firemoose827

Hey all, just wanted to share our new web site, it just got launched and we have a lot to add to it yet but here is the address. The pictures for the EMS coverage at the Sunshine Fair are loaded...Enjoy. Cobleskill Rescue Squad Moose

The chief must have told the wrong guy at the wrong time to wash the trucks.

Come on over brother!! We work with some of the finest PD units Ive seen, Im from Long Island originally and these Officers are the tops. They work with us and do whatever they can to help and vice versa. This sounded like a tragedy that couldnt be avoided, but I would have felt better if everything that possibly could have been done was. Its a shame. Great post. Moose

Guys, I got to tell ya Im a little dissapointed...You are all making "assumptions" that they didnt tell if there was any more victims. No one was there, no one here can tell if any of the survivors had head injuries, or if they were even ASKED if there were more victims...I thought we dealt with FACT on this web site. Again, a classic case of "we dont know enough to pass judgement", and on top of that this was a discussion on "policy" for responding to mva's...Guidance1 even ASKED to keep the bashing of the kids down. Our village PD calls us for everything they come across, and vice versa, the dispatchers send them to everything we go to. We have an awesome relationship with our PD and work well together. We would have been called to the scene and we would have done what were supposed to...360 degree walk around looking for hazards and victims. Granted, the 60 feet they say the victims were from the car, we may or may not have found them, depending on where they were, but atleast we would have also "questioned" them, not "interrogated" them. The PD would have made contact with the parents of the survivors and asked them if they were the only two in the car. Thats what our dept and PD do at MVA's, and our PD never takes chances, they would have called EMS to come check on the survivors also. Good question and one that should be addressed everywhere. Moose

Oh, so its a "grinder" as I have known it. Its used to cut things, grind things and sand things. Auto body people use it to buff and sand out bondo, dont they? Thank you very much for the info and pics everyone!!

Hey brother, first off I commend you on the efforts your dept are making to improve their skills and keep current, especially keeping the "Got Essentials, good for life" far FAR away from the fire service. Thats going on in my dept WAY too much and now guys are getting elected officer with that attitude, so, I commend you guys very much. Second, I subscribe to Fire Engineering and used to subscribe to Firehouse magazine, and I know that in both they have a monthly article called "Training Notebook". It describes a drill and its purpose in detail even giving you blue prints and supply lists for any props you may have to build. EXCELLENT ideas!! I myself keep them handy in a binder. Some advice, if you would accept...Keep it BASIC. I have seen too many die-hard officers get in and their first drill is usually a plane that crashes into a train carrying hydrogen cyanide right in the middle of a village with two school buses full of nuns........Back to basics is what we all should be training on! Like ladder ops, rope work, SCBA emergency ops, stretching the intitial attack line, hitting a hydrant, tanker shuttle ops, engine relay ops, you know, all the stuff that most firefighters think their experts on but when you ask them to do it......? A good drill is the wall breach, you just need to build a knee wall about 4 foot high with 2x4's 16" on center, and get all the old sheetrock you can find (usually from contractors that are throwing it out) and have them practice breeching walls in full PPE and a covered face mask. Go through the procedure of actually passing through the wall by either the "Dive" method or removing one of the shoulder straps. Good drill and it will make a good critique afterwords. I ran drills in my old dept as Lieutenant for a year before I ended up moving, so If you want any ideas PM me or e-mail me and I would be happy to help. Moose

Im a drummer too!!! Best form of stress relief going. Just take a breath, and beat the snot out of the drums!! Hey...better to be pissed off then pissed on. Keep your chins up Jr. Brothers!!! Moose

The true friends are the ones that stick by you know matter what...You need to have a little more confidence in yourself and your abilities, but dont let it go to your head! If you know what you want in life, go for it...dont hesitate or second guess yourself, just focus on your goals and you will reach them. Above all, you will always have family in the fire service, so treat them well and remember who helped you climb your ladder so you dont step on them on the way up. Otherwise, its normal growing pains brother, dont let it bother you. And dont do drugs. Moose.

Thank you! Anyone have pics of the Whizer tool?

Couple of questions...Whats a Whizzer Tool? The Circulating Band saw, does anyone have pictures of this tool to post or the whizzer? Just curious to see what these tools are. Thank you! We dont carry a torch with us so we would have to use our sawsall or carefully use our Hydraulic cutter. We have the "Brake Pedal" cutter, I dont know if it would make any difference with the "snap" of the cut or the force the PT feels. I dont have that much experience with special rescues so I wouldnt know. I would check to see if the fence comes apart, sometimes people overlook the obvious...similar to "try before you pry" concept, look to see if it comes apart with basic tools like wrenches, screwdrivers, etc. Than you prevent further damage to the pt. Might be a transport problem depending on size of piece impaled, but at least you can cut the piece on the ground now as apposed to in the air. You can stabilize the pt with IV's and make a more controlled cut. Just thinking out loud!! We could probably special call someone like a welding contractor to bring their equipment and expertise in the field to make the cut or provide technical assistance.

Hey everybody. Need some help please. I took my Hazardous Materials Tech course in 2003 and I need to take it again to refresh. I know there are OSHA refreshers, but I want to take the course again voluntarily. Our county cant get the course here due to lack of interest. ( Heh, what else is new. ) ANyone know of courses I can take? Preferably near me, Schoharie County, West of Albany. I will travel if I have too and I can find affordable lodgings. Our county team needs techs, and they asked me to become active again. They tried to get the course in the county but they couldnt. Anything would be appreciative. Stay Safe Moose.

Since the main topic of discussion here seems to be pictures, maybe you can put together a team of moderators with some time on their hands and have them put together a photo contest monthly. Post a topic at the beginning of each month...example, " Best shot of firefighter in action" or " Ladder company operations" or " Funniest Training Bloopers" and limit the entries to one per member. Judge them and have the winning pic be sent to a firemans magazine like Firehouse. Or something like that. And than have all the winning entries from each month be entered in a "Grand Prize" contest at the end of the year and have the members vote on them or something like that, for a prize to be determined. Just some ideas, not certain how exactly it would work but with the experienced moderating team you have Im sure they can put their heads together and fine tune it. This would promote more views of the .com site hopefully. Just trying to help. Moose

Happy Birthday Brother. Have a great day. Moose

JBE, and others who have mentioned it here, I just wanted to make a friendly point to you...please review some of the posts that most of us are making, in them you will read mostly about the topic of which facility is the "closest apropriate" facility and about NYS protocols for transport to these facilities...and the fact that most of us dont even MENTION the agency in the first post. I feel this is a great discussion about which hospital to take which patient to, and about reviewing our protocols, thats all brother. I personaly dont see bashing in this discussion more than 10-20% of the time which is better than some of the OTHER topics Ive seen being argued. Just trying to say that some of these topics NEED to be discussed in order to make them a learning experience for all to share, as long as everyone leaves personal gripes with individual agencies out of it these topics can be great learning tools for all. Just my feelings on the matter, please dont take them the wrong way. I respect your opinion on this matter but like I said, I believe its not as bad in this dicussion as in others. Have a great day and stay safe. Moose

I have a question for you Paramedics out there...Its a QUESTION...not a bash. I am not even mentioning any names of organizations. Just a question to clarify something that has been bugging me all weekend. I was a EMT-CC 8 years ago and let it drop due to family obligations, I am currently just a Basic. At my PT EMS job this past weekend we had a motorcycle vs. car accident...*ouch*...the passenger of the motorcycle got thrown into a field and suffered a head injury. When we arrived she was decorticate posturing, R pupil blown L pupil constricted, breathing, pulse, responsive to pain, incoherent mumbling. I did trauma assesment while my medic partner set up for IV. BP 140/110, P 100, R 28 shallow, no visible bleeding, PT wearing helmet. The helmet was a threat to the airway so we did a helmet removal, immobilized her and was attempting a second IV when a County Coordinator showed up and started to help with our pt. My medic was trying a hard stick so he didnt see, but when I was done with second BP I looked up to see the county medic lubing her nares and starting to nasaly intubate......???????......My question is one: Isnt nasal Intubation contraindicated in a PT with Head injury? Or has that changed? Two: He just jumps in and starts treating our PT without checking with my medic, isnt there something wrong with that? We ended up flying her out, the bird landed right across the street, as we were walking her over she started to seize. But I heard she is in critical condition in ICU. It just bothered me and needed to ask some of you for input. Thanks Moose

Hey Merlin, just wanted to elaborate on 2 of your points you have made. With number 2, being you and I have worked together before, you know how sensitive a subject THAT is with me! How many times has the argument been made that some of our local squads disobey state protocol and ALWAYS go to Coby Regional, instead of the "appropriate" facility? Trauma should go to Albany or Cooperstown, Stroke should go to Ellis, etc. etc....but our local squads feel its more important to return to service as soon as possible rather than take the person to the "appropriate" facility. But hey, its job security for me, right!!! Number 3, the only time we should be going to hospital of patients choice is when A) PT is AOx3 or B ) If the patients representitve, aka legal gaurdian etc., is there to make the decision for them. Or has that changed? If so, sorry!!! Thanks Merlin Moose

Excellent points Rescue...I see it all the time with our drills. We have a large parking lot in front of our Station where we do our training and this is the only spot they practice on realy. I have only seen it done at one other place, the fairgrounds. We sometimes take the tower there and ladder the grandstand, but thats it. Good points, something every good training officer should think about...or rather....think outside the norm. No fire scene is controlled and easily accessible, so training for positioning in challenging situations should definately be part of every driver training program.

On behalf of the color-blind world I extend a Harty Thank You for adding more stressfull fun to our world!!! Did pretty good for a color blind guy though, made it to 18 level before boss walked in!! Good Game! Moose

Sorry, should have clarified that a little better. I meant for 911 calls. Say I was dispatched to the ball fields for a fractured leg...we get there and its obviously broken (deformity, swelling, crepitus, etc.) and we know that our community hospital cant manage factures, we want to go to Albany Med, we get on the phone with med control for permission to divert, they hear our report and we request use of Morphine, they grant permission, we go directly to Albany Medical Center with pain management. I didnt mean to make it sound like I was referring to transports, sorry!

All I got was 20.987...angina...and the need for a 12 step program!! Thanks. Um....you wouldnt happen to have a link to a 12 step program would you?? Oh, never mind, I have to get back to playing....I MEAN back to work now.

Im glad a few of you mentioned RSI, because thats what my partner wanted to do with her. She did have clenched teeth but I feel the scissor technique could have opened her mouth...and with the RSI it would have been easier to do that and than easier to control her breathing. Shortly after the nasal intubation I had trouble keeping her Resperations in a safe range with the BVM, she kept fighting it. But what realy gets me, now that I have heard some of your views, is that when we got to the flight medic he points at the tube and says "Excellent job on the tube man." I guess he forgot the contraindications too. After transfer of care we went to clean up the "field" that we managed to make a complete mess of and the county medic just goes to his vehicle and takes off....doesnt help us, doesnt collaborate info for the PCR...just leaves. The sad part is this medic was an EXCELLENT medic, I worked with him my whole 20 year career and he taught all of my classes and hes been the Coordinator for as long as I can remember. I hope hes not burnt out, this makes me worried about him. Thanks for your input. Moose

I am not from that area and I have a few questions before I go passing judgement. 1) Are there any other "Appropriate" hospitals that can handle these types of injuries closer than Jersey? Just because its closer doesnt mean its the "appropriate" facility. 2) Did they call med control on the radio or phone and receive directions to divert and go direct to Jersey? Anyone know? With the weather being bad and the extent of injuries, and based on the answer to number 1 Its hard to determine if they made the right choice or not without more info on what exactly happened here. 3) How badly injured was the pt? The article said extensive head, neck and chest injuries, but how often does the media elaborate to make a story? Does anyone know HOW bad the injuries were? I live in a small, GROWING community, and our local hospital cant do very much at all. They cant handle major trauma, pregnancy, and they lack the equipment and staff to handle major medical issues. They do MINOR surgery, ( gall bladder, appendix, minor bone and joint stuff, etc.) In fact, 9 times out of 10 they are calling for us to transport the patient...before they even get to the ED...based on the radio report. We have learned to listen to the scanner and decifer who will be transported...and when in the field we know when to transport to another, more APPROPRIATE facility. We still call med control and present our patient but they usually interrupt us and tell us to divert. I am just trying to look at all angles here and see if they actually made a bad, or a good decision here. I need more facts before I make judgements. Any more info on this would be great. Moose

I just wanted to run by an idea to all of you that I have seen in another forum. Being that this forum is rapidly growing and there are over 6000 members now I feel it would be a great thing to start. When the Site was started it was a bunch of EMS/Fire/Police/dispatchers from the Westchester area and you all basically new each other or new OF each other in one form or the other. How about we have a "Put a face to the Handle" Section where we post pictures of ourselves. They can be still shots or action shots at work/volunteer duties...family shots, or just goofy shots...something to break the ice with each other and make it more a family atmosphere. Any input/feelings? I think it would be fun. Besides, there arent enough pictures!! Stay Safe Moose

Good idea!! I think we can have some fun with this Seth. By the way...I agree, we will call it "Put a face to the name" instead of "handle"....that did sound kind of funny.

I would believe it would be a good thing for depts with dedicated truck companies to keep track of that statistic. We have a 95' Tower ladder but no "Truck Company". The tower is second due to structures in the village and special called for town fires if needed and accesible. The practice of deploying the ladder at every response would definately be pratical and a continual learning experience. After a while of not using a certain skill you tend to loose profficiency, laddering the roof every time regardless would help that...and just in case the doo doo hits the fan you are already prepared. Is there any volunteer depts that have companies set up? If so, could you PM me, I have a few questions about them and how to go about setting them up...its a possible solution to a problem I see in my dept. Sorry, didnt mean to go off topic!! Moose