drgripsthrowawaytowel

Getting on an FD in Florida is... different, from what I hear. You go to a fire college/academy and THEN get picked up by a department, but a lot of the guys who are trained/certified are unemployed from what I was told by a few buddies down there.
Columbia, SC closes next week, if you're already certified Firefighter I and II you go through an abbreviated academy.

Any responder (PD, FD, EMS....) who does not have training to understand if they are being helpful or not because of there actions is not helping.
Not understanding if busting open doors or windows will improve smoke conditions or cause a back draft or flashover might save a victim or doom a victim.
A number of years ago I ended up on a scene where a police officer vented a window while his partner was inside searching. It caused either a backdraft or a flashover (dont know didnt get there till a few minutes after that). The officer was a close friend of my partner and before I intubated him he asked my partner to tell his wife and kids goodbye andhe loved them. The next day my partner quit as a medic.
Good intentions are great, but why do we do all kinds of training and have rules, and SOP's if the moment the scene turns bad we just rush in and ignore everything we learned (or did we fail to train our personnel and have sop's)?

I would say with the turntable of the first TL in line with the trees it was useless to start with.

Sounds like my love life

Sounds like my love life

Sounds like my love life

Sounds like my love life

Date: 12/27/2012
Time: 1915 hrs
District: Yorktown Heights
Location: Dispatch - Rt 35 IFO Clarks Funeral Home. Actual Rt 35 and Ridge St.
Units: Engine 270, MA - 8 with tool, Engine 272, Car 2531
Frequency: Dispatch 46.26, Response / ops - Fire 17
Weather Conditions: Cold, clear

Description: 2 Car T-bone MVA with single driver entrapment.
1915: Yorktown Fire, YVAC. 34-Medics dispatched to Rt 35 IFO Clarks Funeral Home for an MVA with extrication
1921: Engine 270 on location with a 2 car MVA with entrapment, going to work. Actual location will be Rt 35 and Ridge St.
1955: Patent extricated
2019: All Yorktown units clear

Wrong. Yorktown was first dispatched to an MVA SB in the area of rt 134. That call went unfounded, and as E270 was turning around on Fairhills Dr, the fire came in approx 5 houses down. The Taconic was used by all incoming Yorktown apparatus to access the scene.

Exactly. So to blame it on a lack of religious conviction as Mike Hukabee did (and you endorsed) is pointless. Guess what. This is America. Not everyone believes in the same God or in some cases any God at all. So to imply you must do so to be free from bodily harm, is to me, insane.
Everyone should be safe in school, whether you believe in God or not!

Yes. That was the problem. These kindergartners weren't religious enough. Pathetic.

Peekskill VAC, Continential Village has a water rescue going at Annesville circle

Complete list is up, from #1 - #40,864
http://bloximages.ne...07f3cf4.pdf.pdf
ctrl (button) + f for find. Type in your last name, and boom, list number and score. Good Luck

Complete list is up, from #1 - #40,864
http://bloximages.ne...07f3cf4.pdf.pdf
ctrl (button) + f for find. Type in your last name, and boom, list number and score. Good Luck

I'm x-posting this from the FDNY exam thread so more people see it....

I'm x-posting this from the FDNY exam thread so more people see it....

Career training vs Volunteer training. Hundreds of hours that are mandated, or 10 hours that are mandated. With career personnel, you know that every firefighter is trained the exact same way as the guy sitting next to him, or the guy in your department. State standards mandate this. Volunteers, because of the "wonderful" work FASNY has done, have 0 requirements. All that is required is the federally mandated 10 hours of "on the job osha training," which varies from department to department. 10 hours... which is less then 1 hour a month of training, to go inside a burning building and be responsible for people's livelihood.
Yes, many volunteers go way above and beyond the call and perform hundreds of individual hours. No one here is doubting whether or not volunteers hearts and minds are in the right place. It takes some serious balls to run into a burning building for free.
Where in the problem lies, is that there is 0 standard as to what volunteers need. It's left up to the "authority having jurisdiction". That AHJ could mandate that all interior members need FF1, FF2, Fast, Survival, hazmat ops, confined space rescue, cat in tree rescue, aircraft rescue and vehicle rescue before they step foot on a truck to respond, or the could say, "meh, our in-house course is good enough. Here's a hand-line, this is how you open the bale, stay low, now go and put the wet stuff on the red stuff."
A set list of mandated training across the board (which is what MANY other states have done) requiring that career and volunteer personnel are trained exactly the same way would be in the best interest of everyone; volunteers, career, mutual aid, and most importantly, the citizens you took an oath to protect.

Career training vs Volunteer training. Hundreds of hours that are mandated, or 10 hours that are mandated. With career personnel, you know that every firefighter is trained the exact same way as the guy sitting next to him, or the guy in your department. State standards mandate this. Volunteers, because of the "wonderful" work FASNY has done, have 0 requirements. All that is required is the federally mandated 10 hours of "on the job osha training," which varies from department to department. 10 hours... which is less then 1 hour a month of training, to go inside a burning building and be responsible for people's livelihood.
Yes, many volunteers go way above and beyond the call and perform hundreds of individual hours. No one here is doubting whether or not volunteers hearts and minds are in the right place. It takes some serious balls to run into a burning building for free.
Where in the problem lies, is that there is 0 standard as to what volunteers need. It's left up to the "authority having jurisdiction". That AHJ could mandate that all interior members need FF1, FF2, Fast, Survival, hazmat ops, confined space rescue, cat in tree rescue, aircraft rescue and vehicle rescue before they step foot on a truck to respond, or the could say, "meh, our in-house course is good enough. Here's a hand-line, this is how you open the bale, stay low, now go and put the wet stuff on the red stuff."
A set list of mandated training across the board (which is what MANY other states have done) requiring that career and volunteer personnel are trained exactly the same way would be in the best interest of everyone; volunteers, career, mutual aid, and most importantly, the citizens you took an oath to protect.

Career training vs Volunteer training. Hundreds of hours that are mandated, or 10 hours that are mandated. With career personnel, you know that every firefighter is trained the exact same way as the guy sitting next to him, or the guy in your department. State standards mandate this. Volunteers, because of the "wonderful" work FASNY has done, have 0 requirements. All that is required is the federally mandated 10 hours of "on the job osha training," which varies from department to department. 10 hours... which is less then 1 hour a month of training, to go inside a burning building and be responsible for people's livelihood.
Yes, many volunteers go way above and beyond the call and perform hundreds of individual hours. No one here is doubting whether or not volunteers hearts and minds are in the right place. It takes some serious balls to run into a burning building for free.
Where in the problem lies, is that there is 0 standard as to what volunteers need. It's left up to the "authority having jurisdiction". That AHJ could mandate that all interior members need FF1, FF2, Fast, Survival, hazmat ops, confined space rescue, cat in tree rescue, aircraft rescue and vehicle rescue before they step foot on a truck to respond, or the could say, "meh, our in-house course is good enough. Here's a hand-line, this is how you open the bale, stay low, now go and put the wet stuff on the red stuff."
A set list of mandated training across the board (which is what MANY other states have done) requiring that career and volunteer personnel are trained exactly the same way would be in the best interest of everyone; volunteers, career, mutual aid, and most importantly, the citizens you took an oath to protect.

Career training vs Volunteer training. Hundreds of hours that are mandated, or 10 hours that are mandated. With career personnel, you know that every firefighter is trained the exact same way as the guy sitting next to him, or the guy in your department. State standards mandate this. Volunteers, because of the "wonderful" work FASNY has done, have 0 requirements. All that is required is the federally mandated 10 hours of "on the job osha training," which varies from department to department. 10 hours... which is less then 1 hour a month of training, to go inside a burning building and be responsible for people's livelihood.
Yes, many volunteers go way above and beyond the call and perform hundreds of individual hours. No one here is doubting whether or not volunteers hearts and minds are in the right place. It takes some serious balls to run into a burning building for free.
Where in the problem lies, is that there is 0 standard as to what volunteers need. It's left up to the "authority having jurisdiction". That AHJ could mandate that all interior members need FF1, FF2, Fast, Survival, hazmat ops, confined space rescue, cat in tree rescue, aircraft rescue and vehicle rescue before they step foot on a truck to respond, or the could say, "meh, our in-house course is good enough. Here's a hand-line, this is how you open the bale, stay low, now go and put the wet stuff on the red stuff."
A set list of mandated training across the board (which is what MANY other states have done) requiring that career and volunteer personnel are trained exactly the same way would be in the best interest of everyone; volunteers, career, mutual aid, and most importantly, the citizens you took an oath to protect.

Career training vs Volunteer training. Hundreds of hours that are mandated, or 10 hours that are mandated. With career personnel, you know that every firefighter is trained the exact same way as the guy sitting next to him, or the guy in your department. State standards mandate this. Volunteers, because of the "wonderful" work FASNY has done, have 0 requirements. All that is required is the federally mandated 10 hours of "on the job osha training," which varies from department to department. 10 hours... which is less then 1 hour a month of training, to go inside a burning building and be responsible for people's livelihood.
Yes, many volunteers go way above and beyond the call and perform hundreds of individual hours. No one here is doubting whether or not volunteers hearts and minds are in the right place. It takes some serious balls to run into a burning building for free.
Where in the problem lies, is that there is 0 standard as to what volunteers need. It's left up to the "authority having jurisdiction". That AHJ could mandate that all interior members need FF1, FF2, Fast, Survival, hazmat ops, confined space rescue, cat in tree rescue, aircraft rescue and vehicle rescue before they step foot on a truck to respond, or the could say, "meh, our in-house course is good enough. Here's a hand-line, this is how you open the bale, stay low, now go and put the wet stuff on the red stuff."
A set list of mandated training across the board (which is what MANY other states have done) requiring that career and volunteer personnel are trained exactly the same way would be in the best interest of everyone; volunteers, career, mutual aid, and most importantly, the citizens you took an oath to protect.

Career training vs Volunteer training. Hundreds of hours that are mandated, or 10 hours that are mandated. With career personnel, you know that every firefighter is trained the exact same way as the guy sitting next to him, or the guy in your department. State standards mandate this. Volunteers, because of the "wonderful" work FASNY has done, have 0 requirements. All that is required is the federally mandated 10 hours of "on the job osha training," which varies from department to department. 10 hours... which is less then 1 hour a month of training, to go inside a burning building and be responsible for people's livelihood.
Yes, many volunteers go way above and beyond the call and perform hundreds of individual hours. No one here is doubting whether or not volunteers hearts and minds are in the right place. It takes some serious balls to run into a burning building for free.
Where in the problem lies, is that there is 0 standard as to what volunteers need. It's left up to the "authority having jurisdiction". That AHJ could mandate that all interior members need FF1, FF2, Fast, Survival, hazmat ops, confined space rescue, cat in tree rescue, aircraft rescue and vehicle rescue before they step foot on a truck to respond, or the could say, "meh, our in-house course is good enough. Here's a hand-line, this is how you open the bale, stay low, now go and put the wet stuff on the red stuff."
A set list of mandated training across the board (which is what MANY other states have done) requiring that career and volunteer personnel are trained exactly the same way would be in the best interest of everyone; volunteers, career, mutual aid, and most importantly, the citizens you took an oath to protect.

My question is; what are Junior members doing on apparatus responding to a mutual aid call in the first place?

Because the career departments have firefighters who are staffed in house ready to go. If I was an IC of either a career, volly or combo department, if dept x is a little closer, but need to page out for members, have them respond to the firehouse, and then finally get going, or department y that might be a little farther away, but can instantly have a staffed rig on the road, I'm going with department y.
You also have the issues of training. Volley vs career. 10 hours minimum per year, versus hundreds minimum per year. I think the answer is clearly obtained why departments call who they do, when they do.

I took this class once on CO incidents with this guy.... what's his name... Barry something...
After doing so, I took my entire approach to these calls (way too careless) and became a bit more attentive. In addition, we formulated a CO Response Checklist which is expected to be used at every CO Incident. It lays out what needs to be checked in the building, the areas of the building to check, and what we did.
When we get on scene and confirm it's not a battery issue only, we conduct an investigation that takes up to 20-30 minutes. This includes running the hot water heater, the furnace and if need be, the kitchen appliances. We also will provide a battery if that's the reason the alarm triggered (and we remember to replenish them after the last run).
It may seem like a mundane call (no cool lights & sirens ride) but it proves to be an excellent tool for us to review building size up, pre-plan the building and give junior guys a chance to hold the reins. And... it's not a bad customer service gig.
There is one cause for CO alarm activation we've seen more than once that one overlooks. The landscapers running mowers/blowers and the guys power washing a house. We've had more than one incident of elevated CO due to this, especially when windows are left open. (Not to mention the mess from the power wash too).
I like to think of every call as an unscheduled drill...