SteveOFD

I just finished my refresher HazMat First Responder Ops. class Tuesday night. One of the things suggested for evacuations is if a person refuses to leave the area, provide him/her with a permanent magic marker to write their name, social security number, and a contact number on their body. This way when the body is recovered the appropriate people can be notified.

I do not understand all of your post. What do you mean by "wow come on really?" , "have some respect"and ..."even if they are volunteers"? Are you infering that I am being disrespectful? If so, please elaborate why you feel this way.
To be clear to the objective and fair minded readers out there- I intend no disrespect. Is your comment "even if they are volunteers" meant to be demeaning or disrespectful of volunteer Firefighters? If so, I disavow that totally and would point out that disrespecting of any group or individual has no place on this forum.
In answer to your question "what answers are you looking for?"...I am looking for (not demanding, simply inquiring) for answers to the questions that I asked.
qtip

I'm not really looking to have a discussion but if one insues, so be it. I have noticed in a few threads recently that some people aren't able to take criticism or jest very well anymore. I would like to take this opportunity to bring back an acronym that was used by many on this site. Q.T.I.P. Quit taking it personal. Guess what kids, this is the emergency service. You are posting on a forum that is dedicated to us. If you say something out of line or just plain stupid, you will get your various parts busted. That's just how it works. Thanks for your time guys and gals. As always, stay safe.
Wisker
P.s. If you are going to be a keyboard tough guy, sign your name.

While this looks like a good way to determine what is spent, it is very deceiving. What is in each budget may not include many items.
As an example when doing a comprehensive budget comparison of 2 depts. a few years ago:
Dept. X had 30 career members and a budget of $16m
Dept. Y had 50 career members and a budget of $12.8m
Now both pay similar salaries, so in theory Dept. Y's budget should have been about $29-30m.
So how is this possible? Dept. Y's budget did not include the following:
Pension ( Paid from the HR Budget)
Health Insurance & other insurance and medical costs (Paid from the HR Budget)
Fuel, Fleet maintenance, Station maintenance, Utilities (Paid from Public Works Budget)
Hydrant Rental/Cost (Water Dept.)
Fleet Replacement (Capital Budget)
Computers & phones (IT Budget)
Contract Fees (legal Dept.)
Grants (Development Budget)
Without understanding the budget its a meaningless number.

According to The Journal New legal section July 23, 2013 "...sealed bids will be received by the Board of Fire Commissioners of the Hawthorne Fire District...for the purchase of a Custom Deluxe Pumper Fire Truck....Bids will be publically opened and read on August 12, 2013 at 7:00PM..."

Not looking to defend or support this, but the 2% funds are a surcharge on fire insurance policies written by foreign (i.e. out of state) insurance companies. No tax money is involved.
An interesting interpretation from the NYS Insurance Department can be found here http://www.dfs.ny.gov/insurance/ogco2007/rg070522.htm .

Not looking to defend or support this, but the 2% funds are a surcharge on fire insurance policies written by foreign (i.e. out of state) insurance companies. No tax money is involved.
An interesting interpretation from the NYS Insurance Department can be found here http://www.dfs.ny.gov/insurance/ogco2007/rg070522.htm .

Looking at this web page http://arffwg.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/ARFF-Professional-Designation-Program.pdf, Airport Fire Officer seems to be a new designation for ARFF operations.
"Airport Fire Officer 259x", "AFO 259x", "Fire 259x", "Duty Officer 259x" could be some suggestions.

The Judge does not need to know anything about emergency services. He/She needs to decipher (and rule on) what the terms of the contract intended.

The Judge does not need to know anything about emergency services. He/She needs to decipher (and rule on) what the terms of the contract intended.

Real nice shots of the Ladders placements, but weren't there any Engines on scene?
Seriously, Engines can stretch hose, Ladders can't stretch ladders.

Here are the pictures I took this afternoon.











I heard some comm's on Fireground 3 around this exercise. This Evening as I was returning home it appeared they were using the smokehouse.

Here are the pictures I took this afternoon.











I heard some comm's on Fireground 3 around this exercise. This Evening as I was returning home it appeared they were using the smokehouse.

To insert pictures, next to "Post" for the reply message is "More Reply Options", click this. When the next screen opens at the bottom you will see "Attach Files". Click "Browse" to find where you have saved the file of the picture. Once you have attached all of the pictures you want click on "Attach This File" below where you have had your files.
Prior to posting please read the rules regarding posting pictures at http://www.emtbravo.net/index.php/forum/114-photo-posting-guide/. Long story short, your pictures cannot exceed the 800 x 600 sizing for this site.
Please post your pictures for all to view, thanks.

We were sitting in station 3's kitchen watching the news of the fire in Hackensack before the collapse and we could not believe that they did not know it was a truss building. We saw that is what it was and how advanced the fire was. I remember the descussion that they needed to backout and then it collapsed.
I will never forget.
If you and your dept. did not learn the painful lessons of that day, then shame on you!
If you do not train every member in building construction and how fire effects it (and how it effects fire) you did not learn the leasons of that day.

If you do not do building inspections or at least walk throught and document hazards you did not learn the leasons of that day.

If you do not have seperate fireground and dispatch channels (and use them everytime) you did not learn the leasons of that day.

If you do not do accountability (so you know where your firefighters are operating) you did not learn the leasons of that day.

if you do not operate a command post with enough people to track resources and be able to hear all radio traffic (because the chief is trying to multi task to many jobs) you did not learn the leasons of that day.

If you do not evaluate & reevaluate conflicting condition reports you did not learn the leasons of that day.

If you exceed proper span of control you did not learn the leasons of that day.

If you do not stage tactical reserves you did not learn the leasons of that day.
In Westchester, many of these lessons were never learned or they have been forgotten.
I will never forget.

I find it hard to believe the booster vs.1 3/4 argument is still alive and well. Try a timed race between a booster line and a 1 3/......AAAH, never mind. If you haven't figured it out by now, I probably can't convince you.

?

Great...do me a favor and dont let my county see this BS.
We FINALY started to have a decent training program in my county with a small group of dedicated and talented instructors, and a new training tower. We have Firefighter 1 offered twice a year so there is no excuse to not have it, and our department is the same way requiring every member to obtain firefighter 1 within 6 months of joining (or as soon as it is offered if longer than 6 month period). Our department also requires you to have fire police training so if you end up directing traffic at an MVA you know what you are supposed to do. We require all drivers to have EVOC and Pump Ops. But I still feel that is not enough.
Now this is happening in Texas?? How soon until it trickles over to NY??
To me, if you want to fight fires and respond to emergencies such as MVA's and Haz-Mat Spills and rescue calls you need to know what you are doing. There are too many wahoos out there that think turnout gear is like Batmans outfit, once you don it your a super hero...
I respect the fire service, I respect the brotherhood and I respect training and those that have training, not having enough training shows disrespect to the fire service and all of the greats that paved the way for us and passed on what they learned the hard way paying blood sweat and tears. I for one will continue to honor those firefighters and continue to train and learn something new everyday.
Just remember...not all of the volunteers are careless, disrespectful, dangerous and unprofessional.
Stay Safe.

The backbone of the volunteer fire service rests in training. It must be kept in mind that volunteer fire departments are "professionally staffed by volunteers" and must provide the same services as any career department (in many cases to a higher standard as to disprove the notion that they are "just volunteers"). This is why the volunteer fire department of which I am a member has a mandatory Firefighter 1 requirement within 6 months of becoming a member and a very aggressive weekly in-house training program. Amateurs train until they get something right, professionals train until they can't get it wrong. At 2 am, in the cold and snow, with mutual aid minutes away, duties must be performed perfectly. Firefighters, career or volunteer, must train hard to get to this level.

Fair warning: I'm going on a bit of a rant here.
The sad fact is that many rural communities follow that exact model. The only way they get away with it is because call volume is so low that statistics will very rarely catch up to them.
I personally think this is selfish, there is a standard and it should be upheld. But the general mindset that guides this kind of thing isn't exclusive to volunteers. Many firefighters, career and volunteer, believe that because they're considered the "experts" in the field, that they shouldn't have to respond to the will of their customers (within reason). That's crap. "ITS NOT ABOUT YOU" is the phrase that comes to mind, and maybe it should be painted on the inside of every apparatus bay door in the country. The residents of a community are put at ease believing they have a fire department that is trained to do the job. Maybe its not a career department, because the town hasn't determined it needs/can afford that level of protection, but they expect the personnel that do respond to be adequately trained to complete the tasks they're assigned.
Here's an idea: Lets pass a law saying if your fire department doesn't follow minimum accredited training standards, you're required to call the organization "Bucket Brigade" or "Cellar Savers." Just a little truth in advertising.
You want the title? Earn it. Show that you're proud of what it means and that you're willing to go the extra mile to help your community. Don't take a cop-out route like this. This kind of thing is an insult to those of us who are proud to be volunteer Firefighters.

Just when you thought you had seen everything.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOGS-AND-BRUSH-PILE-/390575771802?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5af021509a#ht_2066wt_917
NY State auctioning a Logs and Brush pile.

Seth,
A lot has changed. And, like you pointed out, a lot has not.
Only eight departments still get dispatched on and use 46.26 for their communications - down from a couple dozen. And for the most part, those that are still using 46.26 are using fireground channels for the stuff that doesn't need to be put out on 46.26. As far as 60 dispatching a call and then that department retones it - that only applies to about 11 departments that either get paged by 60 Control first then by their local dispatch, or some departments retone from their base due to coverage issues. Still an improvement than it was.
The Trunk System - each department is given a "primary/home" talkgroup to use, whether they use it every run or during larger incidents is their discretion. For example, we use Fire 10 for all of our command/control, rig/control communications. Along the same lines, every department has an assigned primary/home fire ground channel - and again, it's their discretion whether they use it. Again, using our FD as an example, our designated fire ground is FG 3, but our neighbors use it too so we use FG 5. (Poor planning but we adapted).
When there's Mutual Aid incidents, responding units are directed to the channels being used. For example, units responding to a Mutual Aid fire in Yorktown would be directed to Fire 17 and fireground 7, or other channels being used (Tankers on Ops 1, etc.).
Size-Up... well, that's a sore subject. Yes, the first arriving unit should always give one and along those lines, Progress Reports should be given periodically. Does it happen all the time, no. Why? I can't answer that. There's people afraid to do it, there's people that don't believe in it and let's be honest - there's guys that don't know what to do/say!
Salaries? Facilities? I don't think commenting on this is in my best interest... I need my job.

Real nice shots of the Ladders placements, but weren't there any Engines on scene?
Seriously, Engines can stretch hose, Ladders can't stretch ladders.

Here is a better picture that I took on the Garden State Parkway on my way to Atlantic City back in February.

Took this picture about two weeks ago from the upper parking lot at WCDES. It's not my best picture, but here it is for a test shot.