JackEMT

A poorly written article in my opinion. They might have had good intentions to raise something that has gone under the radar, but there is little to no real information here. This is obvious from the number of question people have raised here and the research required. There is no information on call volume, the cost per capital compared to other similar areas, the level of coverage (equipment, skill, etc) provided by the departments or a breakdown of manpower (Colonie EMS's website says they do 9,000 calls with 80 paid and 25 volunteers. How many of the 80 paid are administrative and how many are medics/EMT's?). Maybe someone has a better memory than me, but I thought the 12 departments at one point were independents, then joined to become more centralized.

Sharp looking. What is the floor height of the patient compartment from the ground?

I can't speak for these departments, but if I were to guess, the need to have all new, new technology and a complete vehicle warranty. What does a remount cost? Braun used to do a bunch (might be dating myself here) as well as Frazer Bilt.

Here is one area/department doing checks of mobile homes: Roof concerns cause evacuations at mobile home park

The emergency management agency in MA has logged over 70 collapses in the past month due to snow. Mostly commercial flat roofs, some residential. Georgetown Elementary School had a collapse yesterday. Two large shopping areas closed while they went under inspection (Wrentham Outlets & Natick Collection).

Incredible generosity. http://boston.cbsloc...police-station/

One storm too late. But at least everyone knows that every aspect of clean-up and public service will be scrutinized this time around. Well there goes the snow-removal budgets on what is forecasted to be an average storm... French Toast alert has been raised to "elevated" Time to run out for bread, milk and eggs! You never know, the meteorologist might get it wrong and you might be snowed in for another week!

Here is on of Boston's jet blowers at work (I assume MBTA, but don't know). You might want to turn down the volume on your computer, this is very loud!

I have know knowledge but I suspect two things, dollars and space. It cost money to run pipes the length of a vehicle. If you run pipes the length of the vehicle, you have to give up storage or other space (fuel tank, etc).

West Dover, VT is a tiny little town. I don't think their are high-tech devices like street camera in the area. I am not sure which fire house this truck was taken from, but I believe their station is across the street from the police station on Rt. 100. I am glad they were able to recover the truck and equipment.

I have heard of FD's billing for alarms (especially commercial), but I had not head of this type of billing. Is this something that has been spreading? http://wbztv.com/local/quincy.fire.recovery.2.1865674.html

So many questions in regards to this practice, I was just curious if they were setting the trend here. Who determines "driver's negligent, reckless or malicious actions" ? Why only bill for PIAA? Do they bill even for an RMA? There is a chance if you transport, the patient will get a bill from the EMS agency as well as the FD (Quincy contracts out EMS service. I don't know how the billing works, I assume the patient gets a bill from the contracted agency when transported.) From the article: "If a driver's negligent, reckless, or malicious actions are determined to have caused the accident, the city will bill that driver's insurance company anywhere between $200 and $600 per hour to help defray the emergency response. The amount will depend on exactly what equipment has to be sent. Heavy rescue equipment or a hazardous material clean-up would be the most expensive. The fees don't apply to fires, or to heart attacks, just car wrecks."

I came across this in my surfing, thought it was pretty neat. http://www.feuerwear.com/home/ Bags made of old hoses and hose bed tarps. Not bad looking either!

-You've seen every re-run of every syndicated show. (for me, the 3AM Law and Order episodes) -You've seen every info-mercial -You answer your home phone on the first ring, regardless of where you are. -You can recognize the callers voice without looking at the caller ID.

Bad choice for a story by WBZ. If you read the comments by readers, they agree that the reporter is being petty. With the recent death of a firefighter, you would think safety and fleet maintenance would be looked at with a fine tooth comb, not what the FF's have for lunch. Oh, and if they want to pick on someone, how about all the people that double-park illegally on the main routes in Boston, now that's a safety hazard, not FF's in the supermarket.

Congrats to the crew for a successful delivery. http://www.lohud.com/article/20100107/NEWS03/1070406/Young-Haverstraw-EMT-helps-deliver-baby-in-the-back-of-ambulance "HAVERSTRAW — With his crew, Matt Giannella, an emergency medical technician with the Haverstraw Ambulance Corps, responded Tuesday night to a call from a woman in labor. When they arrived, the woman didn't appear to be going into labor any time soon, the 19-year-old EMT said. The crew had the woman lie down in the back of the rig, and a medic checked on her. "Everything was fine," Giannella said. "Then she said something, and the medic looked. And the kid was coming out." Soon a baby girl was delivered, and the paramedics on board cut the cord."

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/22020946/detail.html WEST BARNSTABLE, Mass. -- When an ambulance -- racing to help a man who had collapsed outside his home -- became stuck in the snow, neighbors snapped into action with shovels in hand. The heavy storm that dumped about a foot of snow on the Cape was winding down Sunday afternoon when the ambulance reached the top of Morgan Way, but plows still hadn’t cleared up the fresh layer of precipitation on the road.

I caught up on several past episodes on Hulu !

It is worst for people with phone service from their cable company. The phone service is provided through their modem device, and without power you lose not only Internet, cable but also phone service. A good case for buying a UPS for the cable modem device. At least FiOS has a battery back up for those short outages. Good reason to keep that cell phone charged!

There are links of completed vehicles and interior shots, very interesting concept, definitely not something in metro/suburban areas. A quick search shows Coffman Cove is in SouthEast Alaska, and is classified as a Level I Isolated Village(*). Maybe this is a support vehicle in which any member with a pickup can back up, drop the module into their bed and take off to the scene. With a population of less than 1,000 how may calls a year are they seeing? http://www.serems.org/se_communities.htm http://www.serems.org/ems_levels_of_care.htm

Is there a 4x4 kit on the chassis or just a lift kit? Nice looking rigs!

Great picture. I especially like the Tribute in Lights and how it hits the fog/clouds and scatters.

Rapid Response Vehicle, you can say that again!

Is that RADAR that I see on the front and rear?

Seems like one step above grass roofs and mud walls. Can you imagine being inside this house in high wind conditions? I am speculating that it moves a bit more than a traditional framed house. Who gets the job of removing that strap holding up the loft in this house?