dwcfireman

The new law has nothing to do pulling out of the way for volunteers that are responding to an emergency (that still remains a courtesy on part of other drivers). The new addition to the "move-over" law is directed towards volunteers that are ON SCENE already attending to an emergency. Essentially, the addition in the law adds that if you see blue or green flashing lights on the side of the road you must do your best to safely move away from them as you would for red and white or amber lights (as already existed in the law). PLEASE DO NOT MISINTERPRET THIS CHANGE FOR RESPONDING TO EMERGENCIES. Continue to drive safely, obey all vehicle traffic laws, and just be safe in general!

A. You beat me to an answer. B. I just read he contract, and it looks pretty good.You hear that, Camean?!?!?

I will apologize for the fact that I was ignorant to your situation and need for income. I know it can be difficult being a new home owner, and I'm sure it's more difficult with more household dwellers on the way (and Congratulations!). As far as they pay scale for Scarsdale goes, I cannot offer any info on pay increases, but can offer some other advice. Obviously, asking here might get you an answer. You can also either contact Scarsdale HR or their Local 1394 ( http://www.local1394.org/Contact-Us.html ). What ever you choose to do, I hope it's the best for you and your family! Good luck!

If it's a job that you REALLY want, and it's a career that you REALLY want to follow, then the starting pay shouldn't be a consideration. It's kind of like a hobby or a vacation; You love something, so you find a a way to afford it, and you make it happen. But, taking on a career in firefighting is is a big decision. You REALLY need to love the job and love the career, because it is a lot of hard work, physically and mentally. If you REALLY want to do this, you will have to make the sacrifice, even if it means working side jobs. I have a part-time job, and sometimes pick up work at another if I need a few extra bucks for something. So, trust me, you can make it work.

My mind was kind of leaning towards the same thing, that the necessary equipment changed and what not. But you bring up a good point about weight distribution versus turning radii. I don't know Yonkers too well, but from what I've seen they have some narrow, winding streets that even in my pickup truck are difficult to navigate, let alone a 30 tone fire truck! Thankfully, with technology like automatic rear counter steering, larger rigs with single or tandem axles can navigate the tighter spaces better, and tandems can be configured in a tight formation to make the rig feel and drive as if it were a single axle. What ever the case, I can't wait to see what YFD specs!

As for marching down Main Street for all of these parades, placing some sort of badge or banner indicating the difference between interior and exterior firefighters would more than likely damage the morale of a department, especially with departments with larger numbers of exterior firefighters who are older or not medically fit to enter a building. The Class A/Dress uniform is a thing of pride, showing your brotherhood and camaraderie through the good times and bad. In a time where we, as the fire service (both career and volunteer), are hurting for people to fill the rigs and fills the assignments, do we really want to hurt company morale by indicating who is among the "elite" (interior) and who is among the "plebs" (exterior?) Public events, like parades and festivals, are not the place to be telling the public who can go inside and who cannot. I do agree that the public SHOULD know how many firefighters in your department are interior and how many are exterior, but let's leave it out of the public eye when everyone is out trying to have a good time (or at an unfortunate time like a memorial service or funeral.) On the other side of it, though, a lot of departments throughout the state DO identify who is interior and who is not through tell-tale signs on the turnout gear, most notably on the helmet. YELLOW trapezoids are interior, and RED is exterior. This is more for accountability and safety purposes, as you can see whether an exterior is too close to the IDLH or in an area that requires SCBA (like near a window that smoke is pumping out of,) and you can pull them back. As a fire officer, I do like to see these types of identification so I can keep a better awareness of who is around me and where people should and shouldn't be. I would like to put this akin to the orange probationary shield that new firefighters have to wear, which indicates to officers and senior firefighters that this a person who is still new to the job and still gaining the basic knowledge and experience. Visual indicators in the field are extremely helpful for everyone (as in, we all know the guy with the white helmet is making the decisions.) But let's put all of this BS aside. There is a bigger problem out there than identifying who is qualified for what. It's the fact that there just isn't enough of us. Even as unions go toe to toe with municipalities to put more firefighters on the rigs, and volunteers hand out applications to recruit and retain firefighters, we all have the same problem. And, this is couple by a paramount of other issues from the increased mandatory training, slashing of budgets, the physical demand, the increasing training and safety requirements, a crappy economy, a butt load of politics, and [at least for the volunteers] a lack of time. Never mind that some people aren't allowed to be interior for medical reasons, the fact that there is so much into becoming a certified interior firefighter is quite a burden for a lot of people. Times have changed, the requirements have changed, and society has changed. We, the firefighters, the protectors or our communities, are always fighting an uphill battle to fill the seats.

I have a couple of questions, just out of curiosity: 1. I saw a picture of an older R1, which was single axle. What was the reasoning for expanding to a tandem axle chassis? 2. How much equipment is the new rescue going to carry? I ask this because YFD has a bunch of support/task oriented units such as the collapse rescue and USAR trailer that I know carry extra equipment that can respond when necessary.

Engines 33 and 84 with 23 Truck. Purple K response. That's all I know at the moment.

As our cities spill out into the suburbs, the suburbs to the countryside, coupled with the increase demand for emergency services and the declining number of volunteers, this IMO is going to be a growing trend among many communities over the next few decades. Going from an all volunteer department to a combination department has a lot of benefits, such as decreased response times and increased manpower. And, as communities grow, along with the need for more services, I wouldn't doubt that you'll see more career staff being added to fill out an engine or add staff to a second. But, one thing that must be remembered as you add career personnel to the ranks is that the chief and the town have to remember that there are volunteers, and they need to have integrated training with the career staff so both parties will work cohesively on the fire ground. With that, an atmosphere needs to be created where everyone will get along, train together, play together, and go home together.

Judging by the numbers, and a quick little Google search, this is a mid to late-1990's International. My personal preference and best guess goes to Rescue 33 from North White Plains!

Is the station of the Greenville company owned by the company or the district? I'm trying to understand why the district would allow apparatus to sit outside in the elements while they await a new home.

Is it just me, or does anyone else see firefighters taking selfies at car accidents, fires, and every other type of major incident? I've noticed over the last few years the number of selfies popping up in social media FROM FIREFIGHTERS is increasing, including the number of general pictures of the scene and responding apparatus. I'm not going to knock professional photographers (as this is their job), nor the general public for taking photographs or videos of these incidents, rather I want to know; why do firefighters have to stoop the unprofessional position of taking a selfie while on the job? This just kind of irks me because firefighters are taking a side step to get the "awesome shot," or get a selfie to show that they were there. Why aren't you paying attention to what's going on and focusing on your job? Are the imaginary internet points and likes worth it? Let me pose a few other questions while I'm here: Does your department have a social media policy? If so, what does it state? What are the disciplinary measures for going against the policy? And, why would a department tolerate its own personnel taking pictures at inappropriate times?

To ALL of our brothers and sisters, in every color of uniform; the blue, green, khaki, camouflage, etc. Many have given their lives for our nation to be where it is today, and many more will follow. God bless them, and God bless the USA!

I'm assuming a ladder is also assigned to automatic alarms...Maybe this is an operational cost saving device, which also keeps those two engines in service for other emergencies that may pop up at that time. Since I'm unfamiliar, what's the staffing level of each of Yonkers' rigs?

With the "enlightening" events this week pertaining to the Port Chester Fire Chief, let us all remember a few things when voting in a volunteer chief of department: 1) If he uses some sort of political campaign (funded or non) to become chief, you shouldn't vote for him. 2) If he tells you he's qualified for the position, you shouldn't vote for him. 3) If he constantly comes up with excuses for his mistakes or blames others, you shouldn't vote for him. 4) If you didn't like him as an assistant chief, you shouldn't vote for him. 5) If he did a terrible job as the assistant chief, you shouldn't vote for him. I could keep going on with this list, but the gist of it is that volunteers need to pay attention to rising officers and determine if they have an actual love for and willingness to do the job, have the background, training, and experience to move upward, and the leadership abilities to conduct oneself and represent the department. You have to separate those officers that belong in the ranks from those who act as politicians to climb the [proverbial] ladder. Personally, I want the guy that is willing to deal with the headaches, the blows from the trustees/commissioners/etc., be able to deal with complex situations (both within the firehouse and on the fireground), and, more importantly, isn't going to put anyone, firefighter or civilian, in an unnecessary line of danger. Unfortunately, Port Chester is left with the guy that is at the other end of the spectrum, and now he's dealing with some MAJOR repercussions.

What the [expletive] is going on in Port Chester?! Every time I look at the news this story gets even quirkier! I'm sure there has got to be a screenwriter out there kicking himself for not coming up with this disgusting filth for a movie! hahaha

That would be correct. The state teaches this in a few classes (Fire Officer I, Fire Behavior and Arson Awareness, Principles of Fire Instruction, and (correct me if I'm wrong) FFI). My opinion is to always bring in an outside investigator, and it's an opinion that I share with several fire investigators and ex-chiefs that I have met throughout the years. Even IF the cause is completely obvious, it always seems to me to be a great idea to bring in an expert that wasn't involved in fireground operations to help with C&O determination. This allows two things: The first being that the investigator has no attachment to the fire. He/She is there just to determine the cause and origin, without having an attachment to everything that went on with the fire fight, search, rescue, etc. The second reason being a second opinion. The chief can walk in and say, "Yup, it was the coffee maker." But the investigator can come in and say, "Yes, it was," and, "It was [an electrical failure of the hot plate;" OR, "Sorry, but it was a switch failure on the electric can opener, not the coffee maker next to it." This is not always the case. I know of many counties in New York State where the battalion chiefs or fire coordinators (names differ throughout the state) are also the fire investigators. Their initial response is an emergency operation (which would require lights and sirens) to assist with fireground operational tactics and strategy/planning, and give aide to the incident commander. They will then take note of things happening while the fire is still burning, hence beginning their investigations well before the fire is out. After suppression is complete, they will then turn to the interior to complete the investigation. Essentially, in counties where budgets are smaller and manpower is less, fewer people have to do more jobs (do more with less, just like everything else). I completely admit that this contradicts my statement above about having a second, OUTSIDE opinion for investigating a fire, but in reality you have to do what you have to do to get the job done.

Ok...This temporarily puts the PC career staff back to work. But, since they're "going back to work," are they still going to earn their full salaries for the time being as they are on administrative leave from the Village of Port Chester? Or is the Village going to screw them more and only pay them while they are on shift on Rye Brook?

I sure as hell hope not. If the volunteers start resigning over this issue, then there will be NO fire protection in Port Chester.

NWP will take it LOL

I just saw on Reddit (and can't find it again) that Sydney, Australia has had one of these "shoot-up rooms" for some years now, where over 4,000 overdoses have happened without a fatality. Whereas that's great news, it still defeats the purpose of getting people off the drugs that they are addicted to. I did no know that NA was a thing.

We really shouldn't be perpetuating a bad habit as something that's okay to do. Instead, we should be putting more funding towards helping these people come off the drugs through treatment and therapy. Methadone clinics help a little bit, but we, as a society, would benefit greater from having programs that "unhook" people from drugs and allow for either group or individual therapy sessions to stay off of them (think of how Alcoholics Anonymous works).

The whole southeast quadrant of the airport is in Rye Brook. However, since RBFD suspends operations from 1900-0700 and PCFD is/was covering it, and because PC and RB run dual response, PCFD is in the airport's emergency response plan as a primary fire agency. However, from 0700-1900 RBFD responds with Engine 14, and from 1900-0700 E59 would respond [as Rye Brook]. As far as this whole debacle in Port Chester goes, it has not affected our emergency response plan (ERP). Between all of the agencies involved within the ERP we are well covered in the event of an aircraft accident. On the structural end, PCFD and RBFD respond dual response to all of the buildings/hangars/structures south of the fuel farm on Airport Road, Including Landmark Aviation, Signature Flight Support, and the Main Terminal. The only affect of this type of response is the lack of E58. Otherwise, we still get Rye Brook's ladder, and an engine, rescue, and ladder from Port Chester.

AS one of the airport guys, I'll answer this one for you. They were at the drill today (E62, L32, R40, and I believe 2393). Under the previous circumstances Engine 58 would not respond to the airport for alerts (as far as I have noticed). However, E59 would respond while it was on duty for Rye Brook at night (RB would respond with E14 while they're on duty). And, quite honestly, there is no effect on the response for the airport with situation at hand here. Between all of the other agencies involved within our emergency response plan (ERP) we have fair coverage for the majority of our aircraft alerts. But here's why the lack of an engine wouldn't hurt the airport: WE NEED MANPOWER! Under our ERP we require any piece of apparatus to come out to the airfield with a FULL crew. That means if 3 engines show up with 2 firefighters each, we want you to abandon two engines to staff one. In essence, we really don't care how many pieces of fire apparatus show up, we need manpower, tools, and a buttload of ambulances! As far as this situation with the paid firefighters in PC being "laid off," the Local at the airport supports their efforts to regain their jobs (and as the Representative I can assure that we do have our brothers and sisters in our thoughts and prayers, and hope for the best of this situation).

They have a couple companies that don't go any where on almost all alarms because the chiefs' redistricted the responses so certain companies get to see more work....You can take the train of thought from there.