firemoose827

Happy ST Patricks Day to everyone!!Be Safe PS- I hope thats green!! Im color blind!!

Yes, you are correct, its the "Loading" Position for the unit and it sometimes gets hard to place it into load, but I would still take that one over the electric one!! The stair chairs are great, and the tread works well going down stairs with a heavy PT. Maybe someone will create a motor for them to go UP stairs as well....

Hey brother. We have one of those things in my squad too, and I do not like it either. I dont see the positive to it other than being able to lift a heavy pt from the floor position to the loading position. But than like you said you still have to lift the stretcher up in order to put in in the ambulance, and the thing is heavier than the regular units. I just think that its a waste of money, I think ours cost about as much as a new car, and it doesnt realy offer much assistance or anything better. But, unfortuantely we are the type that has to learn through experience!! Maybe you guys will have better luck with it, but we have mixed feelings on it here; half of us cant stand that we even wasted the money on it, the other half think it makes things easier...oh well. Here is a link to our website, there is a picture of it next to our ambulance along with our new stair chairs. Cobleskill Rescue Good luck with it though, hope it works better for you guys. Moose

I will not be able to make it unfortunately, so I just wanted to wish you good luck and I hope you get a big crowd.

In my post I was directing my line of thought to "Think Outside The Box"...Meaning, what you learn in class isnt the last line of training, you must than take that training to your response area and weigh the hazards with the pros and cons of your area and make an informed decision to carry out the rescue. Thus, by using the "Gumby" suits to protect against cold water was a good decision made by firefighters who respond to this river daily for rescues....simple. Moose

We still use the siren, 5 times for fire and once for EMS. It also gets tested every saturday at noon when the county sounds the roll call and siren test. Every station that has a neg test for either pager or siren is to call in to dispatch for repair and retest. The one in Northport LI, where I grew up also sounded in the AM for school closings due to snow. I believe we should keep them as a way to warn the public that the fire dept is responding to a call somewhere, I realise that to most its just another inconvenience to their day, but it still warns them to look out for warning lights and fire trucks.....Plus, I like them!

I respect you especially chief, for taking the time to explain this situation to me better, since Im from "Upstate" as another member put it. It must be rough for 3 career guys to drive equipment to a fire, only to have no one else show up, and I cant begin to fully feel the frustration either. I know career guys who are by themselves with no other staff, and drive the truck to the scene just to hope the volunteers show up and have questioned him numerous times how that works. Its an issue that definately needs addressing, like mentioned earlier, and I apologise, with everyones posts I lost track of who you are, but someone mentioned 3 guys on a Garbage truck and only two on a fire truck. Society has definately lost track of its priorities if it feels that one guy cant handle throwing some garbage in a truck and dumping it somewhere, but on the same token they feel ONE guy can drive the truck, operate the pump, stretch the line, vent the windows...OH YAH, and save someones life all by themselves!!!? Maybe Seth could print this out and send it to every politician in the area, or e-mail it to them in an effort to get them thinking about change for staffing fire stations, and change for training standards for volunteers to improve the service that everyone receives. Or, we can start an online petition for us all to sign? Just some thoughts to help with this problem that our brothers are facing everday. Moose

To you, and remember585, I realise that and respect that. I as a volunteer have well over that 300 hours of training and continue to look for more every chance I get. I understand the need for the same level of training to back you up in a fire situation, but not all volunteers are as you make them out to be. Like me, I am a firefighter II, I have taken this class, and others atleast 3 times each now in my career and will refresh them again as soon as I get some time. I took numerous other courses to back that up, and not just to say I took them either, I had to pass a test to get my certificate and I learned from every class I take. I respect all of you who report to work everyday and train hard everyday, I wish I could be in your shoes but not all of us are lucky enough to call ourselves "career" firefighters, BUT, does that make some of us any less "Professional"? That is all Im trying to say, dont include "ALL" of the volunteers when you talk about us in that way. There are bad apples everywhere you go, including career departments. I respect ALL of you...which is my point.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Dont expect me to sing though!! Moose

Did you read the very first post in the thread?? Here, allow me to post it for you again to clarify for you EXACTLY who made it a "Career Vs. Vollunteer" thing. My point is, with mutual aid, What difference does it make who responds? Everyone in NYS receives the same training in Firefighter I, the only difference is one guy gets paid and one doesnt, so who cares how many "Volunteers Vs. Career Staffing" were on scene? I spoke to one of our members through PM and he was very nice and explained his point of view, and I understand where he is coming from now and I appreciate him taking the time to explain it to me, Professionally. What is happening here in this thread is very UN-Professional in my opinion. I have noticed that when Legitimate Questions have been asked, and a person cant answer those questions they immediately use the excuse "Dont turn this into a 'Paid Vs. Volly' thing". If you cant answer a question, be a man and say you dont know the answer, dont try and make the rest of us look like fools. The original topic clearly stated that the person wanted to know how many career firefighters were on scene as opposed to volunteer firefighters...if you have an issue than take it up with the original poster. Thanks all.

Ok, thanks. Is that something I need to download or is it part of the software already in computers? Sorry for the line of questioning!! Moose

Nice Video, great work! Question, is there some kind of free download that allows you to create videos like that? I was always interested in doing stuff like that for our dept. Thanks.

EXACTLY! Well said ajsbear, I could not agree with you more. We need to focus more on being a combined unit and not what type of dept or firefighter we are, and whos district the fire is in and who goes MA...we miss the main point. There is a fire, send the units needed to extinguish the fire AND keep our firefighters safe while doing this, and keep protection for the rest of the district. WHy does all of this other stuff matter? Does the name of the City/Town/Village on the back of the coat really matter, or does it matter we have the resources needed to handle the job safely with no injury or LODD?

"First Alert" and "Safety First" are good units. The thing you need to make sure of is that they are hardwired to your electric with battery back-up. A lot of people just change the batteries annually, but you should also vacuum out the unit and make sure its free of dust. Check with your local regs on the amount and location of the units, and always feel free to check with your local fire dept and ask questions too. Hope this helps some. PM Me if you have more questions, Im working on my Codes Officer Cert and will be the Fire Inspector for my village, so Im glad to help any way I can. Moose

To give you even more to look forward to, I dont know if anyone else got this, but yesterday I received an e-mail from the company stating that they just shipped me the new LED lights for the Buddy light free of charge to update mine. I could not believe it! And than soon, they will have an even brighter LED that they will also ship out to me when it gets in! Great Product, Great Service, Great Company!! I strongly reccomend this to everyone looking for a decent hands free light.

Well put onthejob, thats exactly what I tried to say in so many more words!! Each dept has a way, that way works for them, they train in that way, so let it be. If anything, we should all try and learn from the different techniques that different depts employ from all over.

What you realy have to look at here is that training is only the first step in a succesfull rescue. Everyone receives the basic training in whatever category; Swift Water, Ice, Collapse, Trench, etc. But, than you have to go back to your response area and use this knowledge to see what hazzards you as a rescuer would face and make some adjustments. These firefighters from DC are, without a doubt in my mind, extremely knowledgeable about their response area and what hazzards they would need to focus on as rescue technicians. As clipper has stated in his post, these firefighters know their jobs and made the decision based on the knowledge they have of their response areas and the hazzards they present. Just because it is written in a textbook doesnt mean it is "The Law" and has to be done only that way. Adapt, overcome, adjust, use the training as a "Basis" to go on, than build experience and continue to adapt. Thats realy what we should be learning from this topic.

Congrats on the promotion Steve! Im looking forward to asking you many questions about radios in the near future!! Good Luck, and congrats. Moose

Hey everyone. I was looking at some videos and found this one. Has anyone used the axe like this before? I have never been taught this or have I ever seen the use of the axe in this way, but it looks so much more easy. Any thoughts or actuall experiences are welcome.

Thanks for the info. I think thats what happened that particular day when the saw cut out on me. We perform routine monthly maintenance on our power equipment, but when we use vent saws, we start them on the ground and bring them up the ladder with us idling. So I think the long idle times are damaging our equipment like you said. Thanks.

I have a white one, but only because I am using it as a flashlight. The different colors are used as an identifier on fire scenes, like white for chiefs, red for line officer, blue for EMS, etc etc. The colors can be used for any kind of identification purposes, but it should be noted to make it identical to the County you are in so as to not cause confusion. Here is my Buddy Light the day I mounted it on my helmet.

I was just answering your question bro. But as it was pointed out to me by ny10570, these gloves have some issues!! So, I guess the "Puncture Resistant" rating of the gloves just dropped a degree! I have worn these types of Nitrile Gloves before in rough situations and never had one tear or rip, but I have done some research on them when I was Captain of my old squad, and they seemed to be pretty tough gloves, and our PD in the village uses similar gloves for searches and first aid.

Oh, you learn something new every day!! Thanks for the heads up, I will advise our captain. We have never had a problem with tearing or puncturing, but stuff happens. Thanks

Nice Truck! Good luck with it!

I was talking in the same lines as you too brother. Basic stuff like gaining entry to a patient that is unconcious with a locked door, or breaking a window in a car that is on fire to rescue a trapped occupant...not a complete extrication set-up. I am a FirefighterII/EMT so I have the training, most of our squad are firefighters also. But if you dont have the training, than you dont perform the task...simple as that. BUT...If you arrive on scene of a medical emergency, the door is locked, no one else is with the patient, and you see the person lying on the floor through a window unconcious, and the FD has not been dispatched due to the "Medical Emergency"...I am using the tool and popping the lock, forcing the door, or breaking a window to gain entry.