Remember585

That's terrible all around. Stories like that really suck. Your heart has to go out to the poor kid & Josh Hamilton who I am sure is beating himself up over it. RIP.

It's the education and training the individual receives that makes a difference. Maturity, not age, is the key. With that maturity comes an attitude of responsibility, something I didn't fully understand until I found myself mentoring others. You can take EVOC and have an instructor that reads the powerpoint to you, throws numbers at you and then has you drive for maybe 20-30 minutes weaving around some cones. The general attitude of everyone in this environment: Is it over yet? BUT - if you start the presentation with case studies that include photos of the accidents, the victims, the loved ones left behind - you'll increase the chances of grabbing your audiences' attention. Tell them how FF Smith crashed the Engine into a minivan and killed a woman driving her two kids and their two friends to soccer. Tell them how FF Smith was arrested and sent to jail, how he tried killing himself after being sued and losing everything, how his depression led him to lose his wife who took their son and moved away. MAKE IT HIT HOME FOR EVERYONE IN THE CLASS / DRILL. When I was younger, a lot of the training given to me was a far, FAR cry from the guidance provided today. Thinking back to my Essentials class, I think I (and many others) showed up late, got out early, napped and basically didn't pay attention. When I took EVOC, I was a little older and just started to drive our apparatus. I only knew two things: I had to get to the firehouse first to drive and everyone moves for a fire engine going lights & siren. Man was I wrong! I was lucky to have Mike Wilbur as my initial EVOC instructor, who truly knows what he is talking about and isn't just reading me an Instructor's Manual. While I took some of what he said as "yeah, that can't happen here or happen to me" - I've learned over time that he was 100% right. In the 14+ years I've been a driver, I have made mistakes driving our rigs and am thankful that none of those mistakes led to any accidents or injuries. I remember (and I know some of my other members know what I am talking about) driving our Engine to a Mutual Aid call once, with the pedal to the floor going over 70 MPH down a steep and pitched hill. I was convinced I was rolling the rig and killing everyone - luckily that didn't happen. When we arrived on scene, I was so upset with my driving that I was of no use to anyone. What if I did crash? What if I actually survived and had to live with hurting or killing all of my friends - and in a few of these cases - family members?! Whether it's driving, pumping, doing traffic, or putting water on fires - we have to take it seriously and get the best teachers we can. We owe it to ourselves to be educated and ready for the worst days we'll have. Sometimes, too, we have to play the role of the "bad guy" and tell someone they can't do something. Since I am not one of those people that looks forward to ever being told I can't do something, I dread when the time comes I have to tell someone that something they've been doing for a long time - or something their heart is set on - that they can't do it. But part of the job I was elected to do is to be that bad guy once in a while. I find myself sometimes thinking that it's amazing I have made it this long, and I can only hope others can learn from the mistakes I have made. I ain't perfect - none of us are - but the bad decisions and the memories of "what the "f" was I thinking should help all of us to prevent others from making those same follies - and hopefully keep them alive another day. If your drivers are fully aware of the ramifications that can and do happen if they have an accident, AND those sitting in the Officer's Seat are aware that they too could be held liable for the driver's actions - then by all means, let them drive. I really hate to put it this way - but scaring the s*** out of your drivers is the best way to make them realize how huge of a responsibility it is to drive.

You can see the humidity in the photos!

Date: 7/4/11 Time: 22:20 Location: 679 Bedford Road (cross of Choate Lane) Frequency: 46.26 / Fire 11 / Fireground 5 Pleasantville FD Units: 2371, 2372, 2373, E91, E260, TL5, T57, R47 Thornwood FD: 2471, 2472, E89, R75 w/ FAST Briarcliff FD: 2051, 2052, 2053, TL40 Millwood FD: R36 Pocantico Hills FD: 2381, 2382, 2383, T12 Valhalla FD: 2481, R9 w/ FAST Pleasantville EMS: 76B1, 76B2 WCDES: Battalion 11 Weather Conditions: Muggy 73 degrees Description Of Incident: Fire from roof of a private dwelling Reporters: Remember585 Writer: Remember585 Bing Map: My link 22:22 - Smoke showing, 2371 requesting retone. E260 responding. 22:23 - Pleasantville retoned for smoke showing. E91 responding. 22:25 - E260, E91 on location. TL5, T57 responding. 22:27 - TL5 on location. 22:28 - T57 on location. 22:31 - Thornwood relocating an Engine to Pleasantville HQ. Battalion 11 responding. 22:36 - Battalion 11 on location. 22:39 - Battalion 11 requesting Pleasantville EMS for rehab. 22:41 - Pleasantville retoned, Thornwood E89 w/FAST, Briarcliff TL40, Pocantico Hills T12, Millwood R36 for the 10-75. 22:44 - Chappaqua relocate an Engine to Pleasantville HQ. 2373, 2381, 2471, E89 responding. 22:46 - Valhalla FAST to the scene. 2053, TL40 responding. 22:48 - R36 responding. E89 on location. 2063, E146 relocating. 22:49 - R47 responding, T12 responding. 22:50 - R75 responding as Thornwood FAST, R9 responding as Valhalla FAST. 22:52 - 2053, R75 on location. 22:54 - T12 on location. 22:55 - TL40 on location. 22:57 - R36, 2481, R9 on location. 22:58 - 2063, E146 at Pleasantville HQ.

I could be wrong, but I don't think the cost is that big of a factor. We discussed it when spec'ing our new Tanker and it wasn't a true issue. I may also be wrong, but I recall reading somewhere that after 9/11, the FDNY realized a need to be better equipped to get water from sources other than hydrants, such as the Hudson and East Rivers. (Was it Fire Appartus Journal where I read this?) Again, I'm not FDNY so someone "in the know" would be best to answer that.

A few questions to those of you in the know... 1. Does anyone carry an AED on their Fire/Rescue Boats or Police Boats? 2. Do you have any SOPs regarding it's use on the boat? 3. Has anyone had to use it? I've researched it a bit and couldn't find any GOOD information, but if it's a safe enough operation, I don't want to sell ourselves short and not put one on our boat. Thank you. (I know the basics, like I can't shock someone in the water or if they're laying on a wet deck...)

Thanks for the info guys. I was reading the manual for our AEDs and checked all of my instructor stuff and that's pretty much the consensus from each avenue checked. Thanks again.

I'm not sure if it is going to Ossining tomorrow night, but rumor has it that it is scheduled to be at the Kensico Dam on Sunday for the concert and fireworks. I'll be there so I'll see if I can snap a picture or two...

In my eyes, an Engine or a Truck showing up with one FF (paid or volunteer) isn't doing much either. It's the same as a Chief rolling up. The overall public perception is that "the fire department is here," regardless the number of rigs / people showing up. Often times, the calls we all go to are false alarms, non-fires and non-life-threatening, so the homeowner is actually satisfied with less people and vehicles. On "game day" we better be bringing as many apparatus as we need to ensure the right number of people with the right equipment show up in a timely fashion. Since most municipalities aren't going to hire more guys where they're needed, and most of us in volunteerland can't stop working, Mutual Aid will be the "solution" for a very long time. I have family in Michigan, and I talk to my cousin often. He works in a city very similar to Mount Vernon that has TWO CAREER FIREFIGHTERS STAFFING TWO RIGS 24/7. They rely on Mutual Aid and callbacks. They often go to work at a legit house fire once a day, so in perspective.... we all have it pretty good!

All of these VAC's going paid almost makes me want to recert my EMT and pick up some side work. Not. Good luck to Brewster with this new endeavor, I hope it serves you well.

Story from "The Daily Croton:" My link

But how much of it is still a "VAC?"

From the "Ossining-Croton Patch": Full article is here: http://ossining.patch.com/articles/croton-offers-solution-to-ems-challenges It's my understanding that a paid EMT/Driver is being looked in to for 0700-1900 Monday thru Friday. I like that progress is being made to fix things, but those early morning calls (roughly 0200-0700) are hard to cover too. Hopefully a solution to the entire issue is found, and the members of CEMS that still come out and have pride in what they do aren't discouraged by the paid assistance. To those of you that have stuck it out and keep doing your best, my hat's off to you.

Good question, hard to answer. Department A gets dispatched to all of Department B's structural fires. Department A gets paged off of the Anytown transmitter, then the Othertown transmitter. Department B has to be paged off of the Ghettotown transmitter after the two pages for Department A. Now, the event is created in the CAD system at 17:00, the first page for "AFD" is at 17:01 followed by their second page commencing at 17:02. Then, "BFD" gets their page which ends at 17:03. What time does Department B go with? I never really paid attention to this "dilemma" until I started processing our NFIRS. If we use the original dispatch time, which doesn't open our pagers, it makes it look like our response is almost three minutes longer than it might actually be, no? Also take into consideration the REAL time of notification: When the 911 calls begin coming in. In Westchester, most 911 calls go to their local PD or NYSP (ignoring cellular for this case). The PD obtains whatever information they want to get, then either transfer the 911 call to 60 Control or hang up (not the right thing to do!) and call 60 Control and give us the info they just took. Who's to say how long that transfer of information is taking prior to getting to the FD dispatcher? Ideally, a central 911 answering point (or at least one for all of Westchester sans Yonkers, White Plains, Mount Vernon?) with the ability to process the calls into a CAD system capable of telling the call taker what resources to dispatch (again, preferably from the same office) would save time, save money (nee: redundancy) and provide for a more uniform processing of calls. IMHO... of course.

Agreed that we should always make the best effort to design a rig that has our safety in mind. BUT, sometimes a rig has to do more than lug hose and water around, hence the taller hosebed. When we got our most recent Engine, the hosebed was viewed as "high" by many. While I agree that it's higher than we would have preferred, equipment we use more often than that hose is stored below the hosebed, making it easier for us to get to. For us, and I know others are different and some are similar, we drop hose off the bed maybe 10-12 times per year, but the equipment stored below the hosebed is pulled 2-3 times more than the hose in our hosebed. "Cheater" lengths of 5" are stored in close proximity to the pump panel on all 3 Engines so the MPO rarely has to go out of his way to ring a hydrant. Those of you blessed with hydrants everywhere can afford to have 500 gallon tanks and lower hosebeds. We lack that luxury in many portions of our district, so our Engines have 750 gallons and two have 1000 gallons of water. I like the new E199 from Bedford Hills - it's a multi-purpose apparatus hence the hosebed is a bit higher than that of New Rochelle's E21 which is an Engine only. Correct me if I am wrong, but E25 had a higher hose bed to facilitate storage of more equipment, right? Either way, they're all well designed rigs.

Of course Helicopper will be the authority on this subject - but last I knew the chopper did not have a Trunking radio. I believe (again, Chris knows better) that trunking radios on aircraft won't work correctly. As for units on the ground contacting the Aviation Unit - they can utilize one of the Fire Ground channels. If a Unified Command Post is established, a WCPD member could be the POC (Point of Contact) with Aviation, but like I said, they can talk on any of the county's 8 Fire Ground channels so that is your best bet. Radio communications from ground to air should be done on simplex frequencies.

Can you elaborate?

1992 Joined as an Explorer - got 3/4 boots (size 10), long coat (size 38) and a blue metro helmet. Later, got a Sonar pager followed by a Shinwah(?) pager. Pretty sure we had one portable radio per rig, we had horns and house sirens for every call, still had pull boxes and dispatched by PD. Did EMS. One gas meter, no TICs. 1996 Became a full member - got bunker gear (size 46) w/ rubber boots (size 13), a 1010 helmet, a hood(!) & a Minitor II pager. Started seeing more portable radios on each rig, a few years later the pull boxes and horns were retired. PD still dispatching us. Still doing EMS. Had 2 gas meters and the 1st TIC came soon after. 2011 Currently a 1st Assistant Chief - got full gear (no comment on sizes), a leather N5A, a Minitor V pager. Had the Minitor III for a short time (POS), followed by a Minitor IV (another POS) before getting my first Minitor V about 5-6 years ago. Now we have portable radios for each seat on each rig, 3 TICs, 5 gas meters, no longer do EMS (YAY!) and get dispatched by 60 Control, using the siren only during the day. In 1992 we had: E118 - a 1963 Maxim E119 - a 1984 Mack CF E120 - a 1975 Ward LaFrance L44 - a 1971 Maxim Mid-Mount Aerial T10 - 1990 International / EEI R18 - 1963 Mack / German-something Boat 18 - 1960's 16' Aluminum Boat Now, in 2011 we have: E118 - a 1993 HME/Saulsbury E119 - a 2006 Seagrave E120 - a 2003 American LaFrance TL44 - a 2002 Pierce 100' RM Quint (DEMO) T10 - Same one, new one in process. R18 - a 1993 International / Cayel Craft (DEMO) M12 - a 1992 or 1993 24' Boston Whaler (Also was Marine 7 for a blink of the eye) M32 - Was "Boat 18." A lot has changed, but it's all been for the better. Looking forward to seeing how things are in 10-20 years! The one thing I miss most are the old-timers that have passed on. So many good guys with great stories and always an inspiration to us younger guys.

I'm not positive that is his actual title. Last year, the village made Mr. Nagle their "Emergency Management Director", to help the village with diaster preparedness, etc. At the June 6th village board meeting, the board passed a resolution making Mr. Nagle the liasion to Croton EMS for the village board. We are under the impression that Mr. Nagle will be overseeing operations and coming up with the best solution for EMS in Croton, although none of this has been 100% verified as of this writing. Below is the resolution made by the board on 6/6/11. Now - what I find to be interesting is that it says "to act as Interim Liaison between the Village staff and Board and the membership of the Croton EMS and Fire Department for as long as is needed to study and implement the options that will provide a continuity of ambulance services to the members of our community" - HOW DOES THIS AFFECT THE FIRE DEPARTMENT? We don't provide EMS, so how would this be our issue? I've sent emails to the Manager, Mayor and others and hopefully soon I will have an answer. (Please note that any "answer" I get will be shared with our membership first, before I post it here, as that would be the right thing to do, IMHO.) Either way, I know that CEMS has had their issues over the past few months and I hope an answer to this is found as soon as possible. Some were arguing that Mr. Nagle has no EMS experience - but his prior experiences in administrative roles in fire departments and his open-minded approach should yield the best solution for all involved.

We've conducted some training with live fires at Dutchess, having the crew hold a room with the can and having the line there with them. It's very beneficial to train on it, like everything else. That small amount of water can do quite a bit, removing the heat so the fire keeps in check until a line can snuff it out. Our most recent fire could have been held with a can until we stretched the line in. I'm with 16fire5 on his advice not to do everything as FDNY does it. We may get "a lot" of guys to a job, but I've long been an advocate that if smoke is showing, the line is going.

Thanks for the pics Joe! If I recall correctly from prior training with the MTA, we should chock the train wheels like we would a car at an MVA, using a wedge or something similar.

Wrong. We used to use Code One and Code Two. The Code One was lights & sirens and the Code Two was nothing. When the push was here to go to clear text, we dropped this and use Emergency and Non-Emergency mode. Some calls are automatically a non-emergency response. This includes CO w/ no symptoms, fluid spills, PD assists, EMS assists, and some other service calls. More often than not, once a Chief arrives on scene and verifies that there is no life hazard or other legit emergency in progress, the incoming units will get the "Non-Emergency response" order. In most cases - and I think this applies to a lot of us - we don't save much time lighting it up.

Yes, the IC made the request to 60 Control for the helo. This was based on the recommendation from 36M1 who went thru the chain of command and asked for it. The first ambulance was on the scene almost at the same time as 2641 and I. They came up to the scene and got buried by our Rescue and some MTA PD units. Instead of wasting time, I requested the 2nd ambulance to transport the patient to the LZ. As 7586 said, we didn't need it, as we were able to move the vehicles so 55B1 could transport to the LZ.

The guys at work had informed me there were some questions about this incident Tuesday at Harmon Yards, so I figure I'll give a little insight. 17:44 - 60 Control dispatched Croton EMS, 36M1, R18 & E120 for a party hit by a train. 17:45 - 2082 & 2641 responding. 2082 asking if party is still under train, 60 advising he is, E119 added to the run. 17:48 - 2641 & 2082 on locaton, confirming one male under a locomotive car. Requesting power and train traffic shut down. 17:49 - 2082 assuming command, requesting Montrose R51 for additional air bags & euipment. 17:51 - 60 advising command that R51 not available, Command requested R16 from Yorktown. 17:52 - Command requesting availability of Medevac, 60 Control reports they are at WMC and available. 17:54 - Air 2 launching, 10 minute ETA. E119 ground contact, landing at Croton Point ballfield. 18:01 - Command reports all hands working, request E225 from Montrose VA on any additional Croton calls. 18:02 - Command reports one male patient, about 55 years old, Level 1 Trauma, extensive injuries, but conscious per 36M1. 18:06 - Command requesting 2nd Ambulance, 55B1 blocked in by FD units. 18:08 - Air 2 on the ground, E119 transporting crew to the scene. 18:14 - Command reports patient extricated from under train, being packaged and in care of EMS. 18:17 - Command placing incident under control. 18:27 - Yorktown units in service. 18:28 - E120 released from the scene, resume normal dispatch of CFD. 18:50 - 2082 reports all CFD units clear of the scene, command terminated and turned over to MTA PD. As far as the Fire Brigade, they're mostly there for fire incidents (usually normal business hours) and will work with us, normally telling us what we can and can't do on the rails and with the trains. They're a great asset when it comes to that. Extra training - I wouldn't call it "extra" training, but we routinely do training with the air bags like all of our other equipment, and we usually do an annual or biennial training with Metro-North. Hope that answers some questions for you.

Date: 2/25/11 Time: 00:32 Location: 45 Kraft Avenue "Savannah at Home" Frequency: Using KED281.com Units Operating: 2101, 2102, 2103, E27, E29, E30, E31, L15, L16 NRFD Units: 2309, E22 as FAST MVFD Units: E204 EVAC Units: 5711, 57M1, 57B2 WCDES Units: Battalion 18 Bronxville PD Weather Conditions: Rain Description Of Incident: Dispatched for Commercial Alarm, fire on 3rd floor of 50x50 commercial. Reporters: Remember585 Writer: Remember585 Bing Map SFD E56 & NRFD L12 relocating to Eastchester HQ. 00:32 - E29, E27, L16, 2102 dispatched for Commercial Alarm. 00:36 - E29 on location with smoke showing. 2102 requesting 2nd Truck. (L15) 00:40 - E30 dispatched. 00:46 - 10-75 transmitted, E31, EVAC & Battalion 18 dispatched. 00:59 - 2101 requesting a Mutual Aid FAST to the scene. 01:00 - E22 sent to scene as FAST. 01:03 - 2101 reporting 50 x 50 3-story commercial, requesting Mount Vernon Engine to scene. 01:05 - 2101 reports #3 side adjoining to MNRR building. 01:06 - 2101 has MTA PD on scene, will handle shut down of NB rail traffic. 01:07 - Scarsdale Engine to Eastchester HQ. 01:08 - 2101 requesting Con Ed electric & gas to the scene. 01:12 - E204 responding. E56 relocating. 01:13 - 2101 requesting a recall of Group 2. 01:15 - 2102 reporting to 2101 the main body of fire knocked down, checking for extension, using all hands. 01:16 - Bat 18 on location. 01:18 - 2101 requesting a cascade unit to the scene. 01:24 - Larchmont cascade unit dispatched.