Remember585

Don't hold your breath. The latest word is that the three positions we currently have open won't be filled as part of this effort to cut costs. Sure, it looks good on paper to not fill three vacancies, but we really could use those positions. As it stands now, we have two squads at minimum staffing, and our workload keeps increasing. Simple math tells me that when your rate of work increases, it would be wise to increase your staffing to accomodate it. But I guess my school of math isn't the same as others...

Cutting corners is the American way! "Will you hold my wallet for me while I take the test, please? There's a thousand dollars in there - or maybe there isn't. Know what I mean?" - Fitz-Hume

Thanks for sharing! The Pleasantville Truck is looooong overdue.

Rumor has it that this will be a link to Fire 17 so the guys can hear what's going on over their low band pagers. Hey MRK303 - maybe this will help with what you mentioned in the other thread about 46.26?

Not yet. Our pagers are low band VHF, with 46.26 for alerting.

I'm in one of those departments still operating on 46.26, and will answer for us. I don't know what other departments' reasons are, but here's ours. 1. The trunking coverage here isn't perfect. On our mobile radios, we periodically get the "Out of Range" messages. This is attributed to the terrain we are in, with low valleys along the Croton River and on Route 9. Our upper village (Grand Street area) is also a weak area, not only for the trunking system, but even our own repeater. We have submitted these concerns in the past, I don't know if anything has been changed or adjusted. 2. If we do go to Fire 10, a concern we have is how would our members responding to the firehouses know if and when the rigs are responding, how would they hear updates and other important transmissions. I know some places have patched or linked their trunking talkgroup to an alternate frequency so guys can hear it, and this is an option we have been exploring. 3. There are times when our 3 Chiefs are not available to respond to calls, and/or the vehicles themselves are not available. Our Deputy Chiefs may be covering us, but they lack trunking radios. When we plan on leaving town for any extended period of time, we give our car to a Deputy Chief (or another Officer). Some have suggested giving them portables, but people have to realize the trunking system is designed to work with mobile radios. And at nearly $3,000 apiece, we can't afford to issue a mobile radio to every DC. 4. We've also discussed using another low band frequency, such as 46.06, for rig/control communications. Again, the issue comes up of our members hearing rigs responding and other updates. Luckily, most of our pagers are two frequency, and we might be able to make it work. The sole downfall in my eyes is that there is no tower in this area currently on 46.06. And if we have a Mutual Aid job, we're still going to be moving our IC to Fire 10, so it's almost not worth it. 5. We spent quite a bit of money a few years back to create our own repeater system on 46.26 and a stand alone ops channel. If we do anything, we want to incorporate these existing systems into any change we make, so as not to waste that money. I hope that answers some questions.

Are you sure that truck is stuck there, and not just delivering that bridge?

I knew John Kelly for at least 20 years, and I know his daughter. To see the officials in Tarrytown come out and make a statement, however they wanted it perceived, before these men were buried is a disgrace, an insult and a blatent disregard for those affected. There is a time and a place to make comments, to point fingers and to reveal the findings. Before the funerals of two good & decent men who were at the wrong place at the wrong time is insensitive and unprofessional. To have to undergo the heartbreak of suddenly losing a loved one is a terrible thing, and for the Tarrytown officials to say what they said when they did makes it harder to cope with the loss of two people loved by many. Shame on you, Tarrytown officials.

That's because when there's a major event, more often then not, plenty of help (see: Mutual Aid) usually comes. And nobody truly notices what it says on our coats or our rigs. Joe Public is generally content with the status quo, and they only start the finger pointing when one of us is killed, multiple firefighters are injured and/or one of us actually makes a point about the lack of manpower. It's the flash effect - people only see a piece of the big picture at major incidents because they're so consumed with adrenaline, that it all goes by in a flash and they miss the big picture. It's the same thing when someone says a fire engine went "flying by at 80" even though we all know that isn't realistic. Congrats on the grant. How will the MDTs work, and will they be integrated with our current CAD?

Hopefully the clouds clear up so it's a nice day (especially for the photographers).

Holy $h!t - no more hand me downs!!!!! Speaking of Mount Vernon apparatus, I haven't heard the Rescue in a while, am I just missing it on dispatches?

I find it kind of ironic that in this month's Fire Engineering is the article about last year's fire on the TNB. While not the exact same kind of fire, still another one which shows how well the FDNY's policies are written and practiced. From what I saw on NY1, there's an Engine and a Tower set up near the water's edge, but no matter how that Engine positioned, I don't think they had optimal access to draft. Coming from a drafting department myself, I see that barrier fence thing as a hinderance, and the lift to draft from there is pretty steep. Since nobody's life was at risk, why chance ruining the 500K Engine - wait for the fireboat.

Both rigs are looking good. I can't wait to see them in person!

Will there be an improved roadway marking system so our little Luther doesn't get hit again? Good luck with the firehouse, it's well deserved!

As the IC, I rarely need any equipment other then the radios, a notebook and/or dry erase board. But Chiefs aren't always the IC, and sometimes we're the first ones on the scene and we need to do things ASAP. Some examples include MVAs where the trauma bag is needed, or small nuisance fires where the can is sufficent. Other equipment in our cars includes a set of irons, bolt cutters and binoculars - all of which get used. To generalize that equipment isn't needed in a command vehicle is wrong. How department #1 works may be different than department #2.

"Bump"

Joe, Our last car, and the one currently on order, are both equipped with Truckvault units. They have some generic types, but for additional money, you can customize them. Here's a LINK As for radios in the back, we've put radio control heads in the rear of all of our command units ever since we moved away from the old sedans we had. Give me a shout if you want more info...

Great photos Eli! Anyone know why it says "Highway" on the Engine & Truck?

Lohud Link

AWESOME! Thank you! And if I can help in any way, please let me know.

I've often thought the same exact thing. Then it dawned on me, if you have two years at 2nd Assistant Chief, two years at 1st Assistant Chief and those two years as the Chief, that gives you six years to make progress - assuming the ones ahead of and behind you are on board. The bottom line is that a department needs to have goals that they want to achieve, for example, "we want every member trained in extrication." (This is just a hypothetical statement!) The three Chiefs have to agree on this objective, develop a plan to get it done and actually implement that plan. As Line Officers in most departments, we aren't exposed to the administrative side of the department. We know little to nothing about budgets, disciplinary action and all of the little things outside of the fire scene. PAPERWORK - something as simple as putting a date, times, location, nature of call and actions taken - literally intimidates people. When I was Captain and I did my monthly reports, there were so many run sheets with no narrative. So many people don't realize that these "annoying" run sheets may save your a** down the road. Take five minutes to write down as many details as you can. It doesn't happen often, but occassionally a homeowner or an insurance company may want to know information about an incident, and if it isn't written down, perhaps you didn't do it! I'm glad to see that this thread has continued to stay positive, with feedback from so many people. Good job, Bravo'ers!

Kenny, A lot of the guys that became officers in the firehouse back then had military training and experience. They also saw more fires then we all do now. Times have changed. We respond to calls of all types now, not like 40-50 years ago when they went to fires and occassionally had to rescue someone from something. It's the "stupid" calls we go to that sometimes require the most thinking, and making bad decisions can lead to LAWSUITS or even JAIL TIME. In the old days, people actually respected and appreciated what first responders did for them, not like nowadays. Your Grandpa, my Grandpa and all of those old timers only needed balls to be firemen. They charged into burning buildings without SCBA, with little to no PPE, no radios and no training. Their experiences and recollection of what worked and what didn't work is what guided them. That's just not good enough in today's society.

The Intro to Fire Officer and Fire Officer I courses provided by the OFPC aren't bad. What would be nice is a local (county-level) Line Officer and Chief Officer training program. Give these new officers some direction by guys that have been there and done that. Have guys like Captain Benz put together a program to prepare entry-level company officers, and offer another program for chief officers. There are so many things that Chiefs need to know that frankly go unnoticed. I don't know if anyone remembers this, but a while back (maybe two years ago) I posted a topic asking what legal options and standards are out there so Chiefs knew. I got minimal reply, and my guess is that it was due to the lack of knowing this information. Career Officers have the option to go to the FDNY FLIP School, I wish something like this (even if scaled down a bit) was available to us volunteers. We will command similar incidents and have to answer to the same lawyers if we make mistakes.