JohnnyOV

A KED used in westchester county?! Now there is a news worthy story!

It really depends on how much active fire duty/how much UV exposure/chemical exposure/wash cycles and all these other factors that the gear has been exposed to. It is almost impossible to permutate the different possibilities of gear exposure, so in an all encompassing statement, the NFPA states 10 years. You could have brand new gear that hasn't left the shelf in 10 years, or gear that is 5 years old, thats been through hell and high water, and is falling apart and needs to be replaced. Is it BS? I don't think so, it is just to safeguard the end user.

They must have shipped this in from France... nice helmet

Once again, as a volunteer, I completely disagree with this statement, and don't want to be grouped into this separated mentality that we can never get along. All the career guys want, and believe it or not some of us vollies too, are equal standards across the board. How hard is that to contest? Wouldn't you want someone who was equal to you in all aspects, working along side what ever job you're doing, regardless of how dangerous it was? Wouldn't that make for a smoother operation, smother transition of information, smoother everything? Every department has the "The A-team," "The-B squad," and the "Man I would hate to go into a hot yob with that guy," firemen. What separates the A's, the B's and the wtf is he doing in this service, is the amount of training and the quality of training that each individual undergo's. I don't think the worlds best archery shooter only trains for 100 hrs a year. He does it day in and day out year round, and always attempts to get better, because there is no such thing as perfect.... unless you're Jessica Alba, because she is perfect.

Sounds like any volunteer officer election to me... should fit in seamlessly with the board then

If I, as a volunteer, cannot meet the same training requirements as a career guy, what business do I have being a volunteer? We all preach that we do the same job, the dangers are the same, and that we want to be treated the same and not looked down upon by career guys, well then lets start training like them, and hold ourselves to the same standards. I know guys from all over the fire service who are volunteers, who have the "I've been in it for 15-20 years now, why do I have to train on hose stretching or ground ladder ops since it is an easy task," mentality. Well too bad, there is the door, thank you for your 15 years of service to the town. The amount of liability on a Chief and his department now is so immense, why would you not want to demand that your firemen exceed the volunteer requirements? Fire doesn't change when you cross the district line of Yonkers to Hastings guys (just using that as an example), lets start training and demanding accountability like it doesn't.

Get that line through the front door and protect what has not already been lost. 2nd line should protect the exposure on the B side, and obviously the truck co's will be preforming their primary search. Off the bat it looks like a heavy fire load, but a 2.5 in the front door and down the hallway should make a good stop... if that fire load held up by the time the first due arrived. By the 3rd min, there was considerable less fire, and an easy knockdown looks possible from an interior attack. Edit: Didn't realize there was a set crew assigned. Either way, my post still stands. Get that line through the front door and knock it down. A wise man once told me, "All your problems disappear once the fire goes out." Give it a full knock down from the inside and keep from "spreading it around the house", and your exposures will be protected.

The one where everyone on my crew goes home safely at the end of every run... Stay safe brother

Any Chief or OIC who does not have 2in/2out and sends guys in with a FASTeam still assembling is asking for a world of trouble if the poop hits the fan, except in the case of a known life in the structure... then all bets are off. To place your own guys in jeopardy over a structure is not someone who I want in command of a scene anyways.

Lohud is the exact same way 99% of the time, I think people just post ridiculous comments just to stir the pot, and hide behind a computer screen

Pretty sure you need is a signed off letter from the Chief of the department where you are a member of, stating that they will cover you for insurance purposes, under a mutual aid agreement with the other department. Both Departments need to sign off on the letter.

I would give my... well I'll stop there since this is a family place ....to have MDT's in my rig. Who was on the board, and how did they determine that departments did not need MDT's? Did they go around and ask every individual chief and department? Having crucial information like hydrant location, and CIDS info at your finger tips for every run would be phenomenal. As a volunteer department that runs consistently over 600 fire only runs a year, and is almost 40 square miles big, it is physically impossible for even the smartest IC, Officer, Chauffeur and Fireman to remember everything about every commercial occupancy and be expected to do so. Who ever decided that MDT's weren't needed, then or now, needs to seriously think about their position on the board. This advisory board sounds like they still want to use "wet water."

Not a problem brother. Guys in my department love utilizing our skills and putting them to work at scenes. If putting our name out there, and telling people who we are and what we can accomplish gets us called because of that thread, I'm all for it.

I'm just going to request every trailer at our next run... doesn't matter what it is, auto alarm or cat in a tree. If I ask for them, they'll have to come right?

Glad to hear of a department who realized it was time to step up to the plate and admit their was a problem and that consolidation was a result met with very little resistance. Kudos Elbridge for being aware of the problem, and thank you for your 150 years of dedicated service to your community.

I guess I'll start. Yorktown Heights Fire Department's Special Operations Division is comprised of 2 teams, the FASTeam and Water Rescue and Recovery Team: The FASTeam consists of members who pride themselves on being extremely aggressive firemen who go above and beyond general firefighting skills, and prove to have exemplary knowledge of fire ground operations and a driven attitude of everyone goes home. The team trains twice a month in all aspects of firefighter rescue from simple firefighter packaging and removal, to collapse simulation with firefighter entrapment, under live fire situations in a live fire training center. We train on everything from 2:1 removal out 2nd and 3rd story windows, large area search, removal through holes in floors, to firefighters who have become entangled and cannot remove themselves. Some of our duties upon arrival on scene will include building 360 and scene size up, a team leader stationed with the IC, develop a rescue plan prior to a mayday being transmitted, pre-assigned tasks depending on residential or commercial style occupancies, setting up multiple points of egress (during an active interior operation) if not already accomplished and standing ready for the unfortunate case of a mayday situation. Our minimum manpower for response is 4 members, and regularly respond with 6-8. Engine 270 is our designated FAST apparatus with Rescue 16 as a reserve/backup. Our other specialized unit is the Water Rescue and Recovery Unit (no longer classified only as a Dive Team) and our members are trained in mulitple area's of water rescue and recovery. Our services include dive rescue/recovery in open water, lakes, flood water and ice diving as well as ice rescue and swift water rescue. Our team is trained to the stringent standards of Dive Rescue International, and follows the strict NFPA guidelines for a water rescue/recovery team (NFPA 1006, 1670). Our Dive Captain and Lieutenant have also gone on to become trainers in multiple areas of water rescue. Our equipment includes a 12' zodiak, and an 18' heavy duty inflatable capable of supporting 5-6 men and all their equipment, all of the ropes and rigging for a technical swift water operation, and a full compliment of diving and swift water PPE for each of its members. The team is completely self contained on Rescue 55 with the boats in tow behind the truck. This style of response allows our team members to be fully geared up and ready for in water deployment almost immediately upon arriving on the scene. The team refreshes their training yearly, as well as trains twice a month in all areas. Currently we are seeking SEMO and FEMA certifications to become the first certified volunteer water rescue team to be call upon during state or federally declared disaster sites. Minimum response for any water rescue call will be 5 members (a water rescue IC, primary tech, back up tech, 90% diver and rope tender) and we typically respond with 6-10 members. Both teams have been called all over the county and the lower Hudson Valley for their services, and will continue to respond to any department who asks for our assistance. We are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and have one of the quickest assembling and response times for both teams due to coordination immediately after dispatch through wireless communications between team members (those blackberry texting groups are much more useful then just finding out who wants to go surfing, and 90% of our members personally own a blackberry and are involved in the group). Edit: To request for either of our teams, contact 60-control and ask for Yorktown's FAST or Yorktown's dive/ice/swift water team.

My whole take on rear end collisions with fire apparatus / emergency response vehicles is that who is most likely to hit the rear of a truck? Drunk drivers, people asleep at the wheel, or a distracted driver. What good is a chevron going to do to someone who isn't even looking at it in the first place? Trust me, I took human factors and other courses like this in college, andI truly believe the eye is trained to follow the chevrons away from the center of the truck. But I also feel that most of the time, these chevrons will not accomplish anything since a majority of people who hit the trucks, wont even be looking at them. I'm very curious to see if a report will come out in a few years to see if the number of rear ended incident % has declined, stayed the same or increased, relative to trucks that have and do not have the chevrons.

Pretty sure NFPA states all you need is retro reflective striping and 360 degree warning light power, along with red and yellow chevrons in the back. It says nothing about the color of the truck, or the color of the striping. You want white on white reflective, have a ball. Insurance should not go up, and safety should not go down.... according to the NFPA that is

Any possible way that it is cheaper to outfit it in only white?

What if, instead of repealing the AHJ clause, you side step it by introducing a clause in the county mutual aid agreement that departments sign. I'll throw an example out there for the fire side... "Any reported structure fire the host agency will be toned out to respond, along with the MA FASTeam to go on stand-by in their quarters (or respond, what ever floats your boat). Any reported structure fire in an non-hydrant district, the host agency will be toned out, along with a tanker task force of 3 additional MA tankers in addition to the MA FASTeam." If we could get agencies to agree on simple ideas like this, maybe our level of service and protection to the county wouldn't be as much of a danger/joke as it is in the rest of advanced emergency services community. Some departments, Croton for example, have taken very proactive steps in that any reported structure fire in a non hydrant area, they automatically dispatch a tanker from Yorktown and Millwood as well. Kudos I say for caring more about the homeowners/taxpayers who are your customers, then your own ego of 'This is MY TERRITORY!"

IIRC the only people allowed to issue restraints are Doctors and Police officers in NYS... i'll get back to you with the DOH reg edit: I was wrong. 2008 NYS BLS Protocols from the Behavioral Emergencies section:

Date: 2-18-2011 Time: Location: IAO 56 Main St Frequency: Units Operating: City of Poughkeepsie PD, NYSP, Dutchess County Sherriffs & MTA Police, City of Poughkeepsie Fire Weather Conditions: Description Of Incident: http://www.poughkeep...hooting-in-city Reporters: Poughkeepsie Journal Writer:JohnnyOV, citystation1848 (units operating)

It's quite possible there is nothing in them... just speculation. If there was any equipment in there, it should be public knowledge since it was purchased with grant money. Why doesn't someone submit a FOIL request if the county is being so secretive about it?

Video master Mllax14 has put together a short trailer of Yorktown Heights Fire Department's 2010 year in review. The full video should be out later this spring. http://www.yorktownf...0%20Trailer.wmv Past videos can be found here: http://www.yorktownf...content/videos/