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)

that truck is long gone. They replaced it with a pumper tanker.

The "hybrid" or "combination" system you describe exists in Danbury also. Cogs, Your dedication and desire to serve and help is very admirable, and certainly you are an asset to the organizations you belong to. The issue however is this: There simply aren't enough people like you out there, that is why the vast majority of volunteer organizations do not work well any longer. In any volunteer emergency service operation it is hard to field crews to do the "routine" or bs responses. Whether it's Fire or EMS, makes no difference; people do not want to go, or better yet - DO NOT go to the nursing home BLS runs, or the AFA at the hospital for the 300th time this year. Problem becomes when someone "humanizes" that BLS patient, or the 301st run to the AFA is actually a fire. Then the volunteer aspect looks very bad. I am sitting here this saturday am listening to the next town over miss three 'vanilla' EMS calls in short order. I'd be willing to bet that a motorcycle or plane crash would have gotten the local volunteer ambulance manned. Fire and EMS coverage should be based upon a readiness model, where people and equipment are poised to respond to ANY emergency 24/7/365. The vast majority of volunteer operations (anywhere) are no longer made up of members who believe in a duty to act, or a "calling" if you will. How many people on here know volunteers who shut their pagers OFF at times? Compounding the stamford debate is the varying level of coverage across the town. It is not fiscally, or morally responsible to have a three minute career fire response of a dozen firefighters to some tenement in one part of town, and a ten minute response of one firefighter to a multi-million dollar mansion in another section of town. The responsible thing to do in todays world is to GUARANTEE a minimum level of response across the board, and then volunteer operations should concentrate on what they can provide and perform WELL. If that means the volunteers are 'relagated' to specialty rescue functions, or back up, fill in, whatever, then that's what they should do. It's not really that difficult. If a volunteer operation can guarantee 24/7/365 coverage that meets the minimum accepted response across the rest of the city, then they should be allowed to provide that, but everyone honestly knows that doesn't occur. I am surprised that no one seems to bring up the fact that Stamford went through this with EMS a while ago. There were various levels of EMS care and response, and all of that was consolidated into one system with one level of service. bernie

It's hard to show "tone" on these blogs.. No I was not referring to you with regards to "selective amnesia"... I was actually trying to be somewhat politically correct by my post, what I wanted to say is that some of the same guys who were pains in a** as volunteers, transform into similar pains in the a** in the union after they get hired... Which reinforces my earlier post that both the career and volunteer sides both have personalities among them that hamper everyone getting along. bernie

Also with all due respect, I disagree. The problem with the situation in Stamford is purely personalities, it has nothing to do with facts. The interesting thing about the fire service, is that it is very similar everywhere you go. I'll bet there is a very similar situation to the Stamford thing going on in Brazil, or Canada somewhere. Here in CT there are other similar situations; West Haven, Enfield, Greenwich, Manchester, Meriden, Wallingford, are all towns that come to mind with significant vol/career or fire district issues. West Haven seems to be working very hard on moving towards finally consolidating. Anyone who thinks there isn't common ground, needs to take a step back and get a better view of things. The fire service and firefighters are no different in Stamford than anywhere else. Let's try to consider some common ground; People join the fire service (career or volunteer) because they want to help people and serve their community. Many career guys were volunteers, and many volunteers strive to be career guys, those types of people can help act as ambassadors. I never understood why some of the biggest volunteer advocates move on to become the biggest voices in the union once they get hired. We should never forget where we came from, or where we might want to be. More common ground; everyone has to agree that they want to fight fires safely, and that they dont want firefighters injured. Everyone must agree that they want to serve their public the best they can, and have the best equipment available to do such work in their various districts. The differing sides in Stamford probably need to present their views on how things should be accomplished there. Just off the top of my head there are probably some fundamental differences on how to respond to fires there; the career department has engines and truck co's, the volunteer districts know the value of tankers, and have the ability to respond with rescues and specialized units that the career dept may not have the luxury of doing. The career dept has an advantage of immediately available chain of command at all times, the volunteers can probably muster extra guys on fairly short notice, there are advantages to both sides. More common ground, I bet everyone agrees to strive for as much training as they can get, is it easy for all of us (career or vol) to train; no not always. Would it be easier if there was a collaborative effort to train everyone? Absolutely. Would costs go down if all those districts had centralized purchasing? Sure. As I said in my earlier post, could both sides pick a Harry Carter or Billy Goldfeder off Firehouse.com and place them on a committee, sure they could. I'm betting the same fire service magazines are in bathrooms of both the career and the volunteer firehouses in Stamford. In my experience the main ingredient to solve these types of conflicts is leadership. Now I dont know any of these leaders down there, but they've developed, and are fostering quite a mess. Maybe they should take a ride up to Litchfield County and see if Henry Kissinger is available to broker the peace.

Isn't Rowayton VFD still in business?

I couldnt resist chiming in. Joe, you're somewhat incorrect about Danbury. I'm also betting there's no love affair between paid companies in Norwalk and each other, that's just how the fire service is, but I dont spend enough time in Norwalk to be sure. In the 23 years I've been in Danbury, things between the career and volunteers have improved dramatically. I would say that the enemy of the volunteers in Danbury (and most other places) are/is their fellow volunteers. If the volunteer companies in Danbury would swallow their "company" pride and consolidate, they would be very effective firefighting force. With twelve independent fire companies, there clearly is too much divisiveness between them for them to be effective. Their members constantly switch between companies and fight among each other. There are approximately 100 "qualified interior" volunteers between the 12 companies, so one can see that spread 12 ways, 100 guys are thinned out. Currently the career and volunteer firefighters in Danbury get along quite well. Both sides of the aisle have their jerks, but for the most part, we get along fine. The career guys work to train the volunteers, and there are now volunteers who are instructors who also help out. Is it perfect? No of course not, but we work fairly decently together. Could it work in Stamford? absolutely, but it would take alot of work on alot of peoples parts to make concessions from both disciplines. The problem in Stamford is "civil war", as there are far too many "ex" this, or "ex" that, brothers, fathers, and others with personal agendas that are truly the root of the conflict. I think the way to accomplish peace in Stamford would be to find common ground and work from there towards the solution. To me, that's fairly easy, both sides should agree to a panel of OUTSIDE arbitrators, people that both sides agree are experts in the fire service, and then Stamford should pay those experts a lot of money to formulate a solution and everyone abides by it. Each side should go on Firehouse.com or something, and pick their expert, add them to a panel and follow the plan. bernie