IzzyEng4

Darn shame, I used to love waiting for my new edition of Police call every year when it was still published. The man had a wealth of knowledge when it came to scanning.

Question about your numbering system out in Dutchess. I'm assuming its set up the first two numbers are the department, the second two are the unit type and number?

Happy Birthday.......you ol' fart!!!!

Congratulations!

So as I'm wide awake at this ungodly hour since I'm at the FCC at Foxwoods (Ledyard, Ct the way other end of the state), I head the tones go out on the scanner for a call in Westerly, RI. Well it wasn't Westerly as the call came out to respond to the train station for "Engine 103, TL-14 and Rescue 31 to respond". I'm thinking huh????????? Then the last thing I hear is 60-Control identifying itself!!! So I check the apparatus list for WC and sure as it is, it was the diospatch for Mt. Kisco. Interesting huh since I'm out past the sub-base working until 7am! The skies must be clear for a 5 by 5 tonight. Thought share this since I rarley even get FDNY out here, even along the sound.

That is true but the night that it happened, a lot of LI and CT departments around the sound had several calls stating it went down in the sound rather than the Atlantic side. A lot of confusion that night.

I have to make a correction in my last post, the accident was closer to the firehouse than I actually remembered, thanks to some information passed on to me. The intersection where the accident occurred was right out side of the headquarters firehouse, Congress Street and Housatonic Avenue. Now the firehouse is situated at this intersection and the apparatus exit the building to the Congress Street side. Since the bridge going over the river next to the firehouses has been closed for many years, the HQ units have to take a left out of the building toward Housatonic Avenue. Also there are no "blind spots" at the intersection and the only traffic on Congress Street between Housatonic and the river would be from the firehouse.

The truck was responding out of headquarters and the intersection in question is about four blocks north of the station. The car that the truck struck not only failed to yield the right of way to the fire apparatus, but also blew through a red light at the intersection crossing its path and past other cars that were yielding to the emergency apparatus. It was by understanding that the truck was already committed in the intersection when the car blew through the red light on its side and was then struck. The accident report summary is available to public view.

Congrats Jack, now when I'm up in Dennisport, I'll have to track you down if you move up there! Also there is no need for you change to a Red Sox fan, there are enough of us Yankees up there!

I was only able to hear the dispatch so I assume it was the simulcast of the old low band, I didn't catch the frequency through on the scanner in the "hole". It was cool to hear the distance from WC out to Foxwoods but I I've picked up calls back in "western" areas of CT while working. Watertown, CT operates on the same low band frequency as the Norwich Volunteer FDs. When its a good clear night I get Watertown low and clear. Also our low band dispatch at Foxwoods is the same frequency as the Southbury Training School off of 84 in Southbury and we get them coming in occasionally. I've also hear my department's old low band dispatch as well as West Haven's from time to time. Got to love how the atmospherics "bend" the signal!

I always love going up there to the museum. Good shots.

One heck of a fishing boat! I don't know what the practical use would be. Reminds me when a lot of towns and city picked up the surplus "DUCKS" from the military.

Well yah!!! You only went out to pick up dinner for the guys since you were bunking at the firehouse!!! LOL Just poking some fun at yah Ecky

An easy way to do a spell check if you do';t have it on your web browser is to cut and paste the post prior to posting into MS Word, make all the correction and cut and paste back into word. Or you can type it in word and cut and paste it to the reply post box. Either way its a little bit of a long process but it will make easier reading for our fellow members. Trust me I'm one of the worst typers around. (I should never have been hung over in typing class..)

Speedy recovery brother!!

My vollie department has five chiefs but only one chief's truck. Our chief has the truck and if he is out of town, the truck gets passed down for use to the highest ranking assistant. Our assistant chiefs utilize their POVs whihc are equiped with red / white lights, a siren and radios. As for our line officers, each captain and lieutuenant has a number desingation begining with thier company number followed by a rank number. Car 21 - Chief of the Department X01 - Captain Car 22 - First Assistant Chief X02 - First Lieutenant Car 23 - Second Assistant Chief X03 - Second Lieutenant Car 24 - Third Assistant Chief X04 - Third Lieutenant (only two companies have a 3rd LT.) Car 25 - Fourth Assistant Chief X = Company number Each chief is assigned a duty week in rotation and is expected to respond to "routine" alarms. If the duty chief is absent, the ranking line officer on scene handles the call. All chiefs do sign on responding to calls when responding and the line officers only state they are responding to a call if they are riding on the apparatus. The officers number designations is primarily for fireground use only. Each company sponsors a chief and he rises in rank every two years, a total commitment of ten years of service.

The men manning the second line should have had PPE on, no question. As for SCBA, its an exterior attack and that shouldn't be an issue of having one on. That is a coin flip but I rather work outside without a pack on that have one. The big problem I see is that they are trying to put out the trailer with a limited water supply with in the first few (5 maybe) minutes. Protect the exposures. yes a large line would be nice but lokk at the water supply. I'm thinking the tanker as 3000 and the engine maybe 500 to 1000? Not much water for this kind of attack. Use the smaller lines to protect the exposures to prevent a fire from spreading and let the tailer burn down. Those things are dangerous when they burn.

I believe they have totally moved over to the VHF-high band exclusively. I will check on it for a confirmation.

Serving on my vollie company's apparatus committee when we replaced our old engine with a rescue-pumper, I can't stress and agree with this more. What you design is what you get, what is not in the specs you don't get. I have a Ferrara hazmat-rescue and a 1500 gpm pumper at work. The hazmat was provided by the state OEM / DHS while our new pumper was a demo that we purchased. I drive the engine a lot and while its not a bad truck, it could be a lot better.

Very good point, but my rebuttal in this situation is though you are a supervisor, what is your first priority on a minimally staffed engine? Are you going to supervise or act as a firefighter as you are trained to be? Unfortunately we have to wear many different hats on an initial attack but as always the first few minutes are critical. But also, which I forgot to mention and take into consideration is the two-in, two-out policy as well. I don't disagree with your point at all but sometimes some things need to be left on the "back burner" so to speak and the duties at hand done. Maybe the officer should be the one throwing up the ladder then? What about that then? So many variables, so little time.

I'm starting another topic about driver leaving their rigs as mentiond by a few members in the aggressive laddering topic. I'm not talking about "beaching the whale" in order to have all personnel operate at a fire scene. In that case the apparatus is not being used other than a personnel transport and "tool box" so to speak. I'm asking should an engine company MPO or ladder company chauffeur leave their pump panel or turntable at a working structure fire? I believe that the apparatus drive should not leave their apparatus while the truck is operating in that particular fashion. To much can go wrong while lines are in operation or the aerial having personnel climbing up to the roof. Granted there are situations where the driver must get something from a compartment on the truck but still has a watchful eye on the apparatus. I'm taking about setting it up and totally abandoning it with personnel working off of it. It seems a lot of times because of manpower constraints thought the fire service, the driver sets up and leaves the most vital position on the rig. I firmly believe the driver shouldn't leave the rig while under operation unless relieved by an equally qualified operator. What do you all think?

Not for nothing, one person can successfully handle raising a 24 foot extension ladder to a second story window or egress. If you think manpower, career or volunteer, throwing up a ground ladder is vital to fire suppression operations especially in an upper floor withing the ladder's reach. Too many times we fall under the impressions that the main attack stairwell is our means of egress and look at the statistics in firefighting, a lot of the tie those stairwells are compromised and our means of egress cut off. Lets take Engine Company 99 from Anytown Fire Department. The company had a crew of 4 rolling out the door, Officers, the MPO and two firefighters. They find a working fire on scene and one firefighter takes the hydrant. That same firefighter should also be in charge of throwing up the ground ladder before entering the building with his crew. Of course this is in a perfect situation and we know everyone is different. Even if a rescue had to be made prior to suppression, one firefighter has to get that ladder up to an upper floor. If the first arriving company cannot get a ladder raised, then its the job of the second arriving company to do so. If Joe / Jane Volunteer shows up to his rig and see that an attack line is pulled, as he / she is packing up, they should be looking to see if the ladder was taken off the rig, if not, put it up. We forget too many times and continue to operate with blinders on. Trust me, I can throw a ladder all day but once those blinders go on, I forget too. We need to practice more and get in the habit of throwing up ground ladders off rigs besides truck companies.

http://www.hfdradio.com/ Great site for the Hartford, CT Fire Department. Great number of incident recordings and fire audio from teh past. On some of the newer clips, you'll hear dispach and the "incident" channels overlap but makes for great listening. The latest link is a 1-1-2 (second alarm) incident that happened on 7/16. If your ever up this way, Hartford is a great city to buff.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080714/ap_on_...ser_busch_inbev

Robots can't take the heat!!! Heck just thik what happens when you computer overloads during hight temperatures. All it's circuits fry. I don't think you'll see an effective firefighting robot for quite sometime.