IzzyEng4

Happy Birthday Tim!

I though this would be an interesting topic to discuss. Departments that have a Chief's aid, what other duties does he / she have when not helping at the command post? I know this job varies between departments that have an adie. I though it would be interesting to discuss thier duties as a firefighter / officer.

CT has got you all beat....we invented the pizza and hamburger lest EMS and firefighting, just like Al Gore invented the internet! Seriously though, thankfully in CT, though we do have a "home rule", the majority of all fire departments and ambulance corps / squads are municipal based in one way shape or form. Many towns / cities that don't have a R-1 (first responder) or R-2 (transport) service will contract out with a commercial service. Plus we do have a good state based Office of Emergency Medical Services and C-MED regions to help run things. Sometimes having that "home rule" status really causes more headaches than anything.

Date: 12-10-09 Time: 16:05 Location: 261 Chapel Street Frequency: Ch-1 - 859.5625 / Ch-2 (FG) 854.4875 Units Operating: Engines 4, 5 & 8, Squad 1, Emergency 1, Truck 1, Car 33(East Battalion) Description Of Incident: First units on scene reporting smoke from the basement of a 2 1/2 story brick. Car 33 giving a "Signal 73" (working fire) lines being stretched into the building. Writer: IzzyEng4

From the stance of a buff point of view, I understand. But the fact is Ferrara won the bid and provided better specifications for the new rigs. It all comes down to what the customer wants built, who can build it that way, if a company can produce the order in the specific time frame and the overall cost of the apparatus.....Plain and simple. There have been rumblings about the quality of the new Seagrave rigs by the members of FDNY on various boards, a lot of them are not happy with the craftsmanship compared to the older units, ect. ect. ect. I don't think you will see Pierce with a large order for FDNY because they won't build a rig to their specification for what ever reason, who knows, maybe I'm wrong. Another fact is that it was widely reported from various sights that Seagrave didn't provide a good spec for the new ladders (it might not have presented one, I can't remember exactly off the top of my head) But if you look at FDNY, just like the video that was posted about Rescue 2 receiving their E-One / Saulsbury after 9/11, the mechanic said their trucks take a beating. They are not abused but are operated hard because of the city's conditions. A vehicle that lasts say 20 years in an average fire department, may only last up to 10 years in a busy department like the city or LA. But no matter where you go, you are going to have firefighters in Anytown Fire Department will like one brand of apparatus compared to another. There is something you will always be not happy with on there rig you operate. Heck the rig I built for my home department has some things / lack of things that I don;t like. But hat is the way it is, no one is ever 100% happy. I just hope FDNY has good luck with what ever rigs they get and they do the job they are intended to do.

Date: 12-10-09 Time: 10:40 Location: 51 Emerson Street (X-Streets of Fountain St. and Whalley Ave.) Frequency: Ch-1 - 859.5625 / Ch-2 (FG) 854.4875 Units Operating: 1st Alarm: Engines 15, 9 & 6, Squad 2, Emergency-2, Truck 4, Car 34(West Battalion), AMR ambulance for fire standby. 2nd Alarm: Engines 4 & 8, Truck 1, Car 32 (Shift Commander), Car 39 (Chief of Department) Description Of Incident: Engine 15 arrived on scene reporting Signal 73 (working fire) in a 2 1/2 story wood framed residential construction. Fire on first floor Number 4 side and extending to upper floors. Second alarm transmitted at 10:45 by Car 34, occupant rescued from 3rd floor (attic appartment) of building. Fire running the floor and ceiling on 1st floor. Confirmed fire on 2nd floor, Side 4, fire also running in different direction as original path. Lines stretched to 3rd floor and found clear. Fire Under Control @ 11:22 per Car 39. Writer: IzzyEng4 & B. Hansen (SFD)

In my home department, we do both. Usually members that live cloer to the firehouse keep thier gear at the station while others keep thier gear in thier POVs. We promote going to the firehouse if you are able to but if you respond via POV, you are to park away from the scene. If not, you do face diciplinary action by the officers.

If New Haven's political powers (not FD) didn't throw out the test in the first places, everyone would have been promoted already!!!!!!!

This has been a continuing problem for Stratford and its mainly because of the outgoing mayor. You can ask any of the firefighters from Stratford and they will all say the same thing, they need a few new trucks. Also too their mechanic has been working his toocus off trying to keep the trucks on the road through the problems. Its an unfortunate situation for the past several years with Mayor Moron........I mean Miron not paying attention to the FD's apparatus concerns and problems. I have a lot of friends on SSFD and my cousin is an LT. down there and God forbid...but the mayor had his way and the town council had their hands tied. Hopefully with the new mayor coming in they will be able to get the two engines they need swiftly.

We had a similar complaint about the siren on top of one of our houses and the residents lead by a moron who said the siren caused his dog to go deaf. Well we were being forced to turn it off and the consideration of removing the Gamewell system in our town came about. Well a short time after that, there was this great big blackout in the Northeast. Needless to say no phones worked, our radio tower went down because of a generator malfunction. During this we had a fire next to this person house. So what does the neighbor do (who was in favor of keeping the alarm system active) he goes and hooks the box and we showed up and save the house. The "idiot removed your siren" didn't realized that if you pulled the lever in the red box, we would come!!! Of course after schooling him on the system how it works, he changed his mind and pulled the complaint. Isn't it amazing that 100+ years of good technology still beats a cell-phone??? Also thanks to homeland security initiating communities to have warning sirens again, it helped saved out active system.

You can still hear them on UHF and the old VHF high band for now. When you enter the new frequencies into a scanner, they may round up if it is a older unit you are trying to listen to them on. This should pose no problem to listent to them.

I though they had a Sutphen or two back in the early 80's and did not like them?

I marched in the memorial up there 10 years ago and wish could be there tonight. Never forget!

AMR in New Haven and I believe ARM Bridgeport are unionized. There EMT's and Paramedics are properly compensated and have a fairly decent relationship with management as far as I know off hand. If you feel that the employer is not addressing the concerns of its employees, proper compensation and benefits, ect. then you may want to investigate starting a local. I've been a unionized worker for most of my working life and have benefit from it. However everyone has to be on board with the decision to unionize and also be represented by a good union that is AFL-CIO affiliated (in my opinion). As you said, a union is as only as good as its members make it.

Not to get off topic but don't any of the departments / dispatch centers run PLs / DPLs on the low band?

Nothing on thier web page except they had the ladder at a touch-a-truck day earlier this month.

Thanks for the clarificaion Truck. I appreceate it.

Congrats Chris!

Welcome back Alex!!

Nicely laid out. Good Luck with the new rig!

Get looking and very well planned out rig!!! I hope NRFD has great luck with it. But 007 won't be happy with it, there is no automatic Martini dispenser!!! (Joking of course!) Barry, is there going to be a public view of the rescue when it is finally delivered??

Sage it should be the same for both NYS and CT for the MTA. You have to remember, the incident happened on Metro North property as I believe (not 100% sure or if I am using the right wording)is considered private property. Also remember that the MTA / Metro-North has its own police force as well and also the investigation should also come under CSP in some way or another as well as Norwalk where the "perps" disembarked.

About time!!!! So hopefully next time I come down, can I ride it as long as I don't swear running down the staircase from the upper floors again??? (Inside joke) Seriously though Good luck with the bidding process and I hope you all get the ring you need!

Date: 11-15-09 Time: 21:30 approx Location: 30 Country Lane (Trumbull Center District) Freq: 33.56 - disp, 33.76 - FG Units: Trumbull Car 1, Car 2, Engine 102, Engine 103, Tower 104, Long Hill LH-1, LH-2, Engine 201, Engine 206, Tower 204, Squad 209, Rescue 200, Nichols Car 2, Engine 301, Quint 303, Truck 304 (air squad unit) Description: Reported and dispatched as a working kitchen fire, first unit on scene reporting working fire. Fire extended into attic area, command asking for roll call of all units on scene. Monroe FD one ENigne to Long Hill Station 3, Stepney FD (Monroe) one engine to Long Hill Station 1 and Huntington FC (Shelton) one engine to Nichols Station 1. 22:03 - Monroe FD cover company to scene w/ traffic Writer / reporter: IzzyEng4

The webteam is currently working on the situation and there may be an NY Upstate section here on EMTBravo. We are currently working on the particulars and we will keep everyone informed of ou progress.