CFI609D

and members wonder why no one is on this site anymore. at least this wasn't a paid vs volunteer bashing. good job!

NYSAFC should give this Chief some sort of an award or suitable recognition at the Annual June Convention at Turning Stone

Great Job, Chief!
http://www.lohud.com/story/news/crime/2015/04/09/fire-chief-stopped-irvington-station-stabbing/25514307/
Stay safe...

There are a lot of misconceptions about PG, mostly by people who have never once been down here, or who have only seen a video, read an article or two, or "heard from a guy that used to ride down there." Sure, we're not even anywhere close to perfect, but there's few places where someone can go and get this amount of experience in this short of a time period.
I'd advise anyone who thinks they know how PGFD operates to come do a ride-along at a busy PG house and see for yourself. The door is always open.

I have ridden at 33 many times, I am not a member but have many friends there and ride when I am in the area. They are not the nuts everyone thinks they are. Knock on their door at any hour of the day and you will be greeted with a handshake and treated like a king. They will include you in the meal, include you in the drills, try to teach you something (because whether you want to believe it or not, outside of the FDNY guys here, they most likely see more fires and working incidents than most who visit this site) and they will ask you if you have any input on drills and things. Every time I go there the chief always asks me how I am doing and remembers me from all the times I have visited. They get hundreds of visitors a year but they will always remember you and treat you right as long as you come in and are respectful. All the Kentland and PG bashers, educate yourself before you run your mouths. These guys have the most pride I have ever seen (reviled by FDNY Rescue 2, where Pete Lund a Kentland guy, was from) and the hours of work they put in to their apparatus maintenance I can not help but laugh when people say they are not surprised they let this happen. Those 33 rigs look better after a working job than most do off the factory floor.

Once again, Kevin Cullen of the Boston Globe nails it. I only wish we had more journalists like him in our area.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/21/remembering-sacrifice-firefighters/ZIwC2dInOiFtJPy92wuMVK/story.html

Once again, Kevin Cullen of the Boston Globe nails it. I only wish we had more journalists like him in our area.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/21/remembering-sacrifice-firefighters/ZIwC2dInOiFtJPy92wuMVK/story.html

Once again, Kevin Cullen of the Boston Globe nails it. I only wish we had more journalists like him in our area.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/21/remembering-sacrifice-firefighters/ZIwC2dInOiFtJPy92wuMVK/story.html

METU is the acronym for “Medical Evacuation Transportation Unit”. It was designed specifically “to assist in the evacuation and relocation of stable individuals confined to a hospital, nursing home or assisted living facility during an emergency or catastrophic event.” It has the capacity to safely transport from one medical facility to another. It is not a MERV, MCI unit, or big ambulance as it is not set-up or equipped to treat, only to transfer.
I believe that 18 METU units were purchased under the New York City Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) and they are assigned to agencies in NJ (several cities/counties), Nassau County, Suffolk County, FDNY, City of Yonkers (YPD), as well as with WCDES here in Westchester.
Again, they are NOT units designed to treat or transport victims from MCIs…their mission is very specific and it is to transfer and transport people between hospitals and/or other health care facilities.
I hope this answers your question and clarifies the continued confusion regarding the METU and its mandated function.

The YPD METU is the only one of the 18 purchased by the U.S. Government via the grant program that is set-up for treatment and rehab. The remaining 17 (FDNY, WCDES, NJ, Nassau, etc) are only set-up for transport and are essentially identical.

METU is the acronym for “Medical Evacuation Transportation Unit”. It was designed specifically “to assist in the evacuation and relocation of stable individuals confined to a hospital, nursing home or assisted living facility during an emergency or catastrophic event.” It has the capacity to safely transport from one medical facility to another. It is not a MERV, MCI unit, or big ambulance as it is not set-up or equipped to treat, only to transfer.
I believe that 18 METU units were purchased under the New York City Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) and they are assigned to agencies in NJ (several cities/counties), Nassau County, Suffolk County, FDNY, City of Yonkers (YPD), as well as with WCDES here in Westchester.
Again, they are NOT units designed to treat or transport victims from MCIs…their mission is very specific and it is to transfer and transport people between hospitals and/or other health care facilities.
I hope this answers your question and clarifies the continued confusion regarding the METU and its mandated function.

Its not about the fine, its about the finding, which will be used against the village in any civil litigation from the families.
The lesson is ignorance of the law is no defense (particularly when DOL can prove you knew the law at some point in the past)

Congrats Hap! You will be missed on the air.



Enjoy a long and healthy retirement!!

Congrats Hap! You will be missed on the air.



Enjoy a long and healthy retirement!!

Congrats Hap! You will be missed on the air.



Enjoy a long and healthy retirement!!

Not really. As I have found running down in PG County, when everyone meets the same basic standards there's only one way to judge the caliber of firefighters: based on the merits of your abilities and whether you can keep the rigs staffed, not on whether you're paid or vollie.
Go experience how other places do it, and you'll pound your head against the wall when you return to the antiquated ways of the northeast. Not to say that PGFD is the be-all, end-all, we have plenty of problems too. But we get rigs on the road with certified Firefighters and Fire Officers, and fires go out. And other than the patch on our arm there's no way you can tell the difference between career and volunteer.

Yes, in Westchester all of the CFIs and SFIs can.
And any person who cannot pass this simple series of job related tasks should not be allowed in the fire service. Period.

1) And that is big part of the problem. Their are depts. that no longer have any interior volunteers (or none some of the time), but they have plenty of exterior. Most will deny this, but if you fail to tell the community, its the #1 problem, because you are no longer a fire department. Do you know that the exterior members need the same couple hundred hours per year of training for ISO. If they have less, it hurts your rating and costs your property owners more money. This includes your 85 year old "members" who no longer respond, but if your rules classify them as "firefighters" ISO deducts points for all the training hours they do not get each year?
All those exterior members with $3,000 tax funded turnouts, has the public been told that's where their $$$ goes?
I am not saying their is not a role for exterior members, but their needs to be a measured response and you need 3 or 4 (or more) interior for every exterior member.
2) I am having chest pain, quick call me a health care worker....anyone, as they are all equal.
3) Not writing off exterior. You cant fix the problem till you admit their is a problem. We hear everyday departments toning out multiple times for available members, but they have no problem? We hear of room and content fires that require 5, 6, 7 departments for mutual aid just to get a dozen interior members. We also know of departments that still claim to have hundreds of members, but that's not what responds.
We need to stop thinking that we need to maintain 58 individual fire departments, when 95% can not handle a simple fire without mutual aid.
And finally we need ALL firefighters to support MORE training. As long as groups fight to prevent this we will never move forward.

Part of this is true, the candidate gets a second try a couple of weeks later. This new standard is for both career and volunteer ff's. What was explained to the chiefs was "this is not to get rid of potential firefighters, it is to have them in-house trained to expect this when they get to class. We (the fire service) do a disservice to volunteer recruits when we hand them all their gear and tell them to show at class night one, and they haven't even worn it yet. Several depts. in Westchester are way ahead of the curve by doing months of in-house training before sending anyone to class. AND IT SHOWS.
I read one comment that stated each dept should be responsible for their own training. I agree. Who gets to over see this? With this new OFPC standard the instructor who trained the recruits is not the same evaluator for final skills.

My only gripes with this are Station #3 (saw carry) & #4 (ladder raise). Besides the Yard Breathers, who wears an SCBA for this stuff?



And - if I have a 30 minute bottle and you have a 60 minute bottle - does that mean the same test for both of us?



The change is long overdue, and everyone will complain about it until it's been around for a while, just like everything else, when it becomes accepted. Any volunteer fire department that thinks doing this is a bad idea are probably the same ones that let their Chiefs handle everything while the rank and file members hold their dicks back at the rigs.

wow really!!! so I guess you have no problem being teamed up with someone who CANT do this and he/she is your interior partner.
How did the instructors become the enemy in your mind?

Yes, in Westchester all of the CFIs and SFIs can.
And any person who cannot pass this simple series of job related tasks should not be allowed in the fire service. Period.

Yes, in Westchester all of the CFIs and SFIs can.
And any person who cannot pass this simple series of job related tasks should not be allowed in the fire service. Period.

Long overdue

This will actually eliminate some of the candidates that should not even be accepted into the departments. Some departments are so desperate that they will accept anyone with a pulse and that does not help with the mission.