firemoose827

I am shocked his murder was not solved. I did not hear about this tragedy when it happened and I dont know what happened to our brother, was it a hit-and-run in the snow? Im sorry to ask that, but I wish to remember him, and hopefully push for his rememberance. I wish to send all of the members of the Pleasantville Fire Dept my prayers and condolences and hopes that this senseless tragedy can eventually be solved. Peace Brothers.

Rest In Peace Brother, My prayers go out to his family and friends... Im tired of writing condolences...we need some good news in the fire service soon!!

ALSfirefighter, I know, My bad, it is easy to misinterpret what is being written when they A) Quote you directly, than Start using a bunch of Caps and assumptions like they are directing it at you. I read your other post about the quoting thing and I agree. Sorry, My bad oneeye. To defend the cops out there getting bashed...I have no problem with the Village PD here, they are dispatched with us to all calls in the village and have been always there to help. Maybe with most of you guys having problems with PO, it could be a individual personality thing with them and they just dont want to do anything but shoot at bad guys. I have never seen one of our PO just stand around maliciously. Some stand around but thats because they are waiting for orders and dont know what to do. When I ask them to do something they 100% of the time jump right at it without hesitation. Just thought I would offer some positive feedback for you PD guys/gals out there!! It seems as if a few members just CANT grasp the fact that an agency is bound by what its License allows it to do. There was even a link directly to the site that Explains this in detail. If the Fire Departments license says "BLS First Responder Level", than that firefighter who has a Paramedic card can only perform as a BLS provider. In order for the Firefighter/Medic to be able to perform their ALS skills, the license needs to read "ALS Level Provider". I went through all of this when I got the "ALS License" for my old ambulance squad from DOH. I had to fill out extensive paperwork and prove that I had at least one ALS Certified Provider in order to get it. As soon as the organization looses its ALS provider the License is lost. They are very strict about this stuff, so READ the link that ALS posted for you.

Rest In Peace Brother, my prayers go out to Lt Martinsons family both at home and at Engine 249. Keep your heads up brothers.

Woa! At no point in time did I ever say I want to miss a call dude, chill, relax, breathe. I was just simply speaking from my own experiences and what I have seen of others and what they have told me. By me saying that I am a firefighter first means that at all fires the ambulance goes to, I will be on the firetruck. If they need an EMT, guess what, Im on scene and I will jump on the rig to transport the patient. Im not one of those wahoos that get all bent out of shape whenever the siren goes off and feels the need to get to the firehouse whenever Im doing an EMS run. I will finish the EMS call, and if they are still on scene of the fire I will go with the ambulance with my turnouts, If I am needed for the fire Im there, if not theres a rig on scene to treat victims. Dont classify me as a nutjob who just has to be at fires...Not me bro. Im here to help people however I can and I do that calmly and professionaly. Sorry my post was misread the first time, but that wasnt what I intended for you to interpret it as. We have "Drivers" here too. They dont hold EMT or even First Responder credentials, just drive the rig and help out at scenes, play the "gopher" if you will. Thats fine with me too, there are different levels of "Helpers" out there, and I dont make up the parameters of how far they are willing to go, I do however support them all in any way I can. If they want to be just drivers, great! If they only want to do EMS, fine, or vice/versa, if they only want to be a firefighter and want nothing to do with an ambulance thats fine too. Which Is why I support the idea that EMS should be the third respected agency, and not be affiliated with a fire department. Police should protect people and uphold the law, Firefighters fight fires and rescue people, EMS treat sickness and injury. Sorry if I offended you in any way by trying to explain why some agencies may cover more fires than ems calls, and vice/versa. Its just the membership classification thing. Me, I go on ALL calls I am available for that work allows me to respond to. By the way...Happy New Year everyone!

Whew!!! Theres a lot going on here, so I will add what I can of my experiences. In my county we have two types of Volunteer EMS agencies as Im sure everyone is aware of; Fire Dept affiliated and the Private EMS Agency. We currently have only 3 privates, I was in one of them for 11 years and now belong to a Fire Dept Affiliated EMS agency and am a member of both Fire and Ambulance. Now, as mentioned earlier, with fire dept EMS there are TWO separate memberships within the department and you dont have to be in both. We have members who are ONLY EMS, and only fire, and some (Like me) who are both and constantly feel like a rope in a tug-of-war. I have stated numerous times that in the event there is an MVA, or fire, I will ride in the fire truck unless NEEDED as EMT in the rig. A lot of the firefighters in our dept do NOT LIKE EMS stuff and want nothing to do with it, not even driving, which isnt a bad thing. They just cant handle blood and guts, or other bodily fluids, and have weak stomaches. Even as a driver you will see this stuff as you have to help lift the patient, so there is no "Driver Only" thing someone mentioned earlier in this thread. They state they feel bad when a driver is needed, but they just cant do the EMS thing. Conversely, there are EMS people who physically cant do the job of firefighter but still want to help out, nothing wrong with that either. I have been in the middle so many times and have a lot of experience with this issue, I am a past captain of my old private EMS agency, and tried to mend the working relationship with the Fire Dept ( who I also belonged to and was Lt.) to the point they actually began to call for EMS to stand-by at structure fires again. For a while, the fire chief didnt call for ems, and the EMS people would just go and sit at the station and listen to the radio in case needed, but the chief stopped calling for them to the scene. ( Dangerous) So as far as the fire call getting answered, and the EMS calls lacking participation, I cant speak for the specific agency, but I see this all the time here too. Its just that most of the EMS people are not available, and some of the firefighters are. The luck of the dice. Another thing to add, like in my situation, I work for my Village and they still have guidelines for what I can leave work for and what I cant. So most people are restricted to day time responses. I can only leave for Structure Fires, Brush Fires, MVA's with tones for manpower, and Charlie, Delta and Echo Ambulance responses only. I cant go to every Auto Alarm, smell of gas, smoke sighted or Alpha and Bravo calls there are. I agree, there is definately the need for separate EMS agencies. There are currently 3 other EMS agencies looking to separate from the Fire Dept and go Private as well. And the Paid unit I work for PT has gained numerous turn-overs from county volunteer agencies due to lack of manpower. I think a county wide system needs to be implemented for the welfare of our patients, not only for call coverage, but the lack of EMS training and experience most of our current Fire Chiefs have. Technically, how can a fire chief with No EMS training or experience effectively run and manage an EMS agency, even with an elected EMS Captains help and guidance? "MOST" Fire Chiefs just dont understand the need for EMS, or its specific needs for equipment, training and such. I believe the dedicated EMS agency as a THIRD RESPECTED agency is definately the way to go, and should primarily be staffed with paid personnel during the weekdays and keep your volunteers for weekends. Hope this helped, and didnt confuse everyone!! It was a mouthful!! Sorry!

"What we have here is, failure to communicate..." lol sorry, had to get that in!! Most of you fail to see the point that ALSFIrefighter is making, it all boils down to the LICENSURE LEVEL of the responding agency. This Engine is LICENSED as a CFR Unit, and therefore can only perform CFR duties, and the Paramedic can NOT perform ALS duties. SO he cant practise his skills...I believe its called "Practising above your scope", correct me if Im wrong. In order for the medic to be able to perform his ALS duties he would need to be assigned to a Paramedic Level Engine. Without the NYS DOH License on the rig, you cant perform the skills REGARDLESS if you have a medic card or not. Does this clarify for a lot of people? Another thing for the first situation, with the firefighter/medic and the CFR Lieutenant...Had the engine have been an ALS unit, the Medic would be in charge of the patient, the Lieutenant would be in charge of the scene. As far as situation 2, the licensure thing plays here also. The Engine is BLS ONLY, so they are performing BLS skills and the Medic can not ride on the bus in the capacity of Paramedic. Sucks, I know, but thats the rules NYS has in place to protect the responders' gluteous maximus'!! lol

Happy Birthday EMTBravo!! Congratulations Seth, may there be many more Birthdays to come! Happy New Year To everyone!!!! Moose

It IS scary. If I ever saw someone do that to MY family I would return the favor...over and over and over. That one with the ambulance dumping the patient is TERRIBLE...how can that happen? How can you NOT secure the pt and close the doors? Scary...

Everything here is done manually by the IC with the aid of the Fire Coordinators, whos primary purpose in life is to handle the Mutual Aid and offer assistance to chiefs who request it. If we have a structure we are toned out, and whatever equipment we can get a driver for rolls. Once on scene the IC will "Special Call" engines, tankers, or manpower from mutual aid companies. We have no "alarms", just a chief hollering on the radio for everyone to drop what their doing and get to the scene. But we are FAR BEHIND the times here, and have a LOT of catching up to do. Im surprised no one in the county has been shut down yet due to not following NFPA and OSHA guidelines....BUT, thats another topic!!

Adding dish soap to your PWC will also protect the parts and pieces, keeping them lubed and working properly. I used to work for an extinguisher company and I would add a squirt to the 2.5 Pressurised that I re-charged in the shop after a hydro-test. Just a FYI thing I thought you would like to know.

I think that the point that gets misconstrued the most is the fact that lights and sirens can HURT you more than help you clear traffic. I have seen studies where most people cant hear the sirens untill you are on top of them, with all of the new air tight cars and high tech radio systems. So, if you are going through traffic hot, most people wont react untill its too late and then they will cause more of a clutter for you to avoid. Some times you will even cause an accident. Going cold is safer, and with the PD on scene you already have medically trained people there to render any life saving treatment like CPR, bandaging and airway maneuvers. ( Atleast the PD here are trained to First Responder level, some even EMT level.) Maps are too often not used. Look up the address of the call and choose a safe distance away to stage. If you are rural like I am, there are a lot of farms with enough area to pull off the road and even "Hide" your rig in the barn, or behind it, or even use the corn fields to your advantage. I know it sounds stupid but most times there are access roads through the corn fields you can back into. The bottom line is know your response area, use the topography and features to your advantage to keep your crew safe, and prevent injuring any other innocent civilians during your response. Lights and sirens WILL NOT save you any time. Stay safe and use common sense out there. Moose

My thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends. RIP Sister.

Yes...I know him personally, he was reffering to the perps. EMS being chased by bad guys with guns, thats what he meant to say. He woudnt make fun of PD like that.

WOW!! Seth youre fast. I didnt even have to send you an e-mail. Thanks Brother!! Im now officially moosecfd368.

Jones is my last name, Jonesy was always my fathers nickname so I just used Jonesy- 368 is my department number. But I always use another name ( which I am going to take seth up on his offer to change) moosecfd368. Moose is my nickname since birth, the nurses named me moose because I was 10lbs, 24 inches at birth!! cfd- Cobleskill Fire Dept, 368-my number...moosecfd368. Seth, I will shoot you an e-mail to request I change that bro, thanks!!

Merlin...Are you speculating and assuming things again? Are you doubting that the &*@%#$$% I work for only pay me 7.50/hr to start? Its fact brother, adn one of the minor reasons I HATE working for them. If I listed all the reasons I would be able to publish this post as a book and make money that way! Not a bad idea??????? Just Kidding

I believe 22 Truck was talking about volunteer staffing, and getting vollies to answer calls now-a-days. I could be wrong though. Where I work PT I get a measly 7.73/hr. I believe EMT's should be getting 25/hr. Its real simple, some high school drop out standing in the middle of the road with an orange flag waving his/her hand back and forth ALL DAY gets 25-30/hr. You could train a monkey to do that job for "peanuts". We go through extensive training, CME's, and recert every 3 years, work with peoples lives, run around the clock without sleep or food, in all weather regardless ( that high school drop out gets to go home when it rains and gets laid off when it snows with pay). What do we get...close to minimum wage. PATHETIC. My bosses excuse to this? "Well, you get to work all the OT you want and when there is no call you are paid to watch TV" Lately my regular 24 hr shift on thursday nights has been non-stop, averaging 6-8 calls per 12 hour block. Last friday we did two calls in a town 20 minutes away from our station- a full code and a 17 y.o w/seizures. 20 minute response time in snow and slush. But we are only paid 7.73/hr. NYS needs to get its priorities straight, and figure out who should be paid more; Laborers on state contract or Fire/EMS/Police? Sorry for rambling, this bugs me, and I HATE the company I work for with a passion.

Tried it again this AM when I got into work and it worked great. Downloaded fast and I saw the yello banner message too. Works nice Seth.

Nope, happens to me too. And I cant get to emtbravo.com, keeps coming up a white page, even when I try to refresh the page nothing happens. Ill try again later and let you know.

I wonder what happened to mke the crew think she was dead? Was she mangled up bad and they thought it was "Obvious Death"? Scary thing. I guess thats why we have to confirm in three leads? There was only 3 other patients so I wonder what happened. Not enough in the story to be able to tell. Hopefully our brothers handle this ok and they find out more to the story.

That was terrible! I hope each pt is ok? Anyone see any further about these poor SOB's and if they made it? I dont understand pakistani or whatever language that first video was in!! Hope theyre ok.

Exactly what I would do. I would definately NOT pass by and not offer help, but if the call we were responding to is a decent size job they will need everything they can get. So...Stop at the accident, do a triage of patients, if all is well and dispatch is advising to proceed to initial alarm than do so. The worst scenario is you stay on scene to render aid/extricate untill other units arrive, than you proceed to initial alarm in needed. Atleast wait untill ambulance gets there, give report and proceed.

Well, I work for the Highway Department, atleast untill January 1st anyway, and I hope the snow stays away!!! lol Im sick of plowing and sanding all night just for a few inches. And thats what our superintendant does, we stay out all night even if its a few inches just to make sure. But, I just found out the other day, (Funny you brought this up now pcfdrfd700) that I received a promotion at work for the Village of CObleskill, I will now be the Deputy Codes Officer in charge of fire inspections in all multifamily residential and commercial occupancies effective January First, with a substantial raise too. So after January 1st it can snow all it wants!!! lol Stay Safe All Moose

Excellent question, and I hope more members will answer with more info. We do not have any in our district but with time I am sure will eventually. I never would have guessed there was juice running through them at all times and that there was a shuttoff on them somewhere. Where is the shuttoff located? My guess would be the same as far as venting is concerned, vent on the opposite side of the roof as the panels and watch for the added load on the roof to cause more of a collapse issue. Good Topic and hopefully there will be more discussion on this. Moose