PFD165

On Thursday September 11, 2008 the following restaurants/bars will participate in "A Day of Rememberance" FireHouse Grille - 50 Welcher Ave Peekskill NY 10566 (914)788-0808 P.J. Kelly's - 341 Railroad Ave Peekskill NY 10566 (914)734-2100 Station 7 Bar & Grill - 5739 Albany Post Rd Cortlandt Manor NY 10567 (914)630-0820 2% of each check will be donated to The Sam Oitice Heroes Remembered Memorial. Come out, remember our fallen brothers and support a good cause.

Sam Oitice Memorial Poker Run Date : September 27, 2008 The run will start at Centennial Hose Firehouse, 701 Washington Street Peekskill End at Station 7 Bar , 5739 Albany Post Rd, Cortlandt Manor 11 AM sign up- $20 per rider $10 passenger For more details or to donate contact Jean Oitice @ 845-222-1855 or via e-mail : Teammom13@Hotmail.com Proceeds will go toward the continuing efforts to contstruct the Sam Oitice Heroes Remembered Memorial at the Riverfront Green in Peekskill.

Congratulations!

Feel better Doc!

Asking for directions?

I have been there a couple times and no guard, also I have received reports of folks going thru the orange protective fencing and removing items from the debris. Hope no one gets hurt.

Business as usual means exactly that - the volunteers who are there(perhaps you didn't see them becaue they were upstairs while the career staff was located downstairs) go about their business when they are at the firehouse just the same as they have for the past 40 years. They did not seem to have the same issues as the first floor and so are able to continue using the building on the second floor. Did you think it meant something else?

30 years of negelect was just too much for the old girl to make the move. It does not appear it made it too far at all.

Yes, Station 6 is to be kept open with 1 fly car and the engine. The response time should start when the career person radio's in he is responding. Our rigs roll on the dispatch and meet the volunteers at the scene. Mr Jennings did meet with the Chief and gathered information on our operations as well as the past five years run history, so he should have accurate numbers. A presentation was done by Mitchell Associates at last night's common council meeting, upon completion the mayor announced that public hearings on the firehouse would be held in the fall. The guestimate he gave of combined soft & hard costs was slightly over $14 million, so we will have to wait and see what the final numbers are when it goes to the public hearings. That number did not include any land aquisition costs.

A full written report of the findings was given to each of the council members and the Mayor, how in depth that report was I do not know. I would imagine he at least touched on that as he should( or we hope he should) be aware of the ISO rating and their impact. The intention is to consolidate all 6 companies into one location somewhere down the line, it may take several years, but that is the thinking behind the new house. The volunteers have already gone from 6 individual active lists to one consolidated active list under the Peekskill Volunteer Firefighters Association and they have cut the number of Line Officers from 3 for each company to 2 Captains, and 3 1st Lt's for the department and each company retaining a 2nd Lt. Word on the street right now is that the public will not back the plan, there are quite a few people who are not thrilled with the new administration and will vote against anything it proposes, so we will have to see. http://www.manitouinc.com/ Link to Charles Jennings company Manitou Inc. Link to video about new firehouse on You Tube

Yes a consultant was hired, Charles Jennings, I believe was his name, to look at exactly all of that. He looked at response times based on the different locations proposed, the companies that are now within those areas, etc..... he gave a detailed presentation to the Mayor & Council and then also gave a public presentation at a recent common council meeting. The downtown area did fit within a 3 minute response accoding to his diagrams. I believe this gentleman has performed the same service for Seattle and several other large cities around the country. He lives in Peekskill currently. And the committee( Volunteer & Career together) did take into consideration what this department may look like in 20 years, with additional career staffing and probable females amongst them. We also looked at what additional equipment may be added, maybe a second ladder or ambulance should the FD take over EMS from the VAC somewhere in the far future, which led to additional staffing thoughts for the ambulance. The career staffing quarters were oversized, as was their locker area just for that reason.

The building is only closed for the Career Staff, the volunteers are still continuing business as usual.

Congrats and Best wishes for a long and healthy retirement on the Cape!

I am sorry to announce that the 1st Annual Sam Oitice One-Pitch Softball Tournament slated for 7/26 at the Sprout Brook Fields in Cortlandt has been cancelled. The proceeds were to go toward the completion of the 9/11 memorial honoring all 403 fallen firefighters and police officers and the 7 Peekskill volunteer firefighters killed on August 1, 1918 at the Fleischmann Company fire. Unfortunately, only two teams followed thru with their registration and checks. The committee is looking into possibly trying a tournament in October.

Thanks folks for the support and the ideas. We do have the Ronan Concert in December which looks to be on track to be another sellout and we are also working on a September 11 fundraiser with some of our local eateries pitching in to donate a portion of each check and some are also adding in additional ways to raise money that day thru their establishment. Hopefully we will have 5 or 6 locations that we can advertise for folks to patronize that day and help raise funds to complete the memorial. We just received the finished design from the Landscape Architecture firm and their estimated cost for completion is in excess of $200,000. We have a very long way to go even if we are successful in securing donated materials and labor. We truly do need the support of all the fire service and law enforcement to complete this memorial.

Ossining Best Overall Ossining Best Color Guard LOL!!!!! Good luck to all participating, stay as cool as possible and drink WATER!

If I am reading your response correctly your RIT team consists of 2 highly trained and qualified firefighters and you also call in a FAST. Was the FAST team cancelled enroute for this call as I do not see one listed on the IA? I would assume that the FAST Team would have been Croton?

Any idea of when the Fall Academy will start at Westchester?

Thanks! I know someone who is waiting to get the agility information and he was wondering when the Academy would start if he passed and was awarded the position.

Peekskill FD parade Friday at 10am - FD sponsored since 1962 Fireworks 9:30pm at the Riverfront Green - also sponsored by the hard work of the volunteers over the course of the year collecting money thru fill-the-boots and a couple of the local businesses donating $500 or more. Fireworks Rain Date is 7/5 at 9:30pm. God Bless America! Land of the Free & Home of the Brave(st)!

Bertoline's 75th Anniversary. There will be a street fair this evening before the concert in front of the Paramount. Get there early parking will be crazy!

Peekskill July 4 - non competition, just plain old fashioned American pride parade.

Best wishes Officer Santo for a quick and complete recovery.

Congratulations to all who helped make the event possible. Your hardwork and dedication was evident and you did a fantastic job! My special thanks to Jim A. for allowing the Sam Oitice Memorial to be a part of the day and my heartfelt thanks to all of you who attended the event making it a success for the J.I.M.M.Y Foundation and also for your support of our table and helping us to inch closer to our goal and the completion of the Sam Oitice Heroes Remembered Memorial.

Yes, it is a Union issue, per the contract between the City and the Union, the volunteers are not allowed to operate the vehicles or the pumps. Most of the time the vacant shift is covered by OT. In the event of a large incident within the city, the mutual aid call would go out and the call back for the OOS rig would be made to man that with a member of the Career staff. The rigs are currently staffed at 1 Career person per rig per shift. Usually 5 out of 6 rigs are manned, sometimes all 6. 1 Ladder, 1 Rescue & 3 Engines normally, the 6th would be an Engine. The volunteers respond to the scene.