IzzyEng4

All of us here have attended a re-pass (yes that is what it is called) after a funeral. A lot of the time a place is rented with food and refreshments served. When you are billed it is itemized aka everything is listed that was purchased. So obviously when the city got the bill they said WHOA WAIT A MINUTE! So do you think that the city is wrong for not paying for the alcohol on the bill? I don't, what city pays for alcohol for events?. But then again if the city said hey we are going to foot the bill, they should have said that no alcohol should be served or paid for by the city. On the other hand yes the contract was violated but the whole thing should have been planned better. The only people that got BUFFALOED are those involved in this "fight" that didn't cross their T's and dot their I's.

Not at all M'Ave, LI's FDs have their own troubles and yes there are too many "districts" where five separate houses can actually function as one department. I'm not defending them. My problem is and always will be with the "Liar Alarm" and its stems back to when me and my ex were still together. She worked for US Fish and Wildlife in Valley Stream and they ran an article about that organization without having all the correct information. Basically tried to throw the whole unit under the bus when in fact they were working with NY DEC on a lot of problems through the state. Yellow journalism at its finest and they wonder why they are going bankrupt.

The Middletown Police command unit is a refurbished 1980s era Ford C heavy rescue that was purchased from one of the local fire departments when it went out of service. As for the Mack "N" model that is similar to the Ford C, only about 6 were made into fire trucks during the 1960s (a very short run) and none exist in this country anymore I beleive. CVH (Connecticut Valley Hospital) has two engines, the one shown is old Engine 2 from the Middletown Fire Department. CVH (which is a mental health facility) is located right on top of the hill from where the incident was. Sage, the black pickups if you were able to tell that they were CSP rigs by the last three on the plate, then they should be with the SWAT / TAC team. Otherwise they may be for the USAR out of Brainard Airport in Hartford. I think they might have been carrying the "puppies". I'll find out on that one. Also for anyone wondering why the Coast Guard was on scene at an inland explosion, the Connecticut River can be navigated all the way up to Hartford. It is very common to see barges, tugs and small boats come up that section of the river on a daily basis.

NEWSDAY also goes by "NEWSRAG" and "LIAR ALARM" and its not just because of them picking on the FDs in LI, it goes well beyond that too, half the time they run stories without getting the correct information.

This is very sad but this does happen accidentally many times.

You forgot: "You may know where you are, God may know where you are, but if the dispatcher doesn't know where you are, you better be in good terms with God!"

WOW! What is the wheel base on that rig??

Moved the topic to the Apparatus discussion thread.

I do not believe they are building rear-mount ladder towers / tower ladders since getting rid of the problem plagued Tower Maxx series they had before (I think that's what they were called). I know a lot of departments that ordered them had problems with those. Who knows, they may come out with another version or contract someone to build the "ladder tower" rear mount style like RK did for a while.

Pretty neat! Got to love history and the photos to bring us back in time!

There have been significant studies between mechanical and electronic base sirens. Over the years with the introduction of new materials to deaden the sound within cars, electronic sires have failed where mechanical sirens like the 2QB and also the European-style emergency horns still have a great effect in penetrating into the cab of a car / truck. That's why you see many electronic sirens now being designed with certain tones like the "Q sound", Euro-horn hi-low warring blasts (the way I like to call them) or the Power-Call because they work (but unfortunately many manufacturers stopped producing them after awhile for what ever reason). Many electronic sirens only produce sounds withing a certain spectrum. With a manual siren like the 2QB, the operator can control the sound being produced from a low rumble, the high whine scream and everything in between. And of course the 2QB was not made for the person to stomp on the button and hold it at the high whine for the entire trip. Why? Because its only operating at one frequency range and not the whole spectrum area of sound. There are drawn back for operating a 2QB or the MARS mechanical sirens mainly being AMP-drawing monsters. But with the way electrical technology is today, this can be overcome easily. So in essence (my opinion) louder is better in this case because of the sound-wave frequency spectrum that the 2QB can penetrate and travel. Of course I prefer having every audible warning device (2QB, Electronic and air horns) available on my rig because each will be able to "catch someone's ear".

The firehouse at the Memorial Town Hall is currently closed as the entire building is being renovated. Squad 1 (ex-Engine Company No. 4) is being housed at Station 3 on Hartford Turnpike while Rescue 1 is being housed on upper Whitney Avenue at Station 5 (just north of the Route 40 Connector).

I have not seen anything from the state legislature issued yet about West Haven's charter change and its approval. The residents only voted to have the charter changed and I know the city had sent a request to the state legislature for it. Just because the city residents voted for it and approved it, it still has to be approved by the state legislature to be place in the charter. It still has to go through the proper channels to make sure its legal and the wording is found correct before the legislature will accept the change to the city's charter. I have to search the Special and Public Acts for 2009 when its published to see if it was approved by the house and senate. If it has not been approved by the state legislature yet, it would be more than likely passed soon. Rarely does something get kicked back and not approved. A city, town or borough in CT cannot just change their charter, as its issued by the state, thus they have to approve the change as well.

I forgot one thing, as well as to my post above, to even think about consolidation, everyone has to work together first in a good mutual aid system before even thinking about trying to combine forces.

I think one consideration that should also be looked at is the home-rule acts established under state laws. Now having that said, does an separate incorporated village, borough, city or town have the right to be able to provide under their government and taxes public safety agencies? Should these autonomous governments also be allowed the right if they don't provide public safety under their charters of incorporation the right to contract for protection with another town / district agency? What about the consolidation of several agencies withing an incorporated town? If there are semi-autonomous entities with in that incorporated town, and they also provide for public safety and the incorporated town does not, is it really feasible to go through trying to unify the agency in question under one authority? You can have all the NFPA / IAFC recommendations available to throw out there to provide the information of proper staffing and response but if you don not first look at the right to home-rule which is granted by the powers of the state first, then the transition cannot be smooth. But at the same token, home-rule cannot be utilized as something to block progress either. There are instances where consolidation has worked great. For example look at North Hudson Regional Fire Rescue. You had something like four boroughs, two villages and a town, whose "areas" varied in size from 1 square mile up to 6 (rough estimate) with possible the most populous area per square mile next to Brooklyn combine their fire-rescue services. This case it worked combining (I think) 6 separate fire departments into one entity. In the City of West Haven, CT, you have three separate fire districts that were created before West Haven was incorporated as a town and later a consolidated town and city. Under its current charter, the City of West Haven does not have language to provide a fire department. This is undergoing a change as the voters in the city have passed a resolution to place the language in during their charter revision. Now the three fire districts were established at separate times. One was created when West Haven center was a incorporated borough withing the Town of Orange and the Allingtown and West Shore districts (then also part of the Town or Orange) were created in the early 1900s under a special act of incorporation through the state legislature. Now when they combine, if and when it does happen many years down the road, the three districts have to be consolidated under the city's amended charter, thus a plan has to be made to consolidate all career personnel and the volunteer entities under a new fire department administration. On the other side of the spectrum, when can consolidation be too big and cumbersome? Can consolidation of the same services cause more problems and headaches than having separate entities? What about span and control issues, how will they be handled? I think there are a lot of things that have to be looked at fist before everyone gets on the consolidation band-wagon. If a state government has the authority to allow the right of self-governing and with that right, the municipal entity has the right to provide under its charter services for the public, then residents have that right. But its up to the residents have to determine that. Some may like the fact they have their own public works department, fire department, police department since they see their tax dollars go directly to that entity rather than getting thrown in a large general fund for a consolidate area and their money being spent else where within that larger town or district. I really think for any sort of consolidation plan, the overall picture of the right of self-government has to be looked at first before even trying to consolidate manpower and cutting apparatus and stations (if it gets to that). Its a long road, it can be a good thing or might be detrimental.

7586 he was using is HAM call sign on those sites. I am not going to post it here but people just have to look up his stuff and his screen name on the recent posts on EBAY, RR and QRZ by going through the FCC datebase to get his call sign. I don't feel the need to have it posted here since the article has his name listed and was caught red-handed. Also I do hope his license is pulled by the gov when there is a conviction as he has given a bad name to emergency responders and HAMs everywhere. Also in regards to WAS's post, a while back there was a person that was in a similar situation as he described here. There is no need to list that screen name here as I believe he was suspended or banned after actions taken on this site, that I will have to look it up. A FRIENDLY REMINDER FOR EVERYONE: When posting something here for sale, for trade or wanting to buy, members need to use your head, this is not a site intended for making it your own shop. Be smart when you list items for sale, especially two-way radios. I know since we are in emergency services and some of us are licensed HAMs we want to give members here the first opportunity for a purchase, but you need to be smart when listed HAM and professional equipment. Don't make yourself a target by listing a plethora of items that can be deemed questionable in how you obtained them. IF you have a lot of items for sale such as radios you need to make sure where you obtain them from and have a "paper trail" of the original purchases. A good example of checking things is what 7586 stated in his above post as he checks with Motorola on the S/Ns for red-flags, this is a good practice for a seller but sometime you need to go further than that since the S/N might not be reported as stolen. As a seller or a buyer, you need to protect yourself like you would do with any other purchase. If you are not sure where an item came from and its suspicious, then simply don't buy it. And if you are selling, make sure you can back up he purchase trail of the item. Don't make yourself or become a target, be smart. There are a lot of charlatans out there like this kid was.

I hear yah. Seems to be too many of these running around lately, regardless of their age. Wanted to put this out there as a CYA / FYI.

If you have a problem with something being done by a moderator, you handle it with that mod through e-mail or pm and not through the threads. The topic is now closed.

Thanks Steve and actually that really does make some sense!

Thanks dmc, I wasn't sure if he was there or not. I knew his cousin was the coach though.

It's either a Velocity or an Impel cab, the new ones that replaced the Lance and Dash cabs last year or the year before. The only reason it looks "weird" in my opinion is the round style headlights, the small style LED waring lights used above them and the painted grill instead of having it chromed out. It does look plain-wrapper like but hey its a fire truck and not a parade piece, function over form the way it should be. I know we all like a good looking truck but sometimes you can't spend it all on flashy stuff if you need more important equipment on it instead.

When the story broke it came over the AP wire and there was no notification he was deceased, only stated he was seriously injured and was being attended too. I receved the alert when it happened on my iPhone and the pictures were available, showing the same pictures as all the rest of the articles have now plus video of the accident, which was also being shown live locally (by my understanding) in Vancover. About 30 minutes later, AP came over again and stated he was pronounced dead, way after those initial pictures were taken. Remember this is the Olympics, there are more news media there than you can shake a stick at and the news broke all at the same time. The coverage is unbeleivable at this event and everything is being shown live through various outlets, so we have to take that into consideration. Also, I am assuming his father was in Vancover when the accident happened since his father is also president of Georgia's Luge federation, while his cousin is the Georgian olympic team's coach and is in Vancouver, so notification of the tradgedywas pretty quick.

Why does White Plains spec out conventional cabs and chassis for thier engine companies? Is it a cost saving measure?

Beat me too it LAD12DERff! Yes I understand that its a tradgedy and maybe it shouldn't be "overplayed" but this is not the only thing that has been shown where an athelete died during a sporting event. Years ago a boxer died after getting KOed by Ray Manccini and it was show over and over again. But at the same time this does show the risks these athletes take and at the time when things were originally posted, he was not confiremed being deceased.

If I am not mistaking, for it to be a "Class A" pumper, you don't need hard suction under the new standards. I may be wrong but I remember something like that when I was working on the specs for a pumper. I hope Eastchester has great luck with thier new rig and has many years of service with it!