Remember585

I just use two hungry cows...

Dare I say it....the car won?! I like the "Command 3267" on the edges of the hatch, that's a smart idea. Looks like a well run, organized incident, and part of that should be attributed to good use of the NIMS that so many don't believe in.

Thanks for the info. In the seven years I've been working at 60 Control I can't tell you how many times we've had fires, the FD is on scene for a while, and the alarm company finally calls in an activated alarm. This is the second incident I can remember where the CO alarm went off for a fire and not the smoke / fire alarms. Crazy....and scary at the same time. We all try and push our residents and businesses to get fire alarms, yet there's no guarantee they'll work when there's a fire.... is there no hope?

Hey Cap - was this a CO alarm from an alarm company or called in from the premise? In any case it sounds like the EFD guys did a good job and made another stop, good work!

Our vendor said the other day that they're not repairing Minitor II or Minitor III pagers anymore. If you search the web you can always find someone. The M3 was garbage and we have phased them out in our department. The majority has Minitor 5 pagers, with many still using a 4 and a couple of guys still using the 2's. I keep a box of Minitor II parts and we fix them as best we can in-house. If we can't, then I have no choice but to replace it with something newer.

Thanks for sharing Tommy! I miss our old apparatus, each one had it's own personality. I remember being a kid and hearing a fire call at night, I could tell which rig was which by the sound of their motors and usually by their air horns! Nothing was better then the short period of time when I was an Explorer where we could still ride in the hosebeds of E118 & E119, man that was such an awesome feeling going through town and having everyone see you on top of the rig going to a fire...what an amazing sense of pride!

Seriously....

That sounds like an interesting day, sorry about the phone. Did this girl fight lead to any undressing?

I'm working Nights so it depends what time you do this thing at.

When I was a VAC Lieutenant I called my insurance company to see what, if any, additional needed to be done to cover me. My agent said, "If you crash using your lights and sirens, don't report that." I know of a couple insurance agencies that will give you coverage for the RLS, but it will cost you. One of my members asked me if their car is being used to divert traffic at a fire scene, would we cover it if it got hit. My answer to him was, "Well, you know how the Village DPW took off a couple of our cars' mirrors in that one snow storm we were standing by at the firehouse for, and none of us saw a dime? I'm pretty sure it will happen in this case too."

LMAO. Not to mention, this story fails to mention who paid for wings...

"True Dat."

Yeah, because no other radios have EVER failed. Let's blame the county, seems like the easiest of scapegoats... And FYI, when that radio is working, the system is excellent. Of course most don't think so because they either haven't used it, have no idea how to use it or would just rather point fingers and blame others for their own shortcomings. It isn't just the trunk radios people can't use, I can't tell you how often people cut themselves off using the conventional stuff, how many people think they know how to program a radio and it doesn't work right and how often people sound like they're swallowing the microphone when trying to communicate. Let's not foget how many self-proclaimed radio "programmers" have incorrectly put the Ground Ops channels in portable radios so they don't work and/or drift to other Ground ops channels because of a lack of knowing what they're truly doing. Remember all, be smarter then the radio - TRAIN WITH IT and ASK QUESTIONS...

Don't assume that you are covered if you crash a work / volunteer FD rig either. I know of a couple incidents where someone had an accident driving the fire engine / Chief's car on official business and their personal insurance carrier gave them the ax. I don't agree with it but this is the truth and it sucks.

Actually Bill, our cars are getting replaced on an average of almost seven to eight years now. The car that 2082 just had replaced had just under 100,000 miles and it was a 2001. The car I am using, which is a twin, only has 83,000 miles on it and is slated for replacement this Summer or Fall. The Village is retiring vehicles from their primary roles around the 90,000 mile mark, which is reportedly going to increase to 100,000 miles, assuming it still runs and functions as it should. This applies to the PD cars as well as the FD Chief's cars. As far as vehicle replacement goes, it shouldn't just be based on the use of the vehicle, but the type of vehicle too. The car we replaced most recently, as well as the one I use, are 2001 Ford Explorers. The equipment in our vehicles is close to pushing the threshold weight on these vehicles, and over time they are / were becoming underpowered and struggle to move on certain hills. Additionally, you have to take into consideration that these vehicles are left running at scenes sometimes for several hours - another stressor on the vehicle. It isn't all about the mileage, it's everything that these cars are exposed to and put through that adds up over time. For a volunteer Chief in Westchester County, you generally need two vehicle radios plus whatever warning devices you choose to have. Many need to keep a portable radio or two charging, and a flashlight or two. If you have to use your own vehicle, do you really want to add all of this stuff? I know in my own POV I only have one radio and a couple of LED lights, but it is my choice. Other Chiefs who aren't as inept at wiring stuff and putting things in their own POVs may only have a dash light, which is actually a violation of VTL, considering you are required to use a siren with the light. Now, with the county Trunk radio system, you can get away with using the portable only in many areas but not all. So if you are responding on a Mutual Aid run in your POV and the incident is on trunked, how do you communicate if you're in a bad area for portable reception? Personally if we're going Mutual Aid and there's room, I ride the apparatus - how many Chief's cars do you need at a scene anyway? We're all accountable to those paying for our vehicles and equipment, so best judegement should be exercised. If a Chief works out of town and at a job they can't leave, then that car is best suited staying in town. If that Chief works somewhere and can actually leave then I don't see an issue with taking it. We're usually fortunate enough to have Chiefs who work in town or take the train into NYC which leaves that car here, in case we need it. Knowing too that there may be a time or two (it doesn't happen often) where one of our Chiefs isn't here for a call for whatever reason (home sick, work, etc.) we have the Command Board, Command Vest and additional radios available to whomever may play the IC role. As another rule, if any Chief is going to be out of town on vacation, we give the car to Deputy Chiefs. Right now our Chief is out of work on injury, so he is in town at home all the time. If the two Assistants aren't going to be around either his car or one of ours is available for a Deputy Chief to use. Many of our Deputies pass on the car and man the apparatus, or even use their own car. It's all about accountability to those footing the bill for us. If your Commissioners or your Village board says to change something, then change something. The reality is that most politicians don't know what's going on and/or are doing things they know are questionable so they're not about to start stirring the pot about Chief's cars.

Another big thanks to Battalion 17 for allowing us to use the old VOA complex on Route 202 for our training. The 22 members in attendance reviewed the "Lost Art" of Truck Company work, including ventilation, forcible entry and search. More info and pics on our department's website www.crotonfd.com. By the way, I still have no idea how to shrink the images down for here, so if someone wants to do it, or tell me how, please go for it!

Most often we try to kick units loose as soon as possible. Some calls are handled in 15-20 minutes, others take almost that long just to get to the scene. EMS...no less then an hour and a half, unless you luck out and have a competent BLS crew, no Medic (no need for ALS), and the call isn't going to involve a lot of work moving the patient.

Reading the title of this thread I thought it was referring to the gamble everyone takes calling for EMS in the north-western part of Westchester County... Let me know when that discussion comes up!

WHAT?! That's insane, look how busy and how big the Town of Yorktown is. That's one Town that should have it's own police force, no exceptions!

It's that time of year again where many Fire Departments here in WESTCHESTER change hats. Give us a run down of who is now leading your department!

I'm only going if Cyrulik and Bily put on a show, and this time it better not involve a donkey...

That would be my personal opinion, of course I am only one guy.

Croton Gorge really isn't much more then a parking lot and a grassy hill. George's Island isn't bad. Another good park where we do functions is Gerlach Park in the Town of Ossining. It has a pavilion, playgorund for kids and more importantly a SOFTBALL FIELD.

I am trying to find out what is required of someone taking the Nationally Registered Firefighter I Exam, specifically the practical portion. Any help is appreciated, thank you!

I've always enjoyed looking at rigs from industrial facilities to see the many design and function differences compared to what we see here. The only question I have is how many people staff that rig? I can't imagine moving a 3" handline off the front bumper is easy if you're running with a short-handed crew. Good find and thanks for sharing.