NYSfireRet

The Troopers were the first to arrive. Yes, the police often respond to emergencies in the rural parts of the state. This being a Friday afternoon, just before Christmas in a sparsely populated town with a well hidden from road/view structure the fire had a lot of headway before it was discovered. The person who discovered the fire actually drove to the volunteer firehouse to report it, found no one there and used the emergency phone to notify 911. The fire department was finally called, and almost immediately called 3 more departments under mutual aid for assistance. There is not a career fire department within sight of southern Columbia County. Troopers arrived initially and updated 911. The fire department did eventually show up with an engine, a tanker and a rescue each with a driver. With the limited manpower and some more enroute from neighboring departments with extended ETA's, the IC asked the Troopers for assistance to try to keep the fire from extending to the other portion of the house. The Troopers, 3/4 who are volunteer firefighters with chief officer experience and training obliged with permission from their supervisor. When enough fire personnel arrived, the Troopers were relieved and re-assumed their law enforcement roles.
Maybe not the best situation, but it happened, happened safely and they did do some good. Let's face it, this fire was the biggest thing going on in Columbia County at the time and the 2 speeders that got away on the Taconic during the time the Troopers were manning the hoseline will be caught next time.
As someone who takes a lot of fire pics in the Greene & Columbia areas I see the cooperation between law, fire and rescue squads all the time. You look up here at fire scenes and say "What the ....??" and I look at operations in the "Metro" areas and just scratch my head.
And Truck12345 seriously? Bill the FD for the Troopers time?? Maybe we should send bills to the NYSP every time we have to sit at a wire down on a STATE road and wait for NiMo or CH?? Maybe the next time we need the Troopers to help close a road so we can lay supply line across the street, maybe they won't be there.
I'm proud and happy that these Troopers were able to help and were not so disgruntled and screwed up that they just looked crosseyed at the Chief and said "Sorry dude. Not my job."

The bottom line is you can do all the Monday morning quarterbacking you want, but unless you were the I/C at this incident or were there and witnessed some event that grossly jeopardized firefighter or the State Police Officers safety, you have no right to call his judgment to utilize the officers into question.

Did anyone take into consideration it was Christmas Eve and that probably contributed to the manpower shortage? It’s easy to say pick up the radio and call for help, how far is the help and how long is it going to take to get them there. What was the I/C faced with at the time? It is quite obvious the Ancram Chief and department were very much appreciative of the assistance rendered by the State Police in the mitigation of this incident.

Instead of bickering about doing each others jobs, how about being pro active and working together to enhance the protection of life and property of the “tax payers” we serve. I can tell you when police and fire want to, they can work very well together to accomplish this. Greenburgh Police and Fairview Fire have been working together for years with EMS and Technical Rescue providing the best emergency services available.

The Ancram Fire Chief should be commended for having the guts to employ the assistance on the State Police, and the State Police should be commended for assisting.

The best part is, it happened, all the whining in the world wont reverse that, and you know what it probably wont stop the FD from asking for help again. Good job brothers. I sure as hell wouldnt b**** about cops trying to lend a hand, and id lend a hand to them in a heart beat.

Of course they have mutual aid. From another small, understaffed department some distance away. An IC did what an IC is supposed to do. He managed an incident with the resources he had available. If these guys were in DPW or Highway Department uniforms this discussion wouldn't have lasted this long (unless they used blue lights to get there).
Why are you being so nitpicky?
There's nothing left to see in this topic. It's all the same BS rhetoric.

In the early 70's back in my original dept., the chief appointed a good friend of mine who was under the "minimum height requirement of 5'8" in bare feet". When a member of the [comic] common council questioned the appointment, the chief responded that in all of his years of service, he has yet to see a guy fight a fire in his bare feet. The appointment stood and made good reading in the local gossip sheet.

In the early 70's back in my original dept., the chief appointed a good friend of mine who was under the "minimum height requirement of 5'8" in bare feet". When a member of the [comic] common council questioned the appointment, the chief responded that in all of his years of service, he has yet to see a guy fight a fire in his bare feet. The appointment stood and made good reading in the local gossip sheet.

In the early 70's back in my original dept., the chief appointed a good friend of mine who was under the "minimum height requirement of 5'8" in bare feet". When a member of the [comic] common council questioned the appointment, the chief responded that in all of his years of service, he has yet to see a guy fight a fire in his bare feet. The appointment stood and made good reading in the local gossip sheet.

In the early 70's back in my original dept., the chief appointed a good friend of mine who was under the "minimum height requirement of 5'8" in bare feet". When a member of the [comic] common council questioned the appointment, the chief responded that in all of his years of service, he has yet to see a guy fight a fire in his bare feet. The appointment stood and made good reading in the local gossip sheet.

In the early 70's back in my original dept., the chief appointed a good friend of mine who was under the "minimum height requirement of 5'8" in bare feet". When a member of the [comic] common council questioned the appointment, the chief responded that in all of his years of service, he has yet to see a guy fight a fire in his bare feet. The appointment stood and made good reading in the local gossip sheet.

A few years ago, in upstate NY, a civilian found a piece of military ordinance lying along a highway. He placed it in the car trunk and drove to a nearby SP barracks. The duty trooper, looked in the trunk, evacuated the SP station, and called the nearby base for their EOD team.