lad12derff

How about the ISO rating that New Rochelle has. We have a rating of a 2. That equates to a great reduction in fire insurance to commercial property owners as well as homeowners. Lay off the 6 guys, don't replace the 15 we are down and close E24 or L12 and watch what the rating will be. I would bet your insurance will rise more than what it would be to keep the numbers. At least we have a new $1,000,000.00 rescue that is not manned full time. I guess there is always a silver lining to every story.

And to just make myself clear it is not about the 15 vacant positions that I am upset about. There will be 6 of my brothers who will not have a job on Jan 1, 2010. You will never understand that because you are not on the job.

Great post Capt!!!

Yes I did get my panties in a bunch. I am also part of John Q Public and without your explanation would still have thought you did nothing all tour. How do we know that you did not work the desk, or dispatch, or some other duty the PD does that does not require much physical duty? That was the whole point of my post, the public does not know what we do. People go to parties and tell their friends and wives how I got "8 straight" last night. How I am on my 3rd tour of OT for the week and crap like that. Then the public goes out and tells their friends and families. Do we all see the problem here? We have a rule in my firehouse: what happens in the firehouse stays in the firehouse. We do not let other companies know our problems that happen during our tour. We do not tell our wives if we were "lucky" to get a good night sleep. It is nobodies business but ours. I did not want to start a $hit storm over education and should have left that out but as I disclosed I do not have a college degree but I am smart enough to know what the public wants to hear. I am sorry if you felt I was attacking you personally because I was not. I just want people to know that we are being watched more now than ever. ( I am not going after desk officers nor dispatchers with my comments here I have the utmost respect for their jobs and have commented to my guys what a great job you do. To listen to you dispatch us to jobs with your cool and calm voices is a pleasure to hear. We know when we are " going to work " and when we are not. You guys do a great job so keep up the great work.)

Here is my full disclaimer: I have 1 month of college education under my belt and 15 years (12 as a FF and 3 as a Lt) for New Rochelle. My life experience has taught me to not let the public know what I do or do not do at work. The comment about HS diploma also includes myself but I have enough time on the job to know when I am going to say something stupid. If you have to ask yourself before you hit post "is this smart to talk about?" it probably isn't

No I can't. We are our own worst enemies

I guess you did not see my response. I along with the 5th district of the New York state professional firefighters did march on city hall in Newburgh. I saw at least 60 - 75 members of Westchester fire depts that came to Newburgh. Brothers driving almost 1 1/2 hours to be there. I would have to say you did not show or you would have noticed. If Beacon needs us all they have to do is ask.

It should not be a threat. They should just state they are not willing to put their lives at risk because the city is mismanaged. All of the volunteers on this forum want to tell us career guys how they are equally qualified as us. Well now is the time to show it. I spent 4 hrs in the city of Newburgh on Monday night protesting the threat of layoffs to my brothers. I do not live there. I do not travel there often. I do care enough about my brothers safety to give my time to show the unity of this brotherhood. If Beacon fire needs me to march on city hall I will as other locals have done for New Rochelle fire with our threat of layoffs. We stopped going to Mt Vernon because that city refuses to man their city responsibly. You cannot show the cities that you are willing to pick up the slack when they refuse to manage properly. Whether you are from a large city or small town you know how many men are needed to fight a fire. To take away from the equation and add stress to our bodies is blatant disregard for your safety and the public's. Enough already with these threats it is time to stand up to city hall and say stop.

Sounds like they will have more open space to buy if they keep closing fire houses. Hopefully it is one of the politicians house and not mine or yours.

PRICELESS

Ity appears as though they are using positive pressure to vent this structure. Look at the fan at the bottom of the stairs to the front door. It seems a little far away but it also may be a big a$$ fan. I'll stick with good old fashion venting because of crap like this.

A Fireman's Prayer When I am called to duty, God, Whenever flames may rage; Give me strength to save some life, Whatever be its age. Help me embrace a little child Before it is too late Or save an older person From the horror of that fate. Enable me to be alert And hear the weakest shout, And quickly and efficiently To put the fire out. I want to fill my calling And to give the best in me To guard my every neighbor And protect his property. And if, according to my fate, I am to lose my life, Please bless with your protecting My children and my wife. - Author Unknown Rest in peace Brother. Danny Heintz L273

Well we could start with the ladder rating and what it can hold. I went back to my notes from Yale and found a formula I developed for finding out how much water is in a 4 inch pipe: Volume = Pi (3.14159) X Radius of pipe 2 X Length of pipe Then convert Volume to Weight. So, for 10 feet of 4" Inside Diameter pipe: Radius = 1/2 * Diameter = 1/2 * 4 inch = 2 inch Length = 120 inches Volume = 3.14159 X 22 X 120 = 1,508 cubic inches 1 cubic inch of water = 0.036127 pounds So: 1508 cubic inches * 0.036127 pounds per cubic inch = 54 pounds. I do not know how high the ladder was but for the best pictures for TV and newspapers and for everyone to see you at the top it should be at least 80 feet in the air. So we have 432 pounds plus 2 firefighters 300 pounds each with gear. For a grand total of 1032 pounds operating on the ladder plus the reaction force of the flowing water which I could not find in my Yale notes. Now we get to those dirty lawyers who will use my notes from Yale to prove that there was no reason for 2 firefighter to be operating beyond the manufacturers specs to "save " a building that was burning down to be at the tip. He will have video and newspaper footage because they do take the best shots from that high and what do we get? Hootie and the crew get no money and have to pay to fix the truck. So this topic should be titled Firefighter stupidity causes failure of the truck and not Catastrophic Aerial Ladder Failure In PA Post

I would like to know why Hootie was at the tip of the ladder while operating a master stream? This should be a lesson on what we have been taught. there is NO good reason to be at the tip of the truck above the fire while flowing water. If you need to spot the water you should ask the people operating a tower ladder if possible or try to gain a vantage point from an exposure and use radios. You don't need the best seat in the house when it could end up being your last performance.

How are they gonna tell you the site is down when it is down?

This is a major win for the American fire service. Thank you NH20 for standing up for and fighting against what many people only bow down to and that is discrimination in the fire service. There is no such thing as reverse discrimination only discrimination. Thank you again!!!!!!!

Could this have been another incident like the Natasha Richardson accident? If so, as EMS providers do we encourage more people who hit their heads to seek medical attention at hospitals even with no symptoms? I had a call 3 or 4 tours ago where the woman hit her head and asked to go to the hospital just for this reason. Just a little off topic discussion here and would love some input.

Now thats front page news! GO YANKS!!!!!

Cribbing is another option for making a wider base or for uneven surfaces IE jack falling half on/off a curb and you make up the difference. As Izzy said before the fan is always rotating it's just waiting for the next guy to throw the brown stuff. Your training and experience determine where it lands.

Of course it's different. Thats the great Kentland, the same guys turning off SCBA bottles in jobs of other "BROTHERS". Sure wish I could hang with them they are really salty.

OK so lets learn from this. Midship towerladders should be positioned 15 to 20 degrees away from the building. This will clear the cab of the truck from being hit by the boom of the ladder while covering the most of its scrub area. This is very important at taxpayer fires. The truck should take up as much of the road as needed and not worry about the engines or rescues. As we always say you can stretch hose but you can't stretch the ladder. Had this operator did this his jacks would have been in the street and not on the grass. You should position the truck at every call as though it is going to be used. Front seat and jumpseat members should spot the rig and go to work.

There is nothing to Monday morning quarterback here. The driver set up the truck and pinned the jacks. If the pads and jacks were not 100 percent on the sidewalk it's operator error in my book. 20 minutes or 20 years you are still the one who is in control of the truck.

Any idiot can see the outriggers are not on the sidewalk. If you are mess up you should man up not make excuses

Better than the kitchen table lawyers?

WOW that really suprises me. Basketball fans rioting, whats next golf fans?