antiquefirelt

Already done. Mike Wilbur was excellant on our tower and is already assisting greatly with this. We've learned the hard way that we don't buy enough trucks to spec things right the first, second, or third time. Having been part of the spec/purchase committee in both vol. and career depts. I've worked on a handful of specs and learned more from Mike in 2 hrs than I could have imagined. Given what I've seen I'm sure East West is an excellant resource as well and echo the fact that many departments probably could use a consultant.

OK so it looks like 2-3 of us will be travelling to the NY-NJ-PA area the week of Sept. 25th. We have to be in Ephrata, PA for a mid-inspection of the new Tower on Tuesday. Hopefully this Mon I'll have a better handle on what apparatus we are really wanting to see, so we can make some contacts. I know Pleasantville R47 and Thornwood R75 are on the must see list. Does anyone know if Yonkers Squad 11 or New Rochelle Squad 22 carry "Jaws" type tools?

Thanks for the help. Lots of good leads and contacts here. We're trying to schedule a trip for mid to late September to take a look at many of these rescue/pumpers. This is a great start. As I said, we pretty much know what we want, but want to hear from those who have and use them what works, what doesn't and "what we should have done was..."

We used Mike and Tom for our tower specs and we've spoken to Mike extensively on this project. I highly recommend their services, we learned alot that we didn't even know we didn't know.

Our department is writing specs for our new Rescue Pumper. This will be a first for us as we've run separate peices until now, but space and long-term cost of ownership has us consolidating. I am looking for dept's in the Westchester/Rockland/Orange Co. area as well as southern Ct. that have rescue pumpers that a few of us could come take a look at. For our purposes I'll list some of the musts that ours will have: 1250 or greater pump 650 gal. tank hydraulic rescue tools system (preconnected tools) engine and truck Co. hand and power tools light tower 10K + generator 4-6 man cab Other factors we're considering: low hose bed wanted, as short as possible, possibly CAFS, as mush compartment space as possible. Here's a short list of units I gleened from this site: Pleasantville Rescue 47 Washingtonville 583 West Harrison Rescue 35 New Rochelle Squad 22 Yonkers Squad 11 Goshen E-931 Orange Lake 329 Thornwood R75 Spring Valley Rescue 17 Nanuet ? Anyone else have such an animal? We're looking to make a trip in late September. Thanks

I believe the new ALF 110 footer may have the narrowest jack spread now. Something like 12'? Pretty sweet on narrow streets with no learning curve for depts not using tillers currently.

Not that we all don't ahve opinions on what we've seen, but get some first hand info before making any decision. We're replacing our aerail with new 93' ALF mid-mount. This after tons of homework and a three day whirlwind tour of mid-mount users in the NY, CT and MA. One thisng's for sure: talk to the firefighters that use the truck. Not the Chief's who bought them. Again, these were just observations we heard from line firefighters on their mid-mount towers: KME: only saw one, lots of nightmares. E-One: 5 of 6 users unhappy and said stay away Peirce: 4 (of 6) users had electronics issues resulting in damage or locking up of aerial Sutphen: didn't even look, the bucket is detrimental to good tactical uses. Had one to use for a year, didn't like. ALF: most (6 of 6) were happy except minor issues with door switches. Seagrave/Scope: (sung by Eddie Murphy)"we can't afford it, we can't afford it, we can't afford it" Little to no bad remarks from users. Cost to great to be realistic. No one else met our specs for sole-source or minimum number of trucks in service. We're getting ready to do another "tour" for our new Rescue Pumper. I highly recommend this as you see many innovations, some are great others don't work as well. Also, you can aniticpate issues and learn from other mistakes.

Unless you're actually doing a presentation with alot of graphics (non-photo) and alot of text, there are better programs for this. Windows movie maker allows you to add music and adjust the slides to where the music starts/stops/transitions. It also allows for titles, credit and text slides to be inserted. I think it is a cheap download or comes with many camera software packages.

I couldn't agree more. All I can say is that having rules and enforcing them is good, as many vol. dept.s tend to ignore most. But stupid rules? If parades are the mainstay of your dept. then the taxpayers are getting the shaft. Do us a favor and stop hurting the rest of the fire service with these retarded ideas. I'll bet all the shiny rigs, and marching practice makes for a bunch of OUT STANDING firefighters!!

Unless its changed lately, Boston allows its firefighters to choose what they wear on their lower extremities. I believe the choices are: bunker pants and boots, uniform pants and 3/4 boots or uniform pants and uniform boots. This is evidentally an open ended trial period to determine the safety issues. For awhile BFD wore full bunkers and then saw an increase in heat related injuries and decided to test the issue inhouse. I'm not sure I agree, but I see the issue and would note that Chicago has yet to wear bunker pants. As for the helmets: leather New Yorkers are still pretty standard but I'll bet the "old" you're referring to is the helmet fronts that are made locally to Boston and look old when they're new. The Boston jakes do a hell of a job, but they're still a little behind in some ways, but you'll have to prove it by them. Hell, last time i was there, we saw guys standing in the open rear jump seat areas leaning out to see where they were going ona run!. As the new fully enclosed cabs take over I guess they'll have to sit down?

I'm pretty sure ADA requirements say all new public buildings with more than one story must have an elevator. I know of a few new stations that had to have them to meet ADA, even though the eleveator serviced non-public spaces. Where I am, not NY, the State Fire Marshal's Office must approve all building plans for those that met certain criteria, and they look for ADA compliance. ADA is a federal thing, BTW, no state to state loosening of the rules (they can make them tighter). So in our area no plans recieve approval without ADA compliance. This includes ramps, bathroom turnaround distances, wheelchair useable sinks, elevators and more. Of course ADA is enforced through a "complaint " based system. Basically you're all set untila complaint is registers. But, look out then because there's little mercy for those who ignored the rights and requirements for handicapped persons.

I'm pretty sure ADA requirements say all new public buildings with more than one story must have an elevator. I know of a few new stations that had to have them to meet ADA, even though the eleveator serviced non-public spaces. Where I am, not NY, the State Fire Marshal's Office must approve all building plans for those that met certain criteria, and they look for ADA compliance. ADA is a federal thing, BTW, no state to state loosening of the rules (they can make them tighter). So in our area no plans recieve approval without ADA compliance. This includes ramps, bathroom turnaround distances, wheelchair useable sinks, elevators and more. Of course ADA is enforced through a "complaint " based system. Basically you're all set untila complaint is registers. But, look out then because there's little mercy for those who ignored the rights and requirements for handicapped persons.

Nozzle pattern selection: Right is RIGHT and Left for Lobster!!

This is a huge myth! Why would you want to flow fog into a structure to cover a retreat? The cool air sucking in around the nozzle gives you a false sense of security. As was stated previously: GPM, GPM, GPM. Nothing else stops advancing fire. In fact a fog nozzle created a negative pressure vortex directly in its center which actually can draw fire toward the nozzle. (seen clearly in LPG training). Fog is better for hydraulic vents, and "capturing" 3-D fires, but thats about it. Oh yeah, they're better at eating up budgets too!

While not in your area, we too runa two tag system. One goes on an "Onscene" board on each apparatus and the second goes on a traffic cone placed outside the point of entry. Getting the cone palced initiallly is the real problem for us. We now also carry oversized tags with a small metal loop and a drwstring to attach to door knobs or other things at the point of entry in case the cone was not brought up. Upon arrival of the Safety Officer he begins tracking all tags and has the option of collecting them (single or 2 nearby points of entry) or leaving them and monitoring personnel to ensure compliance. The hardest part is making everyone tag up on every call: training, AFA's, car fires, etc. We must tag in everytime to make sure we'll do it when it counts. As for M/A Co.s we require that they maintain their own accountability and that only Qualified interior firefighters respond (minus the driver/operator).

Is there any way to tun off the OTJNY copyright when posting here where photos are secure. Honestly it looks like some great shots, but they're painful to look at with the Banner across the middle. Anyway, I'm just wondering is we can enjoy them more without someone "stealing" them?

We specifically are replacing our straight stick with a tower for this reason (among many). The prevelance of trusses and lightweight construction have basically got us thinking that in the next 20 years roof ventilation will become much more dangerous as the number of liller roofs are built. Venting from a tower bucket is the safest way thus far. I like the shape charges the ESU guys have for doors, but they won't let us try it!

The "Class K Fire" kills me! What happened, they invented a Kitchen exitinguishing agent so that you don't have powder everywhere and suddenly that chages teh class of fire itself? What a joke.

Does Brewster, or anyone else who uses these reel trucks, drive over the hose when reloading (not on the hose!) or back up the whole time (risk of backing accident).? Also, what about some sort of small tank with a spray rig for cleaning?

Ditto! I can't think of a show that made me feel happier for someone or a family. Of course I realize that Sears and Olive Garden do these things for the publicity, but I know that I think more of them because of this. They've done a great thing here for the Arena's, and therefore our fire service family. I know I'll feel good about giving them my patronage.

Looks good to me. My only comment is this. There's nothing worse than rollingin knocking down the fire, safely and quickly, and then spending 20 minutes looking like a Monkey F***ing a Football trying to open the hood! After the release mechanism/cable is gone or can't be pulled (not just in the passenger compartment) I recommend just going with a saw. I've seen great firefighters spend 15-20 miutes bending, banging, and prying to get into a hood. Now the public that was cheering after theknock down is lauging at the Keystone FD being outsmarted by a Yugo! 15 seconds and a V-cut, hood's open .

We just ordered our first on our new tower. After seeing a few in D.C. I was sold on them. From 5-6 blocks away in full sunlight, its the only thing you see. This may be an eye catching thing vs. the lumens or other science behind light. As for safety, ours will stop spinning when the brake is set or truck is in N. Not sure if that's standard but it makes alot of sense. For now, until the cops freak out on us it will be red, white and green.

From the Firehouse employment section, regarding Cities with upper age requirements: You must also be younger than age 32 as of May 15, 2006, to be appointed as a Firefighter in the following civil service municipalities: Acushnet, Arlington, Bedford, Billerica, Burlington, Canton, Chelmsford, Dracut, Easthampton, Easton, Hanover, Haverhill, Hingham, Hudson, Ipswich, Leominster, Malden, Mansfield, Marblehead, Methuen, Milford, Newton, North Andover, North Attleboro, Norton, Norwood, Stoneham, Ware, Watertown, Wellesley, Westfield, West Springfield, and Wilmington. You must be younger than age 32 as of June 10, 2006, to be appointed as a Firefighter in the following civil service municipalities: Andover, Belmont, Boston, Bourne, Dedham, Falmouth, Fitchburg, Holbrook, Natick, Shrewsbury, Swampscott, Taunton, Westwood, Winchester, and Worcester. Check our website for the most current listing. There is no upper age limit for appointment in the following civil service municipalities: Abington, Agawam, Amesbury, Athol, Attleboro, Beverly, Brockton, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Chicopee, Clinton, Cohasset, Danvers, Everett, Fairhaven, Fall River, Framingham, Franklin, Gardner, Gloucester, Greenfield, Holyoke, Hopedale, Hull, Lawrence, Lowell, Ludlow, Lynn, Marlborough, Marshfield, Medford, Melrose, Milton, Nahant, Needham, New Bedford, Newburyport, North Adams, North Reading, Peabody, Pittsfield, Plainville, Plymouth, Quincy, Randolph, Reading, Revere, Rockland, Salem, Saugus, Scituate, Somerville, Springfield, Stoughton, Tewksbury, Wakefield, Waltham, Weymouth, Whitman, Winthrop, and Woburn.

In perfect timing Firehouse this month has a legal article about the DC court ruling and/or injunction on the "grooming" standard.

Let me clear some of this up: I personally think a No Beards Policy has merit. I find they rarely look professional in a uniform, but thats my opinion. The cops in our City got the right to wear them just to piss off their old Chief. It worked but they look stupid! As for the seal: If the fit test doesn't test for a "good seal" than what good is it? Don't tell OSHA or the BLS or else we'll have to go through a 5 hour test procedure under all expected conditions. It won't always work given the enviroment we operate in, beard or not. As far as letting contaminants in: if they get in - check your SCBA because it is working correctly if anything gets in. If you lose a seal the big concern is losing precious air! Does your dept. policy speak to how often you must shave? On my shift one guy probably will never have to shave in his life, another needs to shave every 4-5 hours to be "clean shaven". How about our long droopy mustaches that we pride ourselves on? Most grow into the seal area. Again, personally, I don't like them, but I'm frequently accused of forcing my opinions into the work rules. You know like uniforms ought to be uniform, looking and acting professional are part of your job, etc.