FireMedic049

Off hand I'd say that every 2 years is a pretty short replacement cycle, however it may very well be right on the money for their needs. NFPA 1851 states TOG should be retired when it reaches 10 years old, however this "maximum" life expectancy will not be appropriate for FDs that have a lot of fire duty. Mayberry VFD may be able to get 10 years out of a set, but FFs in the busiest companies of FDNY may only get 2-3 years out of a set before it is no longer servicable.Oftentimes, money plays a significant factor in the length of replacement cycle used. In my department, we are now (by contract) to be issued a new (primary) set every 4 years. When we get a new set, what was the primary set becomes our backup set and what was the backup set if still servicable, will become "reserve inventory" to be used to initially outfit new hires until their "primary set" is delivered or as a temporary substitute while repairs are made to one of the issued sets. For us, the 4 year cycle seems to be just about right. The gear is beat up by that point, but still in decent enough shape in most cases that it should be able to last 4 more years as a back up with limited usage.

Yeah, PPE specification isn't really taught much. I did a fair bit of research when I updated my department's specs about 7 years ago. We were looking more for performance than price. We are a small urban career department with a lot of old construction along with abondoned SFDs and catch a good bit of fire - both arson and accidental. At the time we were wearing Securitex with a PBI outer shell. It didn't seem to hold up very well at all. There were some wear issues related to the construction of the gear rather than the materials used. We had a lot of issues with the "buttons" for the suspenders breaking frequently. We selected Morning Pride as the manufacturer with Globe (G-xtreme) a relatively close second. Cost per set for both was within less than $5 of each other, but the MP seemed to offer "more for the money". PBI Matrix was selected as the outer shell in part because of good past experience with PBI and also because it is one of the toughest fabrics. We selected a 3-layer E-89 thermal liner with a Crosstech moisture barrier. It was actually our 2nd choice, there was a military-related availability issue with the original selection. Overall the gear has performed far superior to what we were using prior and most of the original purchase is now serving as a "backup" set and in decent shape for that limited use role. The fit of the gear for me at least was superior to anything else I'd worn to that point. There were lots of grumbling about the Securitex from the guys, but I don't recall much of any with the MP. The spec was updated last year in part to address some areas of high wear that didn't perform as well as we'd have liked (specifically the reinforcement material used in certain spots) and in part due to economics. We again selected MP. The outer shell was changed from PBI Matrix to Advance Ultra (which wasn't available the last time) in order to save $100+ per set, but the new fabric had very similar performance numbers to the PBI Matrix. When the gear arrived, the outer shell was actually the regular Advance material. Still not sure how that change occurred. We switched to a new 2-layer "slick" liner that the nearby large metro department was now using. Crosstech is still the moisture barrier. After one year of use now, the new stuff is performing well. We'll have to see in another year or two if the new outer shell is durible enough for our needs. I think my new set fits even better than the first set of MP. The things I specifically like about MP's product would be: Best fitting, most comfortable gear I've ever worn. The "heat channel" knee is more comfortable than other knee padding that I've tried, plus it adds a lot of protection against compression burns to the knees. They offer additional upper body/shoulder/arm thermal protection with the use of their "dead air panels". This option significantly raises the TPP of those regions without lowering the THL of those regions. The coat cuffs are designed in a fashion where your arms don't get soaked (inside) when working with your arms raised. Globe offers a strong product, but I think MP is a better one overall. Overall, I've had good experience with the materials listed and would certainly recommend them for use. Personally, I've had no experience with Innotex.

Cop-out.

Less than what the 51 new FFs proposed in the SVFD plan would cost 5+ years from now.

AFG is derived from "Assistance to Firefighters Grant program".

That may be so, but just because a city leader says they have no money, doesn't mean they actually have no money. They have been known to exaggerate the severity of their city's financial situation on occasion in the past. And sometimes "no money" means no money for stuff that they don't want to spend money on - like their employees.

Update http://wnep.com/2012/07/05/court-blocks-minimum-wage-for-city-employees/

What's so funny about this in an absolutely disgusting way is that there is no retention requirement at the end of the 2 year grant period. With the recent changes in the SAFER grant program, this means that the city has NO legal obligation to retain these 49 positions when the grant runs out. So, the city isn't actually obligated to anything beyond the grand period. Additionally, it's pretty obvious that the Mayor has been willing to layoff workers already, so why not take the money now and layoff in 2 years if need be? My suspicion is that he doesn't want to take the money because he thinks taking it will prevent him from making more cuts in the FD.

The respect and integrety ship sailed years ago. This is just the most recent skirmish.

I don't, but I've already explained why quiting over this would be stupid. I guess you missed that.

No, I don't readily have a link to that information. I don't know for sure if it is a ULP, that's why I used the word "maybe" when I mentioned the possiblity of a ULP.

You asked "Will he, and what legal document states this?" in regards to his statement that the workers will get their money at a later point.Yes, he is disregarding the collective bargaining agreement. However, that is the document that will get them their money. They will file a grievance on the matter. It may even be an unfair labor practice. If the matter reaches arbtration, they will get their money because they will be able to clearly show that the City violated the CBA by unilaterally reducing their wages and the arbitrator will award them all of their lost wages and possibly with interest.

I know a few of their union leaders, they absolutely will take action on this.

The collective bargaining agreements for all of the unionized workers. Yes, these statements are nothing new and nothing to bet the farm on. That's why the guys in Local 60 will file a grievance over the unilateral reduction of wages and breach of contract and will get their due either thru the Mayor holding true to his word, thru negotiation with the City or via a binding arbitration award. The City will lose any court battle on this action.

Yes, the City of Clairton replaced their entire career staff with the exception of the Fire Chief with volunteers back then. They just recently eliminated the paid Fire Chief position, but they allowed him the opportunity to continue doing the job as a volunteer. He did.The City of Duquesne did the same. I'm not sure who the third one is. My department which sits in between these two experienced severe reductions in the wake of the steel industry collapse. I'm pretty sure that it was all thru attrition though. We dropped down to the point where the entire department was smaller than what a shift used to be. We also lost 2 of our 4 stations. We're slowly climbing back out of the hole.

They've browned out more than just those 2 engines on some days.

And you would be extremely stupid to do so! The Mayor has already stated that (at some point) everybody will go back to where they are now with repayment of all lost wages. Regardless, he has no legal standing to do this and I know for sure that the fire union is already getting ready for the fight.

I'm pretty sure the "Patient Protection and Affordability Care Act" (aka "Obamacare") has already been passed since the GOP are hellbent on repealing it. I can't say for sure what impact it will have on the "quality of our current healthcare", but I do know it's improved the quality of healthcare for many of the uninsured/underinsured in the Country. But, by all means let's throw out all these people like the weekly trash. I mean after all it has to be their fault that their job doesn't pay enough to afford coverage.

When you say the hospitals lose the revenue, are you referring to the revenue from billing for an ER visit, assuming that if not for the urgent care center, the patient would've gone to the ER?

I'm sorry, but this rational, reasonable, coherant response has no place in a discussion of something as serious as the provision of fire and rescue services.

I'm not in any way familiar with the EMS opportunities and such in the area you are looking, however in my 19 years of experience, generally if you can't get an EMS job - particularly if you are looking in a large geographical area - YOU are the reason that you aren't getting hired.

I wouldn't necessarily classify this option as a "crosslay". Typically a "crosslay" is an attack line. To me, the plumbing and it's location in the trough looks like it's a front intake for a small load of LDH.

Union or not, I think you need to consult a labor attorney immediately! The media has absolutely no business being involved in personnel discussions and this situation could very well be an unfair labor practice.

Well, obviously the tarps are the wrong color. Everybody knows that you don't use blue tarps on a white house with black trim.

From what I read on another forum several months ago (from someone associated with St. Louis FD) while their new engines were still in production, the swapping of the tank and hosebed positions wasn't an issue for those matters. It was stated that the weight of the water carried was pretty much equal to the weight of the hose carried and the slide out hosebed, resulting in essentially no change in the center of gravity.