firemoose827

Great...do me a favor and dont let my county see this BS. We FINALY started to have a decent training program in my county with a small group of dedicated and talented instructors, and a new training tower. We have Firefighter 1 offered twice a year so there is no excuse to not have it, and our department is the same way requiring every member to obtain firefighter 1 within 6 months of joining (or as soon as it is offered if longer than 6 month period). Our department also requires you to have fire police training so if you end up directing traffic at an MVA you know what you are supposed to do. We require all drivers to have EVOC and Pump Ops. But I still feel that is not enough. Now this is happening in Texas?? How soon until it trickles over to NY?? To me, if you want to fight fires and respond to emergencies such as MVA's and Haz-Mat Spills and rescue calls you need to know what you are doing. There are too many wahoos out there that think turnout gear is like Batmans outfit, once you don it your a super hero... I respect the fire service, I respect the brotherhood and I respect training and those that have training, not having enough training shows disrespect to the fire service and all of the greats that paved the way for us and passed on what they learned the hard way paying blood sweat and tears. I for one will continue to honor those firefighters and continue to train and learn something new everyday. Just remember...not all of the volunteers are careless, disrespectful, dangerous and unprofessional. Stay Safe.

27,000 miles...on its second engine??

Could they have offered these guys jobs at a lower rank to keep them on the job? I would even go back to firefighter if it meant keeping a paycheck. It is a shame though you are right, keeping the numbers the same in the field is more important than in the office.

I had the pleasure of meeting RWC130 yesterday in person, and got to see his 1974 Mack Engine (and ride in it, but he wouldnt let me play with the sirens...lol) It was a great truck and a great day. Happy to have met you brother, too bad Tim couldnt come with you, maybe next time. Is there any events coming up for EMTBravo members to get the chance to meet each other? Just wanted to share that and tell Rob good luck with the Mack and the refurb project! Look forward to seeing it finished. Brian "Moose" Jones

Making a regionalized "County Fire District" is an easy way around those rules, right??? You are still only forming a fire district yet this one would be county wide and easier managed. I believe that is the only thing that will save our county fire service here. My department has only 9 interior qualified firefighters, 6 of us are officers yet you go 10 minutes south of us and they have over 50 members, 3 engines, tanker, heavy rescue, 95' tower, brush unit, gator rescue atv, 2 ambulances, ALS fly car/captains vehicle and average 500-600 calls a year. We can barely get 3-4 FF's to a call with 2-3 rigs and they can cover two calls at once (have seen them do it). Regionalize our county and half of their members instantly became eligible to respond to our station for calls to get rigs out the door faster with more qualified personnel then before. I see nothing wrong with that! And I am an assistant chief of my department, I could care less if another larger department, more qualified with more trained members and better equipment comes in and takes over my sandbox...I will still be in the box playing, just with more friends and better toys!

I respectfully agree and disagree with you here; agree that we all need a vest, disagree on picking and choosing which calls to wear it. In my career EMS job that I worked for 16 years, if I were issued one i would wear it under my uniform shirt every shift for every call. Like mentioned so many times in so many ways, you never know ahead of time when you will be in a tough situation, other then those calls dispatched as "Domestic Violence" or "Possible Suicide" or "Police Action Call", you dont know ahead of time when to wear it or not. Many of my routine medical calls such as chest pain and possible strokes unded up being violent scenes with agitated people wanting to hurt someone, i was just lucky enough to live in an area where most of them could not afford to buy food let alone a hand gun or rifle, and just ended up with punches or kicks thrown at me and the scenes turning into WWE matches instead of EMS scenes.

Initial radio report? Same as most; type or nature of call (to confirm with all responding units, wether its a fire, MVA etc.) confirm scene location, assume command, call for any mutual aid. Size-up? Initially Im doing the 360 degree walk, figure out my strategy, develop goals for that strategy, using any one of the acronyms for size-up, then i will call out my location of the command post and start issuing orders to incoming units, as well as status reports every 15-20 minutes for the dispatchers sake and any other units about to be called. Around me though its pretty simple, mostly 2 story residential homes and farms, with barns and outbuildings, only 3 commercial buildings in my town; 2 repair garages and a natural gas pipeline pumping facility. Our closest mutual aid district though? Wal-Mart, Price Chopper, multiple strip malls and taxpayers, a SUNY college, and a half dozen factories and wearhouses, so we can get thrown into any situation. Im new at the chief officer scene though and am learning every day (when they can keep me from packing up and going interior)

Seth, have we ever tried to organize a summer BBQ meet-n-greet event? Just make a list of food and beverage and have everyone attending bring one of those items (including paper plates and utencils) and pick a nice public park somewhere to have everyone meet. I feel it would be a good event. Everyone that has something could bring an outdoor activity with them like volleyball net, horse shoe set(s), lawn games for kids and what not for activities and it can be a family event. Just one idea. Hope you are feeling better too.

I had one call, for chest pain. It was mutual aid to the neighboring county for one of their "frequent flyers" (unknown to us of course) I was EMT-Captain at the time and had a crew of 2 other EMT's and a driver. We arrived on scene, there was 2 state troopers cars in the driveway, they were in talking to the patient who was seated at kitchen table looking like he was gasping for breath. The 2 EMT's with me started to evaluate, I was standing with the driver near the entrance talking with troopers. My driver started to hiss at me to get my attention, when I looked over he pointed down at a double-headed axe lying on the floor in front of a broken porch window...just as I started to point it out to the troopers the guy got up and started to look around. When asked what for, he stated calmly like he was telling us the weather that he was looking for his gun. I ushered my crew out to the rig and the troopers handled him, got him out to the stretcher and one of them rode along with us to theER. He told me his mother recently died in the house and that she talked to him...he couldnt stand talking to his dead mother anymore... Several months later, on Superbowl Sunday no less, he set fire to his house and was found in the garage across the street (right where we parked the first due engine) with a shotgun across his lapp waiting for the FD to arrive so he could "scare us off to let the F'er burn"...I was on that first due engine and could have been shot, but we knew ahead of time what we were dealing with and the troopers and sherrifs both responded ahead of us that night and found him just as we were pulling up and were leading him off with cuffs. Another time we were called for an "Unknown Medical" and arrived on scene to find a guy on the floor with half of his head shot off still gripping the rifle he used with a note. The note basically said he was tired of the world and wanted to go but couldnt do it on his own so he was going to shoot at the first responders to get shot by the cops...luckily for us his concious took over and he couldnt shoot at us and took his own life...we worked him because he still had a pulse and was looking at us but he didnt make it obviously... It does and can happen anywhere, not just the big city. It makes me sick to read the posts stating that it is not necessary for the small rural areas to wear vests when some of the bigger city agencies that issue vests leave them in the locker...is it our fault some providers dont care to wear PPE issued them??? If they dont want to wear it its their lives not mine, and if I am issued one you dam well better believe it will be donned everytime I go on a call because its my choice. Just like its my choice to wear SCBA to all fires, or full PPE to all brush fires, or the chin strap of my helmet instead of wearing it around the brim like other cool firefighters that think its not needed or takes too much time to put on. Everyone has the right to wear whatever protection they have or can afford to buy. It also makes me concerned to read posts from respected members who are seen posting in other threads about the importance of wearing ALL of your PPE because our sfafety is the primary concern, yet think wearing vests is a waste of time and taxpayers money. From what I just googled for the past 10 minutes about bullet proof vests, they make them lightweight and breathable nowadays, so I see no reason to believe the posters talking about "extra weight and heat from wearing them" . Some models I read about are so small and lightweight its like wearing a sweater (or so the ad says, again, I know nothing about vests or getting shot at for that matter but I am just repeating what I read in the sales pitches) As far as EMS wearing them, I would. Firefighting...Im not sure about how that would work under the Turnouts, and if the vest affects your mobility or what the vest would do if you were crawling on the floor and what not. Sorry for the rant, I just believe everyone should have the right to wear it if they want to, regardless of what area you live in or how busy your agency is and should be personal preference. Stay safe.

ndpemt519 said it the best, and you beat me to the draw. For anyone that thinks they know for sure if a scene is safe or not...shame on you. I was taught in EMT that any scene can turn south quickly and to always be looking and aware of your surroundings, if you see anything out of place or odd, back out and call for help. What some of you guys are forgetting here is, when most of us EMS are dispatched to an EMS run, we dont have PD responding with us. Will the dispatch in my area send PD for a cardiac run?? Hell no, why waste them or take them out of service for that? Then you get on scene and find out (some times too late) that the cardiac event is happening because of a domestic (which the caller conveniently forgets to tell 911) and there are weapons involved...what then?? I understand that a vest will not stop every bullet of every gun, but they will stop most bullets or at least prevent the bullets from doing major harm to you, right? (serious question please) Lets look at this issue that someone brought up; vests will not stop all bullets so why even justify buying them and equipping them??? Well, our turnout gear will not stop the fire from burning you and you can still get burned, so why do we bother buying that? Bottom line, if that vest will stop one bullet from entering my body and taking my life, MONEY WELL SPENT. If that vest allows us to escape the scene and wait for PD to arrive to assist us and saves our lives, MONEY WELL SPENT. Also, another serious question for any PD officer; a vest will stop a bullet, but not a knife? Can someone explain that please? I understand there are ballistic plates that are held in pockets within the carrier (vest) and that the knife could find a gap and penetrate still, but there is also the chance the knife can catch one of the ballistic plates and not penetrate, correct? That to me is worth the costs if it allows one EMT to deflect a knife blow and retreat from the scene. There are always too many people being negative about things and offering too many "what ifs" when the bottom line should be our safety. If one device can save one life, isnt it worth it? Maybe a vest couldnt have saved the brothers from the christmas eve fire, but the next incident?? Maybe the next shooter can only afford a .22 rifle, can a vest stop those? To me, if you have the funds to do so and you want to provide a protective garment for your crews to offer that much more of a chance of survival, more power to them. Especially in my area where there are only one full time village police department, and the rest of the county is covered by either state police or sherrifs officers who are spread out thin and sometimes have extended response times to our EMS scenes. If we know ahead of time the scene is a violent one then we dont even leave our station until a PD unit is on scene, then we stage in the nearest intersection until the PD calls for us, but there are other calls where you are just not thinking about someone pulling a gun on you and that one time where the vest can save your life.

I noticed that the area that you used to post the staff names and their positions is missing as well. Not an important thing I know, but just wanted to advise you guys it was missing in case you didnt notice. Things are coming back to normal again and its looking great! Good job to all the staff working on the issues.

http://www.firefighternation.com/article/news-2/maryland-firefighter-critical-condition-after-three-alarm-fire Here is a link to a story in Firefighter Nation. Thoughts and prayers to the brother on a fast recovery and return to duty, the story only states he was removed from building unconcious and sent to shaock trauma. Unsure if it is due to rescue attempts or other cause. Hope he is OK.

Rest In Peace... Prayers for all involved in this nightmare...

Disregard last...I found both. The "button" is just different now but you can still navigate back to the forums. Thank you!

I lost my "Forums" button on the top of the page again in the menu section? It vanished as soon as I uploaded a picture in my profile. So now if I am in my profile I can not get back to the forums. Just FYI. Also, where do you go to upload an avatar again? I want to re-load the picture of the "firemoose" I had previously but cant remember where to do that. Thanks!

Hell yes Im in. I was in a Pipe & Drum band on Long Island for a few years and loved it. Im Scottish and Irish and love to play the drums so I will send them a reply, thanks for the info Seth. Stay Safe

Schoharie County posts calls, timelines of events, updates on department equipment, functions, nightly announcements in case you missed them, and chat area. Just started it this past month.

Glad you are back. I hope you are feeling better too, have to take care of you first, then EMTBravo. Let me know what I can do to help.

I have read a lot of information from around the country in regards to departments beginning a program to monitor the air quality during interior firefighting operations, especially during overhaul, and requiring their members to keep on air until these quality checks come back negative for CO and other harmful gases. I am interested in beginning this for our department as well being we have nothing set up as far as when you can come off air, and I see members going in to the building with packs on, but mask dangling at their waist's while their is still active fire. Overhaul is a joke...practically no one wears their packs and it concerns me with all of the press regarding firefighters and cancer rates, as well as respiratory illness...its staggering and unbelievable to think that we still refuse to wear our packs during overhaul. Is it the "Macho" thing?? My question is; does anyone have an SOP already in place that I could review, to get some ideas of how we can write one custom for our needs? Does anyone have any additional information you could share as far as statistics, actuall experience's, or case studies involving respiratory illness and cancer being attributed to being exposed to these gases during overhaul stages? Basically, anything I can use as ammunition when I go to our next officers meeting and begin the process of starting some kind of program for our department. Another question is; should we even write an SOP right away or just use actuall real time experiences to guide the process and judge what we would need as far as the SOP, and just use our new 4-gas meter to assess air quality and not allow anyone to enter without pack? Any input would be greatly appreciated, I am not afraid to admit when I do not know enough about a topic and ask for help and advice from others who might know more then me. Thanks in advance and stay safe.

I agree, appointments to safety officer are not realy thought out here too much, its usually whoever is retired or has a lot of time on their hands and is not already an officer. I am working on that issue as well and will develop some qualifications for the position and make it an official appointment by Chief, approved by fire commissioners. But thats a whole other discussion!

Hey, atleast we are all NIMS compliant out here, we all speak "common language" (of redneck), so thats one step finished! Yes, I have some work to do, but I have some great line officers who are ready to learn and want to work with me to get things going and I hope we can. Might take a couple of years but we will get it going in the right direction. Stay Safe

Dont forget Rescue Squad, Rescue Company, Special Rescue, Thanks for reminding me about the other terms, I too love the shake n' bake one from "Backdraft". But most of the officers in my area will just stand in the front yard scratching their heads and say "Golly, that thar house is a fiar!! (spit) reckon we need more water and stuff and get me nother can o' skoal too!!" Sorry...Im from long island originally and couldnt help the joke...you can take the person from the city but you cant take the city from the person...peace out.

These posts pretty much sum it up for our area as well. We are dispatched to a "structure fire" which could be anything, but until an officer makes a size-up we wont know. We are dispatched to chimney fires under this category as well, being the chimney is part of the structure, so when a chief arrives and see's that its in the chimney they will call it out on the radio, but if he/she gets there and smoke and flame are pushing out a window, they call for a "working structure fire" meaning we will be going to work interior to extinguish fire. I see that no one mentioned the mis-used term of "fully involved" here. It happens so much in my area I lost count. We get toned out for a "fully involved structure fire" only to arrive on scene and find out it was steam from a shower that the neighbor saw... Or a "fully involved car fire" only to get there and see a little smoke coming from the engine compartment... We were dispatched 3 weeks ago to a "fully involved barn fire" and it ended up being a small amount of hay in a drain ditch just inside an old dairy barn extinguished with a bucket of water by a passersby from a kiddy pool found in the yard... I think the terminology state-wide is vastly different and can be interpreted by each department in a different way, which is why NIMS is supposedly being used, to use "common terminology" in "plain language". So far we have; "working fire", "structure fire", "room and contents", "fully involved". Did we miss any?

Carlisle Fire Dept Officers for 2013 Chief- Scott Hotaling 1st Asst- Brian Jones 2nd Asst- Larry Face 1st Capt- Jim Hotaling 2nd Capt- Greg Dixon Lieut- (vacant) Lieut- (vacant)

He was my age...Rest In Peace Trooper Tyler. Thoughts and prayers to his family and friends in their time of need.