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What a tragic story...deepest sympathy for all those involved in this horrific event. This goes to show you how very little time we have anymore to actually pull any victims out of a house built from newer construction. Synthetics and light weight construction just give us so little time to make a difference in a situation like this. I am so sorry to everyone who has to cope with this...may god bless everyone who responded to this and prayers for their son and family

UCT uninformed call taking) system is working great...Nothing better than going to a diff breather where the call taker left out the fact that she was having trouble breathing from smoke because her kitchen was on fire! 2nd source for elevators!

Please don't ever say it's ok to stick the nozzle of a dry chem extinguisher or anyone extinguisher near a car fire without the proper gear. Most times it can be held in check with a dry chem. But whats the point..ITS A CAR...and the one time you think it's ok is going to be the time you get hurt because something unforseen happens! There are many components which pop and blow in a car and sometimes, small fires escalates quickly, and thats when guys get hurt. What happens when you're up on the car trying to knock it with a dry chem and you don't notice the gas line is burning and now your shoes are on fire?

Besides the silly commentary from the hoohoo's taking the video; granted the PD kept the situation in check, nobody, should be getting anywhere near a burning car. The gases being given off by a vehicle and dumpster fires are worse to breathe than some residential house fires. There's also too many components ready to let go in cars, too many things that will blow up in your face to get even remotely close without full bunker gear! If it takes out another car, oh well, it is just a car! and will be replaced. eyes aren't replaced when something blows up in your face! I may have swept the car from the other side as well just to push anything burning on the ground away from the other cars. Not a major problem but obviously if the car was fully engulfed, pushing at it from the other side may be a good idea.

I'd say protect exposures, notify all the utility companies and let it burn out? any other takers lol If the guys who normally work with that stuff don't wanna be near it, neither do I!!!

From my visits to the Fire training center, it seems to work for the time being. WCFTC has many great fire instructors who are able to use what they have, in addition to their own personal experience and knowledge to train new and old firefighters how to get the job done. All the vehicles are housed inside the buildings and granted it may be a little tight, that really does not matter. 60 control does an excellent job receiving and dispatching runs and the instructors are producing. We're in a tight economy and we don't need to start planning projects which there is no money to allocate towards. You left, why do you care so much...Come back and help fix it if it's really bothering you.

As long as I have been in the fire service, I know that firefighting is won by aggressive strategies and not aggresive tactics. Thats what make the NYC Fire Dept. the greatest department in the world. Every member on the riding list has a pre-assignment of tools he/she is bringing and where they're going. To affect these procedures, one needs to be able to read and comprehend those assignments and be ready to make split second decisions. So to say that the test was bias because it's asking a person whether they can read or comprehend is preposterous!!! It's my belief that minorities who have not been given the opportunities to learn reading and comprehension are indeed a fault of society over centuries. However, that in no way means they're entitled to a job which involves such inherent risk of their own lives, the lives of our brothers, and the lives of civilians we're sworn to protect. Maybe this judge should look at other entrance exams to other city jobs...everyone on this earth is here to do a job and i am not here to take away from what anyone does, but you don't need to read and comprehend how to do many many other city jobs which are inherently much safer where an employee won't get others hurt or maimed. Maybe that is why other agencies have become so diversified and not the fire department. If you want to help people, give them jobs where they cannot hurt themselves or anyone else but not the fire department. If there's one glitch in the machine, it breaks down. If you cannot read and comprehend, you cannot understand the job and if you cannot do your job as a firefighter...people die! Thats a fact! AND i pray this is not the outcome but it is sadly inevidible...... It's sad for all the people on the job who actually earned the right to put on such a prestigious uniform and didn't feel they were "entitled" to it.

Nicely done! A couple other ideas to add... 1. If you have a really tight door-to-jam situation, slide the adz of the haligan from the middle of the door into the jam as this will help get your tool in between the door and jam quickly so you can set up to gap. 2. Also, bring a couple door chocks, if you're limited on manpower and just have a haligan tool, you can gap the door, set the chock to save the gap created and reset the adz to further gap. If you gap it enough to get the fork in, go ahead and set the fork to force the door. 3. Some areas of town may have many multi dwellings with multiple apartments. Many of these apartments may have angle iron. Size up your building and do bring a flat head axe if necessary...Using the blade, you can create a gap between the angle iron and the jam so as to get your tool in place to force the door. Otherwise like M-Ave said, Bring the Maul! 4. Wood door, wood jam, use the pike of the haligan to spike the jam and push the locking mechanism out of the keeper. If this fails, go conventional Also, always use your legs for leverage if possible when you're gapping. Obviously easier with a right swinging door because the way the pike is situated on a haligan. And always keep a firm grip on the adz end and the fork end. This will keep your tool going in the direction you want it to and not popping out of the jam. Like the captain in the vid said...keep your eyes on the prize; once your past the jam, your past the door!

Matty...So sorry to see you go brother...I only got to work with you on a few runs at the VA and at the firehouse but your smile and your presence always lit up the room. May the big man above take care of you through your next journey in the heavens above. To all your family, friends, brothers, and sisters, my deepest condolences for the loss of a great brother. May the lord do his best to heal this wound for all of us. Rest in Peace Matty O

Maybe the responsible action should've been to say..."hey lets just give that part of the fire district to Millwood, they're only a half a mile away anyway"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nice job... WHy fight for a middle class tax break when we'll just spend it on new firehouses we don't need....Oh sorry i forgot about the surge in fire duty

Just a quick side bar... 1. Whenever using an aerial ladder for an exterior operation or any operation where a handline will be placed on the ladder, make sure you throw a few hose straps on to secure the line in the middle of the aerial. Putting that amount of weight and pressure all to one side can cause a failure. 2. Make sure the aerial is supplied by two completely different water supplies because a sudden complete loss of water can shock load an aerial also causing a catastrophic failure! 3. Never lay an aerial into a window or on any object when you can only get one rail to align and touch. A sudden chock load i.e. victim jumping onto the ladder) will cause failure and make cause the rig to overturn. (happened to ladder 108 in Brooklyn) 4. If you need to short-jack always position your rig on an angle to increase space for the outrigger being set on the working side and always short-jack on the non-operational side

ALSfirefighter gets awarded 2 gold stars for humility.... Nice job to everyone to for taking time out of their daily lives to help others in their most trying moments!

While I personally believe, for their call volume and surrounding resources, Verplank does not need any aerial devices, let alone a fire department, the purchase of a mid-mount tower ladder vs. a rear mount tower or quint would actaully be a good idea. If you're spending the money, why not buy something that is versatile and functional. Mid-mounts are much easier for apparatus placement and have a much greater scrub area. A mid-mount would work much better than the bronto skylift they currently have considering their 1st due area and the surrounding communties (montrose, buchanan, and peekskill) are largely short story buildings (PD's, small and large OMD's, and taxpayers). That said...What a waste! I've seen some of their manuevers at fires with the bronto and they'll probably swing the tower into the cab and take it clean off! Whats...........really good!!

Joey D to sum up was a man who was the definition of the fire service...Always there to help anybody and everybody through everything. Always into the job, always looking to train and find ways to better the fire service. A true buff. He makes me proud to say i am a firefighter. He will sadly be missed but will always be remembered! Rest in peace Lt. Joe DiBernardo

Im not trying to be a hater guys but when there's a run for a structural fire you always hear the one host department get sent and the other two on standby. Upon confirmation if it's major, the department whose first due always call for at least one piece of equipment from the other two...Why not all be on the same page by sending an apparatus which everyone knows will be vital. If you consolidate and everyone's on the same page and frequency, everyone knows whats getting out the door first; engine or truck, then you know which apparatus to respond with next and everyone knows that someone will show up with something and some manpower...Why wait??? Example: a few years ago "XYZ dept" was toned out for i believe smoke in a house. One engine got on the road with a chauffer only. The chauffer, once on scene knew someething was going on inside (could hear it in his voice :/) and had the alarm re-transmitted not once but twice before asking for help from somewhere else. When a second member finally showed up and helped him forced the door they gave a 10-75 and luckily more manpower arrived and stretched a line before the fire got well past the incipient stage. Now if this occurrs in one of these three villages why not all be on the same page and be sending something...And if you're going to go that route then what would be the problem with consolidation? So what if you're not first due to your own fire...It went out, damage was minimized and everyone did their job!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's about time somebody opened "pandora's box"! People are tired of paying taxes for unnecessary duplication of resources and equipment! There are only a few buildings throughout these districts' in which i could possibly see needing that amount of apparatus, one being the W.I.C. building, in which case you'll be getting mutual aid anyway. Does anyone really think having an ambulance cover Verplank is even necessary when CCVAC is a mile off the boarder and have three ambulances. You're right the pride does run deep...Every parade Buplanktrose throws about 80 guys combined on the street but when there's a building fire, the FAST shows up with more manpower than all of Buplanktrose. Speaking of which, I'd love to get a rundown of which rigs actually leave the apparatus floor when there is a job in the tri-village and their response times. Seriously guys...lets eat our pride and dissolve these issues!!!!!!! DO WORK

9 chiefs cars, 7 or 8 engines, tower ladder, bronto skylift, 3 rescues, brush truck, 3 boats, and god knows how many utilities...I think Seths right on this one...Time for Consolidation! If they had a fire and each department rolled with their first due engine and a crew you'd probably get two or threee good crews as an attack engine, water supply engine, and a bunch of guys to do truck work 100 years of tradition unimpeded by progress!

Billy, Ask Dave about it...He saw it too! There was one section of flooring left in the bsmt which only had a sink on top of it...After hooking a right at the bottom of the stairs you could plainly see it was wainscoting covered with tile. On the 2nd floor, the saw was cutting right through the panel floor around the hallway outside the bathroom. Enjoy!

The fire building itself would be great for a walk through drill for all firefighters to learn building construction and fire travel. The fire which originated in the basement as stated went directly up the fresh air stack probably past the first floor to the second floor before dropping back down. The heat then transmitted to the steel channel rails and spread towards the front and rear portions of the building. The interior crews did a great job finding the fire running between different floor joints on both sides of the I-beam which ran through the middle of the building. Also as stated, crews did a nice job sounding floors as they proceeded towards the fire on the 2nd floor. Some things to note about this fire: 1. There was probably more plywood on the walls than on top of the floor joists where it should have been...The section of floor which collapsed into the basement was a mere layer of wainscoting (1/8" veneer wood paneling) covered by tile as was sections of the 2nd floor where the fire had burned threw. The second floor was not tiled at all and just had a wood panelling covering the floor joists. Always know what your crawling over! 2. When checking for fire extention in a building the first place you always want to go are bathrooms. These rooms will have the most and the biggest voids in the building...Try to pop a hole in the floor near a toilet and if you can find the sewage vent pipe start poking around there as well. Don't wait! 3. Getting a guy on the roof of any building where it appears the fire is going towards that direction is always a great move. Give the incident commander a size-up as to what you see and a layout of the roof with openings and shafts if there are any is always great too. Always open existing openings first; skylights, dumbwaiters, etc. If you feel a simple kerf cut is necessary or an inspection hole to get a better look at whats going on underneath you is never a bad idea, just let the IC know your intentions and what you're doing if you decide the inspection hole needs to be expanded. Roof repairs are mundane compared to burning the whole roof off. A job well done under difficult circumstances...well done chief

On the topic of consolidation, manpower issues, lack of resources, and abuse of mutual aid...why is it that YHFD wants to build a substation near a Millwood firehouse when they have 4 engines and only two got out for a confirmed fire??? So lets construct a new building with apparatus so nobody can get those rigs out either??? If they were able to respond, Croton and Millwood would only have needed to send a tanker each :-/

Beautiful to look at but in my own personal opinion a mid-mount tower ladder is far superior to a rear mount as far as positioning the aerial for its main objectives and purposes

Not to burst anyones bubble here but when you say "the floor began to sag and immediately after the main joist to the roof partially gave way", i would think that was in no way a minor collapse. I would think any failures of any buildings main structural load bearing element(s) should be considered a major collapse with the transmission of a mayday followed by a discontinuation of interior attack and a roll call which you stated was done. Just don't want guys getting the idea that a roof beam failing is a minor collapse ;-) But it was a nice job done overall!

Maybe ConEd said no ETA??? My eye sight may not be the best but even though i believe those to be cable and telephone lines burning...thats probably the most idiotic thing i've ever seen. Also, above his head looks to be a high tension wire which could carry in excess of 33,000 volts..Yikes! Utility emergencies always have the potential to be dangerous and deadly if not handled correctly... Gas blows up, electricity will fry you, water in a large enough amount does whatever it wants, and steam at the right PSI will cut you in half....Lets let the professionals take care of it; thats what they're paid for!