INIT915

That's right, the chamber is slated for just scheduled elective procedures at this time. Not off-hours emergent use. That is a possibility in the future however.

So, your position is that you support the earlier posts, and feel they in fact have no other duties, expect to write tickets? And never forget the sunscreen, Skin cancer is a killer!

Prolonged extrication? (This may tie right into our Medevac discussion.)

Well, I have no experience with your FID, and I'm sure they are a necessity and do a good job, but I'm having trouble following your logic on the boat. If a commercial airliner decides to ditch in the waters of Dutchess County, is it still an "out of county" problem? I'm pretty sure at that moment, it becomes a de facto Dutchess County problem. The airport may be in Orange, but the crash scene will be in Dutchess, no???

Are you arguing that the Sheriff's having a Marine Unit serves no other function, other then to write tickets? They don't respond to any other emergencies or play any other vital role?

I think two things come to mind: 1) In your example, waiting 5 minutes for Medevac is slightly different that the "longer" waits that we're touched upon earlier. 2) Anytime any lawyer says anything is "unequivocal", be suspicious. The law, by its very nature is equivocal. There is little if anything in the law that is unequivocal. If their opinion was that there was no criminal negligence, that has a little more foundation then if they inferred there was no civil negligence. Anyone who spends anytime in Civil Court knows it makes little difference if the facts or law are on your side or not. It quite literally comes down to who tells their story better.

I think both sides have a case. The "negligence" in this case is subjective. You could probably articulate some wait, but at some point, the wait could probably be deemed excessive, and therefore negectful.

What do you mean by "involvement."

Was your experience from Excelsior? Again, I don't have first hand experience, but there are quite a few local ER nurses who took that route (because they were former Medics.)

Actually, you can do it online. Check out Excelsior.edu in Albany, New York. I have not experienced their program personally, but I know of ton of Medic-turned-Nurses who have, and they generally highly recommended it. If I recall correctly, "The College Network" actually uses Excelsior's testing process, just for a much higher fee. The only catch with Excelsior is you have to be an actively practicing Medic (or other approved profession, i.e., RT, PT, OT, etc.) to qualify.

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Watervliet-and-Cohoes-firefighting-merger-savings-822291.php We are all going to start seeing more and more of this.

That's the problem. Residents of a city like Newburgh don't think like us. They are less worried about staffing and equipment, and instead are focused on a 69% tax hike with the layoffs, and probably a 100% tax hike without the layoffs. I honestly don't think Newburghians will "screaming" if the City FD has to call in M/A. First, I'm not even sure they'll notice, and second, if they do know, I doubt they'll care. Newburgh is different in demographics from a lot of locales where the citizens may be more aware of such happenings, and where they are aware, may seek to force change on the part of the city. The other problem with Newburgh is, this trend of foreclosures and vacancies is sure to only increase every year. The irony behind all this is, the 69% tax increase will probably force more residents and businesses out of the city, forcing more layoffs next year. Newburgh City government better act fact and better act decisively and come up with a plan, or they'll end up like some cities that never were able to come back from the brink. Newburgh is even broaching dissolution, which, I can only assume will classify the city as an unincorporated area of the County, forcing the County to come up with a plan. "Newburgh 2020" is their latest plan, and in all honesty, possibly their last hope. Newburgh 2020

Barry: Is there a publicly accessible website to visit bto learn the ISO status where we live?

The rules that govern the "30 days" are not a departmental issue. That aspect is governed by State Civil Service law.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/recall_for_ickly_fdnyers_8t6Oa1n5KiIhRrOUabQePL

This may be the most egregious example of naivete of any politician, with regards to a law enforcement/EMS matter that I have come across in some time. http://www.jems.com/article/news/councilman-calls-amr-policy-ch

I'm not sure I'd call it old news, the article indicates it happened within the past two months. And, while common sense prevailed over the other interested stakeholders, the shear ignorance of this elected official is unnerving. (And we could be just as liable to have one up our way.) It makes no difference that an official like this cannot follow through on his threats, rather, the mere fact he seems to believe what he says shows how disconnected some elected officials are to what we do.

BNechis, while I completely agree with your point, unreservedly, I wonder does ISO take into account this scenario: An agency has 3-4 "active", "front-line" engines and no spares, while, it would be required to have maybe 2-3 engines and 1 spare? I mean in reality, either way you have a total of 4 engines, no? Have ISO ever addressed this? This is obviously no defense to not have a spare, but third-grade math, tells us either way, we are ending up with 4 engines.

Any pics of this rescue?

And with that one statement, you summed up many of the problems and complaints with air medicine.

Agreed. The blanket notion about bringing in someone from the outside as elucidated above is overly simplistic. There are many reasons why a change in leadership, including bringing in an outside force, can be beneficial in certain instances. There are any number of examples where outside leadership has brought change and advancement that entrenched traditionalists couldn't or wouldn't bring. Hiring only from within risks furthering mentalities that may be flawed, desiring only to carry on as has been practice, as opposed to realizing there may be a different (and better) way to accomplish something.

http://www.lohud.com/article/20101116/NEWS02/11160365/Yonkers-firefighters--sick-leave-use-called-excessive-by-inspector-general

I think this coming year, at least in New York, with little prospect of monetary awards, you will see more and more of these "incentives" worked into contracts. Beneficial both from the perspective of the State, interested in reducing abuse of S/L, and the inherent OT it creates, and from the perspective of the Unions, as it may be a realistic way to include some monetary award during a contract season that will not see much in those terms. Since our contract is up this March, I for one hope that is an angle our Union is considering.

I think the while the poster may have come off as a little 'judgemental', I think the premise is on. Faced with a similar situation, (if the details offered above are correct), I'm not sure where else my mind would ever go other then CO or some other type of hazardous condition. Everyone can learn from this incident and if it serves as a reminder to some of a rarely encountered situation, then everyone here can benefit.

Just speaking for my agency, I believe there was a noticibale spike in S/L usage after the "incentive" was removed from the last contract. I don't think a majority of Members are abusing it, although there are a few, and inevitibaly, a few in every agency out there.