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Yonkers might be the only city in Westchester that rides with 4 men on a rig. Are there any other Career departments that ride with 4 in their own responese areas? While I agree you want an engine or truck with the manpower to do the job, its ironic that they can't ride with 4 men in their own response area.

A lot can be learned from other peoples mistakes or successes. If people are trying to learn, it's not monday morning quarterbacking. Anyone who has critiqued their own fires should know this. If you want to insult their ability or SOPs then you can leave that post at home. I personally think some good points were raised that we should consider with the point made that we weren't there. - A 2 1/2 in the front door "might" have taken a lot of heat off of them. - How many men to put up a ladder? - A straight stream into the window to cool the cieling. - How about the time lost trying to hand them an 1 3/4 instead of a ladder? -Or even using that same 1 3/4 in the front door? -How about the fact that 2-3 companies were used in this instead of suppression? That being said, I am happy for the outcome but I would really like to know what the Toronto critique came up with. Bewteen that and the photos, that could be a really great powerpoint presentation. Anyone from up North on the site?

You bring up a good point. Age is not the issue but the "physical ability of the firefighter". A lot of departments do not require physicals (annual or otherwise) If these guys would have taken one, more than likely they would be taken off active duty or asked to "man the desk". I am a big proponent of firefighter physicals to "protect our own". If it takes 3 firefighters out of interior/exterior status but potentially saves one of them from a heart attack, I'll take it. The last thing I would want to do, if I were chief, is to say sorry but your husband had a heart attack.

Geppetto is correct when talking about Proboard and IFSAC. If you take FF1 in any State that is accredited by IFSAC then NYS will accept the certificate. I have spoken with OFPC on this topic to see if a Texas FF1 & 2 would transfer to NY. Since the Texas State program was accredited by IFSAC OFPC advised that the certificates would transfer to NY as well. Currently 36 States, DC and the US DOD are part of IFSAC. To see whats states are IFSACO go to IFSAC.org.

to get back to tbendick...yes...the firefighter portables do pick up all radio traffic from control..which definiatly is a problem..but if the county just fixed that problem by switching all dispatch tones to 33.96 and then divided up 46.26, 14, 42 and the other freq. we have into battalions than that would limit the depts. on the same channel. This alone should have been done a LONNNGG time ago. Tones on one freq. and dispatch on another....and fireground on another... ← This is in essence what the County is doing. Tones will still be low band 46.26 or 33.96. Dispatch will be UHF trunkable system. Fireground will be on one of the 8 UHF frequencies assigned that do not need trunkable radios. I think the big question is what frequency will IC to 60 Control be? Is it on one of the fireground frequencies but since it is trunked only the trunkable radios pick it up? Or does the IC have to switch to a seperate frequency to speak with 60 Control? Does anyone know the answer to this question?

Most firefighters in our area don't realize how bad firefighters in rural areas have it. I have met volunteers in Pennsylvania that have to hold BBQ chicken sales once a week in the summertime just to pay expenses on the firehouse. Most of these departments do not recieve any kind of taxpayer funding and life for them is brutal. Most towns did away with subscription service for this very reason and went to a tax basis. The towns can only do that if the residents approve the tax district first.

The County has put a radio update on the agenda for the DES monthly meeting that the chiefs go to. Hopefully this include some new info. To answer VWWH1 : The County is supplying a system to be used between the IC and incoming apparatus, 60 Control and other units as needed. All fireground communications between the IC and for example, the search team, are to be done on one of the 8 assigned UHF frequencies. If a department does not have UHF they can continue on another frequency such as VHF if they are already on it. This is not recommended as they may not be able to communicate on the fireground with mutual aid departments. If a department does want to go to UHF portables they DO NOT need trunkable portables. They only need the less expensive non trunkable portables ($1000 approx). They can buy any brand they want like VMFD did and buy close to 80 portables. The system is designed to clear up fireground comms so you don't hear tones and other transmissions while tring to talk on the fire scene.

Are you asking do they qualify sticks and towers differently? I do not believe they do. The main component is that the ladder or tower be 100ft or reach the roof of the highest building in your district in order to recieve credit. Dave Gallagher wrote a good article on this in a trade magazine called Fire Apparatus detailing the ISO requirements. Someone esle in these forums gave a pretty good synopsis in the Towers vs Sticks forum. You can also receive credit for for a second ladder being dispatched if you have automatic aid.

Just looking for some feedback. Would it be easier for Volunteers to take State Training if they could get a week off (unpaid) to take a class? The thought is to set up a State Law similar to the National Guard (Federal Law) where they take one week of training per year and their employer has to let them attend. You could use vacation time if you want to get paid for it but your employer HAS to let you go and not penalize you for it. By doing this, you could hypotheticaly set up a Firefighter I class that runs one full week and two weekends. It could also be used for any other State Training classes but FF1 is one of the longest. If this were possible would it be easier to take classes??

HFD, I agree that getting paid would be the BEST way and encourage a lot more training. I am just trying to think of ways to offer training besides going to 20+ nights of FF1 (plus Saturdays). This is just a start. Anything that will help encourage training iwould be a good thing and I am just wondering if this would work. If employers would pay for the week like some due for National Guard training, we would be in a great spot.

The equivalents of FF1 and FF2 can be found on OFPC's webpage under certifications. For example the prior class equivalent for FF1 would be Basic Firefighter (91), Intermediate Firefighter (92), and Hazardous Materials First Responder Operations (31) or Firefighting Essentials (02), Initial Fire Attack (10), Firefighter Safety and Survival (28), Fire Behavior and Arson Awareness (03), and Hazardous Materials First Responder Operations OFPC

The County can't dictate what the departments should be doing. However, if you watch the course postings you can tell "what direction" they are going. This was evident by the number of Hazmat Ops courses they were offering over the last year. They did an informal survey and found a Huge need as a lot of firefighters did not have it. OSHA requires it if you respond to ANY type of hazmat spill or the potential release of one. I think the County is doing a good job of trying to "round out" the firefighters by offering more than just FF1 and FF2. This is evidenced by the recent Fire Officer, Incident size up, Building construction and other classes. As other people said before, it comes from the top down in actions and in words. We have been on a 5 year program to get EVERYONE that is an interior FF up to National FF2 standards.

We have switched over to the FDNY style roof hooks. IMO the thinner shafts are easier to hold and work with. The head is much more versatile and as mentioned above, the steel shaft is stronger. We call it either a hook or pike pole. More oftern than not we say "grab the 6' hook."

Crawford is definitely a great resource when it comes to FAST team work. He teaches a class and a seminar at FIRE EXPO in Baltimore each year. He is also very accessible thru the website. I had a question on TI's for FAST Teams and he sent me his cell # to talk about it.

Has anyone seen a photo of the system? If so, please post.

This can apply to any department, even career departments, if they are unwilling to look at themselves and make changes over time. Equipment changes (for the better) so our tactics should change with the equipment. Every department has seen manpower drop since the 50's so tactics and mutual aid needs to change. These are just some examples of the change we constanly face in volunteer, combination or career depts. The kiss of death is "to do things because that's how we always did it"

Simple answer to staffing Rye Brook 24/7 is money. For every FF onduty 24 hours you need to hire 4 to allow for time off and vacations. I doubt Rye Brook wants to double their payroll anytime soon.