tommyguy

This is completely off-topic but I have a buddy (FDNY Ret.) who occasionally used to go over to an Elizabeth firehouse on Sunday mornings with some of the guys he worked with in the City. They used to have breakfast with the Elizabeth firefighters and their Boss. They were all buddies.

Elizabeth firefighters have really had their hands full lately. Wednesday there was a HUGE fire in an industrial building. A multi-story building that occupies several square blocks. EFD was reportedly still overhauling the building on Saturday and supposedly still has crews there today. http://newyork.cbslo...-still-burning/

As a resident of Yonkers I would also like to wish Chief Fitzpatrick a very happy retirement and thank him for his long service to this city. Whoever his successor is he will inherit a very well-run and professional department. I think one thing all Yonkers residents can agree on -- maybe the only thing! -- we have one heckuva good fire department!

I kind of agree with Christie. But putting a live rattlesnake in the trash to be picked up -- glued down or not glued down -- I don't know about that. I can see an unhappy ending there!

In the Army when I was at Ft. Sill we were setting up for war games at a well-protected location out on the west range. Where the mess sergeants were setting up their kitchen tent they found, caught and killed a rattler. Close to six feet when hung up but they said that was s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d. Probably more like five feet and change. The cooks ate it.

I hesitate to bring this up since I'm neither a paid or volunteer firefighter. I sure don't want to help fan any flames. But I did grow up in White Plains and have friends who are paid members of the WPFD. Some I've known going back thirty years. Yes they're all retired now. I had another friend who was a volunteer member of WPVFD South Side Engine Company. They were attached to the engine company in Station Four (Engine 68 which is now closed.) Occasionally the volunteers were used, primarily at multi-alarms fires for things like traffic control and to stretch hose. From what he told me that was about it. He didn't receive much training. One of my buddies who was a paid member of WPFD told me there was one volunteer from WPVFD who used to show up at his firehouse occasionally. He was primarily a buff though but he was allowed to lend a hand. What is the situation like now? Would White Plains have to do a lot of training to get the volunteers ready to work at a fire scene alongside professionals? I'm sure they would.

I think yesterday there was a working fire in New Rochelle when Ladder 12 was OOS. If I read the incident report right, there was only one company left in service for ALL of New Rochelle. Eng. 25 at Stratton Road. I realize they undoubtedly called in MA but as a non-professional, to me that does seem risky. In White Plains in summer 2010 a serious fire broke out in the basement of a restaurant downtown. A number of WPFD companies were already assigned to a serious incident at a Con Ed power station. I believe the initial response was an engine and a truck. Probably a total of six or seven men. One of the firefighters first on the scene were quoted as saying they couldn't do much of anything until reinforcements arrived. The fire got out of control and ultimately destroyed the building and required a big response. As a taxpayer I want economy but I want to be safe too.

Yes I'm sure you're right. Engs. 85 and 86 both had their rigs replaced within past ten years;

Great photos and glad to hear the victim survived. Darn, looks like no airbags.

Does anyone know what company this engine would be for?

That's incredible. Officer Lopez doesn't seem to have been using lights, siren, not even signaling lane changes. At 120 MPH? He didn't know the trooper was attempting to pull him over? He had NO idea at all? Every time he changed lanes she stayed right behind him but his only thought was, she was "on a job?" Shouldn't he have at least "yielded to an emergency vehicle." Come on folks, when is the last time you saw a police car responding to an emergency at 120 mph in moderate-to-heavy traffic? Why would anyone -- even Miami leo -- expect FHP to tolerate that?They shouldn't and this trooper did the right thing.She's right -What Lopez did WAS dangerous and VERY disrespectful to the trooper and all the other highway users.

I'm a White Plains boy and E69 must be a reserve engine called to duty. Engine 69 was a company assigned to Station Five on Robertson Avenue (Battle Hill section) and closed many years ago. I lived in that area and signed the petition! Have known many WP FFs and they are a great department. Great job guys, too bad you were faced with an almost impossible task.

I knew Raphy Hidalgo from around the neighborhood. He had a positive influence on just about everyone who ever met him. He's definitely missed. RIP Raphy

http://www.lohud.com/article/20091028/NEWS02/910280378/1018/NEWS02/Work-schedules-cause-rift-on-White-Plains-council That sounds like a throwback to the olden days, firefighters working a 24-hour shift. Sounds like the guys don't care for it too much either. I can see how some would like it though. I think WPFD used to work 8 AM - 6 PM and 6 PM - 8 AM. Any other local departments work 24-hour tours of duty?

The City says the 24s saved them $400,000 in OT in the first 10 months of the agreement and they want to end it? It's very hard to understand the logic here. It sounds like there's a political agenda here that's probably not understandable unless you're involved in White Plains politics. Last year didn't the city make a contract offer to the police and fire and then after they accepted it pull it off the table because they said they couldn't afford it? Something like that. To me the problem is the Journal-News guy should be putting these questions to the council members but he's not. Isn't that what a newspaper's for?

Are those special units?

Man that's a lot of exclamation points. Look I posted an article and it's been viewed over 500 times in less than 12 hours so I guess it was of interest (like I thought it would be). It was impossible to tell from the way it was written what the firefighters and police who attended in large numbers were upset about, so I asked. What's the problem with that? Most of the guys I knew from living and working in White Plains who were White Plains cops and firefighters are retired and no longer live in the area. The guy I used to work with (from Station 7) wouldn't have liked it I don't think because he had an auto repair business on the side. He didn't even like working days because nothing got done in the shop if he wasn't there. According to him anyway. So the guys attended the meeting to voice displeasure at seeing the 24 hours shifts rescinded? Thanks, didn't know that.

There is quite a bit of new high-rise housing in the slip of land west of the Yonkers train station which appears to be doing quite well. It's only a 25-minute commute by express train to Grand Central and the buildings have filled up. People I've run into who live there say they like it but 1) they need more retail and 2) there's not much to do in the downtown section. The city (of Yonkers) also stages various festivals in the Larkin Plaza/River area that seem to attract many families. I can see the development succeeding actually. No, I don't see families from Larchmont or Irvington driving down to downtown Yonkers for an evening of family fun. But there's a lot of middle-class families in Mt. Vernon and the northwest Bronx that might come if it's a good evening out and not too expensive. And there's all the folks in Yonkers too. People tend to forget, half of all the people who live in Westchester County live in Yonkers! As to whether they can get all the financing together, it seems like a bad time to do it but they say the money is committed.

I've lived in Westchester most of my life and grew up in White Plains. Comparing it with Yonkers is tough, I think. First, White Plains is the county seat and has always been a retail and office center. Yonkers was more of an industrial city. Second White Plains is much smaller and has never had to deal with problems on the scale Yonkers has. Admittedly, White Plains had a bit better leadership back in the 1960s and 70s I think. They saw the corporate move to the suburbs coming and positioned themselves to take full advantage. In the mid-60s White Plains embarked on a large-scale urban renewal program along Main Street west of Mamaroneck Avenue. A lot of low-income housing was torn down despite the city being unable to provide replacement housing. Many of these people wound up being moved to.....right, Yonkers. When White Plains did begin building low-income public housing it was dispersed throughout the city. Yonkers fought that idea. In the meantime Yonkers was losing large industrial employers like the Alexander Carpet Mill and Otis Elevator. Good paying jobs for high school grads. Retail development was actually fairly strong, but virtually all of it was on the east side, along Central Park Avenue. That's where the leadership failed, I think. Back in those years people implored the leaders in Yonkers to try and steer some of that new development to the Getty Square area. Whether they tried to or not -- and many people felt they didn't really try -- they were unable to get development going in the traditional downtown area. And that pretty much brings us back to today.

Sorry I don't agree.

As a Yonkers resident I think the gangs and street crime aspect is a tad overblown. Yes it's not Scarsdale, but there is already successful new development nearby and I'm not aware of many problems. I'm not just writing that either. I regularly use the nearby train station, the main post office and a couple other places late in the evening and feel pretty safe. Like any other urban area you have to watch your back. From what I hear and from what I read in the local paper, nowadays a lot of the late-night street crime is thug-on-thug. It's not a safe place to buy drugs on the street at 2 AM, I'll concede that. Hope they get it going!

I wonder what their Lieutenant called them?

No pix, sorry, but the mention of Maxim took me back in time. For a while in the 70s I think the White Plains Fire Department was all-Maxim. Great looking rigs too, as someone said. Before that WPFD was mostly open cab ALFs, a couple Seagraves (Eng 67 and 69).

One thought I really meant to include in my previous post- I want to add a silent prayer that Lt. Joe Murray and FF William Kanych, the two men injured in this incident, both in Jacobi Medical Center reportedly in serious but stable condition, make a full recovery from their injuries.

Yes I want to add my condolences and congratulate the Yonkers detectives for some good work. I live in Yonkers and the Fire Department seemed to be kind of busy this afternoon (in fact I can hear Engine 309 blasting through traffic as I write this). It was impossible not to immediately think of FF Joyce each and every time I heard the sirens and air horns. It makes you stop and think. I'm sure most of the guys are still hurting (in fact I know they are) yet they're still out there doing the job. RIP FF Joyce and God Bless all the firefighters everywhere!