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No my friend I didn't try to make the cut...what I am saying is the truth! Ever see them at JFK in a lot way out near long term parking.SLEEPING? As for the comment someone made about the 23 who gave their lives..of course I am saddened for their loss just as much as I am saddened by the thousands of others who did also. They were in the wrong place every at the wrong time@ THE truth is that they are GROSSLY OVERPAID! Haven'the ever seen a PARAMEDICMAKE anywhere near that amount DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEIR JOB IS 100 TIMES MORE STRESSFUL than a Port Authority parking cop.

The Port Authority PD is a joke...yes a complete joke! Its an ATM for these guys who are glorified security guards who break balls at the airports. 400 K !! You have to be kidding. How many of them go disabled after one of these monster years? Bet more than 50%!! What happened to a CAP on these guys and girls? Pushing idling cars out of pick up lanes is worth 400K? Come on I'll do it 12 hours a day for 6 days a week for 125K and no benefits.....

While I get that self dispatching should be frowned upon with the information provided with the assigned Scarsdale engine unavailable Eastchester did the right thing self dispatching to save a life. Had the fire been in another section of Scarsdale then no. I am sure the Capt. in Eastchester knew that and should be commended for his action.

I only suggested the "call fee" because after all Atria is a money making business not a government funded or insurance funded nursing facility. So perhaps they may consider adding a nursing staff or even EMT's to staff the "pick me up desk". Do you not consider 3 to 5 calls per day to be ABUSING the system? We are a two rig gang with a fly car dedicated to the other "two abusers' and the towns in which they are located. We used to be an all volunteer agency but over the years the one or two calls per shift became 8 or 9 with these facilities creating the bulk of the calls. Volunteers burned out and now we are predominantly a paid service supplemented by some volunteers. It is bottom line a profit for them and a loss for us......

I agree with the poster about the epidemic and it is almost always THE ATRIA in every town! Used to be the nursing homes that were abusers. Friday and Saturday they call and send all their "problems" to the hospital for the weekend..now everytime its meal time at the Atria we might as well station a rig at each one for two hours. These people are making TONS OF MONEY without providing and medical emergency care on property. They do not contribute to the organizations at all. So, we are burning up resources for lift assists and the like. Hey the fuel and wear and tear on the vehicles AND the staff costs something. Solution, A $200 service fee EACH TIME there is NO TRANSPORT! Draw it up so it is binding and they will stop calling. It really is a scam by Atria who do nothing for their "guests" except feed them...amen

Which one did they buy with S&H Green Stamps?

Where would we need one of these?

The abuse of "assisted living" complexes in calling for 911 response for falls and other minor occurances has taken its toll on the system. In the case of Croton and Briarcliff the contract for ALS requires response by the Tri Village fly car on every call. Many of those calls are then deferred to OVAC ambulance 2 BLS unit because not all shifts are covered by per diems in those villages. It is an overload. In years gone by it was not uncommon for an entire 12 hour tour to go call free...now in a 12 hour tour there can be 12 or more calls. Abuse of the system? It's going to catch up with us and there will be a real problem one day.

For years any emergencies on the river have been hit or miss. I recall a fisherman lost off of Croton Point Park (he jumped in to retrieve a stuck lure) who was swept off the rocks and went missing. There were so many agencies involved searching for him but no one could talk to each other. The Coast Guard sent a chopper but no one on shore could talk to them. There were numerous "fire department" boats racing around but no one could figure out what frequency they could talk on. We need a plan...a frequency...and most importantly a helicopter with the capability of responding in bad weather and radios that are compatable with 60 and 44 control.

They are trained for exactly these kinds of days. I just wish that the agencies that are dispatched by police had the same training. Ambulance page in Ossining 1 min apart to same unit two different calls with the 2nd rig already running a call...geez this isn't citywide guys get a handle on who is what and where.

Completely out of control! It is an epedemic of people making money (Atria) and abusing the 911 system along with it. No less than 4 times a day to them in one town and 4 times a day in the next town coupled with another in the next and the flycar is basically assigned to them. Regardless, of whether they can be billed it is ridiculous! Especially in the evenings and weekends when there is less staff. All of these "assisted living" complexes should be required to have at least one and maybe two persons ON DUTY 24/7 for LIFT ASSISTS. Is it really an insurance issue or rather a lazy issue? People can be trained rather easily in how to lift a patient off the floor. It is time for the VOLUNTEERS to be respected rather than abused! Perhaps doubling the fee to the nursing home should be investigated for lift assist calls. That would stop the abuse in its tracks. Something should be done before there are no 911 ambulances availabe for true emergencies.

sorry abominasion...or in english...they spend more time driving to eat than they do working....has to be the greatest job in the world...show up...do nothing...get paid...amen!..they need six trucks in formation to watch one guy mow grass.....or three trucks to clear road kill...yet the flimsy barrier on rt. 9a in Briarcliff Manor has been down and dotted with cones for at least 4 weeks...solution wait for a saturday around mid day on overtime to look at it then take another two days of overtime to fix it....

NYSDOT in Westchester is an abolishion! Just today I was on the Taconic at around 12:30 pm southbound near Underhill Ave. A small dump with a quad cab with no snowfighting equiptment was crawling at 30 mph creating a TRAFFIC HAZARD! Seems like I see alot of "quad cab" NYSDOT trucks crawling everywhere around the county...nobody ever gets out..except for one hour breakfast breaks in the morning...one and a half hour lunch breaks at noon...and one hour drives back to the yard for a 45 minute washup at the end of the day? Is anybody monitoring these crews? You do know that when they are called in for overtime they are paid from the minute the call takes place...then given at least a one hour window to show up and then guaranteed 8 hours pay even if the storm fizzles out! WASTE OF MY TAX DOLLARS

The practice of stripping other departments needs to end RIGHT NOW! It is going to happen one of these days that a major fire in a "stripped" department isn't covered. What are these mayors and other politicians going to say then? Ooops doesn't cut it! If Mt. Vernon is so understaffed that they go mutual aid on just about any structure fire something is very wrong! Maybe if these corrupt mayors (seems like Mt. Vernon mayors have always been corrupt) can't be stopped then THE STATE or THE COUNTY needs to come in and take over until the problem is rectified! Pelham and Pelham Manor PAY THEIR FIREFIGHTERS to fight fires in their respective villages. They should be forbidden to fill Mt. Vernon until Mt. Vernon fully staffs their department. If they need to call in off-duty so be it....that should happen first and only after that should anyone consider responding Mutual Aid! I am thankful that I live in an ALL VOLUNTEER DISTRICT and am not worried at all about MY FIREDEPARTMENT responding to any alarm or providing some manpower to surrounding towns or villages. I am confident that should WE NEED help from them that they will respond as well.