dwcfireman

It's definitely interesting how the industries vary. One of my best friends is diabetic, and an exterior vollie. His doctor can pass him for interior status if my friend is elligble for an insulin pump, which unfortunately he is not (bummer). Yet no where in aviation will you find an airline pilot diagnose with Diabetes. What vexes me further is the fact that firefighters have more thorough medical exams (yes, including the vollies) than pilots. I've heard way too many stories of pilots zipping through their medicals because. Some of the doctors out there will pass a pilot on their medical simply for having a pulse! (I know that's a bit simplified, buy my Class 3 physical was a mere vitals and basic blood work. Scary to think that!)

Westchester County owns the old 17 and will own the new one as well. The new truck will look just like ARPT 11, but the bumper turret will be extendable towards the ground. The current ARPT 17 is a 1987 Oshkosh P-19. She's due for retirement.

Since this an Oshkosh topic, Westchester is expecting delivery soon of our new Striker 1500, the replacement for ARPT 17. It will also be the last Striker in the old body style, EVER! I'll try to get pics up as soon as she's in service.

I've worked with a few firefighters in my career that have Diabetes, and only once in my 15 years did one of them need assistance. Diabetics these days have many more reliable options for controlling their blood glucose and insulin levels. It definitely sounds like something more is going on, and neither side is elaborating.

It's always been interesting to me how anyone could decide who has the most dangerous job in the world. Firefighters run into burning buildings, fishermen battle the high seas, iron workers are balancing multiple stories above the ground, roughnecks are pushing heavy machinery deep to the ocean floor.... Who really does have the most dangerous job? There are so many dangers to be aware of in any profession. Heck, working in airport operations I've almost been chopped up by propellor planes on multiple occasions (special thanks to the many "skilled" pilots who played their roles in those incidents). Don't quote me on this, but I remember from somewhere in the past (probably Discovery Channel or TLC) that the 'most dangerous job' is determined by the number of injuries and fatalities that occur in each profession every year, vetted amongst the situations and conditions that those professionals face on a regular basis. It's a little vague in the old memory bank, but this sounds close to whatever the documentary said.

From what I understand is that it's built on a Striker 3000 chassis. The bumper is definitely from the Striker series (note the plate in the center for the bumper turret). I also believe that this is Oshkosh's attempt at a half ARFF/half engine to meet the FAR 139 ARFF and NFPA manpower requirements. Ugly? Yes. Unique? Yes. Practical? Well, it hasn't been battle proven yet.

I encountered this problem once at a fire. The house only had three panels, and, of course, they were buried in snow (because forbid that a fire like that one could happen in the summer!). Any way, I found the panels after I stepped on one, slipped a bit, and the sheet of ice slid off of them. Not a single firefighter at the incident knew about them prior to the fire, and you would never know about the panels because they were on the roof facing away from the road. And, no, I was not injured in the incident. Where am I going with this? PREPLANNING! As I found out after the fire, I was able to go to the town hall and get a list of residences that have solar panels installed on the roof. It was a bit of a help (at the time it was a whopping four houses), but at least we knew that at least four houses in the district had solar panels. Now to what I'm really getting to....Solar panels are always on! ALWAYS! That means they are always collecting and storing electrical energy. Well, there are a few other electrical sources we should worry about, too. Some homes and businesses have their own wind mills, harnessing the constant power of air movement to create electricity. And, some homeowners (albeit few) have their own hydroelectric generators. There are plenty of options available today for alternative power sources, different makes and models, and even mixtures of sources. We, the fire service, are a little behind on this technology in a couple of ways. More importantly, we don't realize the dangers involved with these power sources, and we need to recognize the dangers and learn as much as possible about them, just in the same form that we need to know building construction. I for one will be checking out the links that RWC130 and 16fire5 have provided us. The other idea that came to mind, about being behind on this technology, is why don't firehouses look into this for powering the stations? A long term investment on alternative power can give you a few extra dollars towards an operating budget, which could help buys extra gear or some new tools. I'm not pushing the "Green Alternative," rather an idea that came to mind while writing the above. I'm sure taxpayers would love the idea as well.

Kudos to the drver...not only bringing the vehicle to a safe stop with only one steerable wheel, but perfectly in the shoulder!

Thanks the info. Makes more sense now.

This sounds fairly reciprocal to the trickle down effect of our government, where things can only get more restrictive as you cascade down from federal to state to county to local government. Are you able to expand on this a bit? I'm getting curious about this, yet I feel confused that a local government would have to 'ask for permission' from a higher entity to gain more restrictions/impose new regulations. ((I apologize to everyone in advance for taking this off topic, but I feel it's pertinent to the situation if any laws or regulations could prevent a future mass CO incident))

Hey All, I'm looking at moving to Texas in the near future, as I'm begining the recuitment process into the Houston FD. So, I was wondering if anybody in the EMTBravo world could enlighten me on a few questions that I have: 1) Which NYS certifications (if any or all) are backed with IFSAC seals? 2) How easy is it to transfer a NYS fire certification to Texas? 3) For anyone who has moved from NY to TX, what was your experience? I appreciate in advance any and all answers to my questions. It's a long process that I'm starting and I'm looking for anything that could help me out.

I was actually contacted by the HazMat Cpatain from HFD. He wants to recruit me (found out about me from a close friend that works for TexDOT). I've been trying to talk to the recruiters about what I need to qualify for the certified test, and I've been told by numerous people to look for surounding departments as well. Thanks for the info!! You, too, Seth. Thank you for the heads up!! Don't worry about "hijacking" my thread lol. I agree, those are awesome pics!

I've had the chance to experience the humidty a few times lol. This gave me a much needed laugh. Thanks for the heads up hahaha

I was going to suggest LED scene lighting, but I have to explain something about high intensity LED lights. We have some at the Westchester Airport for taxiway edge lighting, and a downfall is corneal glare. When you look near the lights, you see an eight point star formation around the HILED, It's more annoying than anything, but the bright side (haha) is that HILEDs are extremely bright and allow for better visibility on the fire ground. Just don't face them towards the base of the house, just slightly upward like an aerial spotlight.

As a former officer/occasional acting officer, it's nice to have the radio pocket for the trunk radio while my fireground radio is in the radio strap. I honestly have no preference to which radio goes where. However, when I'm only carrying the fireground portable, I prefer it to be in a radio strap. For the majority of calls, it put the radio off to the side and out of the way, while keeping the lapel mic/speaker close to my face. It seems to me to be effective. The major downside I have found is that it's an ectra obstacle on your person to get stuck on random things while in a low visibility environment. I counter this by keeping the radio strap underneath the SCBA straps. As far as blocking Pack-Trackers, my department has practiced with the trackers and have found no difference or interference with the radios, including if you're carrying multiple radios.

Even having been taught the old school methods of overhaul (i.e. take your mask off, a little smoke won't hurt you), I'm a proponent of wearing SCBA until CO levels have diminished well below the toxic level. This should also be the case for cyanide levels, as cyanide poisoning occurs more often as a result of today's technological advances. Just look at all of your electronic devices. When the burn, they give off hydrogen cyanide, the same gas used in gas chambers! A single breathe can be deadly. WEAR YOUR SCBA! BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY! As for Cyanokits, it's not a bad idea for EMS and fire agencies to carry them. You have no idea when or where someone may need it. It should be like carry Epipens, or a CPR mask.

I'm not going to argue with you on this one, but sometimes a single incident is all it takes. I doubt anything will happen out of this, but it's nice to dream that someone, somewhere, already in NYS government would pull the trigger and get something rolling to prevent this from happening again. Flip side, training in this situation would evolve a better outcome when this happens in the future. The first arriving EMS crew should have the training to recognize the issue at hand. I'm not saying that they should know for sure with one look that it's definitely a CO call or something else, but at least recognize that something beyond the scope of the initial call is going on. With that said, it would be cool to see some of this training for the public in general. I mean, if a few people understood the subtle clues of CO poisoning, and then all of a sudden 20 people in a restaurant get sick, then someone can stand up and say, "Let's go outside." I know this is far outside the box, and in a 'perfect world,' but it would be nice if it could all work out. Every agency I have served with has always had a CO detector wither attached to the Officer/Senior FF, EMT, or EMS bag. It has never made a difference for me or for any of the crews I've worked with, but the detector has its use. Maybe one day it will save my life.

Well, I guess we can only hope that this opens the eyes of some of our legislators.

Are service businesses required to have CO detection and alarm systems to alert everybody inside (i.e. the same way a fire detection system alerts everyone to evacuate)? Seems like it's a good idea to prevent an incident like this one from happening. Does anyone have any light to shed on this?

This is interesting. I've never seen a vehicle like this for the ARFF service before. It looks like it's more designed towards a manpower-heavy operation, especially for larger airports that have larger ARFF departments (sorry, I don't think we'll ever see this at HPN). The Storm could be a great compliment to ARFF departments that also run on-field engine companies, thus bringing the manpower on an ARFF oriented vehicle rather than a modified engine. I can't wait to see how US airports apply this to their response agencies.

This is what we are currently playing with at HPN. Oshkosh HT Tractor with Trailer Sweeper/Blower Combo! We call it The Beast!! (Picture fromOshkosh Airports website: http://www.oshkoshairport.com/en/SnowTrucks/ht-tractor/HTTractorModel.aspx)

The drill was conducted by the USAF in conjuction with the US Customs and Border Patrol, commanded through the USAF Air and Space Operations Center in Tyndall AFB, FL. The Appaches, Blackhawks, and the Chinook were provided by the Army for the fly over of the stadium (they did not practice at the same time as the USAF and CBP). Source: An official memo from the USAF-AOC that came across my desk at the airport.

It was somewhat related to the Super Bowl, more related to the TFR (temporary flight restriction) set up for Sunday. However, the USAF does participate in these drills across the country several times per year.

As an AIrcraft Rescue Firefighter, let me shed some light to this issue.... Even though it is more than definitely an accident scene, it is ALWAYS a crime scene. When the proper investigation authority comes in (FAA if the aircraft weighs less than 12,500lbs, NTSB if 12,500lbs or more), they're expecting to know abslutely everything about the accident. They want to know what position the throttle was in, which switches were in what position, what you did to mitigate the situation, the size of everybody's boots, what years your gloves were manufactured, etc. Literally everything! It is a crime scene! There are very few exceptions to where you can deviate from the federal regulations regarding aircraft accidents (such as local sherriff or police have authority to remove an aircraft from major roadways before FAA is on scene). Since it is an accident, the local fire and EMS authorities will have jurisdiction until the scene is stabilized, then command is tranferred police officials once all hazards have been deemed safe and all victims have been transported. Mind you, even though the police have taken over, it's still every agencies' responsibility for the scene and what happened. Let's look at the Cessna 206 that crashed behind MBIA in Armonk. When the crash initially occured, it was Armonk FD & EMS in charge. Once the fire was out and all vicitms were deemed DOA, the situation was handed over to North Castle PD. However, the property actually belonged to the NYC DEP, so DEP Police guarded the scene while FAA and NTSB responded for the investigation (NTSB always investigates fatal accidents). Once the FAA and NTSB were done, the DEP PD were in charge of the removal of the aircraft remains. In Short, treat an aircraft accident as an MCI, and always treat as a crime scene (BECAUSE IT IS ALWAYS A CRIME SCENE!). Preserve the scene as best as you can and assist the FAA/NTSB in every way you can.

Your balls will be busted unrelentlessly for the entirety of your career...start thinking of good comebacks