FFEMT150

*cat. Sorry. Fat fingers small keyboard.

Those were the good 'ol days.

First of all, what impresses me the most here is the fact that the journal news has printed a positive article about the emergency services. Secondly, I am glad to see that the Hispanic population has an interest in joining the volunteer ranks in their community. I do agree with those if you that have mentioned a language barrier. Perhaps one solution would be the OFPC creating a language program specifically geared towards fire ground operations. I know there may be quite a bit involved in this but it could be an option. Thoughts?

Right with you. I can't imagine how this makes packing hose easier. I see more injuries.

Here is a perfect example. This person is teasing me about my last name. Did I get angry? No. I simply giggled over his inability to check spelling from a post not 3 above his own. No hurt feelings here. Yes, a whisker is something your cat has. A wisker is me. Ball breaker. Edit: removal of fat finger typeo.

I don't see anyone arguing junior... Just stating observations. That being said, I think you may agree now that you have many police departments that operate in your area who are equipped with tasers and you may infact need a taser policy.

Well played sir. Well played. I may have just popped a lung laughing.

It's s*** like this that makes all of us look bad. This is also why I hate parades. Having a melt down because two members didn't march? Grow the hell up! Can anyone tell me, is there any positive aspects to being a volunteer firefighter anymore? Because all I see is bull s*** and drama.

That may be true but the state police, county police and NYC DEP police that work in that area do carry them. Wouldn't hurt to have a plan just in case.

Nice shots. Thanks for posting.

Deffinately not an agency truck. It has a PBA sticker above the reg and EMT plates on it. You got it right dinosaur... This is "buffwhacker 1".

A buff?

On spots are intended to get you to a place you can safely chain the rig. Too many people are relying on them full time. They come in handy when you find icy little spots or get caught in a fast storm. That's about it. Gimme a good old wrap any day.

I agree. I worked out of a van for years with no problem, and guess what happened when it snowed... I still got to the call! With good tires and the weight of the bus it moved just fine. I can't stand these giant land barges some agencies buy. Although, the new demers that my agencies has are pretty sweet. Nice small type II with 4WD. Weren't all that expensive either.

What test is that joe?

I apologize, I did not miss your point. I was attempting to edit my last post when I recieved a phone call. The membership was told at the monthly meeting the individual was suspended for ongoing behavioral problems. The rumor mill had already started seeing as he was suspended 4 days prior to the meeting. After the correct information was provided to the membership I still caught a lot of grief over the suspension because "he's a driver and we need him!"

The license plate incident was the last straw. This individual had been spoken to numerous times regarding violations of rules and regulations. All incidents were documented. The lie was the final deciding factor. The board of directors were aware of the incidents and supported our decision to suspend the individual. We felt that the suspension would serve as an "attitude adjustment". We were right. After his suspension he returned and became a valuable asset. If you wish to discuss this further PM me so we don't hijack the thread.

It's not so much a matter of mileage but of the hours the vehicle runs. The rig may only have 30,000 miles when it retires but could have 60,000 hours on it. To put this in perspective, if you ran the vehicle 24/7/365 for 10 years the rig would have 87,360 hours on it, but in 10 years my truck has 116,000 miles. This is well below its life expectancy. The diesel takes the abuse better than gas. They run cooler and at lower RPMs. Much less wear.

First: I applaud your agency for having such a plan in place. Second: this guy would never have been in this situation had he not instructed the first staffed ambulance to respond to the second call as stated in the article I posted about 5 posts back.

2 minutes is possible. Figure about 30 seconds for tones and dispatch information and maybe about a minute or so to go to your car and get your jacket and scope, go back in, start the rig. It's possible. I know personally it takes me about 90 seconds to actually get on the road from the time the dispatcher stops talking. (Learned a long time ago to hit the head before hitting the road). They also could have been playing rock, paper, sissors to see who was going to be the hero in charge. .

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/general-news/20131227/ellenville-emt-who-was-suspended-had-previous-violations-squad-captain-says Found this on another news outlet. Hope the link works.

I see what you are saying but maybe this was the "straw that broke the camels back". Now let me propose this: suppose the article headline read "EMT breaks rules to save 4 year old, crashes ambulance". What tune would we all be singing then? I think a lot of the opinions here and in the public (lots of posts on Facebook about this) are stemming from the fact that the patient is only 4 years old (like you said, we all react differently for a child).

Couldn't agree more. The thing that gets me is that so many people are so quick to blame the officers or board of agencies and their policies. Having been a past officer, I have been belittled for policies set in place and disciplinary actions I have taken. Most people don't understand why the decisions were made. Myself and the captain at the time suspended a member for 30 days for turning a decorative license plate upside down. May seem extreme to some bit the decision was made after several incidents of his driving and when questioned about the incident (he was caught on tape by the way) he lied to is about it. Suspended, served his time, came back and became a productive member. Now we see an article about a boy who was suspended after violating a rule in his agency. The crowd goes wild about it but no one has mentioned that this article states he has violated other rules in the past and no action was taken. I think they were trying to put him in his place. That's why I agree with his suspension.

Yes. Someone has already pointed that out to me. I missed that in the article. I again apologize.

I know a few guys that purchased their own gear for a back up set. Can't get the NFPA site to cooperate today but I do believe that you are required by their standards to have 2 sets. I may be wrong on this. Even if that is the case, I wouldn't shell out that kind of money for something the department is required to issue.