Remember585

Congrats!!!!

I like the stiping and lettering scheme - looks quite similar to the NRFD SSU bus.

Good question! I don't know the whole county, but I do know of some. Pre-piped Briarcliff's NEW (yet to come) TL40 Chappaqua TL27 Croton TL44 Dobbs Ferry TL23 Eastchester TL17 & L16 Elmsford TL21 & L55 Greenville L4 Harrison TL24 Hartsdale TL15 Irvington L36 Larchmont TL7 Mamaroneck Town L19 Mohegan L10 & L35 Montrose TL8 Sleepy Hollow TL38 Ossining L41 Peekskill TL45 Pleasentville TL5 Purchase TL53 Tarrytown TL78 Thornwood TL1 Verplanck TL46 I may have missed a few.... Pre-piped waterway is the way to go! You don't have to fumble with a hose to feed your pipe. One question for those of you with the pipes, do they freeze??? I haven't seen or heard of any instances of this, but I am curious.

I used to work for one of our local tow companies, and we generally handled the majority of vehicular lock-outs in Croton. Our PD used to do them, but with the overwhelming demand for people to sue one another, they stopped doing it. The only time they will is if it's a potential hazard, like a kid or animal locked in the car. Our FD doesn't do them.

You can even drop the whole "returning to quarters" bit. Once you're in service, you're available for the next one. In very few agencies do the Dispatchers need to know you are back in quarters. It's one of my peeves in life. Nobody cares, 90% of the time, that you are back in quarters.

The strike is over!!!! Had chili the other night, no finger AND no cheese like I asked for. Guess I'd rather have NOTHING extra then SOMETHING extra, if ya know what I mean. :twisted:

With the new year upon us, many agencies will be changing guard. Feel free to make your posting, but please try to follow the template below. Department / Company: Chief: 1st Asst: 2nd Asst: Captains Lieutenants Etc. Happy New Year, and good luck to all of you new officers, you nut jobs!

WAKE UP!!!! It left Sunday morning!!! I wish I could have seen it barreling down the Hutch.....that's gotta be a hell of a sight!

It was something I remember being taught in Elementary school. Like, years shouldn't be "Nineteen Oh-One" but "Nineteen Hundred and One." Truthfully -the less we have to spit out of our mouths the better. Only exception should be for addresses or something where saying "Oh" could become confusing. Good question!

I made no personal attacks - sorry if you took it the wrong way. Like I said, and you are missing, it takes more then training to be a good officer. But without it, or any of the components I mentioned, an Officer won't be able to hack it. And yes, you could cut it, but you had all of the components. I know personally that you spent time reading many books, and getting info from others - a job well done. But, you know just as well as I do that there are people out there who have no right wearing that white helmet / shield.

No Officer of ours is unable to drive Tanker 10. Those that drive E119 and not T10 are few, and are guys whom have yet to approach anyone about driving it, haven't completed the training period on E119, or haven't found the time to drive T10. If they choose not to drive the Tanker that's their perogative, but being only "half-qualified" on our rigs won't suffice to be elected an officer, our By-Laws state that we must be qualified on the Company's apparatus to take an elected position. Don't get me wrong, I also feel common sense is imperative. But common sense would tell you that if you desire to lead people then you should get off your a** and learn what you can to better yourself. LEAD BY EXAMPLE!!! Take a look around, a leader who does nothing to improve themself only leads a company of unmotivated people. A leader is only as good as those he leads - and a Department/Company only reflects its leadership.

I too am hearing this - almost every 30 minutes. I am hearing this on my pager when I am home, which leads me to believe it is coming from either Croton, Briarcliff, Montrose, Peekskill or Mohegan's repeater, because I rarely pick up anything else. If I was a betting man, I would blame our repeater, because it has been a disaster since it was installed. Hopefully there is a solution to this all in the near future.

Our current First Assistant Chief informs me that one of his goals as Department Chief will be to hold a post-incident review after any "notable" incident. We learn from our mistakes - so by pointing them out everytime we make them, perhaps we'll have them less and less.

A good officer has a little of it all. Common sense, training, education, patience, and the ability to think on the fly. 320, While I see your point and agree with some of it, I also don't agree with a portion of it. For one, in a Department where getting the rig out is your responsibility, being an Officer who can't do that is virtually useless if the apparatus sits in quarters. You have nothing to lead if it doesn't get out of the building. Second, all of that training doesn't even approach the 750 hour mark. More importantly, if someone is going to lead me or any of my colleagues into a dangerous situation, they better have the knowledge to do it. And no matter what you think, common sense will not put out a fire, cut someone out of a wreck, or mitigate a haz-mat situation. This is why there are national standards for fire officers. The days of thinking a good firefighter will make a good officer are dead. We, as officers, must be trained to handle whatever it is we may be responding to. We don't need to be specialists in every field, but we must have some form of documented training to be our basis for commanding a scene. If you were an IC, and you were dealing with a house fire and something went tragically wrong, do you think the prosecution coming after you is going to ignore the absense of documented training in your portfolio? I highly doubt it. I spent 40 hours at the Fire Academy last year learning how to be a better teacher, and one thing that was constantly drilled into our heads was the importance of documentation, and the value of having an education in what we do. If we choose to be naive and say "common sense will prevail," we're not just cheating ourselves, but those we work with and those we are working for. Training in emergency services is an on-going process that should only end when we move on to the Fire Department in the sky. Not training to be better leaders is only cheating our members of great leadership. Look no further then our own Department, the best leaders we've had are those who educated themselves. Oh, and the whole "it's his turn" thing is like a bad case of acne, no matter how much we don't want it - it always seems to pop-up again and again.

A majority of the time when we are dealing with a water shuttle operation, we have used Deputy Chiefs to oversee this task.

Drill night doesn't have to be our only means of learning new skills or fine tuning what we already know. There are countless ways to sharpen our skills and our minds. Five of these examples are listed below. 1. "Routine Runs." I hate to use this phrase, but those alarms we go to on a regular basis are a valuable training resource. Even though a majority of the time we bring in the clipboard and get the info, have your crew(s) take a stroll around the building. This way they can learn the layout, escape routes, standpipe locations, etc. 2. EMS Calls. Believe it or not, this is a way to "cheat" and see how the house, or facility looks, and gives you a sense of what you may encounter if ever dispatched for a fire. For example, responding on an EMS run at a local Nursing Home or Skilled Care Facility gives you a chance to see the place "Un-pilished." What I mean is if you go in the EMS aspect, they dont concern themselves with how the place appears, or even if the place is up to code. While your EMS crew is working on the patient, or on the way out, snoop around and take note of the things that catch your eye. 3. Publications. Work all the time? Got a Honey-do list longer then your hosebed? Pickup the latest industry magazine and scan the pages. These are outstanding sources for the latest, and most innovative things out there. If you're like me, you can spend countless hours surfing the web as well. 4. Drive around. Got nothing to do? Jump in your car or if you can, take the rig around the district. You don't even have to get out and walk around, just cruise the neighborhoods. Make a mental note of where hydrants are, what streets are tight, which buildings the aerial cannot reach, and different ways to get to the location. Knowing the quickest way is great, but knowing an alternate route can be critical if the main route is inaccessible. 5. Swap Stories. Sometimes, believe it or not, just listening to the stories some of the veterans have to tell can be educational. For example, one of your brothers could enlighten you as to what to and what not to do on a fire scene, things like where to position the rig, how to direct the handline, and other invaluable lessons learned. I hope my babbling has brought some insight to you. Remember, we don't have to limit ourselves to our scheduled drill nights to learn something. Until next time...

Cutty, I think they can just flow the smoke, and have no fire. Also, we use the tower and smoke house quite often, and smoke it out. The basement of the smoke house is the best.

Any pics of her?

"BARK - Squeak" "Bark-squeak" That has to drive you nuts!

Hey Ed, Any plans for the old Freightliner? Perhaps a rehab vehicle or mini-rescue?? Good luck with it!

I saw that too - thought it was a Croton PD unit with a V&T stop on 9A south. Nice looking car - just another reason I like the T.O.P.D.

If you are like me, you are not a knot guy. So, in my efforts to better enhance my rope tying / rigging skills, I came across this site. http://www.realknots.com/knots/ Hope this comes in handy for you as much as it did for me.

Yup, 55B1 is the biggest P.O.S. on earth, and we have an intercom that hardly works for Driver / Crew communications. It's the Pinto of ambulances.

And yet, nobody has said why this rig is the color scheme that it is.... Looks nice, best of luck with it. Now, a few other questions. 1. How will TFD modify their responses, now that they are running 2 Trucks. 2. How much training will it take to teach the engine guys to take on truck duties? 3. Which Truck will be doing the Mutual Aid calls? 4. When will it be here, so we can see it up close? Agaiin, best of luck with it!!!

Ahhh yes, ye ole' Phelps baby bump. I think we had 2 or 3 incidents over the years where we would be transporting a woman in labor, and at the moment we hit that bump, out came the baby! I am fairly positive at least one or two of the pink storks on 55B1 can be attributed to that roadway blemish.