Remember585

It's not funny that a tornado tore through town and buildings got destroyed, but this is kind of funny: Lohud.com

There's nothing wrong with the guys and gals in the firehouse going on a trip together. If the Chief knows that a large number of his/her members are skipping town for vacation or whatever, then they should come up with a plan to ensure coverage of calls at home. We routinely take companies out of service for training and have our other companies and/or Mutual Aid coverage in place. Last month, many of our Officers and members were out of town at a function. We put a Captain in charge with a Chief's car, and took ourselves out of service for Mutual Aid for a few hours. The one call we had during this six hour period was handled without needing anything additional. All it takes is some planning. If you know you're going to be short, make sure you have a plan in place to pick up for that shortfall. Don't assume calls will get covered - MAKE SURE OF IT.

Couldn't have said it better Dad. We'll never forget you, Uncle Mike!

This isn't a bad idea, but I am sure those that want to pick at a picture (an example is the new tankers in dutchess) will start a thread to make comments. And Truck4 is right, there hasn't been much "action" recently. (A good thing!)

I didn't know about this - thanks for sharing. Hopefully he recovers well.

RIP Chuck. I think I first met him at one of the Musters we used to have at Croton Point. Pretty sure my Dad introduced me to him. God bless.

The biggest problem with letting people call to calls isn't so much the employer, it's the location of the job. So few volunteer firefighters actually work in the community they live / belong to. In a lot of the sleeper communities like mine, those guys that do work in our village either own their business, work on the railroad or work from home. For those that run their own business, they can't exactly leave every time the pager goes off, because that could lead to lost profits. The guys on the railroad can leave, but they have to punch out, so that's money lost. (Unless this changed) Not to mention, in some of the facilities in Harmon Yards, the pagers don't go off. And those that work from home, in some cases, double as parents. It's not exactly easy (or legal) to ditch the kids at home to go on a fire call. I think this legislation may help some guys out, but in the grand scheme of things, it's exactly what Chris192 (I think) said - "feel good legislation." It sounds and looks great at first glance, but if your boss doesn't want you leaving or coming in late because of calls - he'll find a way to fire you - guaranteed. If you're vital to his operation and you constantly bail for automatic alarms or CO calls - he's not going to be happy. Not a bad piece of legislation, but like most of them, there's loop holes.

Yeah junior, and it shouldn't be a discussion about a specific incident. Patient care discussions should be non-incident specific. Exactly my point.

It's a legit question, but people need to be careful what they post in public. I don't see how posting the answer is of any use to anyone to see.

NJ Boy, 8, Saves 5-year-old From Drowning, Cites "Spongebob." From Lohud.com Lohud Article Now, I could be reading this article wrong, but the kid's mother should be slapped in the head. If you can't swim, then why the hell are you letting your kid swim? Honestly, some parents need a beating. It's stupid stuff like this that drives me nuts. If you can't be responsible for your children, and you can't do something but you're letting your kid do it, STOP IT! Most accidents can be avoided. In this case, it's luck that this lady didn't watch her son drown. If you can't swim, don't assume your kid can, because who is going to help them if something goes wrong?! Kudos to this 8 year old!

I wouldn't post the answer to this question on here. God only knows who is looking and what kind of angle someone might be going for.

What hours will Empress be staffing Mohegan VAC? And did someone say they are taking over White Plains? I didn't know anything about that, interesting... Good job addressing the problem, Mohegan. I hope it is a 24/7 thing, because the problem area seems to be overnight.

I was having a fairly "spirited" conversation with a couple of guys recently about Mutual Aid. We started out talking about how we call "XYZ" when we need them, and "XYZ" calls "ABC," and so on. Then it went towards the discussion of the "do you call the closest, or better, resource?" From here, it went to "how long do you wait before saying you can't cover it?" So, leaving alone the other parts of our conversation, I pose this question to all of you. HOW LONG DO YOU WAIT BEFORE YOU SAY YOU CAN'T COVER A MUTUAL AID REQUEST? And, to those of you playing IC, HOW LONG DO YOU WAIT FOR SOMEONE BEFORE GOING TO SOMEONE ELSE? Not calling out any specific department or incident, but there has definitely been times when I find myself scratching the ol' noggin wondering why a department can't just say "we can't cover it" or why a department or an IC doesn't "give up" and call someone else? We have our own internal SOG's that makes it clear that we won't delay a request of us, and if we can't cover it, we man up and say so. But why are some departments not doing this? There's times where you hear repeated tone outs for a FAST, an Engine, a Truck, etc. and you can't help but to wonder why someone doesn't pull the plug and go to someone else. We all have our moments of reduced personnel, but is it fair to take over 10 minutes, or more, to respond? Especially in the FAST world, because most of us know that those first minutes of a job can be the worst. Luckily for us, our Mutual Aid always shows up quickly and with ample personnel. And we do our best to return the favor. I'm not looking for any fighting or "P vs. V" crap, so let's offer some reasons and ideas to make it better.

Pleasantville and Montrose share this omen! Best of luck tonight to PFD and all of those participating.

What happens when the initial agency covers it - does that 2nd one get canceled?

We (Westchester) have timers too. Problem that we have is when one unit from said FD signs on "crew asseembling," there's no limit on how long this crew has to assemble.

It's not just Pleasantville where you have one person working the desk, and I personally have been involved with several incidents and agencies that did not answer their phones and/or radios. It's a recipe for disaster. If there was one police agency that covered all of the smaller municipalities, such as WCPD, and nobody lost their job, I'd be all for it. I just don't want to see anyone lose their job, especially now when jobs are hard to find. I have a question for those in the know... how often does TOPD require assistance from OVPD, BMPD or another agency?

It's a pipe dream. We're outnumbered by idiots!!!

The auto industry received faster action then the men and women that worked at the WTC site post 9/11. Our tax dollars should be spent on our people, our safety and our future. The working man (and woman) contributes tax money every payday to fund our politicans' interests which generally don't reflect the concerns of those paying into it. I predict a civil war of some form within the next 10 years. Illegal aliens, foreign countries and other douchebags continue to benefit from our hard work. Like you said, enough is enough... and that time has already come!

Black & White would be the best, or keep the all white.

I think that these are the LED version, not halogen, correct?

Thanks everyone for the well wishes!

I agree with the Lieu. I don't even see smoke in the pic with the 2 roof men. Risk assessment. Reading smoke is important too.

It's basically like that here. For example, when we run a FAST call, we split into two or three teams, depending on our manpower. For day to day calls, there's usually no more than 4-5 members on an apparatus, so the Officer leads the crew. If there's more then that, crews split with either another officer/senior FF or members get sent to assist a short-handed company, if needed. In Tarrytown's case, my guesstimation is that they try and pack the rigs so nobody takes a POV to incidents on the thruway, no?

We bring a total of over 6,000 gallons of water with our own apparatus (assuming nothing is OOS or delayed) plus we get an additional 2 Tankers initially with 6,000 gallons on any repoted structure fire / smoke in a house. Once it is confirmed (or the IC wants to get them moving sooner) we get 2 more Tankers with 6,000 gallons. On a 2nd Alarm we get 2 more Tankers and on a 3rd Alarm, another two. Since the majority of our Tanker responses are within the first due area of E118, they will drop a 3" and a 5" supply line as they go into a driveway, so we can keep a constant supply of water going. (Hopefully) Drilling, preplanning and prior experiences have helped us better prepare for fires in no man's land.