mfc2257

60 control dispatchers go a great job and are some of the calmest and most professional I've seen... It's the county wide system of company and apparatus numbering as well as the mutual aid plan that needs help. None of our apparatus numbers mean anything with relation to company designation we're still working off of a system that says if you reserved the number first it's yours. We should move to a system that works as follows... Millwood is Westchester County Company 25... Thus our apparatus ought to be Engines 25-1, 25-2, 25-3... R-25, MA-25, T-25, U-25 and Chief 25 Asst Chief 25 and 2nd Asst Chief 25. The next fix is to preplan boxed mutual aid... We still have Chief's calling the county and saying "gimme an engine from Chappaqua, 1 & 1 from Mount Kisco, Engine from Briarcliff...." The dispatchers shouldn't have to juggle requests from the fire scene like that. The chief should know exactly what apparatus he wants and it should go into a box card that is on file with the CAD or even in a drawer at the dispatchers desks.... The chief then requests his 2nd 3rd or whatever alarm and the dispatcher already has the info in front of him. It cuts down on radio traffic too and allows the dispatchers to better work the call. There are already ways to get this rolling, but it's not specific enough.. We just handed in a rough draft of how we want our mutual aid preferences to be handled, but it only says that we want an engine or ladder or whatever from another department NOT which specific one... If I'm calling for an engine from Chappaqua, there is a HUGE difference between 144, 145 and 146. Each departments area should be boxed into specific areas and specific apparatus should be on each box card. This would make our mutual aid response much better and give our already great dispatchers the ability to do an EVEN better job of handling fire ground communications.

Gas charged shocks are found in several places on cars. Departments that cover major interstates, commuter parkways, state roads etc where vehicle fires are common often have training or proceedures to prevent this from happening... Here is a little info for those who are new to the service or don't train for vehicle fires often. Most common danger spot for gas charged shocks is bumpers on cars. There are usually two shocks on each end of the car and these help prevent structural damage in low speed bumps. However in a vehicle fire situation the gas will expand in the shock and eventually the assembly will fail. Approaching a vehicle fire from any angle front or rear is often dangerous as one or both shocks can explode sending the bumper into your knees with enough force to remove your legs. Cooling the bumper assemblys ASAP is a must and just because the fire is out doesn't mean the shocks wont explode later... It's happened 20 minutes later when the car is on a flatbed. Other locations are suspension componants. The only time you really need to worry about this is if the vehicle has been in a serious enough MVA to remove one end of a shock from it's mounting point. Hood, truck and hatch backs. With the case mentioned in CT the gas was probably expanding and putting pressure on the cheap pin or bolt holding the shock to the inner fender or hood. It probably sheered through and thats how it became a skewer for that poor FF's thigh. Glove boxes, accesory compartments. These aren't as big a deal but remember they can still discharge and their mounting points are typically plastic as is the hardware in the interior of the vehicle thus making a failure possible.

It's a combination of factors... Some has to do with apparatus, coverage area, proximity of stations to major areas, response etc. Example... If you don't have hyrdrants in parts of your district, and you don't have a tanker your rating drops. If you have buildings with more than two stories and you don't have a truck it drops. I also believe that there are assessments on the amount of property loss within the district over time that contributes as well.

Amen to alsfirefighter... A little emergency services and political commentary.... It is not the federal governments job to hire or fire local emergency personnel. The federal government has supplied MORE than enough money to bolster the service. HOWEVER, the municipalities have been spending so much money on special interests and other nonsense that there is no room to grow the emergency service as the community grows. There are too many aimless programs out there that filter billions to special interests and it all comes from our pockets. There are way to many sub divisions of the governement that men like Ronald Reagan and Bush's 41 and 43 seek to streamline and make smaller more effecient form of government. It is men like Jimmy Carter, Clinton and Johnson who have spent more money on garbage programs that only make the poor more dependant on the government instead of helping themselves (don't take this as me saying there should be no assistance for the poor... Just not so much that they never have to work for themselves). If municipalities got serious and figured out that the local FD or PD is more important than building a new monument, or having free classes for housewives to learn about accupuncture or whatever other nonsense they are spending money on this week, we would not have a lot (not all) of the problems that we have today. With regard to "daddy's war", Bush 43 isn't cleaning up after Bush 41. Bush 41 didn't take over the Iraqi capital or go after Sadaam for a reason. Because of the big project that we are forced to undertake today. Sadaam although a tyrant, also prevented civil war in that country. Bush 41 went to the UN and we all stepped back and watched the UN drop the ball with 14+ resolutions demanding that Iraq disarm and reveal their WMD technology. They didn't. Regardless of whether or not we ever find WMD in Iraq (which we have in the form of gas and bio just no nukes) Sadaam had the technology and was waiting to use it or sell it. He wouldn't give up any of his technology or labs etc and we had reason to believe he was in or near production of nukes. The UN was too blind to see it as is almost all of Europe so we acted. Had the UN done their job with policing him or had Koffi Annan not allowed Sadaam to spend billions on weapons research through the food for oil (read nuke technology money for oil) program we wouldn't have had to do what we did. If we really want to trace the problems in the middle east back to one person in the USA, more blame should be placed on Jimmy Carter for backstabbing the Shaw of Iran and allowing the militant culture that spread through out the region than anyone else. It's no surprise that Jimmy Carter was a better peanut farmer than President. He also did a great job of undermining the multi national approach to squashing North Korea's nuke program. Then his boy Clinton rewarded Kim Jong by lifting the trade embargo's against N.K. all the while they were manufacturing nukes while Slick Willy's mind was under his desk.

On an extinguisher side note... Not sure if anyone has ever tried this before, but E-245 carries "chimney bombs" which I learned about in college in Gettysburg, PA where chimney fires were a regular occurance. I started putting them on our rigs a few years ago.... Take sandwich size to 1 gallon cheep storage bags (assorted AND not of good quality... You basicially want them to be barely held together like supermarket vegetable bags ) and fill them with dry chem from a 5 gallon bucket that is used to replenish carbon dioxide charged extinguishers. Then make a metal plate that will cover most chimneys. Finally carry two pieces of plywood that can be duct taped over a fireplace opening to create a seal. Drop one or two of the bags into the top of the chimney and cover with the metal plate. The bags melt as they approach the fire and spread the dry chem everywhere inside the chimney right where you need it. The boards covering the fire place and the chimney plate stop the flow of air and the fire is suffocated. This works 100% better than garbage chimfex which are useless. This works almost all the time and does a lot less damage to the house.

Amen Truck6018..... We live in a nation that is being corrupted by leftest views. They want us to be completely steril and free of anything that could possibly be different or offensive than what anyone else thinks or wants.... It'll be ok to go to church... Just don't tell anyone that you are going because they might get offended. Celebrate a religious holiday... Sure thing just don't tell anyone about it. I like pepsi but don't tell anyone because the RC Cola drinkers might be offended and protest against me.

A large amount... Probably the majority of fire stations in the USA are not manned unless there is a call, drill or meeting going on. It's the nature of the volunteer fire service. The building, just like a car dealership, garage, warehouse, etc isn't manned unless there is actually work being done. This is especially true of volunteer services that do not provide ems. A trend has begun of staffing a medic or EMT in a station at night to ensure a local ems response, however departments that only provide fire-rescue services on a volunteer basis usually do not have anyone in the building.... Including most of our own county.

With regard to the BMFD tanker fire... E-247 and T-15 were assigned to channel UHF channel 1 upon arrival. I never heard an order transmitted to switch to channel 8.

Summer of 1980 or so... the house on the corner of Millwood Road and Crystal Springs Road (Old Millwood Road) I think it's actually 235 or 237 Millwood Road.... I was three or four.... My dad and I watched my future boys roll up in the middle of the afternoon and watched from my front portch. I can still remember the sound of the old E246 (GMC pumper that was also called MA10 and R36 from time to time) as its underpowered gas V6 wheezing as it rolled in. 2252 and Ex-Chief Kendall talk to this day about stepping over the body of the badly burned son of the family several times before they realized that it was a body. He was burned beyond any human recognizable traits and face down on the floor by a couch I think.....The family was away on vacation at the time. There was also a fire well before my days at an old school on Rt120 where the Wagon Road Camp now is in Chappaqua. DG795's father still tells me about adding engine oil to the old E245 because it pumped for almost a week.

With regard to how fast can resources to calls at 5pm on a Friday, I would say pretty quickly... When you hear a neighboring department responding to a serious call like this, typically you begin to prepare your self. By the time the tones dropped the other night we were idling on the ramp of HQ and 2252 was loading our foam reserve onto U44. By the time we pulled onto the scene, E248 and MA-10 were staffed out of both stations should they be added to the box.... Same with tanker calls... If we hear Croton, Yorktown, Somers, Katonah, or Bedford Hills get a call, people start wrapping up what they are doing and moving toward our sub-station to have the Tanker ready. Can these perfect responses happen all the time... No... But I find with major incidents it is more often that the neighboring departments are ready to respond by the time the call comes in rather than struggling to put a crew together.

From my knowledge the airport rigs are for airport use only and not part of the M/A footprint. With regards to Briarcliff getting a foam capable engine... If they want one and they have the extra money then go ahead... But look what has happened with Cascades... They are everywhere... Millwood and Greenburgh were the only ones for years with the addition of the air pump on the old U12 too. Now everyone's got one.. I'm trying to get us to sell R-36 and put all the equip on E247/248 while we can still get 100k for it from a far away FD that needs a cascade... Also I was on the committee for E248 and I gave a lot of input on E247... Combine that with MA-10 and I've got a decent knowlege of foam usage... Aside from the airport I don't know of any Departments that can deliver as much foam immeadiatly as we can....... Here's a few thoughts.... 1: The CAFS/A/B foam system that is on E-247 is a $50,000 option these days. E-248's option does not include CAFS but the A/B componant added nearly $20,000 to the cost. It's not cheep and neither is the foam at $85-100 per bucket. 2: Training is very important. Just having foam to use doesn't get the job done. In fact just like having a TIC... IF you don't know what you're doing you can get in a heap of trouble..... Just because you have the solution doesn't mean you know how implement it. Example... Barreling into that fire on 9A the other night with a foam line without thinking and observing could have disrupted the residual fuel that lay in the bottom (actually the side) of the tank and spread it by splashing onto the ground and re-ignighting all the spilled fuel that was put out already... This actually happened not with a hose line but a FF who fell and broke the foam's miniscus and the fuel spread.. re-ignited and ran like a fire river toward my tanker. Another example is CAFS.... Its great putting the fire out, but it doesn't cool the room or allow you to vent using fog... Lots of first timers use CAFS then stand up in a room that is still 1800degrees and get severly burned. 3. Having a specialty for a department means that you are trained and prepared to get the job done all the time.... If a department specializes in everything it becomes dilutive... If the need presenteted itself on Wednesday, BMFD could have had two engines and a mini attack plus 3600gal tanker ready to attack that fuel fire with a minimum of 7 pre piped foam lines 2 traditional bucket and eductor lines, 200+ gallons of foam and crews that had trained on getting that particular job done... It didn't come to that. If someone's calling mutual aid for water rescue... Just because Millwood's got a boat doesn't mean that it's our specialty... for others it is. 4. Pump operations for foam become complicated too like they do when supplying a ladder. Many new pump operators don't have the true knowlege of hydraulics and the mechanics of pumping. Pumps are easy these days... Push a button and open a valve... Well if you are running eductors with sticky foam that can clog and you've got a million different lengths of hose and different nozzles and a bucket and eductor off one discharge and 3 prepiped lines off another it becomes complicated... Some require 200lbs to operate others 100lbs... Some wont operate unless placed within a certain distance of the pump... If you are combining this with maintaining a prime at a watersource or water shuttle it adds an extra level of complication to it. I'm not saying that Millwood, Fairview or anyone else that has made a committment to having an aggressive foam attack available are the only people that can do it just that there is a lot more involved than just being flow foam.... AND the situations can be infinately more dangerous than just putting out a regular combustable material fire.

Truck (Ladder) companies are responsible for but not limited to: Search & Rescue (both interior and via aerial device) Forceable entry Verticle and horizontal ventilation Utility control Elevator control Salvage Overhaul Vehicle Extrication (in career departments general extrication usually falls on the responsibility of the truck company and heavy rescues are typically a special call) This summer I hosted a drill between Millwood E-245 (50 FT Telesquirt the old TS-2) and Chappaqua TL-27 at the Westorchard school. In my drill outline I summerized by saying "If the truck company has done it's job well the IC will know the following things. 1) Access has been gained in all necessary areas to the structure so that all hands my enter and work as ordered. 2) The building will have been searched and clear of all civilian victims 3) If ordered the roof will have been opened in conjunction with windows to allow the building to breath and the engine crew to better extinguist the fire 4) The building will have been laddered on all sides to provide to the extent that it is possible a laddered escape route wherever it is needed 5) The building will have been overhauled and searched for extention to the point where the IC is not concerned with a re-kindle. 6) All possible forensic evidence of arson has been preserved for C&O to work with. 7) To the extent that it is possible, every effort has been made to preserve and protect the property of the tennant from the ansulary destruction that fire extinguishment brings such as water and smoke damage. Truck company equipment includes but is not limited to: 115ft or more of ground ladders (usually). Typical hand tools like halligans, pick heads etc. Pike poles of various sizes. Roof vent equipment like Quick Vent or Cutters edge OR both saws. K-12 saws with multiple type blades for cement, wood, metal etc. Tarps for salvage. Hydraulic rescue and forceable entry tools. Fans both gas and electric. Rescue equipment for medical, vehicle, fire, and water rescue. Stokes basket. Back Board. Essentially a typical truck company is a rolling tool box. The only time a truck company has water involved is when the ladder pipe is flowing water. The rest of the time the truck company is using tools and equipment to help with the extinguishment of the fire. It's there job to make sure the engine company has an open and vented building to work in, and to make sure that the occupants are safely out of the building. Often times truck crews are operating in the building w/o a hand line to protect them while they are searching. Although Millwood doesn't have a "real truck", when I make a bi-annual drill for my guys, I always stress that we may be asked to staff someone elses truck at a job for extra man power or to relieve a crew that needs a break. Not having a Truck doesn't mean that you shouldn't know how to operate in the capacity of a truck company. Edward Smith Captain (2254) Millwood Fire Company

Tankers aren't going to be used often, but There are plenty of instances of failures on the water grid for whatever reason... When this happens in more residential areas in Staten Island, Queens and The Bronx, FDNY would be able to shuttle while a long lay with relay pumpers was being established. It wouldn't cost much in the grand scheme of things for there to be a super tanker in each of the aforementioned boro's. 5500 gallons on a heavy duty bi-axle with a tag axle for a third while on the highway. No frills.... Just a HD chassis, two man cab and a tank. OR you could simply take old Seagrave Bakers that are going to be replaced and strip the chassis and add a tank. Think cheap.... Then park the thing with an Engine Company and there ya go. Oh yeah and a Federal Q2 is needed. 8) Edward Smith Captain (2254) Millwood Fire Company

Air drop.... Just kidding.... When I went to school in Gettysburg, PA we were right on the PA, MD, VA, WV boarder at the top of the Appalatian and Shenandoah Mountains where we ran considerable mountain and brush fires. Being that GFD was the largest within a considerable area, we ran a ton of calls....... I've seen a ton of situations like this. Water isn't the only answer.... Manpower is. If you combine a bunch of guys that are ready to work really hard with rakes and shovels along with the proper use of several real brush trucks (not mini attacks with dual rear wheels and huge hose beds etc... but a regular 3/4 ton two door with a skid mount preferably CAFS) that is the way to get it done. The brush trucks make runs into and out of the fire zone to fill up and you need a few regular pickups to run fresh Indian Tanks and Water Cans and Fresh bodies.... This is the way to get it done. Unfortunately if you wait to set up major water supply ops the fire will grow. Get the guys in there with rakes and shovels, Cans and Indian tanks... and let the brush trucks reach what they can with the help of chain saws to clear the way..... So for this area as well as the ones in Staten Island, Queens and on the Bronx side near the Ferry Point Park, the way to go is create a task force that brings considerable man power to the area not just apparatus. Edward Smith Captain (2254) Millwood Fire Company

WELL... 52 Truck running out of the Big City of Millwood isn't that far from being a reality.... E-245 (Read: TS-2) is 22 years old at this point, and although it's a GREAT rig it's limitations with a rear mount 50ft TeleSquirt are beginning to be realized. It doesn't reach the top of Westorchard School and with the long driveways and front yards in developments like Random Farms, it's challanging at best to get a good spot behind the NCPD car (assuming the chauffer has the foresight to back in) and actually but the stick near the building. Sooo we'll be forming a committee before long to replace it now that it's twin E-248 was replaced with the Sparten/Sutphen in May-04. HOWEVER if I'm on the apparatus committee again Ladder 52 will have a 500hp 60 series like 248 and will be good for 75 ( shhh 68 ) mph up the TSP or will pull Hanover Hill like a champ... You can have Ladder 52 in Yorktown any time you like.... All kidding aside though... If we buy a mid mount 75foot Seagrave quint or Sutphen Quint maybe we can broker a deal to trade #51 for 52 and we'll keep #51 a mid mount designation in WC for another 20 years... =D> Edward Smith Captain (2254) Millwood Fire Company

White Plains ??? Edward Smith Captain (2254) Millwood Fire Company

Is this think small enough to get near a swimming pool or body of water that you couldn't get an apparatus near. Like when we roll up and need water fast and the house has a huge pool... Just toss this thing in and bam you've got 1000gpm until the tanker ops get established???? Edward Smith Captain (2254) Millwood Fire Company

I want one... No make it two.... Edward Smith Captain (2254) Millwood Fire Company

Just to weigh in on the opinion poll here, I've had a minitor III for about 5 years. Never had a problem.... My wife lived in Manhattan before we got married and I used to get pages in her appartment all the time.... I don't know of any problems with any of our minitor III's with the exception of one or two had knobs pop off the top right after we got them Edward Smith Captain (2254) Millwood Fire Company

I was just there on my honeymoon... Stayed in Wailea about 5 miles from Kihei.... Lots of people driving and paying more attention to the sites than the road. I was run off the road twice between Kihei and Lahaina. I think I have a picture of the Maui Fire HQ. Awesome building. 6 or so bays out front. Truck, 2 engines, 2 brush, 2 4000gal tankers, trailer with a huge center console boat and a bunch of other stuff thats stacked behind. All banana yellow.... Even the tanks on the tanker are painted. No chrome, no gold leaf, no aluminum wheels, but somehow everything looks really good in it's simplistic state.

Oh yeah... When good cribbing does break after years of use and re-painting and soaking up of oils etc... It makes awesome kindling for the fire place. Think old wood cribbing is to fireplace what matchlight is to BBQ. :-P

All the cribbing that we have on R-36/E-247/E-248 was made in house. Although the pre formed plastic stuff is light and apparently does the job, I find that making your own works out better because you can cut each piece for each compartment on each rig the way you want it. For example, the compartmentation on R-36 allows us to run very robust cribbing including large step blocks, 6x6's, 4x4's, long wedges and several milk crates of smaller gear. However on E248 I cut all the blocks shorter than we normal would because we were able to keep the cribbing in a compartment that offered greater flexablilty and allowed us to keep the combi tool and the cribbing all in one compartment. It would be difficult to experiment with preforms if you constantly had to order and return them while trying to find the best fit. I made a full set of cribbing for the new E-248 including 2 full sets of step blocks, 4 6x6's, 4 4x4's, 4 wedges, and a ton of 1 foot 2x4's for less than 50 dollars of lumber. Edward Smith Captain (2254) Millwood Fire Company

Although I am a fan of seperate brush and initial attack vehicles (ie; a standard pickup with single rear wheels and a skid mount for brush and a mini fire body on a dual wheel super duty chassis for a mini attack) I realize the need to incorporate both into one unit with our shrinking woodlands in Northern Westchester. On friday night, Millwood E-248 transferred up to Put Valley to cover their box during a social event. In their sub station they have a great combo unit. It's a F-550 with a utility body on it and a skid mount CAFS brush/initial attack unit. 2 or 3 1.75in attack lines and a booster reel and some compartmentation. Nice rig. If you are going to go with a mini fire body, I'm partial to our MA-10 F-350/Saulsbury with a 750gpm pump, class B foam and 1000feet of 4in hose with two crosslays. Good luck to Somers with the new Rescue, Engine, and eventually mini-something. Edward Smith Captain (2254) Millwood Fire Company

I don't think that Torre managed that game as well as he has other clutch situations. 1st of all Ruben Sierra should have been pulled and a pinch runner used. He could have never scored from his position being the slug that he is. He's a DH and it wouldn't have affected the Yanks for the rest of the game had he been pulled once on base. 2nd, Tony Clark should have been pulled and Posada moved to first base if it went to extra innings. There are a handful of guys on the bench with better bats than he has. Even though having a seasoned catcher behind the plate would have been better, Posada was dead tired anyway. Any catcher would have done at that point and Clark added nothing to the equasion. 3rd the incident at 1st base has two different problems. The ball shouldn't have been knocked out of Arroyo's mit, HOWEVER the first baseman was blocking the bag and prevented a possible slide to avoid the tag. Although sliding into 1st isn't very common, that is a situation where it would have been used. I agree with calling the runner out but pulling the run and bringing Jeter all the way back is bogus. Just my opinion doesn't mean it right. Edward Smith Captain (2254) Millwood Fire Company

How old is the mask that you are using? If you are using a newer mask, the nose cone should seal well so that your nose and mouth aren't expelling warm gasses onto the plexi glass which as the weather gets cooler, will fog faster due to the difference in the temp of you exhaling and the temp on the outside of the glass. They make different size masks for different size faces today. I would confirm that you are using the right size mask. If it's a Scott, check with Matt @ AAA in N.W.P. In the meantime if you get into a situation where you cant see due to fog in the mask, turn on the manual purge valve that is attached to your regulator. It will blow cool air through out your mask and reduce the interior temp on the plexiglass and eliminate the fog. You will have to do this periodically to continue to stay fog free. The best solution is a proper fitting mask though. This will eliminate much of the fogging as well as the need to waste valuable air on defogging. Edward Smith Captain (2254) Millwood Fire Company