Dinosaur

What's mean?

That's the internet for ya. Mostly negative comments about everything.

Long overdue!

Do a lot of animals drive stolen vehicles? They have license plate readers on the animal control van?

Almost 3.5 Million dollars for "research and development"? Of what?

Lots of construction equipment has Lojack installed on it too. There's a huge black market for that stuff.

Thanks for the clarification and real information. It does seem that the county would have been better served by not having the big article with photos and information about the vehicle appear if it is not yet in service. Perhaps that could have waited the few months necessary to make it an available resource before promoting it and having incidents like this arise. And, if it won't be used for a response to the airport or railroad for a major incident, it is a waste of our money. There are plenty of non-ambulatory types at those incidents as well.

That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. It's just going to sit and rot in the garage if it doesn't get used for unique situations and I believe having to transport 150 people qualifies as pretty unique. Does this mean that a resource we all paid for will sit idly by in the event of a MNRR or plane crash while we strip ambulances from all over the region? And while Yonkers sends the same resource mind you. It is a great point that regular buses would have worked as well but in the absence of that, these vehicles were designed and bought (again with our $$$$) for these kinds of missions. I also like the idea of sending hospital folks to the scene but I don't know if they're equipped for that or how DOH regulations apply to field responses by a hospital. Makes for a really interesting discussion though!

I'll tell you why I'm skeptical about this and don't really support it. It has absolutely nothing to do with FD's being short staffed or having enough people to do the job. This is focused exclusively on responding to declared emergencies. How many fire or EMS calls qualify for that? I'll go out on a limb here and say none. Flooding, ice storms, hurricanes, and blizzards are what we usually see reaching the level where some elected official declares a state of emergency. Perhaps this will help a few agencies get a few more SEFU's on the road to go elsewhere in the state but that will be it. And, as others have said, this is simply passing the cost of providing emergency service on to someone else. It is totally unknown what (if any) economic impact this could have on a private employer or even a municipal employer if they have to backfill this worker. Likewise, how many of us can afford to take a week off - or even a few days off - without pay? So, unless someone can show me how this is really going to make a difference to a disaster response, I think it is just more feel good legislation that ignores much bigger problems.

Doing the right thing shouldn't be legislated. JMO

What does that have to do with the County EMS Mutual Aid Plan?

So you're a FF and take a month off to volunteer at a declared disaster like Sandy or Katrina. You get the leave but no pay. How're you supposed to survive with no income for a month? This doesn't cover the "sorry I'm late boss but there there was a fire last night". Only declared states of emergency. How much of an impact will this really have on anything?

So who was running the department while they were gone?

Government acts quickly when it suits them. Look at the so-called "SAFE ACT". Passed in under a month. The government doesn't treat this as a priority because we continue to fight with each other rather than fighting for the issues.

That would really be from the White House down. They don't care about laws either.

A buddy of mine was Battalion 10 the day of the explosion and arrived as a second (maybe 3rd) due chief. I don't know how you can say the explosion was 100% preventable when neither the city or Con Ed had received any calls reporting it (the mayor said that in a press conference shortly after the explosion) before the call that morning. Thank GOD the FD didn't get their first or there may have been several injuries or deaths to our brothers.

I don't know where you live or why you have such a big axe to grind but you're obviously just anti-law enforcement. This was a felony assault suspect and the trooper was smart enough not to go hands-on until a back-up arrived (smart decision number 1). They used restraint and attempted to take him into custody using a minimal amount of force (smart again). Then as he resisted they escalated the force and successfully got him into custody (smart yet again). Not bad for a couple of hyper-caffeinated high school grads, huh? He fought with the troopers and they escalated the force to get him into cuffs. The treatment this guy got he brought on himself. The first trooper was trying to talk him down and that failed so your defuse virtually any situation theory goes right out the window. If they were quick to the taser trigger there would have been a lot less video to watch. I didn't see any screaming in the video. Calling the troopers "degenerates with a high school diploma" and "Super Troopers" and "jacked up on mountain dew" is just disrespectful and uncalled for but you're entitled to your opinion no matter how wrong it may be. Suggesting that rioting and looting is somehow similar or equal to this discussion illustrates just how ignorant you are but the great thing about this country is you're still able to voice this childish rhetoric. How many tickets have you gotten that make you so bitter and hostile toward the police anyway? As you say in your signature, these opinions are mine and mine alone and also protected by the first amendment.

Seems to me that gas investigations/leak calls have been more frequent since the Harlem explosion and building collapse this winter. I don't know if there are more actual explosions though. I know there has been more awareness done about gas leaks and what to do by our local utilities (I hear the commercials/PSA's all the time). I have no idea whether any of this applies to France.

The Secret Service may not care about NYS issues but the agency licensed to operate in the state SHOULD probably be concerned, especially if they would be operating outside of their CON and contrary to state law.

Consolidating southern Westchester paid departments would be child's play compared to establishing a paid department in northern Westchester or even a consolidated volunteer one. I'm a staunch supporter of improving emergency services but I don't think this statement is fair. Residents deserve to keep the money they earn. I think the residents make money to support themselves, not a department that may not even be needed. Westchester would benefit from about 50 fewer departments but the north county could probably do well with just consolidation and reorganization. People are getting their pockets picked enough by the government. WE don't need to compound that problem.

Sigh, we're sitting here debating how to fight fires with 4-6 people and find loopholes in OSHA regulations so our operations are kosher. This is ridiculous. It's 2014 and we have more technology now than NASA did when they put a man on the moon. Our apparatus is better designed and more capable than ever before. Yet we still can't put enough people on the fireground at a working fire and actually justify that and accept it. If you don't have enough FF, call more. If you don't have enough in your department, call mutual aid. Keep calling until you have enough to do the job, staff RIT, and in staging for relief or additional work. The fact that we continue to do the job inadequately staffed without complaining (except here where it does no good) perpetuates the problem. I think Einstein said it, "insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." When will the madness end???

Absent a system that provides for a common response it makes a lot of sense and is far more proactive than most places that don't do that until they're in way over their heads. Kudos to you for dealing with it! When are we going to standardize the training for FF in NYS, though? Wouldn't it be nice if everyone called "firefighter" had the same credentials and qualifications????

I don't think we're on different pages. I think we're just looking at this from different perspectives and that's cool. I get that you think it's OK to "do what you have to" with what you've got and you're probably right. The two FF you reference probably can make a difference but that should be the exception, not the rule. Almost every OSHA regulation came about because we (not just the fire service) were doing stupid things that endangered worker safety. The other problem is not every FF has the training, experience and/or wits to make the judgement calls that you speak of. Without that experience, they will put themselves into far more dangerous situations and eventually reach that point of no return. Think about bnechis's post about training at the FDNY Academy and differences between "upstate" crews and FDNY crews. At least those guys have the benefit of that kind of training and experience, the majority do not! My issue is that they should never be put in that position because there shouldn't be just two qualified FF operating at a fire. The IC shouldn't be put in that position either. Bottom line is there are entirely too many departments that operate without enough personnel on a regular basis and without regulations and standards it would only be worse.

Posted in another thread here on EMTBravo, originally from the SecretList but it is certainly relevant to this discussion.

Pete, I enjoy reading your input and you always post thought provoking comments. To your point, you asked about data to support the issue in an earlier post, now I ask you - do you have any statistics or cases where operating without minimum required personnel resulted in a loss of life or the opposite, where a crew effected a rescue without having the minimum staff required to operate?