Stench60

Another concern about driving on soil would be any underground "obstructions", i.e. Septic tanks, oil tanks (abandoned or in use), underground electrical vaults, etc. dropping an outrigger over one of these could result in a big OOPS. 

 
Port Chester 1958 Ward LaFrance  Reliance Engine & Hose Co., No. 1
AKA Big Red and the Big Hydrant
Photo I believe by Gene Sannuto
My own stories to tell.......................................
 

 
Port Chester  1917 American LaFrance, Reg. #1877   Reliance Engine & Hose Co., No., 1         
 Photograph taken at a parade in Peekskill by an unknown photographer  
 
I was lucky enough as a young member to hear the stories from the then old timers who had served their early years with this engine

 
Port Chester  1917 American LaFrance, Reg. #1877   Reliance Engine & Hose Co., No., 1         
 Photograph taken at a parade in Peekskill by an unknown photographer  
 
I was lucky enough as a young member to hear the stories from the then old timers who had served their early years with this engine

Seth,
   Don't know what you did but it's much better now.  Thank you

Seth
 
   It seems to be in general, I wish I knew how to post a screenshot  but I have no idea

Seth,
   Don't know what you did but it's much better now.  Thank you

Seth, 
   Is there any way to increase the size of the font? I can barely see it.......... I'm not as young as I used to be.

Seth, 
   Is there any way to increase the size of the font? I can barely see it.......... I'm not as young as I used to be.

How about guys lay off the Cigars/Cigarettes too? Now there's a start! I believe there's some Depts out there that have a "No Smoking Policy" in order to become and stay a FF, like Boston and some other New England Depts.. There's also plenty of guys that wont even mask up for a car fire so can we please stop blaming our Dirty Turnout Equipment for every ailment we get!

Kudos to the DPW workers who likely stopped this fire from becoming a further tragedy.
As a DPW worker myself, I can say that we are all too often the eyes and ears of the communities in which we work. I have personally observed incidents that required fire, police or medical attention. My fellow workers and I have helped on countless occasions during residents times of need.
It is quite common (in my experience) that DPW employees happen to be volunteer firefighters, EMTs or both. That being said, we are on many occasions, the true first responders. Even my fellow workers who have no emergency services backgrounds have been there to lend a helping hand to a person in need. I believe most DPW workers have a strong sense of community pride and it shows.
Again, hats off to the Mount Kisco DPW crew who happened upon this fire and put their lives on the line for the Village!

Congrats Seth, it's been a long hard road. Thanks for sticking with it.

It all depends on how far back you want to go Seth

It all depends on how far back you want to go Seth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6bhv4i8qso
An interesting bit of local history, neat to know that cadence calling started right here in Westchester on a route march from Ardsley back to Ft. Slocum. Another local connection in the description is Camp Kilmer named for Joyce Kilmer of Larchmont,69th NY Infantry/ 165th US Infantry, KIA in WWI and a great poet.

Never having served in a district with elected commissioners, I am unfamiliar with what role they have in the operation of the department. Are they able to decide if they will accept training that has been approved by a chief on a case by case basis? Are they able to dismiss a member outright? It would seem to me that this would be outside of the administrative role that I always thought a commissioner had.
That being said this case is not unlike two I know of. One a similar case of a past Chief, who a certain group of members wanted to stop from driving. They were mostly successful although he would still show up and drive for major incidents. Another was a Past Captain & daytime driver, the same group of members worked hard to get him banned from driving, because they claimed he could not see/ This was based on him parking the rig at a slight angle a couple of times. Never leaving the bay it was supposed to be in. He complained that the bay was dark, and in truth the lights were often turned off. That problem was largely solved by new lights (installed for a different reason) and leaving them on when out on a call.
Like animals that eat their young, we often do little to retain our members, especially our senior members who bring a great knowledge base to the department.

There seems to be a ribbon of young guys who demand respect before earning it. They don't give a crap about the older guys or their insight. A good leader needs to be built off those that came before them. I never went to college but have had extensive training in my profession since getting hired. I recently had a newly promoted officer tell me that he deserved it because he went to college to better himself while others didn't.

And don't forget that there are times when we can go days or more without power during / after a storm. Or God forbid if cell /radio networks get damaged or attacked. What happens when members can't charge their cell phones and pagers or get service for days? It's easy to say "ah that will never happen", but in our modern world if there's one thing we all should have learned by now it's that yes it can. Just because a technology is old doesn't mean it doesn't work. And I'm sorry but if an FD has been using a horn/siren for as long as you've been alive (whether you lived in town or not) you'll just have to suck it up snowflake and deal with it.
Horns /sirens (and pull boxes too, remember them?) - Antiquated? yes, obsolete or useless? no

So all those animal rescues we've all done....we've been breaking the law?? I'll go turn myself in now.
And those pet oxygen masks on my engine? Those are illegal?
We don't need more laws. We need more common sense.

That's what I got in it for. Who wants to fight fires when there's all that sweet paper work to do !

I'm not a proponent of the "transitional attack", but that doesn't mean it doesn't have it's place. This tactic, like all tactics, has it's use, but one thing I find disturbing is that some have now begun to advocate using this method for attacking just about every fire...and no matter what the justification, that my friends is a very dangerous mindset to get into. We don't, nor can we, operate in a one size fits all or "magic bullet" mentality, at least not if we want to maintain what is at the core of our mission..saving lives....civilian lives. We have the training, they do not. We have the equipment, they do not. We have the experience, they do not. And lastly, they are the reason we are here...it is our duty to put "them" before "us" when they are in trouble...after all, that's why they called us.
Ray has it right, so much so that it bears repeating....
"A fire department that writes off civilians faster than an express line of 6 reasons or less is not progressive, it's dangerous, because it's run by fear. Fear does not save lives, it endangers them." -- Lt. Ray McCormack FDNY

FDNY does not regularly do this. The FDNY prides itself on aggressive interior attack.
As far as the discussion goes, making conditions more tenable sounds great except, 75% of fire victims die from smoke inhalation. Flowing water through a window to make conditions more "tenable" for firefighters to enter won't save victims. Getting them out of the building will. Since when does a firefighter put the rescue of a civilian at the bottom of the list? The training of firefighters is about developing skills. Firefighters are taught to put out fires from the interior advancing through a structure a certain way. These are just the basics and the basics take time and is not something that is taught in 5 minutes. Firefighters who have battled fires from the inside learn from experience and repetition how to do it better and more effective which allows firefighters to have the skill levels to extinguish fires from inside. When a firefighter shoots a stream through a window all of the skill development is over. There is no skill level to that and only lowers our skills and is a fire service failure. Another example of fire service failure is that we still have firefighters who cannot operate a 2.5 inch line due to poor technique and education.
"A fire department that writes off civilians faster than an express line of 6 reasons or less is not progressive, it's dangerous, because it's run by fear. Fear does not save lives, it endangers them." -- Lt. Ray McCormack FDNY
http://www.firehouse.com/blog/10631380/transitional-attack-is-whack

Doesn't make any logical sense at all. How do you leave your village unprotected by your fire dept.and put the coverage on a neighboring yown,just to say hey look at us we went mutual aid to Yonkers.That's what it is all about and don't tell me different.The village mayor and board should be aware of this and stop the nonsense. If you had the manpower in the village to cover the manpower going to Yonkers it's a different story. But it doesn't sound like this went down.

Re: Lightweight Stair Construction
BFD, thanks for a great link. I've heard that these were in the works but this is my first time seeing them. I think Barry hit the nail on the head, it's time we all started to speak with a loud voice on this issue from all facets of the fire service. With the Edgewater fire so fresh on everyone's mind, and I hate to say it but "never let a tragedy go to waste", including todays Journal News Article; we need to strike while the iron is hot. This is an issue that has been on our radar for a long time, I remember sitting through a talk by a Yonkers Deputy Chief twenty nine years ago, given in Port Chester, about the dangers of lightweight construction and how we now had right there in Port Chester. The issue has only gotten worse since then and has been stated here will eventually produce fatalities both civilian and responder.
Reach out to your local representatives and explain the issue, bring supporting documentation and clearly and concisely explain it, that's what needs to be done and done now not later.
Also, there was a reason I said responders, not firefighters. Most fires see the police arrive first and make an initial effort to perform either rescue or evacuation. They are just as likely to be harmed by this as we, firefighters, are to be harmed. They should receive at least some type of awareness training in lightweight/truss construction.

I hear you Steve and Having many years of working in Building materials wholesale and retail as employment and side work I agree strandboard is strong and Rigid and also affected by heat and cold and water and chemicals and when That happens looses very quickly its Integrety.... I recall telling another employee NOT to stack 4 units under an exterior Pole shed, he did and 7 months later Guess who got stuck trying to removed said Units of Strand board the top most unit had expanded up between the 2x8 roof rafters of the pole shed even with Steel bands securing the unit together... the moisture is sucked up like a sponge.... I did get the units out without breaking anything but it was a pain in the... its crap and used more and more IN places it was NEVER intended to be used....
and here is the "I stair" configured death trap
http://www.greenmaltese.com/2013/01/24/the-i-stair-a-new-building-construction-hazard/