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Boring! Looks like a blue and white variation on the Mayberry squad car. Jazz them up, chrome wheels, some graphics. They spend a huge amount of the their career time in a car, give the PD a ride they can have some pride in.

Read carefully, I made reference to the total apparatus available for the Town of Ossining, served by the two Villages of Ossining and Briarcliff, whose combined apparatus are as described. I was making a comparison to the Village where I currently live, which has a larger area and population and is serviced by a paid County run department utilizing 4 stations with a total of 4 engines, 4 paramedic rescues (which up North are ambulances) and four brush rigs.

Sorry, Mrs. Smith calls 911 to report her house on fire in a town with a paid department. She gets a couple of engines and a truck and whatever the situation found upon arrival is handled and dealt with. Mrs. Jones calls 911 to report her house on fire in a town with a volunteer department. She also gets a couple of engines and a truck and whatever the situation found upon arrival is handled and dealt with. There are volunteers that just have FF1 and there are volunteers, lots of them, with extensive training as well. Our dept. encourages advanced training at every opportunity. Fitness? Yea, all paid firefighters have BMI's <30 right? Volunteer departments put their members through annual physicals and their status is reflected by the results. LOSAP is relatively new, too new for me, and its end result has no correlation to a paid department pension. It may take a little longer for a volunteer firefighter to experience the call variety of a paid firefighter, but in time, you do. I'm not going out on much of a limb by saying in my years with OVAC, BMFD, LVAC, SSFD and CFFD as well as rides on a lot of out of state departments while traveling, I have seen it all. Best I can change is sorry, same job, little or no pay. That anyone who would do this job without compensation says all you need to know about their commitment to the job and community they serve. Like I said, I'm just sorry I put in over 35 years and have nothing tangible to show for it. I had four buddies from my College's fire department that went paid. Now they've retired, collecting 5 and 6 figure pensions and concentrating on the business they started and ran in their "off time". I'm just jealous. Not bitter, jealous. Unfortunately this has now deteriorated into one of those no win discussions. I had the idea for a "fly engine" to mimic the success of the paramedic fly car to ensure call coverage. I'm sure it would have issues, like insurance, but that could easily be dealt with. Combo departments still mean payroll that these economic times can't handle. Hell, according to what I read in these forums there are paid departments that don't have enough staff to handle anything above a single company call. I've no problem with it all being paid. I've said in previous posts that I think it should be on a a County level. I live in a Florida community in Palm Beach County. The County Fire Rescue department has four essentially identical houses protecting my community of 50,000 residents. Four Engines, Four Paramedic Rescues (Ambulances), Four Brush Rigs. Thats it. Sprinkled around the County are some Trucks, Tankers, Helicopters, etc. By comparison, the much smaller Town of Ossining is served by two Village Departments with Nine Engines, Three Truck, Two Heavy Rescues, Two Utilities, a boat and Five ambulances. Maybe 20 years from now Westchester County will be providing Fire Rescue, much in the same way the County PD is absorbing some departments. Financially I don't think you can go paid to the level necessary without doing it on a County wide basis. And now that all this has been said, who gives a $#&t what I think, I don't live there anymore. I just have friends that do and serve.

Well I don't want to beat a dead horse here, but perhaps I shall. Our 'unofficial' arrangement was between my brother and myself. Since I lived alone I often gave him the option of 'rolling over' should he choose to do so and not walk up the whole family only to return in 15 minutes. We also made many attempts over the years to rectify the false alarms, but that seems to adjust itself based on the student turnover. And, despite our annoyance at the repeated false alarms, we have constantly reminded ourselves of the potential for our own Rutgers tragedy. Also, we have a member who was himself caught, and last man out, in a dorm fire, so we know the dangers. If you're in the fly car and get a jump on the call you know that you can pretty much cover the district in the 4 to 5 minute lag time it takes us just to get to the firehouse. You also know that following the FD dispatch, the PD are dispatched to check it out and that three fire companies from two firehouses are responding. I never meant to imply, and did not think it read, that we were lackadaisical about responding. But, volunteer departments are being inundated with, yes nuissance or unnecessary calls because the public education that has permeated the citizenry is "got a problem? call 911". I guess I'm too old school now. A few years back I awakened at 3:00 in the morning with abdominal pain, being an EMT I self diagnosed Appendicitis. Did I dial 91?, no. I called by brother, woke him up and told him to come and get me and take me to the ER. A few hours later, the appendiz was removed. I didn't need to tie up an ambulance or a fly car to get me the 3 miles to the hospital. Today a hang nail is a 911 call. I told my nephews before I left that I thought they would be the last generation in our family to be volunteer firefighters. OSHA, politics and nuisance calls will destroy the volunteer department despite the best intentions and dedication of the few who will want to see it continue. Look at the recent threads about sounding the Sirens and Horns. You can't inconvenience the public long enough to rally the members to come to their assistance. I want to express my own exception to one of the prior post comments. I'm not glad to be 'retired'. I miss it everyday and if I could be, I would be one of those who stuck it out to the very end, warts and all. I've accomplished a few things in my life, so far, but none more rewarding or memorable as certain times when the alarm sounded. And to the 'commuters' and 'others' I made reference to previously, they'll know when it stops being the neighbor down the street that they never met who volunteers to serve, they'll see it in their tax bill and, no, the current cost of a volunteer fire department pales in comparison to a paid department. There is only one difference between a volunteer and paid department. Payroll and pension costs. Otherwise they're exactly the same. Same equipment, same calls, same dangers and outcomes, its just that there are no payroll and pension costs with a volunteer department. The public will understand that when all fire service functions inevitably go full time paid staff. My one regret of my fire/EMS service is that after 37 years, I just had the memories and satisfaction of having selflessly served the various communities I lived in. Right now though, I'd kinda like the pension that would have gone with the 37 years.

We considered, but did not "officially" implement, a designated night shift driver for "nuissance" calls. By that I mean the AFA call that comes in at 2:00 am for Pace Univ. New Dorm. 10 out of 10 times its the same morons with their microwave popcorn. So rather than everyone getting up I would say, or another driver would say "if its Pace New Dorm, I'll take the call". If it was any other call, or location, even on campus, all bets were off. If it turned out to be anything more than the popcorn we could re-tone. But of the 10 out of 10 times, 8 out of 10 we wouldn't even clear the station before we were cancelled. That gets real tiresome in the middle of the night, in the middle of Winter. The ambulance, on the other hand, has always had designated night shift duty crews. I often wonder how many of our residents, commuters especially, understand that we are volunteer departments and that there are not crews standing by 24/7 waiting for them to dial 911? I have had people stop by and say they came by earlier in the week, but nobody was there even though the truck was. Well meaning, but clueless.

First, if anyone honestly analyizes this subject they will note that all firehouse are made of glass. There are very few volunteer departments that have not, at one time or another, either not been able to respond or responded inadequately. As has been noted, membership can be cyclical and the demands placed upon the volunteer today are increasing. No one should throw stones. No one should question the ethics or dedication of another department or its members. So what is the answer? Is there any one right answer? Consolidation seems logical, but would meet with much resistance, at least for the forseeable future. Replacing volunteers with paid is financially impossible under todays economic environment. So how about automatic mutual aid? Duty crews? Or, what about a "fly engine". I was with Briarcliff before moving to Florida. Years ago we started the "fly car" paramedic for the tri-villages of Briarcliff/Ossining/Croton. How's that working out? Well how about a volunteer duty crew for a "fly engine" on a rotation basis. Get two firefighters from Ossining, two from Briarcliff from 0700 to 1800 to staff the engine. One day or week the fly engine might be 101, then 98, then 94, then 92 etc. The crew, on duty at the appropriate firehouse, automatically responds immediately to any call in either Briarcliff or Ossining. No delay, engine on the road immediately for MVA, AFA, whatever. If it works out, maybe Croton hooks up with Montrose or Pleasantville with Chappaqua, Thornwood and Hawthorne, etc., etc. Now, given the size of the OFD and its apparatus I don't ever recall them not getting out and my experience in Briarcliff is that we always get out but I recall a few times when I took the engine alone and hoped I would find some help on the other end. Most of the area Depts do a fine job of handling their calls. But, wouldn't it be reassuring to know that at soon as the call is dispatched, a crew is responding? Just another opinion.

Yes, had the service station on Croton Ave. Was a very important responder for OVAC and Frank Jr. was also a very active member. But, yes, that was a lot of years ago. I recently got the invite to my 40th OHS reunion. It was a long time ago I would leave school and walk up to Clinton Avenue to pull duty. Lots of calls, lots of memories, lots of good people.

Just remembering my early days with OVAC when I joined as part of the Explorer program and we started riding the rigs at age 17. Back then it was the two cadillacs and there was nothing, and I mean nothing like sitting shotgun with either Frank Vasallo, Sr. or Walt Cassisi driving down Croton Avenue to Hubbells Corner, against traffic with the Federal Q pinned. I never got to drive the OVAC caddies, but I did the BMFD caddy. Those were rides.

I would have to say I'm not particularly surprised. Pierce, among some others, which we all know but don't need to name, is, I have always believed, a 'Cadillac'. Look around the County lately and you will notice a number of departments accepting deliveries of 'Fords' and 'Chevys' where they would previously have taken deliveries of 'Cadillacs'. Next you'll be seeing commercial cabs in lieu of custom cabs and perhaps some of the current 'Cadillacs' being sent back for refurbishing to get another 10 or more years from them. These are the times we live in now.

I enjoy the incident alerts and the more specific the better. I would like a litte narrative sometimes because there isn't much detail. If your going to post the incident, a little brief description wouldn't hurt. And, for the Putnam and Dutchess, I have no clue what responded because I can't follow their number system. Same for Rockland. I know the first number is he department number but after that is it an engine, ladder, tanker? As for the geography, if someone's willing to make the effort to post it, why not have it?

Grandfather member of Hope Hose. Father member of Hope Hose and Hilltop Engine. Three brothers members of Scarborough Engine. Three sons/cousins members of Scarborough Engine. Tradition.

Memories. Had one of these 700 Series when I was on my College's student fire department in the early 70's. Ours was originally Engine 16 from the Newton, MA Fire Department which was donated to our college. Later, I rode one with South Salem Fire Department. Loved the open cab, except of course in the rain and snow.

Yada Yada Yada, How many changes in apparatus need to take place before the firehouse gets replaced? If the Village had to make structural changes in the 80's for the E-one by maxing out the door height did it not occur then that some time in the next, oh 20 or 30 years, some consideration might be given to replacing an aging firehouse, maybe consolidating a few of the single company old firehouses into one new. modern structure. This problem is all over 'lower' Westchester where we are trying to put 21st century apparatus into firehouses built for horse drawn apparatus. Time for villages and towns to consider consolidating some of these old firehouses like Ossining did a few years ago and build some stations for the future. Remember some years back when Nyack's ladder wouldn't fit. It happens. There will be finger pointing in Tarrytown for a long time to come, the entire process was doomed from the start when the company couldn't get the truck they wanted and now this will just add to it. Next time, and it probably won't be long until the next Tarrytown piece is spec'd, everyone can draw from this experience and work together. In the meantime, they should look into a permanant fix rather than another temporary fix. Can you change the geometry of that angle as well as the elevation? If you have to spend $18K on a fix why not spend $150K on a remedy?

Hurry up, get it out for bidding before the existing house collapses around you. It'll still be, probably, 18 months before your in your new house. Long, long, long overdue.

As with many items, the vocabulary varies from location to location and department to department. I was a member of a volunteer department in Massachusetts. There was a Chief and a Deputy Chief, then Captains and Lieutenants. The Deputy Chief was what in Westchester would be the Assistant Chief. Our Westchester department, Briarcliff Manor, has Deputy Chiefs. These are former Chiefs, appointed as Deputy Chiefs. They respond in their POVs which are equipped with red lights and sirens. They act as a Chief Officer until they are relieved by a current Chief or Assistant Chief. As with many volunteer departments, there can be times when no current Chief officer is available and the Deputy Chiefs can fill the void if they are available. Otherwise command falls to the Captains then the Lieutenants then to the senior firefighters, according to standard chain of command protocols.

Down here in sunny and warm Palm Beach County, FL.(which, I believe, is the largest County East of the Mississippi, 1,800 Sq. miles, 750K residents) and throughout the State, with the exception of the larger cities, all police and fire are provided on a county wide basis. This past year several older independent police and fire departments have been absorbed into the County for the cost and other performance benefits that the single larger agency can provide. On the police side, there are typically substations in the larger towns, like mine, and they are commanded by a Captain. On the fire side, there are 46 fire stations. The standard fire station with 1 Engine, 1 Rescue (Paramedic Ambulance). Other stations house additional equipment such as Brush Trucks, Tenders (Tankers), Ladders, etc. Both the Sheriffs office and the Fire Department have Helicopters stationed at PBIA in West Palm Beach. The FD operates two "Trauma Hawk" medical helicopters. That's the good stuff. On the flip side, there are the County Commissioners who have their hands in everything, regulation wise, and sometimes its like a "Porky's" movie. We regularly send our Commissioners to jail for self serving deal making.

One of the guys e-mailed this to me separately earlier today. I found them funny and amusing and having served in a number of volunteer departments over the years, I could, and I'm sure most everyone could, find a corresponding member(s) in their own department to compare this crew to.

The Fire/EMS community needs the same thing the budget process needs. Leaders willing to address the problems head on, without regard to whose feelings might be hurt. The only feelings that matter in Fire/EMS are those of the persons who dial 911 for assistance. I have been a member of several Fire and separate EMS departments in Westchester. Sometimes we were out in a flash, sometimes not. Though I am no longer active, I monitor 60 Control and hear the dispatches from both the County and the Departments that still self dispatch. Most times there are no issues, other times there is the necessity to re-tone, repeatedly. It happens. But it seems to be happening more often. The most obvious first step would be consolidation of the dispatching through 60 Control utilizing SOP's and protocols established by 60 Control and the all of Westchester's Departments. I mean, really, each Department has multiple Chiefs. A series of meetings should be able to be attended by one Chief officer of each department to establish the SOP's and protocols. Almost everything we do has changed over the years. When I started EMS was Red Cross First Aid. Then we became EMT's and now we have Paramedic fly-cars. Our fire apparatus is bigger, better, more reliable, better equipeed, TL's, CAFS, hydraulic tools, PPE, SCBA all more advanced. But aside from continued advances in our alerting system, House Sirens and Horns to "Plectrons" to pagers, we haven't adjusted for the biggest change in our Departments, the personnel. Despite the addition of women, which probably saved volunteer EMS, we still have not accepted that the increase in call volumes coupled with the requirements of training and the demands of work and family have made it more and more difficult for volunteers to maintain the level of activity that their Departments require. Consequently, more instances of re-peat tones. Leadership addresses and solves issues.

I don't recall the exact date, maybe early/mid 70's, but just around the corner on Underhill across from what is now called, I believe, Birch Road, there was a similar fire with multiple fatalities. Similar construction, discovered in the early am by neighbors.

Our volunteer FD responds to lift assists to do just that, assist in the lift. The PD stopped doing lift assists several years ago due to potential injury issues. The appropriate 1st due engine does not initiate a response until it is confirmed that the ambulance is staffed and responding unless the engine has an EMT on board. There are, of course many instances when the ambulance crew is sufficiently staffed so as not to need any assistance but as everyone knows there can be an unlimited number of circumstances and conditions that justify the "many hands make light work" approach. FD response is immediate for all ambulance calls for MVA or PIAA.

Given enougth time and opportunity, the tort lawyers will find a way to corrupt the intent of this, or any, program meant to serve the general well being of the public. That's just an unfortunate by-product of efforts at good citizenship and with a little earnest effort and a stiff spine on the part of legislators the necessary laws can be enacted to protect everyone. Perhaps the technology is available such that the notification of need would only go out to phones whose owners are certified in CPR and AED operation and registered with the governing agency. What if this App was available to all the County's EMS providers? How opportunistic would it be if some guy collapses in Aisle 20 at the Elmsford Home Depot and there were two OVAC members on Aisle 24 and a PVAC member on Aisle 2 who get the App notification? As fast as we would like to think we can respond to any emergency incident, there is no denying the benefit of having a 'johnny on the spot'.

Planning for the future. 5 yrs?, 10 yrs? Where's the bunk room? The only station re-model I recall seeing recently that addressed a bunk room was Bedford Hills and even that was an add alternate to the project. Isn't anybody getting tired of sleeping in chairs or on the floor during stand-bys? And, sooner or later, long before the buildings being built and renovated today are obsolete, there will undoubtably be the need for some paid personnel in many of these stations. In this case, 18,000 Sf and no allowance for a couple 10 x 12 dorm room type bunk rooms to accommodate maybe 4 persons, up to 8 with bunk beds, for an overnite stand-by?

I think that 18 years from now when those born this year become eligable to be firefighter/EMS personnel, the volunteer system will be as necessary as ever due to the prohibitive cost of providing paid coverage to all the areas currently services by volunteers. However, because of the continued escalation of the tax burden I envision the individual village/town/protection districts being consolidated into a single County wide department, administered by the County, stations consolidated by distance and population, apparatus, procedures and protocols all standardized. Dispatching by the County, Chief Officers are County employees, Line Officers and firefighters/EMS remain volunteers. If you take a couple of neighboring Villages (look at your own and your next door Department) and analyze their individual departments you can find 10 Engines, 3 Trucks, multiple Rescues, Tankers, Ambulances and ancillary apparatus in half a dozen firehouses servicing a response district that, were the department a paid department, have one third or one quarter of the equipment and infrastructure of the volunteer departments. Given that municipal goverment expenses continue to rise with the burden being passed onto the taxpayer, I don't think any possible methods of saving money while preserving and perhaps enhancing service will be left unexamined. Given that Engines and Trucks today are costing $700K to $1M does it make sence for Dept A and Dept B to each buy a new Engine of Truck and station them a mile or two from each other when only one piece of apparatus could service the same geographic area if you erased the local village/town border? And, if your a "County" volunteer firefighter, when your smart phone sends out an alert, if you are in the vicinity, anywhere in the County, you can reply to the alert via your smart phone that you are responding either to the nearest station or to the scene and dispatch can be made aware that the call will be covered by the "closest to the call" station or an additional alert is required to cover the call.

Yes

When Archville split with Briarcliff, a handful of Archville's firefighters who resided in Briarcliff's Scarborough area formed the Scarborough Engine Company and oversaw the building of the Scarborough Fire House and procurement of new apparatus. The Scarborough and Archville companies had a pretty strong kinship in the 70's and 80's. There are still some overlapping member histories with Scarborough, Archville and Pocantico Hills that newer members would be unfamiliar with. Archville was known to have the fastest hand pumper at the annual Fairchester Hose Haulers Antique Muster in Kensico and often Scarborough members participated with Archville at the competition. It was never the same muster after leaving Kensico.