TSull

I have worked in 4 career departments and have volunteered in 4 departments so I feel I have a little insight into the fire service. The fire service in Stamford needs to be streamlined. One department with one budget with one person in charge reporting to the mayor and the board of fire commissioners. I have posted this idea in other forums but maybe it can be looked at again. I know it is not the perfect example but why can't Stamford be set up the way Danbury F.D. is? One department that covers the entire city with both career and volunteer companies? Danbury has 6 career engines (3 on each), 1 (4 on rig) career ladder truck, and shift commander on duty. The city has 12 volunteer companies spread throughout the city. When there is a call at a given address, 2-3 career engines, the career truck, and the shift commander are dispatched with the corresponding volunteer company whose district the call is in and sometimes additional volunteer companies are dispatched. When the volunteers respond, they respond as a company and fall into the response matrix as a company and report to the IC. Several of the Danbury volunteer companies have specialized what their service is and in my opinion have made themselves more integral to being involved and called upon. The career training officer is in charge of all required training. I know it is not a perfect system and I am sure people will argue from both sides whether or not Danbury's setup can work in Stamford but if Danbury can do it with what they have, Stamford can do it with what they have. And Danbury did add the 6th engine not too long ago after many years of pushing for it.

Thank you sir for your reply. What I find interesting is that it seems like in spite of a incident that makes the emergency services look good and praises one person in particular, people are intent on trying to down play what transpired there. The only people who know exactly what the conditions were, how endangered the occupants were, and what risks were taken, were the medic, the cop, and the occupants themselves. Many people who were not there tend to down play what happened because they were not there and they wonder how they would have reacted if faced with a similar situation.

Risk a lot to save a lot, risk little to save little. It sounds like he made the right move. What would people be saying if he didn't make the move and people were killed? My only question is did the paramedic notify anyone via radio or cellphone that he was on scene, had a fire, and was making a search? I did not read the whole article.

My question was why the selected qoute was used in the post. I fully understand that a lot of people would read the article and that everyone should want to know where and how their taxpayer dollars are being used. That is your job as a taxpayer. But if you want to bring attention to the article, why not just post "check out the journal news' article about the audit of the Brewster-Southeast Joint Fire District". I found the selected qoute to be a little alarmist.

And? What are you looking for in putting this post up? Being a district that is a tax collecting agency, the Brewster-Southeast Joint Fire District has responsibilities it is required to meet and with this audit, corrections will be made to the way it conducts it's operations.

No they wouldn't get the messege. They would just wait for the new crop of bulls**ters to get elected and indoctrinate them into the ways of being a politician where cash is king especially for them.

"CTS" on the rigs stands for "Chauffer Training School". These are rigs that are used to train firefighters to be engine company chauffers or ladder company chauffers. The classes are about 80 hours long and include EVOC. Guys are generally "company" trained prior to going to CTS but once they graduate, they can start getting the extra "chauffer" pay when they drive on a tour.

Brewster Fire Department did 1770 runs in 2009. 800-850 EMS and the rest car accidents/fire runs

Instead of standing by the command post maybe Santa could have taken the windows in the front and helped out with ventilation which helps the crews that are operating inside. Even if the windows are removed later in the job, that can help out with visibility during overhaul and help vent CO and all the other products of combustion/incomplete combustion.

Thanks for the response. Can you tell me what certifications/training/time in service for each rank and who decided on the requirements?

Can anyone tell me if any departments use any criteria such as training, certifications, time in service, time in department, or any other requirements to hold the fire officer ranks to which people have been elected?

This seems to be a good idea. Anything to get driver's attention, the better. I have always wondered if there was anyway to get a siren/light system that can deactivate a car's radio or activate a audible and visual warning on a car's dash board (based off the system where emergency vehicles can change traffic signals). Cars are made so insulated these days and they are advertised to being able to "shut out the outside world" that emergency vehicles are right on top of them before they realize that there is a fire, police, or ems vehicle behind them. If anyone come up with the patent, I want half!!!!

Brewster is selling one of it's brush trucks. If interested, contact the Board of Fire Commissioners to please take it off our hands and free up some space in BFD HQ. Brewster has 3 chief's cars which are Chevy Tahoes outfitted by Specialty Warning Systems. When a new 2nd Assistant Chief gets elected, they get a new car that stays with them throughout their time as 2nd, 1st, and then Chief. After the last two chief's terms ended one of the cars was sold to the Village of Brewster P.D. and the other one was traded in for the new 11-1-3. The other question asked was whether Brewster has any antiques: We have plenty of antiques. They are just in the membership ranks though!!!! Just kidding. There is the antique Hose Wagon that gets brought to some musters and parades. I think some of the old timers may have been around when this thing was in service. It was on the cover of "Firehouse" magizine a number of years ago.

Besides the rear mounts, Ferrara may hay have also gotten the bid for the rescues. Pierce made a great rig for R-1 but I do not believe they even bid to do the rest of the rescues. R-4 got R-1's rig when R-1 got the Pierce and they have had a lot of problems keeping it in service. The Saulsbury/E-Ones have taken a beating since 2002.

Very well said and thought out. The difference here compared against the other situation is it seems that people are actually trying to come up with a solution and not just dismissing the consolidation idea. When I joined Mill Plain VFD in 1991, I received a letter from the Chief of the DFD welcoming me to the volunteer section of the DFD. Over the years I have watched as the relationship between the career dept and the vollies has ebbed and flowed. I have posted on the Stamford merger thread that the Danbury set up should be looked at and considered. In my position as training officer of my current volunteer dept, I have had nothing but great dealings with the DFD training officer and CoD as we have used the Danbury training center on multiple occasions to conduct live burns. DFD provides the training center and a safety liason from the career dept and we don't have to travel as far to train. What is amazing is the amount of equipment that is in Danbury. By specializing in a particular area (Tankers, Lightin/air) the volunteers have ensured their relevancy in the whole response matrix. Consolidation of the inner city companies may hurt some feelings, but getting out the door and being able to make a positive impact at a call is a lot better then being told to "Do not respond" over and over due to lack of manpower. I hope the situation works out for all involved

There are a bunch of guys who work two career, IAFF affiliated, fire dept. jobs in CT. I tried to do it myself but the 2nd department would not give me the 24 hour schedule that every other firefighter in that town was working. I could have made a legal case out of it but I decided not to. My question is: If TOR receives it's funding from the City of Stamford, how does it apply for and have awarded to it, a grant to hire FFs? I would think the city is going to have a lot to say about TOR receiving this money.

JJ DID TIE BUCKLE

This is an interesting topic. It all comes down to what the local authority (town boards, fire commissioners, independent fire companies) wants to require their fire service leaders to possess. While you can not pump certificates through a fire hose I believe that in this day and age to tell someone that if they want to be leading a million dollar a year business (and that is what a lot of fire departments in the area are) that they should have Fire Officer I & II, Fire Instructor I, and some college or a degree, along with X number of years experience at each rank (no rank jumping), that should be the direction we should be going in. Also, unfortunately, in the litigation happy society we live in, if something tragic happens on a scene and the qualifications of the Incident Commander gets called into question in court, wouldn't you want to be able to say that "through my training and experience, this is why I made the decisions I made". I encourage everyone to attend as much training as possible. Even if you only learn one thing in the class, it is one thing you didn't know before.

I find this to be an interesting topic. I have had discussions in my department about the number of times that a helicopter gets called, used and why. Especially on the eastern side of our response area (which includes Rt 22, 684, 84) the time that it takes to extricate, package, and move a patient to a landing zone, have the bird land, have the flight crew do their assessment, and more then a few times, have to bring the bird back up to full power to take off is time wasted that could have been used to transport the patient to a Level II Trauma Center less then 10 miles away. I understand that it is the paramedic's call but I believe that some of the medics get tunnel vision that they can only take a trauma patient to WMC and that the only way to get the patient there is via helicopter. When Keltie's Resturant blew up, I was on the first ambulance on scene. As soon as the firemen pulled the first victim out, he was in our bus, the medic jumped in, and we rolled. The medic did all his work enroute (assessment, IV, tube, ekg). That patient was in the operating room 47 minutes from the time he was pulled out of the rubble. That is just one example of how the system worked well. What is the difference between a Level I Trauma Center and a Level II Trauma Center other then the Level I having a burn unit?

What seems like something new in the fire service of paramedic certification being required has been around for a long time. I have told a lot of the guys who talk to me about taking tests to: A- take as many test as possible (don't hang your hopes on one particular department hiring you) and B- to get your medic certification. It just makes you that much more marketable.

Where's the step stool for 11-1-3 to get in the driver's door?? Just kidding!!!!

Of course some one is going to file a lawsuit. And a defense lawyer would jump all over that "omitted" fact to get a murder conviction dropped down to manslaughter.

Interesting article. I do feel for all the people that were ready to go in the January class. But they have to realize, they took the test in January 2007, it is now March 2009. That is a year and 2 months. It took 7 years 9 months from the day I took the test to the day I was hired. And when the next class does go in, they go in.

From the photos, this was a nozzleman's dream.... a well vented fire with a known location. Go in the front door, down the hallway, find the door to the fire room, operate the line from the doorway, knockdown the main body of fire, move into the room giving the room a good bath, let the truckies open up the place, give a final wash down, drain the line, and go home. 200-400 gallons max. Set of turnout gear: $3500 Fit-5: $1200 Experience at a good nozzle job: Priceless