SECTMB

Did he sign a RMA?

And, apparently the civilian was the family member of the shooter who asked for the welfare check. This is an unfortunate reminder that there is no such thing as a routine call.

The Times article made it seem that the City was unprepared as it had to 'scramble' and was burdening their existing EMS workers with extra shifts out of their normal districts. It might have been more assuring to the public if they had mentioned that a class of 180 FD EMS personnel was getting ready to hit the streets with another to follow shortly. Of course that would be predicated on whether the article was intended to alarm the public rather than allay any concerns.

According to the story, the bankruptcy of Transcare left the City short by 81 tours made up of 200 EMS professionals. There was money from somewhere paying those 200 EMS professionals. So, why didn't the City just hire those former Transcare workers and have the money that was funding them redirected to City coffers? There must be some way to waive or sidestep, legally, civil service hiring rules for a declared public health emergency. If there was a compensation disparity between Transcare and City compensation, the City would have to make up the difference, but given that we are only talking about 200 workers, the difference can't be more than a ripple in a budget the size of NYC's. It would seem to be a win/win, the workers keep their jobs, the City gets State certified, trained and seasoned EMS professionals and the Public gets to keep the EMS workers familiar with their neighborhoods. I don't know how many buses are involved with those 81 tours, the Transcare physical assets aren't as readily obtainable as released employees, but I imagine the City must have spares or if they must, buy some stock/demo units from whomever has them to get by. Where was the crisis management plan? Weren't there rumors of issues about Transcare's long term viability? Was it necessary to overwork existing crews? I have no doubt I am oversimplifying a possible remedy, but I also don't think this needed to be more than a speed bump for an EMS response.

I doubt the City of Pittsburgh, with 34 Engines and 11 Trucks, etc. would need assistance from their neighboring volunteer departments. According the their station map, stations 29, 30 and 31 are closest to Ingram which puts 3 Engines and a Truck available to Ingram. I know I would feel safer knowing those resources and firefighters were available 24/7/365.

I also wonder if these cars are similarly equipped as NYS. At a community thing one year they had a K-9 Trooper attending and the vehicle was set up so that if the interior temp reached a certain degree, the door would automatically open so the dog could get out. Doesn't take long for the temp to get critical in FL w/o AC.

I had a conversation with a FL State Trooper at the car wash one day. It was her day off, but she had to dress in full uniform if she wants to use a commercial car wash. And the car wash doesn't comp or discount for MOS. Florida Troopers make squat money but their vehicles always shine. A lot of Sheriffs deputies also have personal use of the their vehicles and can use them for personal use in their civvies, its part of their compensation and fuel, mileage and maintenance are all factored some how. If you're responsible for the vehicle that you may use on a 100 mph chase, you're probably going to make sure its in good working order. Do CT Troopers still have use of the their cars?

Just caused me to remember the blue Hess and Eisenhardt Cadillacs when I first started with OVAC.

Then I hope you are comfortable with contributing to any award. Where do you think the money comes from?

Jackass

What was the outcome for the victim?

Maybe he just has a friend in the decal business.

It will be interesting to gauge the public opinion regarding Apple and privacy rights should the FBI find and publicly disclose information relative to other terrorists, cells or plans that they may find on this phone.

While I do not in any way wish to minimize the loss of life of the innocent victims of another terrorist atrocity, once again the President shows his lack of understanding of the Constitution in his directive to order all flags to be flown at half staff. A well meaning gesture not grounded in actual law which is very specific as to the persons for whom the flag is to be lowered to half staff. Over time we have diminished the significance of this honor just as we have the label 'Hero'. I hope Obama had a nice time at the ballgame today,

Didn't 'technology' give us air packs, foam, thermal imaging cameras, nomex, halon, etc, etc, etc, etc.? We've come a long way from bucket brigades and that's due to technology. 'WE' are only the means of utilizing and deploying the technology.

I believe all the stations mentioned have multiple apparatus. What about Sound Beach? It's in Old Greenwich and I think it is 100% volunteer. When they mention Old Greenwich are they referring to Sound Beach or another station. If separate stations, does paid Greenwich respond in as well? Do the volunteer components of the department respond on every call or are they special called if the incident exceeds the on duty level of paid personnel?

Who built that wall and who paid for it?, LOL.

I have a friend who is a real estate agent who uses one these 'personal' drones to take aerial photos of his properties for sale to use in his sales brochures. If he can justify the expense, couldn't the County Coordinators each have a drone that could be utilized at events such as mentioned? All the YouTube videos of drones at fires certainly show their benefit for command coordination.

Are you sure it's not the other way around. Paid supplemented by volunteers? Are those two paid firefighters in house waiting for volunteers that may or may not show up before they respond? I don't know enough about their SOP's but most paid departments supplemented by volunteers are expecting those volunteers to either pull shifts in station, respond to the scene or to the station to bring additional apparatus to supplement the first out apparatus manned by the paid personnel. My earlier post was essentially to say if Greenwich can't or won't afford to put three firefighters on an apparatus, who can?

I'll take the Chief at his word. Politics, meaning Politicians, are ruining this country at every level. Even a little 800 person town in OK.

How do you conduct a primary search with a two person engine? When the homeowner comes running out of the smoke filled house screaming the children are inside, what do you say? They'll be another truck along in a few minutes!! Where does the money go?

All you have to do is look within your own departments and see that the number of active members, and I mean real actual active members, is not as many as a couple of years ago, less than a few years ago, even less than a decade ago. For all the reasons that have been identified within these forums the ranks of volunteers is dwindling. Certainly the way departments are dispatched affects this. How many times can you drop what you are doing to respond to an automatic alarm that turns out to be caused by steam from a shower or dust from construction workers? Or to be cancelled before you even get off the ramp? And, everything now requires an ambulance. The public has been over educated to dial 9-1-1 for even the most minor maladies. It seems nobody gets to the hospital under their own steam these days. Eventually it will have to become all paid. Since I left Westchester I have lived in three Southern counties that provided paid fire/EMS-Paramedic services. Palm Beach County has some pretty pricey areas like Westchester but the other two were/are not nearly as wealthy as Westchester. If they all can provide paid fire/EMS to their citizens, so can Westchester. And for those who keep bringing up that laws and fire districts and all that prevent changes, well, change the laws for the benefit of the people. That's what legislatures and legislators are for.

Down here in the South they enforce move over with gusto.

The video and the still shots don't really give enough information regarding the placement of the truck in relation to the active fire. Generally speaking I was taught never to take my apparatus off hard pavement (specialized vehicles notwithstanding). Although they have their outriggers extended, they do not appear to be on anything other than the grass surface. If they were extending the bucket any further than what appears in the still photo they could be risking the stability of their working platform. Did they really need a bucket to effect these evacuations or could ground ladders not have accomplished the same in maybe shorter time. As always, its a judgement call made in a matter of seconds. Since rescues were accomplished and the apparatus was not damaged, its a win, this time. I remember a grass fire I responded to. Kept my CF Mack on the hard road. Our new mini-pumper came in, left the road to cross the field and promptly sank up to its axles. You take your chances when you leave the road.

I struck up a conversation with the pilot of my last flight. He was ex-military and I assumed so many other pilots were also ex-military. He told me that while that may have been the case years ago, that only about 8% of the pilots hired today are ex-military. I had always gotten a certain level of confidence in flying thinking that the pilots had military experience.