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Delete me!!!

Good topic to bring up. Anyone else get a kick out of tow operators that are using the winch to pull a car from a ditch without a chock - and the wrecker moves?! Makes me look for a place to watch that is out of the path it's going to roll. Also, I get a kick out of apparatus that get chocked on the rear side of the wheel if it is parked uphill. Chock both sides - if that rig is jumping into gear, it sure as hell can climb the hill. Chock it everytime so it becomes second nature. Don't wait to do it just when you are pumping, that's my take.

BOOTS: I have worn the rubber 3/4 boots, rubber bunker boots, leather bunker boots and now the Kevlar ones. I'll be honest, the Kevlar ones have been my favorite to date. The leather wasn't bad, but I yanked out the loops on a total of four boots (two pairs) because they seemed to shrink on me. Plus - the heel in my last pair kind of broke / came loose, and it was cutting into my heel. The leathers also faded considerably compared to the Kevlar. Rubber just plain sucked, in my opinion. HELMETS: I started with a Bullard "moon-helmet." I then went on to a Cairns "moon-helmet." After a very brief time I got a Cairns 1010. My first one got destroyed at a fire in 1999, and was replaced by another one. I have had a leather helmet for almost 5 years. I got mine mainly because I always admired the look of them - and because I started to get annoyed with my 1010. The 1010 tail seems a little long to me. When I would be looking up at something, it always seemed like I would whack it on my SCBA. I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt by dumping the full shield and getting the bourkes, but I still didn't like it. Another thing I ran into and I know others did was those stupid plastic clips that hold the inner shell in always BREAK! I agree with others about spending money on your "volunteer" gig - but if it is something you do and you do it often - why not make it more comfortable for yourself if the Department won't? I know plenty of guys "on the job" that go out and get thier own stuff. And, for the record, I clean my stuff quite often. I don't feel like I have to impress anyone with my gear, my boyish good looks are flattering enough.....

Congratulations to all, especially my brothers from Croton, on a job well done. I'm especially proud of the guys from the 119 crew - Captain Ferguson, Lt. Colombo, FF Altamura & FF Rinaldi, because I had the honor of serving as your Captain for three years - "ya done good fellas."

When I was growing up, I remember how bad I wanted to be a part of my firehouse. It was the one and only thing that I knew I wanted to do in High School. When I was 14 I joined our Explorer Post. I was all into it. I carried my pager like it was a case full of money, I went to the firehouse every chance I could and I tried to get others to join. What drove me NUTS - and it still does to this day, was how certain kids I went to school with constantly made comments to me about how firemen were all drunks. That upset me. I always looked up to the guys in the FD as brave, dedicated men. To hear these jackholes make these comments got me so heated that on a few occassions I shoved them. Nobody should be allowed to criticize a fireman!!! As I get older, I realize, man, as much as I hate to admit it, in some ways these kids were right. As I moved up the line and became a Company Officer, I, and my Lieutenants, pushed to get rid of the bar in the firehouse. We also strictly enforced (and still do) our zero-tolerance rules. It caused us to lose some members, but as far as I am concerned, we lost no FIREFIGHTERS! I am not against drinking. Hell, I do from time to time. But I refuse, FLAT OUT REFUSE to partake in drinking in uniform. It's a personal preference. I am glad to say that most of the guys in my company won't do it either. Those that do know they are out of service and won't even consider answering a call. At our recent wetdown, we did something that actually shocked people. We kept the Engine IN-SERVICE. We designated a crew of 8 to cover it. When we got sent on our first run of the night, we had over 16 people respond because hardly anyone was drinking. People actually told me we were a bunch of "blanks" and should of let others cover our calls. No thanks! Our Captain and the rest of us prefer being available for calls over drinking. Just a preference we have.

I love that place!!!! So much cool history in there. As for responses there... Automatic alarms get two Engines, the Truck, Tanker 10, Rescue 18. We get any kind of fire in there and Mutual Aid is called as needed. We have been given orders by the Metro-North Safety Department to not walk or operate on the actual roof, but to remain on the catwalks due to roof construction issues. At this time we are still fine-tuning the pre-plans for the "Building 6" as well as others on the facility. If you go over the Croton Point bridge you will see a Fire Department connection on the north side of it. We can hook up our 5" to here and pump down to units below if needed as well.

Thanks George!!!!!

Firefighters' Faces Suddenly Vanish At Bar 9/15/06 - After enjoying a few beers after a recent celebration, members of the ABC Fire Department were shocked - not by the outrageous cost of downtown parking, but because thier faces had disappeared. Resources from the Westchester Medical Center said they haven't witnessed anything like this in "quite some time." Lead medical investigators are looking into the chain of events that may have led to the "face-erasing." "They were at a parade, had some hot dogs, drank a few beers, then lost thier faces," said Chief Bravo of the ABC FD. "Boy, if this doesn't keep our guys from drinking in uniform, I don't know what will," commented the Chief. "We used to worry about how they would represent us if they drank too much, I think this will teach them." -Associated Press

I agree with others who stated that every rig is different from the next. I strongly feel that what you spec is what you get. If you don't pay attention to details and you don't do your homework, you are not getting a solid, dependable apparatus. Our two most recent purchases were as follows; A 2003 ALF / RD Murray engine - several electrical, mechanical, hydraulic and computer related problems. There were times when the rig was responding to calls and it "shut down" while going! A 2006 Seagrave Marauder engine - so far the only problem we ran into was a bad switch which was replaced in less then 24 hours. (Thanks Excelsior). The overall craftsmanship of the Seagrave is great. I have noticed a couple of paint issues (nothing major) and some other extremely minor things. When we went to Wisconsin to visit it, we created a punch list and every single item was handled - and thus far anything needed has been taken care of by our dealer, Excelsior. I wish we could say the same for the guys with the ALF / RDM. They were unable to put that apparatus in service for several months because of the issues it had and the lack of cooperation they got from thier dealer. Other who have made ALF purchases swear by them - others hate them. Same goes for Seagrave too, I would imagine. Other then FDNY, nobody local has voiced a disappointment with thier Seagraves to my knowledge. As for Pierce, many people balk at them but the one we have, which was a DEMO, has been good to us. It's a 2002 Rear-mount quint w/ 100 ft. tower. Solid rig, better then a lot of us anticipated.

Six "Technical Rescue Squads?" Where are they? Yonkers, New Rochelle, Mount Vernon, White Plains, Eastchester/Scarsdale, , Greenville/Fairview/Hartsdale - right? Where's the immediate help for those of us north of I-287? Why is it an issue if additional resources are being implemented for those of us in the "bedroom communities" of Westchester? Funding is out there - it just has to be secured and distributed evenly to give EVERYONE in Westchester the resources needed in the event of a collapse or other technical rescue regardless if they are protected by paid or volunteer firefighters. I have met some amazing tech-rescue people that not only are paid and/or volunteer firefighters, but they aren't firefighters at all, especially members of the Greenburgh PD!!! On the career side you say you can "guarantee" a response - does that count for when you are working a structure fire?! If it is in lower Westchester, won't most of the agencies above be working together? Redundant resources are A GOOD THING WHEN DONE CORRECTLY. Think of it like this - if the tornado that hit Hawthorne had started further south and screwed things up down county first, I would bet that all of the down county Squads would be committed to thier home areas and wouldn't have been able to assist Hawthorne. Resources like these, the specialized ones, need to be laid out geographically to ensure the best response when the caca hits the fan. It shouldn't be a matter of paid vs. volunteer - it should be a matter of finding the right equipment, getting the right people, training them and funding them and putting them in strategically placed locations to ensure swifter responses. Following up and ensuring that the training is kept up is definitely easier for career units - no doubt. I can't even get people to complete thier minimum OSHA every year, and that's about 1/10th the obligation the professionals have!!! That's my take, anyway.

Is it true that they used Oreos to absorb the milk?

I think the big guy in the back of the car with good ol' Bucky should claim he got bit, then kick the pi$$ out of him..... Whomever mentioned Sing Sing and the "Ol' Somkey" - I'm in!

What's the deal with "Dew Rd" (x12)??? Cool shots, like usual.

Anyone got photos from ANY of these incidents? Don't forget the Braircliff incident a couple of years ago too.

HBO is still undecided if they will pick up "Lucky Louie" for another season. I don't know how many of you watch it, but I managed to watch every episode from this season, thanks to HBOD. I've been a fan of Louis C.K. for a while and was glad to see him get a sitcom. If you like the show, help out by filling out the survey below. SAVE LOUIE! See ya at the Muffler Shop.....

Sounds great! Hopefully I can make it, hopefully some others from C-town will make an appearance! I'll won't let the fact that nobody from da' Skills came to our Wetdown make me skip this one!

As someone who wears glasses, I take offense to this. Does wearing glasses mean I am less of a firefighter then someone with perfect vision? How much can any of us really see in the smoke anyway? Do I need to identify the pattern of the wallpaper, or just know it is a WALL?! Stupid rule.....period.

Man, sounds like a sweet gig to me!!! Where do I sign up?

Thanks for the recognition! But don't forget all the Police Departments that took the bulk of the calls before giving them over to us. I can't imagine how busy some of the County's Police Departments were yesterday. Stop messin' with Mother Nature!! These storms are becoming a royal pain in the:

Hey - more importantly, did you win any loot? Congrats, welcome to the dark side!

Last year at a house fire, I was on the initial search team then went to work on a hoseline. After using up one bottle and going out for a change, I noticed that the mask was bubbled and tinted. This was the first fire I went in wearing the newer Scott masks - since then I have little faith in it. Many times before during training I've had my older Scott masks do this too - but never in a "normal" fire condition. On a side note, have any of you been inside a job and noticed the helmets (both plastic and leather) start to change shape? Thinking of this incident I was talking about above made me think of another fire last year where I was leading the 1st line in and I noticed the helmets of the two guys with me starting to warp. Gotta love how many heat-increasing items are in your "normal" homes these days. 5-10 years ago I never once remember seeing helmets warp and masks changing color....does anyone else?

I WAS a fan of the zipper until mine broke. Now I have to fight it all the time when I am suiting up. I want my hook & D's back!!!

ALS - Love the reality brother! It is going to be a 13-3 season for Big Blue. Seth - I got it figured out. Apparently, baseball will no longer have Spring Training, but will start camp in December. Football will now be played from Flag Day to Columbus Day. Hockey - is that still on? Who really cares...

Well said!

78 and still going to calls? What a helluva man! God bless him, his family and the Sayville FD.