and extra companies, the volunteers respond, come to the command post, ask where they are needed and jump right in. I might be stepping outside the "paid guy attitude" a shade, but to turn away 'free help' when there's a big incident would be pretty stupid. There has been alot of turnover in both the career and 'active' volunteer ranks over the past couple of years and we all work together fairly well. The town companies have even organized themselves into a Tanker Task Force now. When we have a large fire in the non-hydrant districts, we activate the "all call" tone and ask for the tanker task force and all six tankers respond. Moving water is one thing that the volunteer division does extremely well, and they have been involved in a number of tanker shuttles beyond the city limits as well. The town companies are NOT part of the consolidation effort. Beckerle Hose and Company # 9 is not part of the consolidation effort either. They own their own firehouse, having evolved from a fire brigade at a large hat factory many years ago. There are some pictures and info on our webpage - www.ci.danbury.ct.us/firedept

I'll break it down for everyone to clear some things up. When it comes to the fire service, Danbury is a little different from most place, it's a mix of modern firefighting with a very old, fairly obsolete, traditional set up. The career division mans 5 stations with 6 engines (3 guys each), and 1 Truck (4 guys), a heavy rescue (cross manned), the 911/PSAP (2 FF's), and the Shift Commander (1 guy). EMS, while technicially under the City, is really run by the hospital. They staff 3 ambs during the day, 2 in the eve, and one from 3a-7a, plus two medic supervisor/fly cars. The FD provides First Responder/Rescue also, 7 career pieces have Hurst tool equipment.. Additionally, the career staff maintains in their inventory a bunch of other goodies; a zodiac boat, Regional HazMat Truck, Decon Trailer/Prime Mover truck, Regional Foam Trailer, John Deere Gator, a couple of equipment trailers, the DPH Mobile Field Hosp (i think 8 trailers), as well as a small ARFF truck at the airport. I work there and cant even tell you all the things we have, it changes all the time.The career staff has a fire training center with a Class A live burn building, that out of towners can use as well. There are 120 Career firefighters. The Volunteer Division has twelve, yes 12, independent fire companies operating out of twelve, yes 12 stations! (You did the math right, counting the ARFF, there are 18 buildings in Danbury that serve as fire stations). The 12 volunteer companies operate 9 Engines (1 telesqurt), 2 Air/Lighting 'Squads' (6&7), 6 Tankers, 4 mini's/brush trucks, a fire police truck, a canteen van, and one or two other things here and there. Two of the volunteer houses (10 & 13) have Hurst tool systems. There are about 100 interior qualified volunteer firefighters. That number fluctuates somewhat because of training qualifications, but its around a 100 - between all twelve companies. The career staff provides most of the initial and continuing training for the volunteer division. The career staff does the Firefighter 1, Quarterly Training, Live Burns, Hazmat, Bloodborne and ICS for the volunteer staff. There are some volunteer instructors and they do assist. Years ago there were career/vollie issues, from my vantage point I would say there are extremely few and far in between these days. We have more career/career and volunteer/volunteer issues now. I have really not seen any operational issues between the volunteers and career in years. Career Staffing consists of Chief/Deputy Chief, who are 40 hour types, the Training Officer who is in charge of ALL training, and the EMS/Hazmat Officer who conducts that training. The on duty Platoon consists of ONE Asst Chief/Shift Commander who is in charge of ALL Tactical Operations in the city day-to day. There is then a Captain (me), six Lieutenants, and then the firefighters. The Training Officer, or an Off Duty Asst Chief/Captain usually operates as Safety Officer. While the volunteer companies have their own officers, they are not in the chain of command. A career firefighter would 'outrank' a volunteer chief, however that never becomes an issue. The volunteer companies show up at a call, their officer reports to command, and they are assigned a task. It works just fine. The career companies respond to all calls. Volunteer companies are dispatched to almost all fire-type calls, however because of their individualized (therefore inefficient) staffing, they typically only respond to serious, lengthy calls, storm situations, or coverage when the career companies are tied up. They are typically very helpful when they are needed, and in reality they function as our own 'mutual aid'. When things get out of hand in the city and the career staff gets overwhelmed, the volunteer staff responds and helps out. Historically Danbury almost never calls for mutual aid other than ambulances. We have used mutual aid, and get along with our neighbors well, however when you have more than two dozen fire trucks, 25 career guys, and up to 100 qualified volunteers, you dont need outside help that often. The City of Danbury owns the firehouses of Companies 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. For the most part, they are very old hose houses that are functionally obsolete. Some are over a 100 years old and are just not suited to house modern fire trucks or firefighters. They cost a fortune to heat and maintain, and are well beyond their useful lifespan. The City is looking to consolidate those companies (3 thru 8). By name they are: Padanaram Hose (3), Independent Hose (4), Wooster Hose (5), Citizens Hose (6), Water Witch Hose (7), and Phoenix Hose (8). Consolidating would accomplish two things. First, getting rid of six dilapidated buildings would save operational costs. Secondly, consolidation would make the operation of those 6 fire companies far more efficient and effective. Currently, a volunteer engine must have 3 FF's to respond. What happens in reality is, when there is a call, there is one FF at 3's, two at 5's, and maybe 1 at 8's. None of them can respond. If they were all consolidated, those 'four' FF's would go to ONE house and respond on ONE Engine, they would then be used far more than they are currently. The next three FF's would maybe take the next Engine, and so on. Running two "squads" out of one building would be fine also, alternating months with one or the other would work. There are plenty of second calls for the second squad to go to. Reality would suggest that we dont have too many instances of two working fires at the same time, so one squad at a time would be fine. I envision a time in the near future where the only thing that might be different about the various volunteer firefighters would be their helmet shield which would just say "Wooster Hose" or whatever, but they would all work together harmoniously as Danbury Volunteers. The one "idea" that is being tossed around is to build a new career Fire Headquarters, there is a lot next door to the current one (and NO not where the building burned down!), and place the volunteer companies in the "old HQ" which actually has 5, drive thru bays. It should get pretty interesting. bernie

Actually this is not the first time Trumbull has called tankers. About 25 years ago or so, there was a situation in Trumbull where the water system was contaminated with gas and they had a number of fires in town and called various tankers from surrounding towns to respond.

No. They have one dispatcher. It may get busy at times, but in reality they only man two ambulances and two engines - one engine gets shut down generally to man the second ambulance, and they have volunteers if there is a big fire.

the RST program is somewhat misleading, the Trooper is typically not a 'resident' of the town they serve. They are assigned to the town, and their hours include travel time to the town. To think they are in town from 9-5 is naive, between admin stuff, training, fuel,etc at the troop, along with the travel time, you're lucky if they are 'in' town 6 hours a day. Another issue is a senior Trooper gets 4 or so weeks of vacation, sick days, training days, holidays, time leave, etc. ,so 52 weeks gets whittled down quite a bit. The vast majority of the Troopers are fantastic, and personally do a great job, WHEN they are there. The RST system is outdated and woefully inadequate. It provides a false sense of security, it amounts to the same as community policing programs in cities that have been eliminated. The big problem is that the state has grown, and the state police system hasnt grown with it. As stated 5 Troopers covering 600 sq miles is a joke. Its not the Troopers its the system that doesn't work.

This vehicle is designed with various safety issues. If you notice, it was HID floods on the sides, as well as telelights on the back. They're not mounted yet, but it will have front facing HID "brow lights" as well. The color is Mazda Racing Blue, and the reflective stripes and chevrons will add some visibility. The emergency lights have LEDs all the way around, and we even have little LED flashers on the insides of the cabinet doors as they open. Inside the truck will be racing-type harnesses for the crew, as well as radio/intercom headsets at all positions. It should be pretty cool when it is all completed.. Let me tell you, all this 'safety' comes at quite a cost ! bernie (roxbury ems chief)