Remember585

We still got it!!! I wish we could retain it but the powers that be won't let it happen.

The Leatherman is a good tool for those misc. EMS uses. The pliers can act as an O2 key, the knife comes in handy for cutting lunch sandwiches and the screwdriver is great for fixing parts of the rig that come apart......

It's funny, I was sure that we had this discussion before, so I looked back at it and found what I used to carry. As time has gone on and things either disappeared or just weighed me down, my list has shrunken down a bit. I now carry.... 2 Door chocks in the helmet. EMT Shears, Window punch, seatbelt cutter, wire cutter in coat. Bail-out bag, webbing, rubber gloves and a folding spanner in the pants. I have a survivor light attached to the coat and I usually have my Vulcan light until recently, my strap is broke....dammit. It used to feel like I had this in my pockets.... Be safe!

I'd love to see Departments getting together to compete, IN THE SPIRIT OF LEARNING, that is. We could all benefit from something like this. Another thing I'd be interested in seeing is Departments that work together regularly doing something like this together. Might as well train the same way you work. Other then extrications, what are some other things that could be done? Any ideas? Andy, flag football's a great idea - so would softball and perhaps basketball.

While I agree that the location of emergencies can be confusing, I also think that whomever took the call for the fire HUDSON144 is referring to should of done the following; Got the address. Got the City name. Got a call back #. Three pretty basic questions that help immensely when dealing with a reported fire, at least in my opinion. Of course, if a certain law enforcement agency took the call first they may not have confirmed it prior to dumping it on the Fire Departments in this case. It's always fun being given cellular transfers for Brooklyn here in Westchester...but we'll leave it at that. For now, that is.

I'm the one known as 2 1/2". A few years back, probably close to 10 now, we had a possible fire in a chinese restaurant. I got there first with the CPD and we had smoke coming out of the building pretty good. E119 was first in, and as the first crew was popping the door, I single-handedly (and foolishly) pulled about 200' of 2 1/2" line through the dining room area. It wasn't until I was done serpentining through the nicely arranged tables with all the glasses and silverware on them when our driver charged it. I think I knocked over a few tables and broke a few glasses....but what the hell. Oh, and it was just a burning wok. No fire. Lots of smoke.

Recall the book Farenheit 451??? Firemen will be burning books because knowledge is forbidden...

Our general rule of thumb is simple. Commercial fires - pull the 2 1/2". If it is anything with more then 50% involvement, we generally pull 2 1/2" as well. We used to have a guy in our Company that pulled the 2 1/2" at EVERYTHING - and that was a b****! Our new Engine will have two 2 1/2" preconnected lines with smooth bore knobs on them in addition to the other four 1 3/4" preconnected lines. I'm fairly positive that all of our rigs, including the quint, have at least one 2 1/2" line ready to go.

Perhaps points can be given based on the actual training one has completed. Firecapt32 is on to something with the FF 1 and FF 2 certs. I think that maybe for every 50 hours of State / national training you could throw a point or two.... As for our troops, I think they should get 10 points. I also don't think residency is fair. Some people just can't afford to move and others don't want to move to certain areas, but are more then willing to work in them.....

The frequency 155.205 is the primary for Cortlandt VAC in Westchester County. It is also utilized by Garrison, Putnam Valley, Philipstown Ambulance Corps in Putnam County.

Quote:"I made a wrong choice on the night of the 17th," Gogger said as she faced Walsh's friends and family. "I pray every day for forgiveness. I'm truly sorry to the victim's family." You don't deserve forgiveness......and you don't deserve the light sentence you got. 12 years from a 27 year old's life is nothing. She should of got 49 years, so when she is 76 she could really appreciate her life like this man did - until she ended it after a night of sheer stupidity.

Although I love my rig (Engine 119) more then anything, my FAVORITE rig is still Sleepy Hollow's TL38. It's still (and hopefully the only) rig that ever saved my a**. Anyone got a photo of it?

In our district, we get dispatched by our local PD on a "case by case" basis. What I mean by that is simple, regardless of how many policies, procedures or orders we give them explaining how we want things done, there is still certain members of this PD who do what they want. I take you back to January 18th of this year. Most of you probably remember it as the really windy day where almost all of us were out with wires down calls and the like. I was sitting in our firehouse with 4 other guys when a woman walked in. She informed me that the electrical lines up the street were on fire and she didn't know where else to go. I told her that she had come to the right place and that we would check it out. Boy, am I naive. I called ********** and spoke to the desk Sergeant. I told him about the situation to get the reply, "No $hit, it's raining, that's what always happens." OK....I guess this wasn't the first time this has occurred. As time went on that day, I later became informed of SEVERAL incidents that should of been turned over to FD that were not. Most of these were wires down calls, but one call that pissed me off was a tree down on a house. Why weren't we notified? The biggest issue I have is with those we've elected into the position of Chiefs. They're supposed to look out for the community and are supposed to listen to the membership when we complain. But, not to stray from the subject, I will end this rant here. Dispatching of emergency (VITAL) services is not to be taken lightly. If your agency so desires to be sent on anything - there should not be any arguement from your dispatchers! It is unacceptable for these local yokels to still, in 2006, play the game that will one day get someone killed. It's a pretty simple task if you ask me - get a call for help - dispatch it and ask questions later. One answering point if setup properly and run correctly could benefit everyone in Westchester, end of story. The era of the Barney Fife Police dispatch is long gone, even before Don Knots passed away this weekend. This and all of my opinions do not reflect any affiliations I have, but are my own.

I got word today that Seagrave has begun the construction of our new apparatus. The cab and body are presently being fabricated, and the pump, tank, etc. are on the way. We are still hoping it will be here in June of this year.

What is this thing? It looks nice and to me it almost looks like a cascade? Anyone got more info..... Best of luck with it.

Our FD purchased "Bail-Out Bags" for all of our Interior members with Survival training. It includes a 30' 8mm rope and a carabiner. Extras were also purcahsed and will be given to new members and those that complete their training on them.

Hit me on the Nextel....

We have a detailed SOG for fire scene rehab. Our SOG calls for one of our Ambulances, the Medic* and one Ambulance Mutual Aid for rehab services. We've invested in two cool-air misting fans and we keep several bottles of water on the apparatus. *Our Medic will be on scene and ready should we need them, but they keep themselves available (or call another ALS Unit) for coverage in the area. In addition we've added the Salvation Army Canteen to our greater alarm response plan to supplement the R&R of the troops.

My FD has 'em - but they're referred to as "Suggested Operating Guidelines." They cover things from responses to TIC ops to CO incidents to PPV / PPA. We just recently held a review class for our Department Officers.

At what point do you throw in the towel and admit you can't respond? Do you wait and wait and wait??? What's your minimum response requirement? Is it adhered to? Does the whole FAST Thing in OUR AREA (I don't know about anywhere else) come down to calling your neighbors / friends just so they call you to thier next big one? As for training, don't even get me started anymore. I'm on a team that has a strict rule on training requirements, and from what I gather from a bunch of area Departments, we might be the only one. We've even removed guys from the team that work(ed) as career firefighters because they didn't meet our requirement. In case you're wondering - some of the requirements are; Essentials / Basic / FF 1 IFA / Intermediate Survival FAST CPR Attendance at 50% of Team Drills (all members currently on our team made this requirement and then some in 2005). In addition, everyone has training in AVET Ropes Ladders The least amount of experience presently on our team is 6 years. We put members in a training phase until we are confident in them to become a member. We take a proavtive approach to the incidents we go on, such as throwing ladders, clearing windows / window dressings and accountability when not already in place. The thing that cracks me up is that after 1 fire in particular, someone made the comment that we weren't doing what we're suppost to, which is to wait for someone to be in a jam. We'd rather minimize the chances then stand there and cross our fingers.... I again apologize about the rant, but I am one of those people who has been on the receiving end and the helping end - and - someone who lost a family member fighting a fire. This is the one thing I am most passionate about, and when I see the $hit that goes on around here I get completely unhinged. Rant off.....(Thank God!)

Not to lose sight on what this thread is about, but our old SOG was that Explorers could ride apparatus so long as they didn't take the seat of an actual firefighter. Back when I first got in, we still rode on the hosebeds of the Engines and at times all 3 engines would pull up to a call with 10-12 people on them. Nowadays I don't think Explorers ride anything because the seating capacities are much lower.

I guess there just wasn't a square to spare?! ONE SQUARE?!

Mid-Mount aerials STILL in service in Westchester....including towers. Bedford Hills TL57 (Seagrave / Aerialscope) Briarcliff TL40 (KME) Chappaqua TL27 (Sutphen) Dobbs Ferry TL23 (Mack / Aerialscope) Eastchester TL17 (Spare Ladder 15) (ALF) Fairview L1 (Tower) (KME) Harrison TL24 (Sutphen) Hartsdale TL15 (FWD /Aerialscope) Hastings L22 (Tiller) (Don't recall) Larchmont TL7 (Sutphen) Mamaroneck Village L20 (Tiller) (?) Mount Kisco TL14 (Sutphen) Mount Vernon Tower 1 (New Seagrave), Old Tower 1(?) (Mack) New Rochelle TL11 (Spare Ladder 14) Sleepy Hollow TL38 (Sutphen) Pelham Manor TL3 (Mack / Aerialscope) Pleasentville TL5 (Spartan? / Aerialscope) Port Chester TL2 & L31 (Tiller) TL2 Sutphen, L31 ? Rye (Spare) L26 (Tiller) Seagrave Scarsdale TL29 (Sutphen) Somers L18 (Tower) Sutphen Tarrytown TL78 (ALF) Thornwood TL1 (Sutphen) Valhalla TL49 (ALF) West Harrison TL9 (KME) Yonkers TL71 & TL75 (ALF) Yorktown L51 (Currently) (Seagrave) Banksville L77 (Maxim) Some former mid-mounts I recall.... Croton L44 (Maxim) Harrison (Tiller) Hartsdale (#?) (ALF?) Mohegan (ALF) Quad 10? Sleepy Hollow (Seagrave) Ossining (Both companies) (Maxims) Somers L18 (ALF) Valhalla L49 (Maxim)

My first call was in February 1992. I was an Explorer, it was snowing like hell and we were going Mutual Aid to the Yeshiva fire in Yorktown. Just before this call we had a cardiac arrest in the center of "town," but my mother wouldn't let me go. First, T10 got dispatched and my father wouldn't let me go because I was an Explorer and there was no place for me to ride. A little while later, while picking at my homemade pizza (Mom rules), the pager went off again for Engine 119. Luckily, this time, my father drove me to the firehouse. The cool thing was that he was working, so he drove me in the old CPD Car 36. I rode E119 along with 5 other guys - it was awesome. My job that night was to help chop through the ice so we could draft. The following day, I went to school (PVC Middle) and bragged to all my friends about it. They all just thought I was full of crap I think. I don't remember my exact first EMS call, but my first call as a CFR was an infant cardiac arrest....not cool.

If you ever take the class that StatFlight gives they tell you that it isn't even neccessary for an Engine to be at an LZ. The one exception that may help them is if you have a dry, dusty field where hosing it down may be beneficial. Howevere, most times I would imagine that the bird would be so close that you wouldn't have the time to pull this off.