firemoose827

Any PICS available? I might be interested. Thanks

I wanted to ask if anyone had a CHEAP, red light for sale, either a dash light, or mini-bar light or tear drop with magnetic mounts. I just got elected assistant chief and my department has no lights to loan out to chief officers, you would have to buy your own and my budget is strapped. PM me for further info or post the info for what you have, with a picture if available in this thread. Help a poor chief out will ya! Thanks in advance. Moose

146 fire calls for my department. I went from a dept on Long Island averaging over 1000 runs annualy to 146...I kinda like the pace though, more time with my daughter!

Congratulations Chief.

Try rolling up to a working house fire with an engine, engine tanker and 3, maybe 4 guys including yourself. We commonly face that here in my small town volunteer department but we work around it with pre-planned automatic mutual aid agreements. Now, we can get our resources plus the resources from our 2 closest mutual aid companies and our county FAST. When I was captain, It was common for me to make the initial attack on working fires with the back up man, and only the MPO outside and another guy running the tanker shuttle, and whoever was IC, with our MA coming from 10-15 minutes out, but we were able to put the fire out and when the MA arrived were able to do a proper overhaul. That happened to me at least 3-4 times in the past year; once was a basement fire which we were able to access through a rear sliding door and able to make a quick knock just 3-4 feet in the door. The other time was a fire in a laundry room that ran out of air and was smoldering on our arrival with our MA department as well, we were able to do a coordinated attack with ventilation with only 5 firefighters and 2 MPO's running the engine and tanker. As I was going through the door after it was vented, the fire was flaring up and I hit it just in time and was able to do another quick knock. We are trying to implement better training requirements for our interiors to try and match that of career firefighters and are meeting with resistance from certain members who end up resigning due to conflicts with work and family, so now we are working with a core group of dedicated, TRAINED firefighters who continue to get additional training. We train with our MA departments and county FAST routinely now and are working to improve our overall ability to handle the situations. Our county is now also actively working with the program called "The Fire Within You" which is a drive to get people to join their volunteer fire departments and rescue squads; basically a recruitment and retention program but county wide.

Congrats to both EMTBravo and Seth on a successful 10 years, I was proud to serve as moderator for the site and help out for the time I was. Thanks for the great site Seth. Moose

Yes, those first responders must be going through some tough feelings right now, pray for them as well. This makes me sick to my stomache and is exactly why I didnt want my daughter to go to public school...most of those schools are nothing but deathtraps waiting to happen with all of the drugs, bullying, not enough teachers, too many kids, things get out of control and this happens... My daughter got in trouble the other day for coming to the defense of a little girl getting bullied by two older boys...AND MY GIRL GOT IN TROUBLE?!?!? And they wonder why these things happen?? Thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families, the teachers and staff, and above all the first responders who are sorting through this mess...god bless.

Police Officers around my area are trained as First Responders when they go through their boot camp, and they maintain CPR certs and their cars are stocked with jump bags, O2, and AED as well as the fire extinguisher that never gets used. Local village LEO's and Sherrifs and State Troopers, depending on where you live, are dispatched simultaneously to all fire/ems calls for safety reasons as well as getting CPR and other life saving treatments like bandaging and c-spine immobilization started as well as securing the scene. Their help and rapid response times are a godsend for my area and most times improve the outcome of the patient. We are a FD based EMS squad but not all of our members have to be in EMS. We only have 3 EMT's in our squad and rely heavily on auto-mutual aid from surrounding squads and our paid EMS Coordinators/Paramedics. There have been quite a few times where the EMS coordinators have ridden on our rig as the crew chief because we couldnt get an EMT. We (as Firefighters) respond with EMS to assist with lifting and grabbing equipment and driving the rig. Not all of us are CPR certified though and most want nothing to do with EMS (they get queezy at the sight of blood, injuries, and above all...childbirth!) We dont have to be toned out, if we hear the EMS call and are available we will respond to help the crew with whatever they need. I used to be an EMT-CC, and am a former EMS Captain and worked 11 years for a paid EMS crew but have lost the desire to do that stuff any more. I will respond and help where I can and have been known to take the occaisional vital signs for the EMT if they are swamped, or set up an IV line for the medic that taught me my EMT-CC class and set up the leads for the ECG and ofcourse thump on chests.

I was wondering if I could please ask all of you to help me out and maybe guide me in the right direction with something that I am a little worried about in my department. Advice and pointers are welcome, but slaps in the head and talking me out of it is ok as well. In last months meeting (our nominations) we had a few things happen; our chief of the past 6 years suddenly up and quit the entire department, and the only explanation was she was having multiple family issues she needed to deal with. Secondly; Our current 2nd assistant chief (past chief of a neighboring dept with over 30 years experience) dropped out of running from anything, stating he is tired of the issues we face as a dept and he only wants to be fire police. Leaving us with only 2 people qualified to be a chief officer; our current 1st assistant, and myself currently serving as 1st Captain. They nominated me as 1st assistant chief. (not what I wanted, but the dept has no one else so I am running, unopposed as of last months meeting, but we still accept nominations before we vote in December) My question/concern is this; should I be worried that 2 officers are jumping ship and not telling me much of anything? Our department is small, with 23 active members, 9 interior qualified firefighters with Firefighter I or higher, and an average of 150 calls a year. I do not want to take office as a chief officer and find out 2 months later OSHA is coming in for a spot inspection or something due to a unanimous complaint called in from an un-identified member of our community... Whats the worst that can happen to me as a newly appointed chief officer who just transferred to this department 3 years ago? Should I decline the position or run for it? If you say to run, does anyone have some advice or tips for a new chief officer based on your experiences? Besides the two years experience as Junior Fire Department Lieutenant and Captain, I have served one year as Lt and 2 as Captain in the fire service and have 23 years experience serving my 4th department. Im just concerned about the circumstances that brought me to this and if I should be worried or not. Im ready to be assistant chief and willing to learn everything I can, but I do not want there to be some underlying problem that coule side swipe me and ruin any chances at being chief officer again. Am I paranoid or do I have a justifiable reason to worry??? Im hoping all of the salty dog ex-chiefs and current chiefs chime in on this one and give me some well respected advice, I want to do this but I want to do it right being I might only have one chance to do it. Thanks in advance. Moose

Well, I would never take advantage of you guys, I would wine and dine you first at least... I do have a large support group here, bigger than in my own department which makes me feel better and I appreciate all of the support and advice from you all. Thank you!!

Well, its official. Last night I was voted into the position of First Assistant Chief...but it doesnt feel right to me still. I didnt want to be the one to "fill the vacancy" because no one else was qualified... It feels as if the new chief does not respect me as a firefighter or officer. Last night at our regular officers meeting before the elections I brought up stuff about air quality monitoring for fireground operations, and our communities ISO rating and he looked at me like I was a retard... But, I guess I have a year to make some changes and work to improve the department and at least start to catch us up to the rest of the world. We'll see how far I can get and how much support I will have. Anyone have a used red dash light for sale cheap or they want to get rid of? The only thing they have to lend is a huge bar light removed from an old utility truck that would stick out either side of my car by a foot and I dont want to look like the rest of the wackers in my county!

Wow, you mean the officers of FDNY's EMS are not ALL civil service like they are on the fire side? You DONT need to test for higher rank then Lt? They get the job by "Who they know" as the old saying goes? That my friends, is a scary thing...wait, its kind of like the officer situation in my county...people here get chief at the age of 23 just because their daddy was chief...Now that IS scary if their EMS program is run like my county is. I hope for the sake of all of you here that work down there that things will change for the better so you can continue to do what you all do best; provide quality patient care and save lives instead of saving your EMS chiefs from getting wet. Best of luck to you guys/gals down in FDNY EMS. Stay safe (and dry)

Yes, our current order is Chief, 1st a**, 2nd a**, 1st Capt, 2nd Capt, 1st Lt, 2nd Lt...and no, the "assistant" abbreviation is no typo, some of them have been like...donkeys...so to speak. And yes, for a small department we have WAY too many officers positions. We can barely get people to respond to calls and they keep 7 officers...I wanted to change that too and only have the 3 chiefs and a captain. I am willing to take the position, but this was not the way I wanted it to go down, I was kind of hoping to have someone nominate me because they felt I was worthy and experienced enough, and not because I am the only one qualified...kind of takes the pride out of it. Like one of my old departments, I found out they picked the recipient of the "Firefighter of the Year" award based on if they ever got it before or not...not because of what they accomplished during the year or if they did anything above and beyond. I dont know of anything being done illegal or dangerous, the only reason I asked was because of the officers just leaving all of a sudden like that...that concerns me especially since they were both gung ho and die hard firefighters, living and breathing the firehouse everyday of their lives with family that supported them 100%, and now they just up and leave? With no warning or reason? I decided, based on your advice (all of you) that I am going to accept the position and work to change things for the better. You can all count on a lot of these posts from me in the next year as I look for advice and guidance from my peers and senior firefighters! I hope you dont get sick of me. Thank you all for the advice, and the personal messages I received from a couple of you, I will return them as well. The current Chief (ex-chief just quit) was actually kind of forced into the spot herself 8 years ago, when there was no one that wanted the position or had the time to devote to it they made her assistant for the required year, then chief. She has been chief ever since and has done a fine job of it. She is a great firefghter and I have taken quite a few classes with her. Which is whats so puzzling about her sudden resignation...she even turned down exempt status and a leave of absence option...just quit everything. THATS what bothers me. But, I will take it and do my best to make changes and bring the department up to par with the rest of the departments and State Standards. The toughest thing to handle now will be the change of going from interior operations to standing outside at the CP with a radio and white hat, trying to get over that will be hard, but maybe I can still slip past the chief and go inside with the crew every now and then...LOL. I will keep my black helmet in the car so no one will see me... Thanks again to all of you, if you have any more advice please let me have it! Moose

I hear ya sage, but weather you or me even want to accept it or not, this world we live in has become too litigious and sue happy people dominate the world. I agree, they could easily just do it that way, but the fact still remains, the city purchased the helmets, they are still technically "city property" even though people like you and I agree it should be the property of the firefighter for all the blood sweat and tears the put into the helmet, but lawyers do not see it that way and unfortunately they have ruined our traditions...sadly. I say let them have it with a handshake and a promise...but that doesnt fly for anyone that does not wear a helmet like us.

Being a neutral observer in this discussion I would like to add another thought on the matter. But first, let me get one thing straight; I believe the brothers/sisters in FDNY have EARNED the right to keep their lids based on the work they do day and night for the city, and shouldnt have to pay for them. So the following is just an additional thought to add to the discussion; I feel its an accountability thing for the city. They probably want to allow their firefighters to keep the lids, but there is the chance the member will put their newly issued helmet on the shelf in the closet and continue to use their old ones. What happens to the city if that/those firefighter(s) get hurt while wearing the old helmet? I feel the city simply wants the paper trail to prove they have 1) Issued the new helmet to the member, and 2) Received cash payment for the old helmet with a receipt in hand and legal jargon plastered all over the page saying the member understands the old helmet they are purchasing is not to be used any more and the city will not be held responsible if they continue to use them and get hurt/killed. That is the only logical explanation I can think of for the $100 fee to keep the old ones.

I have no problem taking pictures, in fact thats what the media are here for, my big thing about this is all the blowhard wannabe firefighters who just couldnt wait to go to the media websites like facebook and post pictures of themselves for bragging rights, not historical value or documenting a terrible tragedy for future generations, but pure bragging rights. Then the ones that sent their pictures to local newspapers and asked for them to be posted...not of the damage that happened, but of themselves...I have a problem with that. Take all the pictures you want when you have the free downtime, but my feelings are, if you were on long island you shouldnt have had free time...if there were no calls then you could have picked up a shovel, or broom and helped people clean up, remove debris, patrol the area in case someone needed help but had no phones. Maybe I am just tired and exhausted. Hope no one took offense to my comments. Moose

I think I have a good idea of what X129k meant because I feel the same way. Some of our resources from my county went down, and they had time to pose in front of the station they covered and took a picture to send back to our local paper...needless to say it was front page news around here after our stint from last years storms devastated our county. But what I am feeling is, why the need to be in the paper? If you want to help...HELP. Dont take group shots and do the facebook thing and the tweet thing and send them to all the papers...just help and do what we all do best. I was there too, but I was either running generators to those that needed them, fueling them, removing downed trees from our houses, running supplies to people that needed it, clearing debris....I had no time for photos to send to the papers...I had no desire to do so either. I wanted to help. I wish I could go with my FD but where I work I am pretty much tasked the whole time we have storms and states of emergencies, and either get deployed to the area's affected or to the state EOC bunker for coverage. Stay safe everyone that is down there now and will be there in the future, lots of devastation and hazards so stay alert and be safe. Moose

I went down as part of a team assembled with the state, consisting of fire safety reps, safety officers, and physical plant people, and we were all on fumes until we finaly found another state agency (parks) able to assist us...THANK YOU PARKS!!!! Without you all of us would have been without transportation and all of the generators we deployed would have died. Lines for gas stations were in some cases a mile long, with police standing by to keep the peace. I went down for four days, and put in 16 hour days, and saw a lot of devastation, but on the same token saw a lot of humanity at its finest. God bless all who are responding down there now, stay safe and come home soon. I will probably be going back again depending on what this Nor'easter does. I even got a nice going home present on Sunday evening...I arrived at a one car MVA rollover on the thruway with 4 patients that must have just happened before my arrival. Everyone was out but I triaged them and gave the report to the first arriving chief...trouble has a nack of following me... Stay safe everyone.

Things turned hairy real fast and people got caught off guard AGAIN, when will people learn?? People still refused to evacuate even during MANDATORY evacuation requests, and now first responders are putting their lives on the line for these idiots...WHY? What good are you going to do by staying in your precious home? You cant stop flooding, you can clean up and re-build though, and yet people still refuse to leave when prompted... Lessons should have been learned in Irene, but obviously they weren't. Im sitting here in the EOC tonight in disbelief that so many lives have been lost and more are being threatened when it could have been prevented by evacuating...you CANT fix STUPID...

Im working in the EOC right now, storm looks to be hitting the Jersey, NYC area late monday night into early tuesday, large storm surges and heavy rains, tropical winds extending into the hudson valley and upstate further. Could have widespread power outages and lots of flash flooding out there. Keep sharp and stay safe. Ill keep you posted.

Rest In Peace Charlie, I only met you a few times in person but felt like I knew you well through talking with your family. All my thoughts and prayers to your family, and friends, especially to your family at Empress and Port Chester, may they find peace and comfort in their time of need. God bless.

Coming from a predominantly rural area with no hydrants (in my district we only have 3 dry-hydrants) I use engine-tankers frequently and see no issue with them if properly specced for your needs and area. Obviously you dont want a huge wheelbase and weight if you run on mostly small country roads and long driveways. People think the more water the better...think about travel distance to water source, fill time at the fill site and return trip to get your overall gpm's received from that unit. We have a 2000 gallon pumper/tanker and 3 dry hydrant fill sites located at different parts of the district, never more than a 2-5 minute ride from the scene. It fills in about 4-5 minutes and dumps in about 2 minutes (fully open). We can get more water out of that than using a large, 4000 gallon tanker that you cant maneuver on small roads and driveways, and takes longer to fill. Up until recently when our engine failed pump test, we used our 1000/1000 front mount engine as front line with the 2000/1250 KME Pumper/tanker as the water supply. We can have 3000 gallons on scene initially and our pumper/tanker would return to the scene with an additional 2000 gallons within 6 minutes...if we couldnt put it out with 5000 gallons in the first 10 minutes of operating we did something wrong!! Plus we had additional tankers from neighboring mutual aid; one 3500 gallon tanker, one 3000 gallon tanker and one 1250/1500 pumper tanker all within 10-15 minutes out. You just need to plan your area and see what you need, what works, and whats cost effective. What calls do you run the most; MVA's or structure fires? Rescue calls or fire calls? Then you can properly spec out what your department needs it apparattus. Best of luck to you guys, hope you get it worked out.

Chiefs, I see your point and thought about it, but like I said, this is a five minute video taken from the rear (what it looks like to me) of the building...do we see what is going on around the other side? Is there a road there as well and an engine crew stretched in that way? So what I said stands, you cant acurately critique something from a short video clip taken from a balcony a half block away from one angle...Can you accurately size-up a building fire with that info? I would hope everyone would say no. So how then can we accurately judge whats happening here? That is only my opinion though and no disrespect meant, just trying to add to the discussion some food for thought. Cogs, I would love to come down and have a few cold ones with you and hear your stories. I come down from time to time to the Port Chester area if you are close we should hook up (and anyone else that wants to).

From what it looks like I agree. Looks like it started on the porch and went up the wall to the eaves, they stopped it with a quick hit of the big gun. There was not a lot of fire when they rolled up initially (in my opinion) and if they waited for more help to arrive it could have gained access to the attic and/or the second floor and started working. In the five minutes we saw, I can not say anything about this fire other than what I did. If you had more video with more info....maybe. But I think we jump to conclusions too fast on this site with limited information. Cogs, you worked with the British over in Iraq/Afghanistan right? That must have been a good experience to work with firefighters from all over the world and I would be interested in hearing the stories. (But thats another thread! lol)

Like already mentioned by a few posters here, its about the maturity level and what your reasons are for being a volunteer. I am sickened to say this but most volunteers join for the glory, the front page picture, the awards ceremonies and pats on the back, the chance to wear that T-Shirt with all sorts of FD logo's and one-liners, and the real reason for going to the call is forgotten. My reason for responding to calls is the chance to help someone in need. I take the training so that when the pager goes off, I can do smething to help that person. The only thing I care about is getting help to them as soon as possible, filling the seats on the engine and responding to the call, regardless if my a** is in one of those seats or not. If someone else is in the truck and its rolling, fine, I could care less if I am on the truck, I just care that help is on its way. I RARELY turn on my blue light and quite honestly I dont even know if it still works. I drive to the station like I would for meeting night, unless I am closer to the scene and no other officers have called on air yet, then I will call on air and respond to the scene to do a size-up, and even then, as a line officer responding to the scene I still drive with due regard and only use my light on the main roads. Too many people let their adrenaline take charge of their bodies instead of using their brains, their training, and common sense.