firemoose827

Does anyone here use the following type of dispatch, forgive me I forgot the name of it, maybe someone can enlighten me!! But I heard a county once dispatch in the following manner; Agency one toned out. 2 minutes later, agency one second tones, agency 2 first tones. 2 minutes later, agency 1 third tones, agency 2 second tones, agency 3 first tones. And so on untill sufficient help enroute. Does anyone know what they call this type of dispatch? I believe it was Priority Dispatch? And does anyone here use this style? If so, can you please PM me with the specifics? Im looking into it for our county to possibly think about. Thanks all.

Thats a big problem being faced by a lot of volunteer departments whos membership cant get out of work or family obligations to respond to calls. Its a shame, but its life, and also why I supported the "County Wide System" another member brought up in another thread. Today's fire service is MUCH different than the past, and there are more strains on the membership as far as work, family, and personal life. The training ( for us in NY) went from 39 hours of Essentials of Firemanship to over 80 hours in Firefighter I. The call volumes are increasing with Carbon Monoxide calls and fire alarm activations and EMS calls, and the need for further training on more high tech equipment is increasing the training demands on firefighters everywhere. For us in our dept., usually the first officer on the air will be the one to make the determination for MA. We get three tones, 3 minutes apart. If we dont answer the call at all ( Meaning no officers either) the dispatch goes to the next closest department. If there is an officer, they will tell dispatch who to call. If there is only a firefighter at station without an officer, they are instructed to call dispatch and say turn it over to next available dept. Its a shame, but on my priority list the department is 3rd to family and work. When I was young and single, and still living with my parents, I responded to everything, and took every class I heard in the county, and even went to the Academy a few times...but today, its just not possible. Its time for the new "Younger" crew to take over. I wish I could still be as active. Moose

Hey all you Pats fans, Packers fans, and cowboy fans, I just wanted to take this time to start a support group for all of you to let out your feelings, and begin the healing process. This will hopefully help you all with the transition from watching football, to.....Watching Your Team Play Golf!!!! Giants over the Patriots...24-21...GO BIG BLUE WRECKING CREW!!! And this ends our session for today, see you all next week where we will brush up your golfing skills. Have a nice day. Moose

I have learned a lot about Computers from everyone on this site!! I have made a few friends, and I have had a chance to see how each department functions differently from the rest. Its very interesting to follow the debates about topics I dont understand too well like the political mumbo jumbo, and law enforcement issues facing our brothers/sisters in blue. I love the site, and hope it will be around for a long time, and will continue to support it any way I can. Thanks to Seth, and all of his team for making a great place to share and learn. Moose

Thanks Brother! Yes, my bad, it is an S-700 7.1 megapixel camera, ( Whatever the hell the megapixel thing means is new to me!!) I have an extra memory card that holds like 1300 pictures, so I guess theres plenty of room to practise!! Thanks for the link, I apreciate it! Moose

I currently work in my Village DPW, and I heard our superintendant talk about airports selling their old "Snow Blowers" they used to clear the runways with to State and County DPW's that can afford them. Looks like its nice to have, but I have heard they are mainly used for snow removal, after the storm is over, to remove the piles of snow from main streets and village parking lots. They use this to shoot the snow into dumptrucks and haul it off. As of now, we have a team of 8 guys to do snow removal in our village; 2 to run the loaders, 2 to run back hoes, 3 to drive truck, and one to use a 550 with a plow to clean up behind the crews. One loader has a pusher on it and it piles up all of the snow from the side of main street and all of the side streets, one loader loads trucks, the two backhoes back drag the snow off of the sidewalks and smaller streets. Its a big operation, but with this beast it probably takes one operator and three drivers. Nice Picture!

I have to agree with you NYMedic. But other "incentives" are out there, you just have to be creative with what you do. Here in my volunteer squad we came up with the " Three "R" Committee", Recruitment, Retention, and Recognition. They are a small group of mixed membership, new and experienced, EMT and attendants, that get together and think of ways to recruit and retain members. We have come up with the point system, 5 points for meetings/drills, 2 points for calls, and 35 points for EMT class. You need 45 points a year to be a member in good standing, and you need to be the Member in good standing to go to ALL special events like the annual trip to Great Adventure in Lake George. Every point over 60 gives you one dollar to be used for EMS gear out of an approved EMS catalogue. Only the good standing members get new T-shirts each year also, we get 2 new shirts every year. Just another idea for incentives, and the points are not that hard to get. Most people cringe or run screaming when they see the point system, but so far for us it works. ( Except now, I am not a member in good standing!! I only have 10 points due to work and family obligations! Oh well...) Good Luck.

Well, the other thing I wanted to talk with you about is that I see no one here attempting to bash the brother personally, and if they did I didnt see it and I apologise to you. But what I see here is a bunch of brothers/sisters trying to honor his passing by ensuring no one else goes the same way, and thats by discussing ladder placement around power lines...I didnt see any disrespect to that particular officer who recently passed. What most people dont take into consideration is that these topics go out of sight out of mind untill some tragedy happens somewhere. Than, everyone feels the need to address the topic to help everyone else not go the same way. When I first read the main topic and than eventually posted my opinions I was never even thinking of Captain James Robeson. The initial topic showed a picture of some crazy Ladder placement...not the fire where Captain Robeson Passed. It wasnt untill later that someone posted that picture and commented that the ladder wasnt even in contact with the power lines...thats all I saw. We are not trying to dishonor him in any way, we are trying to honor him. And, when I hear the siren go off for a call, I feel the same brotherhood, respect, and dedication to fellow firefighters as you do when your at work. There are some of us volunteers who have more heart and dedication than the others, and take it to higher levels to support fellow firefighters. Have a great day brother. Moose

Giants and the Pats for the superbowl...The G men have a score to settle with the pats, they still need to hand them their first loss!! GO GIANTS!!!

I have to add one more thing about this comment...First, to say that we have no respect for one another because we dont "Crawl down the hallway with the same guys..." thats disrespectful. I dont give a flying crap if your paid or not, we ALL should show respect for EVERY FIREFIGHTER...not just because we work with each other everyday. I realise you build stronger bonds and friendships with those people than I might with some of my volunteer bretheren, but I show due respect to every firefighter...that is untill they abuse it. Its a shame most of us are still playing this petty paid vs. volly thing...what happened to "Brotherhood"? "Family"? Nowhere do I read about these things does it also say, in fine print..." The Brotherhood of firefighting...only for paid departments, not including those jolly volly types that pretend to fight fire..." I dont mean to disrespect you brother, Im just tired of being told I dont deserve to respect, or know how to respect, my bretheren untill I work with them everyday at every fire.

Rest In Peace Brother, my prayers to your son, and your family and friends...Too young...Too many...

Hello brother, I feel your pain, having been Captain of a squad in very much the same spot as yours is now, and I can shed some light at the end of your very long tunnel...hopefully!! First and foremost is the older members. You need to first understand its not that they dont care anymore, its the fact that they have been volunteers for a long time now, and most if not all are or have been experiencing burnout, and they have given all they can for now. I bet they were all hoping to be at a stage now where they could just sit back and watch the organization grow with younger blood and just enjoy the benefits of "Seniority". If you ask these members, Im sure thats what they will say, and maybe it will help you understand them and their needs better. Worst thing you can do with those members is tell them that they "Dont Care Anymore"...thats the farthest from the truth. Praise them as much as you can by saying they have done their jobs and its time for us younger members to step up, form a membership committee like bob mentioned, throw fundraisers/demonstrations where you have hands-on sessions that people can see first hand what its like to do EMS. Let them wrap someone in a KED, or backboard, get a whole bunch of out-dated bandages and let them wrap each other up. Get some literature printed up like flyers and brochures with lots of pictures of the membership at drills, and banquets and such, let people see that there IS fun involved with volunteering, and the feeling of personal satisfaction you will feel. Take these brochures to your local businesses like banks, and restaurants, Im sure they will post them for you. Change is a big thing for the senior members, and they will fight it all they way. When I first got my EMT-CC card I was Co-Captain of my squad. They didnt have an ALS certificate from DOH, as both Co-Captain and Captain I worked countless hours lobbying these members of the benefits of buying the necessary ALS equipment than applying for the ALS certificate. I got resistance from all fronts and it was getting frustrating. One of the "Life Members" we had at the time actually stood up at a meeting yelling and screaming when I told them the costs of a Lifepack Monitor...He ranted and raved about the costs, and actually pointed at me and said "Why dont you just buy a helicopter and put it on the roof of the building, will that help too?" I sat dumbfounded and said, in an effort to relax him, "Yah, if the membership will go for it." He didnt like me too much after that. But sadly, a few months later during one of our Town Celebrations we had every year, he had a massive MI, and there was nothing we could do for him, even with the advent of the county EMS Coordinator. Within months of that episode ALL of the squad approved the change. Sadly for us, and most organizations, it takes a big tragedy like ours to make it justifiable for change. Hopefully you will be able to find a peaceful, less tragic way to get your point across, but I figured by sharing my experiences with you you would see you are not alone in your fight brother! Be patient, respect your senior members and their contributions as much as you can, start a membership committee and start thinking of exciting ways you can promote membership, including banding together with other agencies in your county and making a "County Wide" membership drive. That has happened up here by me and it works well. You all contribute some money, make up banners and flyers and put them up all over the county to advertise the need for volunteers. That could work as well. Seek the council of the senior members, and ask for their input so you keep them in the loop so to speak. Things will change for the better, there are always surges in volunteer membership, you just need to keep patient and keep at it. Than by starting a Recruitment, Recognition, and Retention committee you can find ways to KEEP the membership you get. Let me know if you need any more help, I am always glad to help out wherever and whenever I can. Moose

Congrats Jack! Now I have a NEW moderator to help this dumb computer illiterate schmuck!! Good luck to you brother! Moose

Exactly!! Johny hit on everything that moved!

Works Great here, no problems Seth. You need any more donations yet? Or are you set there? Let me know. Thanks Seth Moose

Thanks! Up till now I was just a fan of her body, not her acting! But thanks for the input! Be safe.

Just a few things to add here...my opinions, not in any way meant to bring a pack of wild dogs on me. First, when I went through my training I was told that the CATV and phone wires could very well be hot due to numerous reasons like "False Neutral" phenomenon that I saw a video and learned about when I took my Electrical Fire Cause Determination I & II at the academy. Point Im making here is anything is possible. I treat all lines as "Live", and if your district has that many lines covering the fronts of houses and businesses that you cant get a ladder, even a ground ladder, than your utility people need to think "Underground" wires. Second, I have said it once before and I will say it again. I dont see discussing the recent events of a LODD as being disrespectful to the fallen brother/sister. PEOPLE, its real SIMPLE here, if there is a safety lesson to be learned by my brothers/sisters from my LODD than I OPENLY ENCOURAGE it!!!!! Discuss...Learn...Dont let it happen to anyone else!! We are not disrespecting anyone here. As far as I see it all of you complainers trying to act chivalrous by "Defending" our fallen brother are the ones being disrespectful. We are in a dangerous profession, and we NEED to be constantly learning from everything we can to reduce the amount of LODD we are seeing. If you want to sit and pout and cry and ignore what happened so be it, but dont you dare tell the rest of us to disrespect our brethren and not pass on the lessons learned so we can make it so their passing is not in vain. This discussion is filling everyones heads with the thoughts of power lines and ladder placements, and the dangers of not trusting ANY kind of line PERIOD....and this is a GOOD THING! Maybe in the future we will not see so many LODD due to electrocution and thats fine in my book. xfirefighter484x, dont let them stop you from doing this. This has to be done so a lesson is learned and the fallen bretheren are not forgotten. Good topic and I support it. Safety First PS As a Post Script here, I must have posted the same time that jayhalsey did, I dont want to take from his post and I wanted to say exactly what he said. Perfectly said brother.

What is THAT supposed to mean brother?

Thanks for the link brother! I LOVE that show, watched it all the time with my father and even had the Board game!! Hope they bring it back for us die hard dixie fans!!

I made a debit card payment and had a charge of 4.99, but I wanted to get the money to Seth fast, instead of mailing a check which I will probably do next week when I get paid again.

Sorry I cant donate a lot right now, but I hope it helps. Please let me know if theres anything else I can do. Maybe in another week I can give more but right now Im tapped. Moose

The Village DPW I work for has the Superintendant truck with the fuel pumps on board for fueling the back-hoes and loaders and rollers at major road projects. It has a 100 gallon deisel tank with electric pump and nozzle, and a split tank, 50 gallons deisel and 50 of gas, each also with the electric pumps and nozzles. This truck could easily be special called to the scene of any long operations for refueling purposes, and we all get the fuel from the same spot, the School Districts Bus Garage. They have HUGE tanks that they allow the village DPW, Fire, EMS, and police dept to fuel up at with special cards. I'll see if I can get a picture of the tanks today and post it for everyone...if your interested.

Unitll I recently moved into the office as Deputy Codes/GIS analyst I worked for the village highway dept. I spent many a long hour standing in the road with a flag, or digging a hole, or filling a hole in!! I have seen the potential carnage...scary. what I meant was simple enough...Firefighting is-or should be-listed as one of the most dangerous workplaces in the world, thats all. Cars whizzzzzzing by is one thing, but entering a burning building that could fall down around your head, or cleaning up a Haz-mat spill that could give you a sex change operation on the spot, or extricating someone from one of those whizzzzzing cars that is loaded with a hundred or more "Missiles" that could suddenly take off your head, or amputate your legs in an instant....all sounds pretty dangerous to me. I understand what your saying though, I worked DPW, and my father works DPW on the Island still as an operator and sees dangerous accidents on the job site at least once a week, but its still not nearly as dangerous as firefighting, or Law Enforcement. My joke was mainly for the Firehouse Bathrooms, get it now? Ha ha ha...joke...

Yah, you can probably put that in most station bathrooms too! This was in a DOT Yard? Interesting. It should be in every firehouse in the world too.

Thanks grumpyff for the info, sorry I had to ask for it, it must have been rough for you guys. My prayers to everyone and I hope they catch the criminal...SOON.