Remember585

Speaking of T-57, are you guys from P'ville coming to our drill in Croton on 5/20? We haven't heard yet...

Seth, This pickup is Chief Gasparre's (Car 2541) new command vehicle, and his old Suburban went to Chief Pitocco (Car 2001).

Our old Chiefs suburban is still around town assigned to the DPW buildings & grounds guy.

That old somers rig has been retired and replaced with Verplanck's old utility.

Date: 5/3/07 Time: 19:05 - 23:55 Location: Route 9 Northbound north of Senasqua Road Frequency: 46.26 / 460.3250 Units Operating: 2081, 2083, E119, E120, T10, R18, 55B2, 36M1, CPD, NYSP, WCPD Description Of Incident: Fatal motorcycle accident (DOA) / 1 BLS Txp from car invovled Writer: Remember585 (O/S)

B U M P

I think, and I have been known to be wrong, that if your caller is put on the phone with a competent, trained EMD dispatcher (or Cop, Firefighter, etc.) then care is there BEFORE anyone actually arrives. By giving good pre-arrival instructions and by correctly asking the EMD questions a call-taker can actually begin to mitigate a medical emergency. And, I firmly believe, if the 911 operator is doing their job and doing it well then it has a positive impact on the overall outcome of the patient. Some advantages I can think of: It helps calm everyone down. It gives basic first aid / CPR instruction. It helps decide which resources to send. The next issue that CKroll mentioned about ALS getting there and stopping the clock is correct, to a point. In my eyes the public feels as though help has arrived as soon as someone arrives and is able to render some form of care. Obviously a non-EMS Cop can't administer meds that a Medic can, but for the caller and others standing around waiting for help that man or woman in blue gives them a sigh of relief. Is that what works? No if you mean getting appropriate care to the patient, but yes if we are talking about stopping that "panic clock." ALS has said it time and time again about how beneficial a tiered response can be. It really is a shame that in some areas of our county that some form of certified EMS arrives in 5 minutes and in others there is nothing for 15+ minutes. Educate the public by offering First Aid and CPR courses. Even offer Babysitting courses to help your community identify life-threatening emergencies so they know when to call. I would say 1/2 of the public will call for anything, 1/3 is too embarassed to call when they really should and the other 1/3 will call when it is appropriate without hesitation. Oh, and to answer the "where were you on first dispatch" question - simply put I think ambulances should have dedicated crews and not depend on people showing up when the pager goes off. What guarantee is there that EMS will respond? Can't cover the majority of your calls in a reasonable amount of time, consider paying someone to do it. Money means nothing if it can save lives.

Unit ID (Usually I say the Agency too since most ER's have no idea who 55B1 is.) Age Gender Chief Complaint Findings pertinent to the above Vitals ETA ALS/BLS Seems to work fine.

In what order do you think resources should be dispatched for the following: Medical Emergency Report of Fire (any type) Motor-Vehicle Accident w/ Unknown injuries I heard a call today where a PD (not my local PD) dispatched the patrol car to a call for someone in and out of consciousness with a medical history. After almost two minutes, they toned out the ambulance then called another PD to dispatch ALS. The other night, I heard a PD (not mine) responding for an outside smoke investigation, and never sent an FD. This happens all the time and the delay of getting help to those needing it has got to stop! What do you think? Any Cops care to come here and explain why they go first and sometimes alone to calls that should be given to FD and/or EMS?! Not looking to start a war, but looking for some reasoning behind how things happen.

DFFD (And oneeyed will probably agree...) Alarm companies are awful! They not only call the wrong agency in town, they sometimes call the wrong towns! We get calls over here at my job for burglar alarms all the time and I am sure MPPD gets fire alarms that they shouldn't have to. But, like the issue of EMS response times...a different topic for a different time.

I guess I could of been a little more specific. Extrication calls shouldn't have FD there not to just do the "disentanglement," but anytime you are performing this activity a hose line should be stretched to protect everyone. And, being around as long as you have I am sure you can agree, it doesn't hurt to have more then one "tool" at a pin job. *edited

You're right, some are just donut hungry. (Had to do it... no summonses please!) Most of what you bring up - the issue with blue/green lights all over, responding "hot" to calls that may not be an emergency - these are internal issues that have to be remedied in house in each Department. I admire most Police Departments because they respond to incidents all day long and never once turn on their lights & sirens. Some, and not enough, EMS agencies even have policies about no-lights responses. WE, meaning FD and EMS, have to police ourselves and respond accordingly to each and every call. The reason for this topic is get opinions - not to start a war or to create an indifference. The bottom line is that FD should go to all calls of smoke, fire, odors of gas, gas leaks, extrications, etc. EMS should go to EMS calls and PD should go to whatever they want - just send the appropriate agency.

I forgot to mention too that for years I have felt that it isn't fair to keep one person to answer the phones and radios at a Police Station. The Desk Officers do a good job but too often and stretched beyond their capabilities. A PD Desk Officer should not have to listen to EMS and FD in addition to the Police duties they have. Car accidents are the best example. Anyone on here a PD Officer what works the desk? How often do you get a fairly bad wreck and find yourself unable to keep up with everything? Bottom line, you shouldn't have to.

DISCLAIMER - THIS TOPIC IS NOT DESIGNED TO START A FIGHT! I knew everyone was going to start pointing fingers - but that won't accomplish anything. Here's the gripe I have and I am not digging at Police Departments (I don't need the tickets...) or any other dispatch center. A civilian calls 9-1-1. The PSAP answers it. "9-1-1 What is your emergency?" "I need an ambulance for my 85 year-old mother who is having a heart attack." "OK m'am, what's the address?" "123 XYZ Street." "Ok, help is on the way." The Desk Officer (or Dispatcher) then has to get EMS going and in most cases, PD unit(s). For this scenario, the PD in question dispatches everyone, Police, Fire & EMS, all of which operate on different radios. WHAT SHOULD BE SENT FIRST?! To me, it is a no-brainer - send EMS, FD if local protocol then PD. WHY? EMS in many communities is not staffed and depends on personnel coming from home. Even those staffed around the clock should be sent first. A PD unit with an AED is great for a cardiac arrest, but what good is it at a nose bleed? I understand that some PD's have EMTs and that is Great! But if your PD units are on the road and ready to respond at a moment's notice, then they can be notified a minute later so you can dispatch the EMS units needed. Oneeyed - I see it from your perspective too. I feel your frustration about going to the scene and waiting far too long for EMS to arrive. It is unacceptable and it seems like nothing or not enough is being done to address that. That isn't the point I am making in this thread. (Although this topic could go forever if anyone cares to start it). Then, there's my favorite - the dispatching / delayed dispatching of FD. I have heard (and seen, and been a part of) the "Morons with Blue Lights" crew. I get it that Cops hate sending Vol FDs to calls because of the show of stupidity that ensues in many cases. BUT - what is the excuse when Career FD Units aren't dispatched to calls. There is plenty of Career FFs on here that know what I am talking about. They sit in their stations and hear their PD's doing the ol' check and advise for smoke in the area. WHY?! This is the job of FD - paid or volunteer. If a PD unit arrives and finds, oh, I don't know, a building on fire, will your bullets extinguish it? I doubt it. It would be like sending FD to handle a domestic or sending EMS to an armed robbery in progress. We all have jobs to do whether we are Fire, Police or EMS - and the ones dispatching us, even if it is ourselves, should send the APPROPRIATE HELP FIRST. In a perfect world calls for service would go to one answering point and routed / dispatched accordingly. But that won't happen - not in our lifetimes!

WOW!

Of all the rigs I have operated in, the PL Customs have held up the best. At one of my affiliations, our PL had a bunch of problems right off the bat that were all traced back to Ford. The other PL we have at my other agency is a solid workhorse that we have had no problems with. (Knock on wood). I used to like McCoy Miller but the last one we got from them has been a royal POS. Ambulances are like fire trucks - you get what you spec. If the stairchair is in a position that you don't like then blame nobody but the ones that wrote the specs for that rig. Personally I think they are getting too expensive - the new one on order at one of my agencies has a price tag of nearly $150K. I have said it from the start and will say it forever, that's too much for a meat wagon.

With all due respect kind sir, people are on here making comments all the time that they submit photos and they never get posted. Maybe they have come to the conclusion that things submitted won't be posted?! Just a thought. PS - you forgot to mention that Yorktown's Ladder 51 was here today too. And I forgot my camera at home.....again.

Quantam still hasn't grown on me, and this thing is down right ugly.

Is this thread deader then Anna Nicole?

I can't believe that ALSFirefighter hasn't chimed in on this one. Remember that one time....at band camp, I mean HVHC (snicker snicker)...at like 3AM?!

THANK GOD! I hate snow!

Snow in the picture....and it's April?! Say it ain't so!!!

Man, that would be sweet to see OFD get it back as a parade piece. I always liked that rig.

Pulse....check. Paid for the exam...check. Welcome aboard!

FASNY is pretty hypocritical....they have been teaching the "Every NY Responder Goes Home" series PREACHING SAFETY, INCLUDING WEARING THE SEATBELTS. This doesn't surprise me, it's the same group of people that were fighting better training (FF I is too long) because we will lose members. Yet another reason why I don't waste my money to belong to any of these organizations. I attend the FASNY classes to pick up some knowledge and I usually do, but I think the overall concern of FASNY isn't our safety, it's maintaining our numbers.