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If I'm not mistaken, that will leave E-245 (formerly TS-2) as the only TeleSquirt left in service in Westchester.... And E-245 is slated for replacement in the next 12 months. I am a big fan of departments like Millwood, Bedford, Chappaqua, Katonah, etc. running TeleSquirts as first due engines. These districts have long driveways where the usual tactic of having the engine pull past the driveway and the truck position on Side Alpha doesn't always work. What you most often find is the engine pulled as far into the driveway as possible and stuffed in the corner with the truck pulling in behind and covering the A-B or A-D side of the home. Having a TeleSquirt run as the first due engine gives the added flexability of an elevated waterway, or emergency escape ladder extremely close to the side/rear of the structure where a truck most likely wouldn't have enough room to work. I'm not a fan of running TeleSquirts as trucks, or in place of trucks. But again as an engine. The hardware for the boom doesn't take up much space, you still have full engine compartmentation, full hose bed (E-245 carried 1200ft of 5in when I was Captain) full pump and tank capability.... All on a short wheelbase. The desire to have full blown ladder trucks by almost every department in Westchester has caused us to lose sight of the fact that Telesquirts serve a great role. I would hope that these rigs will wind up going to a department that can use them, OR keep the hardware for the booms and the next time an engine is spec'd by these departments that the booms would be remounted. Just my 2 cents.

That makes me laugh... I can think of a particular Ex-Chief who had a habit of this before he wore the white hat.

Sorry, I thought that the Village had some career jakes, thats why I said Mamaroneck(s). Does the town have career staffing?

Thanks yfd910 that is the simple answer I was looking for. Hopefully others will follow. I'll PM folks if I have individual questions.

C-17 Globe Master is definatly still in service (The WWII C-17 Super Vega was a 1930's era small craft). The C-17replaced the C-141 Starlifter (think Hanoi Taxi). C-5 still in service. C-130 still in service (4 engine turbo prop) Also in service as the AC-130 Gunship currently seeing service in Afganistan and Iraq. F-16's out of AC and Syracuse have several notable traits.... Single big jet engine, large air intake under piliot, single rudder control surface F-15's, F-18's, F-22's all have twin smaller turbofan engine's, twin air intakes on either side of the airframe, and twin rudders in the rear.

I applaude that move.... Getting out of the saturated mid-Westchester/Mt. Pleasant tower ladder market Good for them... So what's it going to be... Meanstick, HME/Smeal, KME?????????????????

There are certain states where volunteers are issued red/siren. Texas comes to mind. Maybe Vermont, Michigan. In other states, the "assistant" to "a" chief may also run red/siren. For example an ems captain or fire police captain is the head of an individual divison of an emergency serice agency and thus because they are in charge of the daily running of that unit, they are an assistant to the chief and can run red/siren.

I just bought a new Dodge Ram 2500 Laramie Mega Cab with the new 6.7L Cummins, Aisen 6speed auto, and factory installed Jake Brake.... Awesome rig. I've historically been a Ford man and loved my F-350 Powerstroke, but it doesn't hold a candle to the new Dodge. I'll say that the Ford has a slightly higher quality interior. The new 6.4L Powerstroke feels great in the highway, but the twin turbos don't spool up nearly as fast as the Cummins with variable nozzle technology. A few things though... The motor when equipped with the automatic is rated at 350hp & 650lb/ft of torque. The manual trannie has a de-tuned rating due to clutch issues and is rated as advertized at 305hp & 650lb/ft of torque. I'd assume that meat wagons would be coming in auto's so I think they are under reporting the engines power for this application. My brother-in-law has the identical truck as mine but with a Hemi and 0-75mph or so he can't keep up with the diesel rig. Can't wait to see a few ambulances on Dodge chassis.

The Fire Service as a whole (with no bickering over whether or not your city or rural, union or not, volunteer or not) needs to come together with OSHA, NFPA, ISO, and any other agency who can act as an advocate and begin to change the way that building construction is looked at. We've outlawed drinking & driving, smoking in bars, use of certain pesticides.... We've got setback requirements that say I can't build a pool house within 15ft of my property line or have a fence that's too high, and I have to put Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel in my pickup truck..... BUT WE STILL ALLOW LIGHT WEIGHT TRUSS CONSTRUCTION.... The lives of these Firemen and any others that have been lost to the failure of lightweight construction were the direct result of cost savings to developers.... The way I feel about it, our country has too many laws and the government controls every move we make so lets just add one more.... If you want to build a LWC building, you may save money on construction costs, but you should be require to keep insurance reserves to cover tragedies like this and pay higher premiums for fire insurance. In addition the building should be required to have been preplanned with the local FD and county dispatch (at the cost of the developer) for how a major situation should be handled. AND finally, all LWC structures should be labeled as such so that if all occupants are out upon arrival OR once all occupants have been removed, that the fire attack take a semi defensive route where no FF's are allowed more than a few feet into the structure with 2.5in lines or a deluge set. Make the people who want to use these buildings pay for the safety of those who all too often lose their lives because of the cost savings to the developer/owner

Chicago has Snorkel-Squads that are built off of HME (I think) chassis that are no more than 10 years old. They are short devices though... probably about 55-60ft.

The point isn't to spec your equipment by the number of calls that you run, but rather what the needs of your 1st due are. If you cover a ton of interstate highway that is heavily traveled by trucks and a high volume of cars.... AND the next due Heavy Squad & Hazmat are a great distance away or have a difficult time accessing your territory, then who is to say that the equipement isn't justified regardless of the number of calls. Do departments with 9000gal tractor drawn tankers have to justify the equipment by running them on 1000 calls per year, or is the equipment justified by the fact that there is a fire risk combined with a lack of static watersources, hydrants, and mutual aid? It would be unjustified if similar equipment is available nearby within a reasonable response range and this department just decided to create a monster for the sake of having it (think Tower Ladders and Cascades in Westchester)

I drove past the Carleton Place / Canadian Seagrave factory at 6:00am on Thursday morning on my way into my fishing camp north of there. I'm obviously not sure if they are building a rig with an identical chassis / cab / paint combo up there, but it looked like New Canaan's rig was sitting outside nosed up against the side garage door with the body off of it. Any word on progress from the factory. If the body is off, I'd assume that it's probably in the process of getting painted.

Check this article out on FireHouse.com I know that mutual aid between states and counties happens all the time (Putnam to Westchester, Westchester to Fairfield, etc) but I never thought that regular mutual aid would be rendered across the Canadian Border from Sutton, QC to Richford, VT. FireHouse.com - Fatal VT House Fire Anyone who has/does live on the NY and New England boarders to Canada, please opine if you've got any experience with this. Does the border crossing get notified by fire dispatch that an inbound piece of apparatus is responding. Does the rig stop at customs and get a quick and dirty search. How does all this work?

Ummm right!?!?!?!? Lets see if I can help a little Back in the day there was an a push to move away from 46.26 as a dispatch channel to free it up for communications. Departments like Millwood and Mount Kisco were quick to move to 33.96 because it was in the best interest of the county to do so. Unfortunatly other departments didn't agree and there were only a handful of agencies that actually moved over. The reason for the 33.96 repeater (which was installed at Roaring Brook School due to it's elevation) was that there were some soft spots that the original county tower broadcasts wouldn't reach. The retone through the Roaring Brook antenna covered most of the soft spots. AS for the 46.26 simulcast, there are a multitude of reasons for it including but certainly not limited to.... Better coverage of the alarm announcement given that most of Millwood's M/A partners use 46.26... The fact that until the late 1990's New Castle PD dispatched Millwood and they seemed to be more in tune with the Chappaqua FD freq of 46.26.... etc etc etc. Try asking some of this stuff at the station after drills on Tuesday's. There isn't much about the MFC that I can't tell you. But I learned it by asking (and most importantly listening) to people in the station.... You'll figure out who's full of it and who's not, by where the most consistant story comes from and whether that story comes from someone you see on the rigs at midnight.

Whenever possible take the time to pull the person to one side and say your opinion respectfully and quietly. Whenever not possible to take the person aside be polite and try not to involve the public's ears. You don't want the bleeding guy who just ate pavement to think that there is a debate going on about their care. Whenever you have to blatently ignore someone make sure you catch up with the person as soon after you ignored them as possible and explain yourself in a calm and cool matter. Back your reasons up with the opinions of others if you can. If the discussion turns heated, remain calm and take the high road. Let the situation settle and readdress later. Remember..... You better be DAMN sure that you are 100% right if you challege an order from a superior. Make sure that your reasons for disregarding are based in knowledge, training, and experience and NOT because you've got a personal beef with following a certain person's orders. The spotlight's going to be on you to prove that what you did was right.

I fly in and out of Westchester all the time... both commercial and on corporate jets... Parking is a concern... So is terminal space. A few things to keep in mind when flying out: 1: The checkin stands are VERY ackward and it is tough to decipher which line is for your carrier. If you're flying out during the morning rush, leave your self at least an hour. 2: The amount of waiting space once you've gone through security is VERY limited. There is usually standing room only. If a JetBlue Airbus, and AirTran 717, and a US Airways Regional Jet are all in the gates at the same time, you'll be hard pressed to find space for your butt, bag, and newspaper. A few things to keep in mind when flying in: 1: There is limited gate space. If there are a bunch of Delta or Continental Connection Jets at the gate, there is no way to get an A320 or 717 in there. I've waited on the runway for 15-30 a few times until space was cleared. Don't get me wrong it's better than driving from LGA, EWE, or JFK. 2: There is one baggage claim belt. If there are several planes, be prepared to jockey with people for your bags. Best to send the wife with the kids to stand on the outer wall and you run bags out to them 3: Rental cars go quickly. Don't get me wrong... My experience with flying out of Westchester Commercial have been GREAT. Much better than flying out of any of the big airports. But the premium you pay for the ultimate in airport location and simplicity is cramped quarters. Flying on a private jet is a totally different story.... walk up to the FBO (Field Base Operations) building for whichever outfit services the aircraft (NetJets for example) drop your luggage walk to the plane and you're in the air 10 minutes later assuming that the people you're traveling with are on time.

Ok last time... I know this one is tough If they had a problem with EMS they wouldn't provide EMS care to patients with EMT's on their MiniPumper or Engine when the MiniPumper is tied up. There are already volunteer, career, and combo BLS units that are providing ample BLS transport in 33's first due.... (Think of it this way, Bedford Hills is doing a fine job of providing Truck Company Operations in Katonah and Bedford Village... No need to force a truck on them right?.... It was more logical for Katonah to buy a new tanker than a truck.....) What they have a problem with is staffing a county owned BLS ambulance that will take their men away from the calls that they are best at providing services for which is putting out fires and cutting people out of cars. There is plenty of BLS transport being provided in 33's first due. AND 33 is providing the critical EMS first response.... Again this isn't about the BLS unit... It's about POWER. The county chief is trying to exert POWER over a volunteer company... Nothing more.... nothing less.

I hadn't ever heard of an E-One failure but I've been curious. I've had two E-One's (the two Kenworth garbage truck chassis twins that were bough by Millwood in 1982) under my care and my biggest complaint was electrical and compartment fit. Even after multiple alternator upgrades, you couldn't keep TS-2 (E245) and E248 from discharging on the scene even with all the emergency lighting shut down. It was a big drain from the start. BUT the rigs were strong and pumped like hell.... But I guess you can give credit to that for the Detriot 6v92t's the Allison trannies and the Hale 1500gpm two stages and not to E-One.

At the end of this post I am going to call 66Alpha1 out... The moderators will probably deleate it, but I'm not insulting or bashing him so it should stay put because it's the truth...... They pride themselves on being a phenomenal FD that provides top notch fire/rescue services and EMS first responder services of which they respond to thousands of calls annually. They don't want a BLS ambulance because it's not a BLS ambulance that thier first due needs.... It's a ALS ambulance that their first due needs and it's not something that they are prepared to staff based on thier training..... GET IT STRAIGHT 66Alpha1 you are so obsessed with the fact that they don't want to staff a county owned ambulance that you are missing the point which has nothing to do with how important EMS is...... THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH EMS AND OR KENTLAND's VIEW OF ITS IMPORTANCE. ITS ABOUT HAVING TO STAFF A UNIT THAT IS BEING FORCED ON YOU FOR POLITICAL REASONS WITH NO REGARD FOR THE FACT THAT A CAREER STAFFED MICU IS WHAT THE COMMUNITY NEEDS.

Wow... people are missing a ton here because they are getting their feelings hurt and/or not listening to the facts.... If you've got no experience running in PG county OR a county run FD with career and vollie staffing you should step back. There are prominant posters on this page who are making strong comments about agencies they don't have a clue about. Lets review here before anyone's panties get bunched and they need an ambulance to transport them for a crotchectimy: 1: The boys at 33 have wicked egos that are getting annoying AND/BUT they are good at what they do. 2: 33 does provide EMS in the form of an EMT staffed MiniPumper to EMS calls in thier first due. If the MiniPumper is unavailable the Engine responds. 3: THE BOYS AT 33 AREN'T REFUSING AN AMBULANCE BECAUSE THEY DON'T WANT TO PROVIDE EMS.... ITS BECAUSE THE COUNTY CHIEF IS FORCING IT DUE TO THE HISTORICAL FACT THAT AMBULANCES ARE A GREAT WAY TO WEAR OUT THE VOLUNTEERS IN AN IMPOVERISHED COMMUNITY THAT USES THEM AS A SHUTTLE TO GET TO THE HOSPITAL FOR ROUTINE MEDICAL CARE THAT THE REST OF US WOULD MAKE AN APPOINTMENT AT THE DOCTOR FOR. 4: Read #3 and make sure that you can understand that logic is not the principal that can be applied here. The county chief has an agenda to eliminate the volunteers. THIS IS NOT THE WISHES OF THE CAREER FIRE STAFF IN PG COUNTY JUST THE LEADERSHIP. 5: The proper solution to this issue isn't a BLS unit in 33's station as there are plenty of BLS units running into 33's first due now. A MICU (medic ambulance) IS NEEDED IN 33's FIRST DUE, STAFFED BY CAREER PERSONNEL TO HANDLE THE ALS NEEDS THAT AREN'T BEING MET CURRENTLY AND CANNOT BE MET BY BLS VOLUNTEERS AT 33. I'll repeat incase you missed it, the need is for a career staffed ALS unit which the volunteers cannot provide. There needs to be a career staffed ALS unit that in this first due will be busy enough that it won't need a station to run out of.... It'll always be on the move. 6: There are lots of people on this web site that aren't willing to stand up and tell the ego filled leadership in Westchester County that's afraid to change the way that that emergency services are handled but that are willing to criticize other agencies out of state. When you've got the balls to stand up to the ego's in your own department, then start moving on to others. 7: Go back and read my previous post about other tools that the county chief is using against the volunteers as leverage. 8: Put yourself in these guys shoes... You've got volunteers that are successfully running in the Washington DC metro area comparable to the NYC metro areas of Mount Vernon, Yonkers, New Rochelle, and White Plains. Just last week, PG County Truck 9 (Bladensburg) staffed with 100% volunteers was transferred to a DCFD station for standby. 33 transfers into the district as well.... 2nd busiest engine or not (I'll agree the total response numbers are BS and their claim of 2nd busiest engine in the country include the responses for engines 331, 332, 333 and possibly the minipumper), this station still answers 7000 calls for service annually.... And they are 100% volunteer. They also serve what is historically the toughest working fire district in America. So Seth may be buddies with some folks with LA E33, but I'd like to see the comparable # of working fires that are being run before judgement is past. 9: As I've said before, I'm not anti career or pro vollie (although I'm a 15 year vet of the vollie service).... What I am is ANTI BULL SH!T.... Don't talk smack about something you know nothing about or something you've never experienced.

Two big issues here (this is from my experience both as someone who as run in PG county in the past, and someone who still has good friends down there) 1: This problem exists because the people of Prince Georges County have long abused the EMS system and it truly has become as much of a taxi service as it is a competant, safe, and effective system for providing medical care and transport for those in need. People who don't have cars or doctors (which many in PG county don't) simply call for an ambulance when they've got a fever and go to the hospital where they are required to be seen and then never pay the bill becuase they've got no cash or insurance. Meanwhile, the ambulance is OOS for an hour during this call while they are serving a BS response. Those who truly need EMS care are being screwed by the folks that abuse the system. 2: The fire chief for the county has long had an agenda to kill the volunteers off. He hates the strong vollie stations in the county because they aren't directly under his control. He wants everything to be 100% his way or the highway. SO he'll use an ambulance to try and break the backs of the vollies by telling them that if they don't take a county meat wagon and run it, that he'll pull county fuel, maintenance, and insurace from the vollie stations rigs and restrict them to only running calls in their first due even if they were willing to foot the bill for those costs on their own. Make no mistake about it, the volunteer companies are their own Maryland corporations and cannot have an ambulance forced on them. On the other hand, the chief of the county department controls when and how they are dispacthed, and whether or not Station 33 will have the cost of fuel, maintenance, and insurance covered for the over 7000 calls for service that they respond to annually. The guys at 33 have become ego maniacs over the past 5 years there is no mistake about that. BUT, they turn out a 2 man minipumper for EMS calls, two 4 or 5 man engines, one 4-5 man rescue engine (squad), and a 5-6 man truck with 100% volunteers 24 hours a day. There are times when they take the other engine from 46 or 37's station and staff a 4th 4-5 man engine when they've got the manpower to do it. If the county chief was really looking out for the people, he'd put a career MICU in the area and leave the vollies alone. The alternative is to take one of those fully staffed pieces of fire apparatus off the road. The result will be an understaffed volly or career rig from another station running on a fire or rescue call, while the boys from 33 are waiting at the hospital for an hour with some kid with a cold. I'm not sticking up just for 33 here, there are other great volunteer companies in the county that deserve support regardless if they have an ambulance or not. Some strong volunteer companies have career staff on for a portion or all of the day running the ambo or even operating volunteer owned apparatus. Generally the career staff and the vollies get along great. It's the career leadership at the top of the county level that is cancer to the department.

Well it's easy to blame E-One here, but honestly the transfer case, engine, pump, and transmission aren't parts that are built by E-One, they are built by Hale, Cat, Allison and their competitors. On the other hand, blaming E-One for using crappy body parts, poor fit and finish, sub-par wiring, and shotty paint, etc. is well within reason. On another E-One note, they build their own ladders both steel and aluminum.... Does anyone know if they've ever had a manufacturer related issue that has resulted in a aeriel device failure?

I love the Snorkel-Squads.... The photo's prove that they are a great way to access Brownstone-Townhouse style buildings on tree lined streets. I'm interested to know who owns the manufacturing rights to "Snorkel". I haven't seen a new one built outside of Chicago rigs for years. I know that there is one in the Bayonne or Elizibeth NJ area that is less than 10 years old, but that's just about all I know of out there. They are great for working below grade on rescue calls as well.

Not trying to start an argument here, but as a former PA and MD firefighter that has been involved with departments in 6 counties.....Wacker or not, they are 9 times out of 10 top notch departments that just about every agency in Westchester could learn a thing or two from. Don't knockem until you've worked with them.... Parades and Musters aren't nearly as big a deal outside of NY and New England. Most of the goofy overboard setups on these rigs are installed at the cost of the volunteers after the rig has been delivered just like FDNY units that choose to instal Federal Q's on their rigs. Most of these departments don't get much tax payer money because in VA and PA (Commonwealths not states by charter) there are strict rules about levying fire taxes... Most departments pay for these rigs (the whole rig not just the toys) through the sweat of the vollies doing fund raising like carnivals, dinners, bingo, raffels, golf tourneys etc. No offense to Westchester as a whole.... I lived there all my life minus the past two years... BUT before we start getting critical of a goofy light setup on a rig etc.. why don't we look at the TRUE waste of taxpayer money in Westchester..... Why do we need the number of Tower Ladders that we have.... Why do volunteer departments have 5 engines when they can only staff 2 or 3, why do we have the number of cascades that we have.... The truth is that the average Westchester department could provide high quality fire protection with (excluding Mini attacks and Tankers) 2 engines a truck or quint, and some way to provide rescue services (either with a dedicated rescue or carry the tools on a rescue engine)..... But everyone's got to have a fully stacked deck of apparatus... and god forbid one is out of service and you've got to rely on a truck from the next town over.....

Oh it drives me crazy.... He're one worse than that.... In 1997 or so Medic 28 (Gettysburg Hospital) and Ambulance 1A1 (Gettysburg FD) dispatched to an old folks home for a Syncopal Episode. We had to transport but the pt was CAO and stable at the time. His status was what we referred to as class 2 which meant he needed medical attention but was stable. Unfortunatly Gettysburg Hospital and the two next closest (Hanover and York) were on divert for class 2 pt's for a lack of beds (only Class 1's that would be stabilized and transferred OR class 3's that would be treated and released were going there) so we had to go to Chambersburg over 40 miles away. The other medic followed us the whole way while her partner rode with us instead of returning to Gettysburg Hospital to await another call.... WHICH came about 15 mintues after we departed.... Another medic (46) had to come all the way from Hanover hospital into Adams county to cover a serious pin job. Just a terrible waste of resources.... I can think of others on the fire side recently in Westchester to rant about but I'll save it for another time.