antiquefirelt

I suspect one of the factors would be the predominance of this type of insulation in your buildings. We seem to have a significant number of older homes where this was used in both walls, ceilings and attics. Reading the "full" article on this device in Minn. describes the system as a regional resource in a fairly urban area. I'm guessing they have a high percentage of homes with this stuff in the attic. While we've not had a large number of attic fires overall, any time we've had extension this has been a concern. The real issues is when you have an ignition source and air movement. If the attic remains sealed up, the smoldering can easily be contained as it doesn't spread, but a little air flow and the very light heated pieces easily travel to other areas. Again, given the price, this would seem to be a decent regional asset vs. any one FD just as they're doing in Minnesota.

Seems pretty pricey for the overall number of incidents, but I can say that I know I wish we had something like this a few times. Blown in cellulose is very hard to be completely satisfied without removing all of it. We had a small outside fire in a porta-potty that extended very lightly into the eave of a 60 x 200 multiple occupancy. The crew was able to quickly contain the fire in the attic but then spent a significant time chasing smoldering spots across the attic. With extension/damage to any of the finished interior businesses, tearing down ceilings was not a favored option. In the end a crew had to return for a smoldering section later the same night. As I recall this was after "clearing" the attic with a TIC. Had we been able to remove the cellulose from the section where the extension occurred the return trip may have been prevented. Thankfully there was never any damage beyond the exterior and slight intrusion in the eave. As a testament to the ignitability of cellulose insulation: in my early years I worked building construction and one job was removing a roof and adding a second floor to a large home on the waterfront. While cutting the roof off with a slight breeze the cellulose was repeatedly ignited by the sparks from a chainsaw striking nails. Even the low mass sparks with no pre-warming were able to start the insulation smoldering. So just missing one little spot could result in a rekindle.

It's rarely quite that simple. In many cases, the municipality just goes on using mutual aid to a greater extent. Too few of the public understand the system that covers there homes and businesses. They do understand their paycheck and taxes. I agree that I'd not volunteer where anyone is paid or where it might effect a paid job, but working in a combination department for 18+ years I can tell you reality is far from cut and dry. Our Union whispered about squeezing the call firefighters out as they didn't trust their level of training and commitment. The question posed to them was would they rather trust volunteers from mutual aid departments that they had very little exposure to and had not trained with or the 'volunteers" with who they routinely trained, and worked under the same SOG's? Our FD is sooo far from having enough personnel to handle a decent job with on duty staff that the budget would have to triple to remote come close, a dose of reality. So, sometimes breaking bread with guys who are willing to make sure you get home to your wife in kids but go home after drill makes sense. Not everyone's reality is the same.

No doubt this is a topic that's going to affect all of us at some point. Here's a piece from FH.com today: http://www.firehouse.com/news/11138735/boulder-firefighters-builders-reach-compromise-on-solar-panels I'm not convinced a 30" wide strip up the center of the roof or along the ridge allows for proper vent placement for every fire, but then again cutting the roof isn't our primary ventilation tactic in most PDs, unless the fire is in the "A".

While we don't use "working fire" as an official term, we've seriously considered using the declaration to fill out the balance of our first alarm. To me the announcement of a working fire means all initial personnel are/will be tasked on arrival and the fire is not going to be a quick knock. Our discussion in house would be to use this to get 1 and 1, less than a full second alarm, but enough to serve as tactical reserve or to stage for other incidents. I guess that's how I understood a declaration of a "working fire to be" something less than a full alarm assignment but standard enough to be predetermined. It appears some FD's use it as a descriptor upon arrival rather than just describing the conditions?

I will say that Brotherhood in the overall larger sense seems to be a little more intact. In this I mean that everyone shows outside firefighters the utmost respect, goes out of their way to show them things, advise them on where to eat or stay and otherwise recognize that we're all members of something different than the normal job. Is this truly Brotherhood or just a small piece therein? I say the latter. When you start to network with other fire service personnel from all over you can see that there is a little more to this than just having the same job in a different town. There are still many of us to call all other firefighters brother or sister and would be happy to invite them in to share a meal or go have a beer and share thoughts, ideas and stories about the job. In a positive manner as you first asked, last week it was relayed to me that on another shift a Brother from away stopped in and was in the area for a funeral of a close family member, they were hosting a large contingent of family for the weekend and was looking for a place to get a horseshoe pit set up. One of our guys quickly gave up a set he had at home, sending them to his garage to retrieve what was need for as long as it was needed. Not a big deal, but at least a glimmer that someone had the idea to just help a Brother out, instead of sending to Walmart by the quickest route. As I typed these two posts I noticed that I'd twice mis-typed Brotherhood as botherhood, maybe it was a sign of my dismay. I won't give up, and I hope many others won't either, we just have to find away to show the value in making the fire service more than just a job.

I fear Brotherhood has lost out to technology. The ability to have one's personal life literally at ones fingertips 24/7/365 ensures that is the priority 24/7/365. The camaraderie , Brotherhood and sense of family I found as a proby is lost since gone, taken one small step at a time, though in pretty short order. When I started at my career position we had two computers used for entering basic NFIRs reports and typing official letters. We arrived at work at least a half an hour before the shift to ensure the off going guys didn't get stuck on a BS run that would mess up their plans. We all gathered at the dayroom table to discuss any pertinent FD issues that arose in the past 48 hours, and then typically drifted to anything of interest we'd done, heard or seen in the same time period. We knew each other on a personal level. We were allowed one phone call home in the evening not to exceed 10 minutes (we had but 1 business line). You'd call home say good night and unless it was an emergency, hope that you didn't get a call from outside. We all gathered at every "scheduled" break and ate meals together. Strangely 15-18 years ago we rarely shared a meal as one, we merely ate our own things at the same table at the same time. That changed almost as a reaction to the loss of time together a few ears after I started. Nonetheless we all, had nothing better to do than keep each other entertained. We constantly played practical jokes on each other, frequently gather to smoke on the bay floor (designated area at that time, when we not as health conscious). We'd practically beg our Chief to regale us with stories of jobs and his war experiences (best story teller ever!). We'd watch the same TV at night and for the morning news. We were tight. Every shift was tight and due to stricter staffing rules we had to swap more often so we had reason to be tight with other guys too. When we came to work, we left everything else at home, very little from home affected us unless it was a personal issue that had an affect on a guys' focus (impending divorce, financial crisis, death in the family) the day to day stuff had to wait until the next day, period. Of the past 15 years we first started to get better computers, which at first only allowed games, so we started to lose a few people to video games once in a while, but for the most part it was unnoticeable. Then came the internet, and that's when we started to lose guys for hours, sometimes whole tours we'd only share time on calls or community work. Maybe here's where we started to do the communal evening meal that at least brought all shift members to the same table for an hour or so. Then we seemed to find the end of the internet and people grew bored with it. It became a nice tool, but less exciting unless looking for something specific. Somewhere along the way, cellphones became smaller and mainstream and suddenly guys were hiding on the floor at night arguing with the wife or other people. Our home lives came to the station. Suddenly, all the day to day issues, were confronting guys while they were at work. We struggled to keep up with the changing technology with rules that tried to at least ensure actual work was unaffected, but alas, that didn't work, changes were far too rapid. Requests for emergency time off for this and that increased, personnel were often scattered to the far ends of the building quietly dealing with their home/life issues instead of watching TV, sharing stories or otherwise congregating together. And today all the technologies collide to nearly obliterate anyone's sense that they can come to work to get away from everything else. Facebook has inserted people back into to each other lives, but on a far less personal level. People know things about each other but given they can read this and get the info indirectly they have ample opportunity to express their true views without the person being able to explain or defend themselves. Now we see far more snickering and back stabbing amongst "brothers". Many Facebook users see the guys/girls spouses opinions and actions and suddenly have their opinion on that, something that used to be somewhat off limits. Smartphones ensure all of this takes place wherever/whenever the member is. Our crews still meet at the dayroom table in the morning and share information, as soon as FD interests are gone, it generally devolves to "did you see what, so and so posted?" or "if I was married to that .....I'd ....". Most mornings there's 8-12 people sitting around, but only 2 or 3 are talking and the rest have their faces buried in the smartphones. Firefighters are far less likely to come in early for another, instead coming in at literally the last minute, still chatting away to whomever was more important at 0658 in the morning. We still eat the evening meal together but typically it's pretty quiet as one or two people text their way through dinner. We had to make a rule that talking on personal phones was done outside the dayroom otherwise you could watch TV or remotely converse. Yep, a rule that addresses common courtesy. Still in the evening those who have gravitated back to the dayroom to watch TV, now do so with an Ipad on their lap and constantly are convinced the rest of us need to see whatever stupid thing was sent to them or posted on a Facebook page, totally oblivious that others might actually not care. Sorry, Moose, this wasn't a positive story of Brotherhood. Maybe I'm "old" or just don't find myself interesting enough to Tweet or be on Facebook, and while I think we the Brothers and Sisters allowed this to happen, it's technology that killed Brotherhood. While this is what I see from the career side, I imagine that on the volunteer/call side, the technology has become a time drain that hurts volunteerism, as people spend far more time using the web media to stay up on all things that used to be none of their business. The hardest part is that I now realize how much I miss the more personal interaction with those I work with and the job is becoming much more of a job. I used to want to go to work, now I'm ambivalent, I'd likely take far more time off if other duties wouldn't just pile up on my desk. I find myself looking for projects to reinvigorate my attitude, and this is a common feeling among many of members with 10-12 year or more on the job.

Wow, I thought we were the only state with similar laws. In Maine a barber/beautician has more regulations than firefighters, EMT's, and contractors to name just a few. Of course our municipal government has grasped the same foolishness and agreed to a minimum staffing clause at the library that exceeds that of the FD!

All I can say is wow. My GF and I were in the city a few weeks ago and ended up spending the night in Stony Point, then travelling up river through Newburgh, damn, looks like times are truly tough there. It's one thing to read about it here, but seeing it really puts the issue into perspective. All I can say is for what it appears the workload is, 10 firefighters per tour has got to make for some long shifts. Good luck to the Brothers there, it appears you'll not have any shortage of work for some time.

So it appears that for some people it really is about THEM, not the work. I suspect the public doesn't hear that sentiment as it certainly sends the message that putting their needs ahead of your own is not in the cards? Sad. I used to be a volunteer and I'm sure I will be again at some point, and currently have a division under me that is all call personnel. Are there issues? Sure. Are there issue between the career guys, shift to shift, individuals? Sure. But, we make it work. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes not so much, but guys go to calls together, work gets done, call men work to their training level next to their career brothers and no one has come to blows since I've been here (since '95).

Subdued might be slightly understating it? Some EDP dies, and it is likely tragic as not every EDP is a POS or common criminal, so I'd say the headline is probably true. The trooper will likely second guess himself as taking a life isn't as easy as it seems on TV. Someone's child is dead. None of this means the trooped had any other option or that his actions weren't exactly right, it may be that sometimes we look to hard for controversy? Clearly the outcome is far better when the person causing the issue is the only one hurt or killer, but certainly still may be tragic. now if the guy was a true POS, then I'd say not so tragic.

Nice features, much akin to past E-one 100 footers that were so well liked. The short length and incredibly small footprint make this a sure winner if it holds up. Boston was pretty much full of the older version before they took them off the market and they went looking at other products. I can imagine the Jakes would love to have these with the short 11 foot jack spread.

I would question how much pride can be left in a department or EMS service that allows another to handle it calls for lack of response. Wearing t-shirts or displaying stickers with slogans isn't a measure of pride.

I would think that any cooperative dispatch center would require participating departments fill out run cards and give explicit permission to allow dispatchers to get companies to all calls in a timely manner. Require they comply or not be serviced. Dispatchers and centers should not be forced to deal with the consequences even in the short time (the callers) of a FD or EMS agency's failure to respond within preset time frames. While it may be the municipal entities liability to provide the service, the dispatchers are the ones left holding the bag when a call goes unanswered or excessively slowly answered.

It's not just Westchester or NY, it's in a lot of places, maybe everywhere. I just sat in a meeting last week with local service chiefs and members of our regional medical control and the State EMS Board (Maine) and can tell you first hand the problem is wherever we used to have volunteers. Between dwindling volunteers, increased time constraints, increased mandates and the increase in the standard of care, volunteers are burning out and new ones are harder to hook then ever. Our State EMS took over EMS dispatching and require all dispatch centers to use EMD. Just recently they mandated the centers use the determinant codes, but provided no instruction or notification to any services as to what they meant or how they were to be responded to. Most of the volunteer services lack paramedics unless they hire them per diem, so the services are forced to pay mutual aid services to provide ALS for significant number of calls. This of course benefits the patients and is the right thing to do, but the push back is becoming immense as services chew through their budgets paying for out of town ALS. They want to modify the protocols to wait and see if they really really need a medic or not, instead of embracing the EMD system. The State's final word is that they are under no obligation to call out of town ALS, that protocols state ALS must be called when and where available, but this means the services own ALS not any ALS available! So the State in their fear to not push an unfunded mandate is allowing these services to respond to calls as they see fit if they do not have their own medics, but they do require a signed mutual aid agreement that ensures every patient gets an ambulance, just not one that can be as effective as the system was designed for. Overall our State EMS is long been known for being totally spineless when push comes to shove. They wield tons of power if your license fees check crosses in the mail with your new license, but if you want to handle a cardiac arrest with BLS providers, they aren't going to tell you not to. Anyway, things aren't better everywhere else, just different names, same issue. Good luck, if you find a solution post it, we'll put you up for a Nobel Prize, they've been awarded for less!

Out of curiosity: Does the 2" used for the rear bed stretch pilot have 1 1/2" or 2 1/2" couplings? I'd not heard of 2" with 2.5" couplings until this thread and of course on a single length specifically used on the end of the standpipe stretch that makes sense (one less reducer).

Sorry I misread post #6 above about it's use as the lead length off standpipe stretches vs. the apparently dead test of replacing 1.75" in general. Thought they were only testing it for the highrise stretches.

Of course they used to send you to the office if you acted out, send you to a 'slower" learning class if you couldn't keep up or call your parents and have a meeting if you were otherwise not cutting it. Too often now teachers are scared to single a student out in any negative way as the parents suddenly shift the tables and make the school treat the kids special, as it couldn't possibly be the kids fault, heaven forbid theirs for not instilling some of the most basic lessons at home. I have three teacher I'm pretty tight with and while they all have slightly different experiences, it would appear their ability to teach is getting further and further hampered by the systems overall fear of lawsuits. In one case the teacher and her co-workers have been threatened with bodily harm and the administration will not take the case to law enforcement out of fear of legal repercussions. While I can't directly blame all of this on lawyers specifically, I can say that a lot of or problems stem from continuing to hold people monetarily liable for things that really are out of their direct control. This speaks to hiring practices, problems in our educational system, the cost of our justice and penalization system, the cost of medical care and medications, and the list goes on.

This I do not doubt, but realize that a large part of us likely no very little about most mental health issues unless we've had direct exposure to them. Similarly the post above noting exemplary military service in the face of a previous ADHD diagnosis, proves that some people can function fine while others in the mental health profession have determined that as a group these folks are more likely to have issues, hence the "no hire" practice. For every standard reason someone shouldn't be hired (medical history, mental health, criminal history. etc) there are exceptions that have gone on to serve as model employees without issue, but until those numbers disprove the statistical data showing the risks, the prohibition will probably remain. I feel like an "old timer" I guess but there are times when I see ADHD as a name and disorder given to allow blame to be placed other than where it truly lies for kids and adults who were never disciplined. I know that there's likely tons of proof that this is a true "thing" but I'd have to agree that it appears to be an easy route to explain away why little Johnny can't sit still or shut up during class. Instead of treating this the way they did 25+ years ago, everyone points fingers and makes up excuses, so off to the doctor for the new "mother's little helper". OK , sorry for the harsh critique, as I said ADHD is likely a true mental health issue but from personal experience the true cases vs the sheer number that are "diagnosed" seems disproportional to the way "it used to be". OK, gotta go, time for Matlock.

I guess I'd want the engine officer to do his job and write the guy up and let someone try and squash it or him for actually doing his job. As M'Ave noted it's too easy and common for officers to ignore issues and let stuff slide until it's too late. But if one person starts the process, it'll be a whole different scenario to try and make it go away.

It appears the FDNY test parameters was not really aligned with totally eliminating 1.75" but using the 2" in a very specific application. FDNY does serve well as a proving ground for many tactics and tools given their volume and ability to quantify their results, but even when they make changes, one must look at the overall picture before determining that it'll work elsewhere as well or without issue. I'd be more inclined to cast aside those things they cast aside, but want to further test those they find work for them.

Is this guy the engine officer? If not, who is and why isn't he/she doing their job? If this guy's the officer, someone above him is either in the dark or is hiding there.

While I have no educational basis to back this, my sense is that those are two pretty different issues. Seeing a counselor for a potentially difficult issue to ensure there are no lasting mental health effects makes sense to me. On the other hand prescribed medication for ADHD mean a diagnosed issue. While this issue may not be a dangerous one(prone to violence) it does raise a flag to ones ability to stay on task? Again, wouldn't be our call from a hiring standpoint, but if the psyche eval found this, I could understand it's validity.

Damn talk about needing the "doorman", I'd think this would make for a difficult stretch?

Again, I'm not disagreeing with you, but if it was that simple hopefully it would have already been done. It's not happened yet, thus we must engineer a safety factor to cover the lack of discipline and training, mush like many other things in our profession today. Honestly, I strongly think the only reason here is the number of miles they put on, of course under no "stress" (real or perceived). Class A or B licenses don't make people better drivers, time in the drivers seat does. The driving time of operators of Commercial vehicle licenses far exceeds normal drivers, thus those with commercial operators licenses enjoy far fewer accidents. Sure like many other things, knowing the background of air brakes vs. hydraulic brakes may be beneficial, but that's not what prevent the accident from occurring.