Remember585

For those that aren't really awake yet, what does this mean? Is this the change to allow us to return from an incident or is this a full removal of the law?

It's cool seeing the differences all the way down under, thanks for sharing!

Yeah, but how often is there actually an ambulance on the scene ahead of the Medics in (y)our area? I would be willing to bet that it's around 50% of the time or less, especially at night and/or on the weekend... A lot of EMTs are groomed to think that if it's a "minor call" all they have to do is vitals and fill out a PCR. They're also told that if it's really anything serious there will be a Medic on the scene anyway, so don't worry. This "teaching" ruins EMTs before they even leave the classroom. I know this because I have seen it and been told it. If you put it in their heads that an EMT is only there for the B(L)S stuff or to drive a flycar, you'll never get much out of them skills-wise. It's all in the teaching and mentoring of people - if you show them the right way of doing stuff and what is expected of them sans Medic, you'll probably get a good EMT. PS - what ever happened to Medics taking the time to teach EMTs and guide them? That seems to have died off and I think part of it is burnout of the medics who constantly go to calls and have to wait for Mutual Aid or deal with crappy BLS crews, it's sad and it's one part why EMS is screwed.

Ditto!

Sadly there are several Chiefs and Officers all over the County that have no idea what resources are out there. That "Red Book" from Rockland County is an excellent resource and we should try to create something like that for us on the east side of the Hudson. Chiefs come and go, sometimes an outgoing Chief never relays the knowledge and information they have to their successors for whatever reasons they come up with. Perhaps we could get some of the better Chiefs and Ex-Chiefs to get together and create a "You're A Chief, Now What" course. It could review the pertinent laws and regulations we have to meet, the resources that are out there and even review some basic strategies so we can stop this countywide plague of ignorance that is killing us as a whole. A Chief of ABC FD might not know that his neighbors at DEF FD has a qualified FAST, or how many Engines they have. Last year in the Good Ol' 10th Battalion we started doing a "Getting to Know You" series of training. Each Department was asked to come up with an evening to open their doors and show off their rigs and equipment. If I remember correctly 3 out of the 6 Departments actually did it - where were the other 3? We're all busy and have schedules fuller then a fat kid leaving a buffet, but it's one evening for 1-3 hours tops! As far as the VAFD Haz-Mat response, our Department's SOG is to respond to a Hazmat call, identify what is going on, if it is beyond our scope of training (First Responders) we call the VAFD for HM3. If they decide they need additional support, that's their call. We had two incidents in the last couple of years that we called both teams and the wait for County Haz-Mat was unacceptable, to say the least. If I am not mistaken the two requests made took close to or in excess of one hour for the Haz-Mat team to arrive. Luckily one incident was very minor and could have been handled with our own FD, but the other one, a chlorine leak with a large cloud hovering over several blocks, we established a perimeter, evacuated as needed and started mitigation of traffic all before they showed up. To be blunt, it's a joke. The county has an abundance of equipment and resources thanks to the strong work of DES, however as an Incident Commander I am not going to wait. I will gladly "pull the trigger" and call everyone and let the first to come tell me what else is needed and what isn't needed. I don't have a pride issue and I have taken an oath to do the best I can to protect my public and my members - even if that means calling someone and not someone else and hurting peoples' feelings. It is well past time for us as county Chiefs and volunteer departments to get over ourselves, stop living in our bubbles and get out there and learn as much as we possibly can and work together to better serve everyone. Getting back to "What's in our backyards," the Croton FD has the following available for Mutual Aid anytime. A minimum response of no less then 4 Interior personnel for all Engine and Truck requests, however it is rare to get less then six regardless of the time of day. E118 - 1000 gallons of water and 100 gallons of "all around the pump" AFFF foam. It also has a TIC, Multi-Gas meter and 1300 feet of 5". E119 - 750 gallons of water, 10KW generator, 4000 watts of floodlights, 1450 feet of 5", 1400 feet of 1 3/4", 1200 ft. of 2 1/2", TIC, Multi-gas, AED, FAST. E120 - 1000 gallons of water, TIC, Mutli-gas meter, 1300 ft. of 5", 1200 ft. of 1 3/4", 800' of 2 1/2", Jaws. TL44 - 100' RM Tower / Quint with 300 gallon tank, 2000 gpm pump, 800' of 5". Coming soon a TIC and Multi-Gas meter. T10 - 3300 gallon tanker/pumper with 650' of 1 3/4", 400' of 2 1/2", 300' of 5", two portable ponds. R18 - 30KW generator, light tower, 2 spreaders, 1 cutter, 2 rams, 4 HP airbags, Rope rescue, cold water rescue, 2 Multi-gas meters. M12 - 25' Boston Whaler with 250 gpm pump, deck gun, EMS equipment available April - October. M32 - 16' Starcraft aluminum rescue boat primarily for non-Hudson River water incidents. On a trailer available year-round. Zodiac - 12' soft bottom inflatable boat. At the end of this month we will have 20-24 Water Rescue Technicians with plans to expand our services. A FAST made up of guys with a minimum of FF I or equivalent, Survival, FAST, Truck Ops, CPR/AED and an average of almost 10 years service. A minimum response is six FAST members, if it can not be filled we will respond with four with a request to the IC for additional FAST. In development is a re-organization of our Rope Rescue Team. Details to follow. Every apparatus has at least 6 UHF portable radios that can operate on county firegrounds and lots more. For more info or if you have any questions, contact me any time at jmm221@crotonfd.org.

So wrong, but so funny!

Come on guys, I know we all respond to these calls so let's help each other learn something! Outside Investigation - 2 Engines & Rescue Companies to stage outside of the reported area, take readings in the air, manholes, etc. and buildings if warranted. Inside Investigation - 3 Engines, Truck, Rescue Companies investigate the perimeter of the building as well as the interior. For both types of incidents, notification to Con Ed Gas if warranted.

What is everyone's rig response to an inside gas leak? Outside gas leak? What are your SOGs for these calls?

"I'll never let go Jack, I'll never let go." All kidding aside that is a nice gesture, good for them.

Con Edison's Emergency Response Group will provide the training to any group, you just have to contact them. Our FD generally does gas one year, electric the next on a rotation to keep our skill levels up. Last year, Battalion 10 had a group from Con Ed come and review not only the gas emergencies and downed line / pole emergencies, but they went over power plant hazards and fires too. Another training session we took with Con Ed was a use of the command boards they distributed to many agencies, including ours. The Con Ed guys are a wealth of knowledge, don't be naive - call them and let them educate your department before it's too late. The gas incident Squadco119 mentioned was without a doubt one I won't soon forget. The first arriving Engine stretched two lines and used the deck gun to protect the exposure building. The first water from the deck gun turned to steam when it first hit the eaves, so I credit that crew for doing that. Crews took one line inside to protect them as they evacuated Division 1, a 2nd line protected them and a 3rd line went to Division 2 where they had minor extension. The other notable gas incident we had recently was in December of 2007. A high voltage line dropped on South Riverside Avenue at Croton Point Avenue. This line "burned" it's way down to the plastic high pressure gas main below, putting nothing more then a 1/8 - 1/4" hole in it, erupting in a fireball and "torch" which at times burned 20-30 feet high. Companies staged at a safe distance, near hydrants, ready to knock down any fire that may have developed, which luckily it did not. We operated one 1 3/4" line briefly to cool down an excavator under the direction of Con Ed. Other then that all we did was secure the scene and standby for the worst. Over the years we have responded several times to two locations for odors of gas. One location has been determined by Con Ed as nothing more then the Mercaptan venting, no actual gas. The other location was also determined to be just Mercaptan blowing off, however the last call we had was a leak, which was noticeable because the rain was puddling up at the curb box and bubbling. That leak has been fixed and we haven't had to go back to it since (Thankfully!). Don't treat anything as a routine or blow it off as a "nothing call." Even if it never ignites, gas can suffocate and kill you. Treat every gas call as a leak and every downed wire as live and everyone should go home.

Just to make sure I get this right, the Gemtor 541NYC-R harness will not work with the Petzl systems? All of our bunker pants open to the right, does this mean we're going to have to buy harnesses that go the opposite direction of our pants opening now?

Good job Stamford!

Westchester County is offering the Firefighter I exam on August 1st and the Firefighter II exam on August 2nd. Firefighter I Firefighter II

Kids should look up to guys like Jeter, Posada, Chipper Jones and a couple more guys. Bring back the good guys in baseball - Mattingly, Ripken Jr., Puckett...

Yeah.... my great Uncle a couple of years ago. The entire first crew was cousins of mine doing what we could to no avail. It sucked, not gonna lie.

Our SOG for a 10-75 or greater calls for the response of two ambulances and a Paramedic. The Croton EMS Officers may call more stuff, like a rehab unit, etc. at their discretion. We implemented this policy before our FD stopped doing EMS, and when the split was made both sides agreed to keep it in place. Generally, it calls for one BLS Ambulance from Croton EMS, one BLS Ambulance from Cortlandt VAC and our ALS Fly-Car or ALS Ambulance from Ossining. An additional BLS Ambulance is relocated to our EMS HQ to cover any additional calls, leaving the above two at the fire scene for us. As of this past Monday night, our FAST Engine (E119) finally has an AED on board. All members of our FAST are certified in CPR/AED, as are the majority of the entire membership. We haven't had a call yet with the AED on board, but I imagine we will start bringing it as part of our equipment. Once the current EMT class ends, we will have 6 EMTs and 2 CFRs on the team. A couple (including me) are currently expired but will be refreshing eventually.

One of the biggest problems with fires in Tanker Areas is the time it takes to A. Be notified of the incident and B. The time it takes for the apparatus to actually get on scene. We're a Department that has a municipal water supply in about 1/2 our area, and no hydrants in the other half. We have split up our two Tanker Areas geographically to better respond to incidents in these areas. Anyone familiar with our neck of the woods knows the Quaker Bridge Area, which is to our extreme south, tucked in between Ossining, Millwood and Yorktown's areas. From any of these departments, it's a ten minute ride to most of these homes. We recently discussed the time it takes to get there, the lack of water, what we know as shuttle times and the fact that some fires aren't noticed until they're already through the roof and consuming most of the house. Playing the optomistic role, we now have it set up in the CAD to send our Full Department Response plus Tankers from Millwood and Yorktown on the initial dispatch of a possible structure fire in this area. Our theory is that we generally can put all of our water (over 6000 gallons) to use as soon as we get there, but the delay in awaiting additional Tankers always hurts us. Our goal is to now double that water load with the two additional tankers right off the bat and hopefully increase the chance we can stop a fire. To better work out this plan of attack, we are hosting a Tanker Drill on Saturday, May 30th. Participating (hopefully) are the Engines and Tankers on our 10-75, 2nd and 3rd Alarm assignments. We did a similar drill two years ago, and one of the things we did was make all of the Mutual Aid units wait the time it takes them to get into our area. For some of the Tankers they take 20-30 minutes to arrive, so this could have a signifficant impact on our attack. Thanks for the topic, us Tanker folk never talk about this stuff as much as we should!

Not my first time, but the first one I recall actually doing CPR. It was either 1994 or 1995... We responded to a call for an asthma attack. It was me, the driver and our famous "Charlie O." I was a CFR and either 16 or 17. We arrived on location, grabbed our stuff and went upstairs. We walked in and found an elderly woman down on the couch. She was in a room full of other old(er) people just sitting there, watching. We dragged her off the couch to the hardwood floor and began CPR. The key thing I remember of this call was how calm and unphased by what was going on the old(er) people were. There we are, going 200 MPH, working on this lady, and some of them were just sitting there sipping tea and watching...like it was dinner theater. We still didn't have our current ALS system, so OVAC met us at Albany Post Road by the southbound Route 9 ramp. The medic jumped on and we took off to Phelps. Two things that I can't help but think of, now that I have been riding EMS for almost 18 years... 1. None of us that have been around this long get sucked into the call to the point we're running on pure adrenaline like we used to. 2. Why am I still doing this? One other thing I remember, when I first started riding, it seemed like we did a cardiac arrest at least once a week. I think the exposure to so many deceased over and over and over again early on in my life doing this made it easier for me to grasp the reality that we can't save everyone. All I hope for now is that my CPR instruction can help save a life or two, and luckily it did happen after the first class I did a couple of years ago. Ironically, I wasn't at this incident but I remember it better then some calls I have been to. One of our firefighters was at a BB King concert in Stamford, someone dropped, he did CPR, they lived. That was almost more rewarding then any saves I've been a part of.

We use house sirens from 0700-1900. Where I live, in Croton, I can hear the house sirens from Montrose and Buchanan, horns and sirens from Ossining, occassionally Millwood and Briarcliff and across the river from Haverstraw and Stony Point. A couple of weeks ago I was at the Ossining Dog Park with my dog, and I heard the Grasslands horn going off like it was a mile away. When we still had our horns, I remember hearing them in Ossining and Millwood a few times. The house sirens we have now aren't as loud, and if my windows are closed I don't hear them.

How the hell did they pull that off? I was working for this and it sounded like nothing more then a car into a rock. Thanks for sharing.

If it was in fact a 52 pound "Stripper," it could have been Bridget the Midget...

This is a great topic and good discussion has followed. The guys in my firehouse probably talk about this in some form at least once every week. The biggest issue we talk about, and everyone out there in EMTBravoland knows, is there's a severe lack of experience. Most of us are running more calls every year, but the fire work isn't increasing. We rely heavily on training, and sometimes that training comes up a little short or reality. I consider myself a "50/50" firefighter, meaning half of what I know is from sitting in class or being nose deep in a book trying to absorb as much as I can. The other half of me wants to throw on the gear, take the most challenging training there is and be at as many incidents as possible to have them under my belt. I'm a hands-on guy playing the role of Chief now, and it gives me a different perspective. My gut instincts have never steered me in the wrong direction, but I think that can be attributed to the knowledge in books and classes that has stayed in my blood. I anticipate the worst-case scenario every call from the time my pager goes off until I get home. My guys and girls are my #1 responsibility and I know this. I won't ever ask someone to do something I wouldn't do. Any leader that would allow someone to do something they wouldn't do themselves should resign before someone gets hurt or killed, because that Leader is lacking the knowledge, experience, skills and balls (yeah, I said it) to correctly and effectively direct his personnel. The only thing worse is the Chief or Officer that never EVER gives an order. I know a lot of people like these Chiefs because they "don't stir the pot" and "let them do whatever they want." THAT IS NOT A GOOD LEADER. When I started taking classes and becoming a firefighter (in 1994) most of my training, well, it sucked. Instructors probably had good intentions but there was very little hands-on training and most instructors were kind of shy to let us get dirty and do the rough stuff. As time went on, I noticed a cultural change where most Instructors and training programs were basically teaching us all not to take chances, not to be daring and to play it safe - too safe. A lot of those that came up with me are starting to now realize this, because training has done a 180 and we're seeing more instruction pushing us to be better firefighters and better teammates. What could be learned by connecting hose to a gate on a hydrant and shooting the stream at a cone pretending it was a house on fire?! What kind of tactics and know-how were we getting putting out "car fires" that were nothing more then shopping carts with a flare in them?! Thank God Westchester County has the fire training center it has now. For newer people the controlled fires are a great way to get a basic feel of how things could be and for those that have been around a little longer, we can share our experiences and mold great firefighters. Don't get me wrong, we need to be safe and be smart - but taking a little risk once in a while will help you learn from your mistakes! It's like training a puppy with an electric fence. They get zapped a couple times and know not to do it again. I've learned the importance of my hood, my helmet, my gloves, having a radio, building layout, taking a tool, checking my line before going in and so, so, so much more by taking calculated risks and training my a** off. To all of you fairly new to this stuff - LISTEN TO THE ADVICE OF YOUR BEST PEOPLE - REGARDLESS OF THEIR RANKS! Some of the best guys, especially in vollyland where I come from, were even smart enough to avoid being an Officer. The truth of it all is that a great firefighter has the careful balance of training and experience and that's what keeps them safe and alive. If you can learn from these guys, you will learn so much and over time, you'll come to realize how great it is to be a firefighter. The best instructors will allow you to take a couple of little chances under their direction so you learn your boundaries. The same goes for an officer. If you have one that doesn't let you do anything, it's probably because they're not experienced and trained enough to know what little risks you can take. A good officer will let you feel some heat before opening a line, and will trust you enough to take the knob and back you up or stay beside you. Those are the best teachers, and the best teachers make the best leaders. That's my silly opinion anyway.

Something should be said, too, about the building construction. Knowing your response area gives you a little bit of a pre-plan. You know that older construction, whether it is mill type or ordinary, will hold up a hell of a lot better then the stuff thrown up and occupied nowadays. An example could be the river communities of Westchester. Most of us have turn of the century buildings which could sustain heavy fireloads, and the adjoining exposures may suffer little to no damage. Knowing this information can help an IC determine if an interior attack can be mounted - and if they know a little about the building, time of day, occupancy and renovations - whether an interior attack is even neccessary. The risk vs. the reward has to be carefully weighed, and one of those deciding factors is knowing the building you're responding to. Thanks for sharing the pics, Seth, too bad you don't have any of the firefight, I would like to see them.

JJC - how'd you miss this?!

You left out the cupholders. Where else can you put that cup of joe?