Remember585

Croton FD Parade, in honor of Croton Fire Patrol's (R18) 75th Anniversary THIS SUNDAY JUNE 7th at 1PM! Also this weekend is the Montrose Parade at 6pm on SATURDAY JUNE 6TH.

I should of elaborated, you're right. My Town tax is nothing compared to the Village, however it still boggles my mind that I have to pay anything at all. At one point the Village was exploring a split from the Town, I don't know how I feel about that, maybe it would be better? We pay our Village tax to cover all the different facets of government responsibility, yet certain things aren't done as they should be and projects keep being done at great costs that have no bearing on the life of the residents. For example, our Village is doing a project to raise part of the train station parking lot that, if I am correct, is mostly used by non-resident commuters. I know this lot turns a revenue for the village, but I like many others aren't convinced that putting more dirt and adding some walls is going to prevent the flooding of the lot. Enough about that... The way I see it, and I hope I am right or at least not 100% wrong, is that people are in a panic about their departments losing money, being shrunk down or going bye-bye, although in many municipalities they're already nickel and diming stuff. Almost every department in our Village had to cut it's budget for the new year, while most of the cuts won't severely impact us, it just goes to show that the governments already can control us, just in different ways (IE budget cuts). Department heads will have to make stronger pitches to get what they need, so it will take some good research and planning to justify future expenses. We saw several items axed from our budget this year and I only anticipate it happening more and more. The taxpaying public has seen it's fill and has spoken - and since all of those elected officials want to be voted in again and again, they're going to side with the majority like usual. It's going to be interesting, this new America is all about changing everything and they're obviously not worried about the repercussions that will ensue. All of this makes me wish I paid more attention in my Economics and Political Science classes....

Please elaborate!

Do you think the Governor will sign off on it or will he feel too much backlash?

Hey McFuz and CommandChief, What do they use to clean the coffee and donut jelly off of the dashboard? I love you guys!

I thought this was a discussion of the proposed bill to consolidate municipal services in NYS, not another firefighter training conversation?! (Not that I care...) We live in the heaviest taxed area of the USA. Each municipality feels it needs to have "one of everything," even though their neighbors have them too. Fire districts, fire departments, EMS, Police, DPW, etc. are all going to face a harsh wake up call whether this gets approved or not. Let's face it, you can pretty much drive through any community in Westchester County and see repeated services over and over and over again. Does every Village DPW need a bucket truck? Does every PD need it's own ESU? Does every FD really need a Rescue truck? Nope. Take my area for example. We're part of the Town of Cortlandt although we're in a Village. Us lucky residents get to pay taxes to both the Village and Town. WHY? I get nothing, NOTHING AT ALL, from the Town. I do not use their parks or participate in their recreation programs or have my street sweeped, plowed or repaired by the TOC. All of my basic needs are handled by Croton DPW, if I need the cops I get Croton PD and the fire and EMS is handled by CFD and CEMS. What does my paying taxes to the Town do for me? If the Village and Town consolidated their DPWs then we could save a little money, no? It's all too much to me, and if it means all of us hiding in our own little kingdoms have to give up a couple of little things to decrease the cost of living and possibly increase the capabilities of our services then I say why not. Heck, even if it all meant some paid firefighters in our stations to guarantee coverage, so be it. Hopefully some of my members could benefit and land those jobs, who knows... PS - the politicians are all a joke, talking about reducing taxes but how much have they given up? Exactly...

You're welcome! We appreciate your input as well as any input others have to offer. E119, which was at the Quaker Ridge Road fill site, was using it's LDH discharge off the rear as well as a discharge on the side. The LDH discharge on the passenger side pump panel would have been perfect, however the cotter pin on the control wheel's arm to the valve broke off, putting it out of commission for the drill. The MPO put an adapter on a 2 1/2" discharge to use 5", so they had two seperate feed lines set up and were filling two tankers at a time fairly well.

That could of been sooooooooooo much worse! Glad it wasn't.

ALS, I am still calculating all of our numbers, I'm hoping to have them figured out in the next day or two. More info and pics on our Department website. www.crotonfd.com Thanks again to JT Camp for the photos and to the Bedford Hills, Briarcliff, Continental Village, Millwood, Ossining, Pleasantville, Pocantico Hills, Somers and Yorktown Fire Departments for participating as well as Verplanck and Ossining FD for covering us during the drill.

More pics from JT Camp / Onlocation: Somers T16 and Yorktown T14 dropping off Pleasantville T57 (Old BHFD T5) and Bedford Hills T5 Croton R18 and Croton EMS 55B1

More pics from JT Camp / Onlocation: Croton TL44 in the air working while BHFD T5 makes a drop. Bedford Hills T5 Pleasantville T57 and Continental Village T11 making drops Briarcliff E93 fills Pocantico Hills T12 Millwood T15

Well, the drill went fairly OK today. More info tomorrow. Here's a few of "Onlocation's" photos. Thanks to all of the Departments for participating. Ossining E99 Croton E118 Croton E119 Croton E120 Croton T10

If I read this correctly it applies to both volunteer and career fire districts. Also, this is another interpretation of mine, this affects Fire Districts and Fire Protection Districts, not municipal fire departments, correct? With all of the discussion of fire districts, I haven't seen anything relating to EMS districts. Would it also hit on this subject? Thanks. (I apologize if I am ignorant and am not understanding this fully. I slept during all of my political science classes...) Perhaps this will help those departments that respond to automatic alarms during the day with a driver, one Interior and a handful of exterior members. It's happening more and more all over the place.... our public deserves qualified people when they call for help... the old "we're just volunteers" line won't hold up in court!

I won't be there but here's to nice weather, a great turnout and a fun time!

Here's to a quick and full recovery! Get well soon.

Sorry to hear of your loss, Martin. If there's anything you need, give us a call.

Eighteen of Croton Fire Department's members participated in the Water Rescue Technician course given by Life Saving Resources Inc. yesterday. We began with a classroom session at our Station #2 then spent the afternoon in the Hudson River at Croton Point. Our appreciation is extended to Gerald Dworkin of LSR and to the guys from Westchester County Parks for allowing us the use of Croton Point. My personal appreciation is extended to my 17 members that gave up a Saturday on Memorial Day weekend to continue their efforts at further improving our department. Full story and photos here. A couple of photos...

I just noticed these kind words. Thanks Seth! The truth is, the members are what make us a great department. The guys and girls that I am lucky enough to lead never seem to tire in their efforts to provide our community with the best possible protection we can offer. Everyone wants to be able to help whenever we're called for whatever it is we're faced with and because of this, there's always some kind of training going on. We're not a very busy FD, doing about 300 - 320 calls a year, so we need to keep up on our basics while expanding on our specialties. If anyone is having a drill or wants to drill with us, just let me know, we'd love to learn with you!

Any update on the injured FF? Get well soon! On another note, one thing that caught my attention.... 10 to 15 other firefighters were injured? HOW? Help the rest of us learn from this, thanks.

The midmount is perfect for the tighter culdesacs of Heritage Hills, not to mention the jack spread is fairly minimal too. This Truck should prove more then useful up there, as well as many other areas of the Somers Fire District. Glad someone used their heads.

Those headlights look tiny! Can't wait to see these monsters joining their counterparts trying to fit - where they barely do now - on the streets of our little Village.

Looks nice, similar to Millwood's L52. Good luck with it Somers! On an unrelated note, has the law changed yet so we can legally display blue lights to the rear? We're holding off until it's kosher, thanks ahead of time for any help.

There was one girl who was on the beach and....oh wait, stripers....never mind....

It was me Jay, I blew up that new self-inflating raft we got yesterday by accident...

If she wins this could be a nightmare for all of us in the future.