Remember585

Washington Engine Company No. 2 Croton Fire Department Presents our 2nd Annual Comedy Nite Saturday, October 30, 2010 Starring Comedians: Doug Karpf, J. Gemini Lombardi & Joe Anthony Tickets for only $60.00 A full buffet dinner starting at 6:30pm. The show starts at 8:00pm! E-mail comedynite2010@yahoo.com or call (914) 497-0598 to get your tickets! See the attached ad! comedy_nite_2010.pdf

Last Call - hope some of you can make it.

Don't bet on it. There's a picture out there of a certain Tower Ladder stopped by a patrol car a couple of years ago...

Is it just me, or is the "KKK" in desperate need of a name change?

Good post Trauma. I have been waiting for this law to be changed for as long as all of us started discussing it. As soon as we found out about the recent amendment, we began switching some of our rig's warning lights. Since it is cheaper to do so, we made the simple change to some strobe lights, since all that is required is a new lens. As far as LEDs go, you can't just change a lens, you have to replace the whole light - something many of us can't afford to do or choose not to spend the money on at this time. For those of you going with blue LEDs, I encourage you to use a dimmer control. If you're like me, you've approached a police car with blue LEDs and have been blinded. Most lightbars and LED controls offer dimmers, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEM. You don't want to blind oncoming drivers - it will defeat the purpose of trying to be safer. And...as many have said before, the proper use of scene lighting, rig placement, safety vests and traffic control devices with trump and flashing lights you may use. Just my humble opinion.

The show is less than two weeks away. E-mail us at comedynite2010@yahoo.com or call (914) 497-0598. You can even "PM" me here. Thanks, hope some of you can make it!

I think it was semi-comical when the one person interviewed said they should of used a stun gun instead. Pretty sure it's damn near impossible to use one effectively on a moving car... My heart goes out to all of the Police Officers involved in this Thornwood incident. I hope you guys know that for everyone who is publicly bashing you, there's two more who support you.

I just watched News 12's story where they are discussing how Officer Stretz has worked for four different departments. WHAT DOES IT MATTER? Haven't most of us worked at a job or two we didn't like? I am so sick of how they keep making it look like he was the bad guy. A low-life with multiple priors whom has spent more than 10 years in prison, who was running from the police risking the lives of others, who than tried taking the Officer's gun is not a stand-up person!!!! Stop turning this around. I for one fully support Officer Stretz and think more people need to speak up on his behalf!

Date: 10/16/10 Time: 20:15 (Approx) Location: 12 Deerhaunt Drive Frequency: 46.26 / Fire 10 / Fireground 6 Montrose Units Operating: 2273, E122, E121, TL8 VA Montrose Units: 2574, E225 Croton FD Units: 2082, E119 FAST Buchanan FD Units: 2551, U12 Cortlandt VAC: 88B3 WCDES Units: Battalion 10 Weather Conditions: Cool, Breezy Description Of Incident: Fire in kitchen of two-story dwelling. Reporters: Remember585, FDVA356 (O/S) Writer: Remember585 20:13 - Montrose dispatched for possible structure fire. Buchanan & Verplanck on standby. 20:15 - 2273 responding. 20:17 - E122 responding. 20:19 - E121 responding. 20:20 - E122 on location. 20:21 - Croton FAST, VA Engine, Buchanan Cascade & Cortlandt VAC dispatched. 2082, E225 responding. 2273 on location. TL8 responding. 20:22 - E121 on location. 20:23 - U12 responding. E225 on location. 20:25 - E119 responding. TL8 on location. 20:31 - E119 on location. 88B3 responding. 20:35 - 88B3 on location. 20:40 - 2082, E119 In Service. 21:11 - U12 In Service. 21:55 - All Montrose units clear of scene. Peekskill E130 relocated to VA Montrose. Verplanck E128 relocate to Montrose. ***If you have more info feel free to PM me with it.***

We've got a few people they can have...

Agreed. But what is truly achieved when it is aired out on a public forum? We all know we have room to improve, but when we specifically call out certain agencies or certain incidents we go against what the original intent of this forum was! When Seth started this forum we could talk tactics and ways to improve things without hating on one agency or a call. Now it's a free for all where everytime a photo is posted, it gets criticized. When an Incident Alert is posted, times are questioned. If you really want to question something, ask those involved. Airing it out for all to see is a HUGE MISTAKE! People are going to get in trouble, the press is going to print things that are hurtful and non-constructive, and the public is going to think we're all a bunch of cry babies! Bring back the old EMTBravo.net where we would praise in public, and insult/question eachother in private! It's bad enough that morons go on Facebook, Twitter, etc. airing out departmental issues, insulting other departments, etc. We're all suppost to be BROTHERS - grow up and speak to those you have an issue with, don't air out your dirty laundry for everyone to see! I'm tired of seeing guys getting their rocks off by seeing others look bad. I was one of the original members here, I check it more than once a day and try to always be positive. But over the past couple of months I find myself losing interest. Let's put aside the BS and actually offer constructive criticism without the finger-pointing. Life is stressful enough, we don't need another avenue of disappointment.

It's probably what is needed, but again, I no longer belong and don't know what plans are in effect. Perhaps they are exploring this option, but I don't know.

There's some other agencies out there that are in far worst shape. I guess because they're not on 46.26, it doesn't count? Even if both of the Croton ambulances were crewed the other day, two calls would have went to Mutual Aid. Should an ambulance show up everytime it is dispatched? Yes. Is it a reality when you do not have paid staffing, you lack available volunteer resources and most of your members can't afford to live in the jurisdiction they belong to? No. The issue here shouldn't be aired out on this forum. If someone has a legitimate concern about the response capabilities of Croton EMS, then contact Croton EMS direct. That is all. Here is their contact information: CEMS

from Lohud.com Full Article All I know is this - that was a dual response from the TMFD and LFD. We were in our firehouse after a call listening, and I distinctly remember hearing the Town & Larchmont get dispatched together. So the issue everyone has with the address and which FD is going to respond is fairly irrelevant, in my opinion. According to the IA from Truck 4 (HERE) The first Chief was on scene within a minute, followed by Larchmont TL7 another two minutes later. I say this to people all of the time, when you are panicked, time stands still, and it seems like forever until help arrives. I've been the first on scene of plenty of emergencies, and even I have felt like it is taking forever for the calvary to arrive. From what I listened to - firefighters were on scene and doing their jobs swiftly and efficiently. Seems like the issue here is a lack of a fire alarm system working on this morning. That fire seemed to be well advanced by the time people called it in.

John, I'm no longer a member of Croton EMS, so like my father (xchief2x) I can't comment on their operations. I also agree that it would be nice to know that help is going to be there if we all need it. I have no idea what happened today, as I didn't hear any of these incidents. Hopefully their leadership will address the problem swiftly.

I'm so confused.... why would anyone want to celebrate a day for the Patriots?!

"Bump"

An average of two hours for the utility company? Not bad. The snow storms and windy days around here overload every resource. Even with pre-planning. Sometimes Mother Nature wins...

"And one old timer reportedly was overheard saying, "So that's where I put my f*ing keys..." I don't know of a time capsule in our firehouses, but it would be cool to dig up some old archives.

Buff.... LOL

Seth, There's been a few new ambulances over the years. The current 55B2 was new, the current 55B1 was new, and a couple others were. We had used rigs from both Cortlandt & Peekskill VAC which worked out for us. As far as the PL Customs, the current 55B2 has been a workhorse, doing what I would assume is close to 600+ calls per year. The only times it's been OOS that I can recall are for PM, the occassional curb endurancy tests and some minor stuff. As for the 55B1 being replaced - no hard feelings about our little accident in 2007...

There's some info here at the OFPC site. I have some paperwork at home (somewhere) from Corning & Empire State that outlines the number of credits per course. I will try to find it and share it here.

If something is not conveyed to be a life-threatening emergency, why do we need lights & sirens? And remember, in most cases, dispatch information is only as good as the information received by the caller(s). And, one last thing, "break-neck speeds?" Really, NY Times? This stupid image of fire engines speeding out of control that is always described makes us look like morons, and the truth of the matter is that this just doesn't happen 95-99% of the time. "Break-neck" is a terrible description.

It will be interesting to see how the ISO scoring will affect some departments around here.

1. If this "hypothetical" incident is actually one that occurred the other night in Mahopac, they did in fact make a grab (or whatever people call it these days), so in the eyes of OSHA they would be "exempt" from having to keep the "Two out." 2. If anyone thinks having just "Two Out" is sufficient, you're out of your friggin mind. We have done drills as simple as dragging a guy across the engine room floor with no smoke, no fire, no obstructions - and it can tire you out fast. 3. Any Chief - not an IC - but a Chief who knows that their primary Mutual Aid (FAST, Truck, whatever) consistently struggles, then maybe it's time to use someone else. I'm not poking jabs at anyone in this scenario, but wake up guys. I am like almost every Chief, Officer and Firefighter on here that is very, very proud of my department. But if we can't produce what is asked of us, I'd rather say we can't do it then do it half-assed. 4. The FF I program has to include Survival & FAST. Stop saying it's a burden on people. Any firefighter that is naive enough to say they're interior but won't learn how to help one of your own should be pushed to the exterior list. If a guy isn't going to help one of his own or thinks it can't happen, they're not a team player and can find another team to play for. 5. Calling two FASTs might be the answer if that's what it takes to give an IC the people on scene he feels is needed. But until that request is made, the one team that is requested needs to man up after a few minutes and say they can't cover their call. We had to do it once, and I anticipate it will happen again at some point, but we have our own policy in place that says if we have less manpower than we need, we will advise the IC and see if he wants us, someone else or a combination of both. We're not too proud to say we can't cover a request. On the opposite side of the coin, our primary FAST is fantastic, they always provide enough manpower in a timely manner. Our backup FASTs have also been good to us over the years (thanks!). 6. Bnechis - the remark that volunteers pick and choose calls is not a secret. But the same can be said for paid personnel in various departments as well. I'm not going to turn this into a debate, but I know of plenty examples but this is neither the place nor the time for it. It's human nature to hear a call at 3AM when it's pouring out and say "this sucks," but that call has to be answered whether we like it or not.