JohnnyOV

Was reading www.lohud.com this morning, and noticed an ad for "Rockland County Volunteer Firefighters" with a scrolling ad that asked "Could you be the one?" Nice, quick and informative ad that has a centralized number to call for questions about volunteering, and a link, when clicked on the ad brings you to an awesome website: http://www.b1o1.org , which has mulitple videos and Q&A about becoming a volunteer and what is involved. The website is very nice, and I applaud the initiative as well as the assertiveness of the Rockland folks who took the time to put all of this together. My question is, why cant Westchester or other counties accomplish this? Rockland's got their sh!t together, why can't we?

If they knew that ANY bill was going to be shot down until they got rid of the taxes for the rich or settled on a medium ground, why would they introduce the bill in the first place? Flame suit donned and ready

http://www.elmsfordf...tory.php?123132 Extremely heavy fire upon arrival. Looks like one hell of a job done by the boys from Elmsford. Great job guys! Now I read in the CAFS thread that you guys are running Class A on your first in hand-lines, was that applied here? If so, do you think it had any effect on the outcome? General question, no hidden motive. Edit: Kudos to the engine guys for leaving room for the truck as well.

Thanks Capt for the honorary rep points 1. I'm not sure I'm understanding the last part of your comment, but if I'm reading it as "they are too overwhelmed with their though process to be able to present a clear and concise statement over the radio about the presenting conditions," then they have no use sitting in the front of the rig... in either seat. 2. Would you recommend in this situation of a victim presenting a jumping hazard, rather then giving a building size up, simply state "Engine X, I'm on location with victims jumping, give me my 10-75" That alone, in my eyes pretty much gives an entire summary that something major is going on.

I am aware that Pleasantville has a rehab unit, however, being from the northern part of the county, a 20-30 minute response time from them, strictly because of distance, would not be in my department's best interest. I was stating Somers is the only one I am aware of, in the northern part of the county that could provide a timely response. That is like us calling for Vahalla's FAST first due, when you have LMFD or BHFD right there I want to say that my department has about 10-13 different box alarm set up for our town. Each tailored to their own requirements (FAST, Tankers, etc etc) up to the 4th alarm assignment as well. Sounds like your old department wants to be able to make the on the fly call, which is perfectly fine, as long as EVERYONE in the department is on the same page prior to arriving on the scene. As a chief / officer you should be well aware of what your departments have around you, but what about that guy who just started driving the trucks and is showing up alone on a supposed residential alarm, and now has fire out the front of the house. My feeling, in addition to the mutual aid agreements that departments in this county signed, there should be a common SOP agreement as well. That way everyone is on the same page, at the same time, and no matter what you roll up on, I know exactly what I'm getting.

This is something we will be drilling on and attempting to enhance in our department in the near future. Our goal is to completely eliminate the "unit on location / unit on location with nothing showing" and thats it transmission. I along with pretty much everyone else would love to hear a full size up from the first arriving unit, however, a simple size up on arrival, and a detailed size up later on, if necessary, into the incident is the most appropriate form. This clears up air time for units signing on, calling on location, and other radio transmissions important to the function of the fire ground operation and pre-arrival assignment planning. Additionally, the simple size up also gives you generally a good idea of what type of building you'll be dealing with based on the location of the alarm. I know in my district, anything off of Gambelli Dr. we'll be dealing with multi million dollar McMansions, and anything off Yorkhill Rd / Hawthorne Dr be 2 story, wood frame, split level homes. Knowing your district is key to getting a fuzzy idea of what you might be shown at the time of dispatch. I'll use my department as an example: On dispatch to a residential alarm: "Engine 273 is on location, establishing command. 2 story, wood frame single dwelling. Nothing showing at this time, out investigating." "Engine 273 to 60-Control, burnt food on the stove, all units can return." On dispatch to a MVA: "Rescue 16 is on location establishing command one car over turned in the southbound lane, we'll be out investigating" "Rescue 16 on an update, we have one car overturned, 1 patient pinned in the vehicle. Extrication will be commencing at this time, have EMS stage IFO the accident scene, have Engine 270 park behind the rescue and bring their portable unit and large spreaders to the drivers side of the involved car." "Rescue 16 One (insert gender here) patient has been extricated at this time, in care of EMS, and will be transported ALS to the Medical Center" On dispatch to a fire: "Engine 271 is on location establishing command, give me my 10-75 assignment, I have fire showing on the first floor of a 2 story wood frame companies going to work." "Car 2531 to 60-control, I am on location and assuming command. I have fire in a 2 story, 50x 20, occupied single family dwelling on the first floor, AB corner. Two 1.75 L/S/O, water is being place on the fire at this time, truck companies are preforming primary searches and opening up at this time. Have EMS stage at the corner of Kensington and Wellington and walk their equipment down."

Most departments that I know of around my area, off their 10-75 assignment (1 in particular off the initial dispatch), automatically have an ambulance and a medic in route. One of the problems we have is 90% of our departments run off of a 100% volunteer VAC. We have had working fires where it takes 10-20 sometimes 30 minutes to have a transport bus there. Medics will be on location, and god forbid in those first critical minutes, a firefighter drops, or you pull a lifeless child out of a building, you'll be standing around with a medic doing CPR on the front lawn hoping you can remove your thumb from your rear end before the lawyers arrive on the scene. Unacceptable in my eyes. You're dealing with a guaranteed life or death situation, and all you're going to have is a medic waiting outside for you with no way to transport. If some guy involved in the fireground operation gets hurt seriously enough and theres no bus for him on scene waiting for him (or less then a minute out), he's getting thrown in a chief's car or utility with the medic, and off to WCMC/ Jacobi you'll be going. EMS in this county should be totally paid, and on a county wide system, but thats a separate rant for another thread. A rehab unit is a different story, and in the northern part of the county, the only one I can think of is the Somers Rehab unit. That would have to be a special call item, unless say on your 2nd alarm assignment, you have them dispatched. Most of the time a 10-75 assignment will get your full department assignment, a FASTeam, maybe an extra engine or ladder, and standby coverage for your town and is primarily is for a "bread and butter" operation, where extended work or "extreme" fire conditions won't be present. You'll be dealing with a single/double room and contents fire, maybe a small bit of extension down a hallway. The moment you start calling in for 2nd alarm assignments, you're dealing with a lot of fire, extended operations and basically completely justifying the use of a rehab unit. I'm not aware of what each chief knows, but sometimes showing up at the local fire departments during their drill nights, and not just posting on this board is the best course of action to get the FD to realize what the Rehab unit could be used for.

Today is the 11th anniversary of the fatal fire that claimed the lives of 6 Worchester, Mass firefighters. Lets all take a second to remember the sacrifices they made trying to save their own, as well as the heroic actions of Chief McNamee, who prevented more lives from being lost on that fateful day.

they're still just cars

I think the word you are looking for is "asshattery"

I'm not sure if you put that into Google translate or not with an auto detect on the language, but good job if you're right

I disagree, and am opposed to any sort of gun control. There was a video, I believe on here a few months back showing what happens when someone bursts into a controlled setting with a gun, and opens fire (with paint rounds). The test subjects were then supposed to get their CC and return fire. Only one of the test subjects was able to do it, and he was shot in the process.

Its not just for saving the patient from inhaling CO. Sometimes at the scene of an accident the only way to place your apparatus is next to grass or dry tinder. With the new regeneration bull that everyone is going to have to put up with, you'll find that the temperatures exceed ridiculous levels at the exhaust tip. When the regeneration kicks in, it gets hot enough to almost burn the pavement, let alone spark a brush fire so being able to switch from the left side, to the right side is essential in keeping the side of the highway from catching fire.

Are the units movable so you can re-arrange the course or is it set? We're finding people are getting more caught up in the hanging ropes, then the netting / construction fencing in our new course. Looks good though!

You try and use equations like that on the fireground, and you're going commit your entire first due to figureing out how to use the d@mn calculator while the place is still rippin'. Fire fighting is simple; put the wet stuff on the red stuff. We are all experiencing problems with manpower, and sometimes its just not in the cards to dam and dike a fire scene until you're an hour or so into an operation. Lets remember what our major role is, fire suppression. Even though we should be worried about the environment that will be effected, its just not an attainable goal to have that be our primary concern. edit: spelling

Our old simulator, while technically challenging, was in dire need of an upgrade. Last weekend was spent upgrading and improving the simulator.

I just had a huge response written out, then hit the back button and erased everything, so this will be the condensed version..... inappropriate services, treatment or care which does not meet their needs - this right there, sums up my entire point. When you look at a time line of getting a patient to definitive care, why would you want to delay your patient from getting to that care? The time it takes in Westchester now, to get a bird on location (on time with their ETA), load them up and get enroute, you could have been on the road 10-15 minutes before hand and almost arriving at the hospital. Any medic or crew chief who is worth their salt, will get a pt in the bus, roll the bus immediately, and not d!ck around on scene waiting for an air ambulance, and while enroute, provide them a good level of care prior to their arrival at the hospital. Look, I have LONG been a proponent of NO air ambulances in about 80-85% Westchester. When you're dealing with an MCI or other large scale incident, I see no problem utilizing them, instead of draining the ground system. When you can get to the hospital, just as quickly, if not quicker on the ground, why charge the pt tens of thousands of dollars because a medic wants to get his jollies off with a stat flight job. Simple math tells you with a dispatch to in ground ambulance time of say 25 minutes with a pin job, and a 15 minute drive to the hospital, 40 minutes is well within the golden hour. Now look at it with calling a bird. Give it 10 minutes to arrive on scene, another 2 to determine you want the bird, and you get an ETA of 25 minutes for arrival. Now you're already 12 mintues behind the transport clock. Extricate the Pt in the same amount of time, and load him into the ambulance to wait for the bird. Bird arrives (actually ON TIME!!!!! Kudos!) at the 37 minute mark, add 3 minutes to load the Pt up, you're now at 40 minutes. Give him a 10 minute flight time and now you're at 50 minutes. Good job, you've cost the patient tens of thousands in medical bills, and delayed them by 10 minutes (and lets remember we ourselves are HUGE proponents of SECONDS COUNT!!!!!!!) to getting their ruptured innards repaired because you thought a air ambulance ride was in their best interest. You pull the latter of the two scenarios on me if I was in an accident, and I don't care what the outcome is, you're getting sued by me to have your license revoked. Inappropriate services would be an air ambulance ride in 80% of the areas of this county. Period.

Yorktown has this as well on our rescue. Very simple design, and its great for car accidents where you have patients laying next to your rigs. I'm surprised more ambulances haven't taken to this idea yet.

I'm willing to put a lot of money down that the only reason there are less times when the bird is being called, is due to Stat flight/Life Net moving out of the WCMC arena, and the closest base now being out of the Catskill Regional Medical Center located in Harris, NY. Lets be serious, calling the bird for an ambulance crew, is like calling the 10-75 for an arriving fire department, it's their "big one." It would make me sick when the ambulance corps of my town, would call for a helicopter for a single person pin, southbound on the Taconic and once the PT was extricated, wait in an ambulance for the helicopter to finally land 10 minutes later, when it was a 15 minute trip down the TSP to get to the trauma center. Something screams "neglect" to me when this occurs.

Date:11/19/2010 Time:1531 hrs Location: Croton Point Park - Tidal Marsh Frequency: 46.26, Fire 10 Units Operating: 2081, 2082, Eng 120, TL-44, Rescue 18, 36- M1, 55-B2, Air-2 Weather Conditions: Cool, cloudy Description Of Incident: Subject and child stuck in the mud 1533: Dispatch for a person stuck in the mud 1534: Caller reports he is stuck knee to thigh high in the mud (victim is the caller) 1538: 2082 on location investigating - 1539: E120/R18 responding 1540: Updated location, behind the landfill, further towards the train station out on the point 1541: 2081 requesting County PD helicopter to locate victim 1546: Victim requesting Croton drive through the ball field to locate him and walk down the aqueduct trail 1551: Pt can see helicopter (Air -2) and is waving at them 1552: 2 individuals, 1 adult male, one 6 year old child (child not stuck) 1553: Croton FD can see victim, unsure how they are going to get to them 1554: Helicopter going to remove victim from the mud, adult in mud to his waist. Child just above ankles. 1555: EMS stage on the ball field for helicopter to drop victim off 1556: Air-2 made the pick, helicopter on way to the ball field 1558: TL 44 can return to service per 2082 1558: Air-2 offloading victim, situation undercontrol Reporters: Writer:

This all comes down to knowing your district again and what works best for a majority of the people you're protecting. If you're in a rural area, with long skinny driveways surrounded by woods, a mid mount will not do you much good when you cannot get the stick up and swung around 180 degrees to the building. As for comparing a mid/rear mount quint, all you're essentially doing is compairing a mid/rear mount ladder, with the exception of the hose bed in the rear.

How is this merger going to effect the Ossining FD Dispatch when their dispatchers are not "on the air"

Please Contact Susan Siegel and express your concern over this matter. The K-9 unit is an invaluable tool that is utilized on a daily basis. The $4000 a year tag is for both dogs, not per dog. The K-9 Unit needs everyone's voice right now to stay afloat.

If this is in addition to the current fleet, will LMFD be either hiring more career staff to cover this rig, augment how the current coverage is provided, or are the volunteers looking to have their own rig to operate?

Unfortunately, the video involved lists the county where this took place and the engine number is clearly visible in the video. At 0:45 seconds an engine is arriving, as what appears to be either the 2nd or 3rd due engine, and a firefighter is clearly seen, riding, at a high rate of speed on the back step of the engine. There are reasons this practice has been forbidden, and it amazes me that this is still happening in areas around the county. Think with your head. They are lucky he wasn't another casualty at this fire (5 firefighters sustained minor injuries at this job).