Medic5274

The FDNY used their new Drone for the first time during the recent 4th alarm fire in the Bronx. According to the article the Drone provided a video feed of roof conditions to the Incident Commander which helped direct fire ground operations. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/drone-helps-fdny-fight-bronx-fire-article-1.2990371

Dobbs Ferry - 459. Our busiest year. A 52 run increase from 2015 which was our previous busiest year

TCD, Cruiser Division in Mamaroneck

Dobbs Ferry did 406 runs not 362

NY City is probibited from giving grant money to governmental agencies. They can only provide grants to recognized non-profit agencies to deliver services they are required to provide but don't have the resources or experience to provide. In other words they can't provide grant monies to fire departments

As a former FDNY EMS paramedic I was assigned to the Dignitary Protection Unit. This was an overtime unit staffed by paramedics who were interviewed by the Secret Service and went through extensive background checks and training. An ambulance rode at the rear of every motorcade. During motorcade operatations the secret service never rode in the ambulance as many believe. We had Secret Service radios with special code names that changed every assignment. We would sleep in the ambulance while the president was staying in the Waldorf or some other high end hotel. Not very glamorous. There was a lot of hurry up and then wait that dragged on for hours. During training it was stressed that you would never treat the President and he would never be in your ambulance. We were there to treat the collateral damage as the secret service calls the poor stiff working or riding in the motorcade who might get hurt. I actually did treat a motorcycle cop who dumped his bike escorting the motorcade. Boy did he feel like an idiot. The Secret Service also stated they would not hesitate to shoot us if we were in their way when protecting the President. We actually had to sign documents acknowledging that we were made aware of this. We routinely rode into Westchester NJ and Connecticut. We were advised that notifications were made to local state DOH and regional EMS council about us operating in their jurisdiction. This was over 15 years ago I cannot say what arrangements are in place today. My guess with Mobile Life operating in Westchester is because they have received Secret Service clearance to operate in a Presidential motorcade. This was a neat gig and gave me access to a lot of places most people will never go. I have a picture with the vice president on the tarmac at JFK in front of Air Force 1. Never made it into the plane though

It was deemed a homicide by the medical examiner only at this time. The ME definition of a homicide is different from a criminal indictment of homicide. It will be up to the District Attorney as to whether he will present a charge of homicide or a lesser charge to a Grand Jury who will ultimately decide what level of charge to indict the officer if they so choose. The DA may elect not to pursue any charges after reviewing all the details but that is unlikely due to the sensitivity and publicity surrounding the case

The Dobbs Ferry Fire Department operates on a $427,200 budget. This makes up 2.5% of the Village of Dobbs Ferry's $17,134,261 budget. Of this $240,000 comes off the top for hydrant rentals to United Water. This brings our actual operating budget down to $187.200 or 1.1% of the villages annual budget. We do not receive any Fire District protection money as we are a completely municipaly funded department. We have to fight with our Village Board every year for even the most minimal of increases. It is really frustrating that the Board funds us at such a rediculous level. This whopping amount covers protective gear, equipment, building maitenance, vehicle maintenance, maitenance contracts, training, uniforms, office expenses etc.

Date:9/11/2013 Time:1951 hrs Location: 1 D'Assearn Drive (Childrens Village) Units: Dobbs Ferry 2091, 2092, 2093, Engine 47, Engine 48, Engine 49, Tower Ladder 23, Utility 24 Hastings 2181, 2182, 2184 Engine 46, Ladder 22 Irvington 2201, 2202, 2203 Ladder 36 Ardsley Engine 164 Relocate WCDES Battalion 18, C&O Description: Fire in 2 story occupied multiple dwelling 100 X 35. Fire on second floor. 2 lines stretched and operated. Fire contained to 1 apartment with extensive damage to multiple rooms. Smoke and water damage in 3 additional units. Occupants arrived home and discovered fire in apartment.

I am searching for information concerning the resetting of fire alarm systems by the fire department. Do any departments have a policy about resetting or not resetting an alarm system after they have checked and determined the reason for the alarm activation. Is there a liability issue one way or another concerning resetting the alarm? Should the department take the responsibility or should the homeowner or buisness owner reset their alarm? My department generally helps the owner reset the alarm but we don't have a real policy concerning the issue.

Taking this thread in a some what different direction, what do people thing about the tank being placed hire up on the truck. Do you think this could cause a problem with the center of gravity being impacted by water movement and the height of the tank. Would this make the truck top heavy and more prone to roll over?

Dobbs Ferry still uses the Wardens System with two representatives from each of the three companies

Con Edison is very generous with local donations to governments and non-profit agencies as any good corporation should be. But everything is not always as it seems. The Public Service Commission (PSC)requires Con Edison and all Utilities to make local donations every year. So Con Edison is forced to make donations as part of their contract with the PSC

That 6000 employees head count is way off. Con Edison has close to 14,000 employees. Yes the numbers have dropped significantly over the last 25 years but it has held around 14,000 for several years now

The easement issue is very difficult to get around as you have stated. No one is going to want to allow an easement through their property or under it. Even though feeders can be direct buried at a depth to protect them from salt and water the issue is at the mahole. All splices need to be made in manholes for access issues. This is very problematic during the salt application season. While cable is heavier today and better protected the splices are very susceptible to salt and water damage. Look at what happens in NYC after every snow storm. Con Edison is running from one manhole fire to another. The underground system is more reliable but very difficult to repair when there is a problem. The Con Edison undergound system in NYC is a network system meaning there are multiple feeders feeding a particular grid or neighborhood. You could lose 3,4, or more feeders into one network without cutomer impact due to the ability of other feeders picking up the slack for the lost feeders. The overhead system for the most part is a radial system with one feeder into a network or neighborhood. If the wire comes down the power goes out without the ability to switch customers over to a different feeder. To have a really reliable underground system it needs to be a network system. If you just bury the one radial cable serving a network and then lose that feeder the repair times would be even longer than they are now. Underground system are also very susceptible to system failures and burnout during the summer heat season due to the inability to vent heat out of the manholes. Con Edison probably has more problems during the summer than they do during the winter snow storms because of the extra demand placed on the system for the air conditioning load. This is not a problem in Westchester but very prevelant in NYC. Replacing a feeder out from heat or fire damage can take 16-24 hours to repair so underground repairs take two to three times as long to repair as overhead repairs. (This is actual on-scene repair time and does not include how long it takes to respond to the location during a storm) The real answer here is trim trimming. Areas in the county that have had significant tree trimming have not been hit as hard since Con Edison started their comprehensive tree trimming program several years ago. The problem with that is no one wants the tree in front of their house trimmed. They can't have it both ways and complain about their house service coming down because they did not want any tree trimming done.

With the recent fire in the Dobbs Ferry Village Hall which houses the fire department, police department as well as all governmental operations I would be interested in knowing what types of Continuity of Operations plans are in place in different municipalities. What would your organization or municipality do if they had to evacuate/relocate out of their facilities for an extended period of time? How many departments or municipal governments have true Continuity of Operations plans in place? Do you have a place designated to relocate to? Are your records backed up and readily accessible, do you have communication and network systems in place at an alternate location, are you able to maintain communications? Governmental operations must continue regardless of the calamity that has occurred. People still need to go to Village/Town/City Hall for services. Throughout history if you look at some of the worst responses to large disasters they were all excacerbated by the failure to maintain governmental operations. Preparing for smaller events will put the foundation in place for the major events. Are we as prepared as we should be?

The damage to the building was contained to the boiler room. The boiler rooms sprinkler system activated which helped contain the fire until the gas supply was turned off. The hot water system and two boilers were damaged with water damage to other electrical equipment in the room. The equipment was down in a pit which helped contain the fire spread. This fire highlighted the importance of smoke detectors and sprinklers throughout the building. The smoke detectors went off almost immediately alerting occupants throughout the Village Hall and the sprinklers kept the fire contained to the room of origin.

The Dobbs Ferry Fire Department recently responded to an early morning fire in a single family residence. The fire originated in several plastic garbage pails outside the structure up against the house. The fire transmitted up the outside of the structure under the eaves and into the attic. The homeowners, who were asleep were unaware of the fire until they were awakened by the smoke detectors inside the house. The house suffered considerable damage in the attic and roof areas. The C&O team made a determination the fire was the result of sponaneous combustion associated with wet charcoal. The homeowner reported several days earlier he accidently got water on a bag of charcoal. Thinking the charcoal was no good he disposed of it into a plastic pail with a lid. This was done two days before the fire. I have had experience with spontaneous combustion fires associated with thinners,lacquers and linseed oil soaked rags disposed of into sealed containers. I have never seen or heard of this condition with charcoal. The C&O team reported it has to do with the compressed state of the charcoal and the chemical reactions that occur when the charcoal gets wet and begins to heat up. Has anyone had a similiar expericence with charcoal? This was a new one for me and my department.

x635 I am not quite sure what Norwalk is going to do with the Tiller. I heard talk that it will be used as a temporary piece until they get a permanent replacement for an old apparatus. All in all I heard it was a pretty good deal for Hastings in getting rid of the old ladder and acquiring a decent rescue engine that is younger than their current spare engine

They are getting a used rescue engine from Norwalk FD as part of the sale of their American LaFrance tiller they just sold Norwalk. I believe it is going to replace the old used department spare housed at their Uniontown Engine firehouse

M Ave you are correct that in some areas the boxes do provide a neccessary communication system but that was not the case in my scenario. We carefully looked at the number of times they were utilized and were comfortable with removing them, again in the scenario of Dobbs Ferry. The boxes that were pulled did not provide voice contact to a dispatcher. They were hooked into the municipal alarm system and would activate the village fire horn and tap out the corresponding box number. The police officer manning the desk would have to count the number of blows on the horn to detrmine the location of the box alarm. He would them activate the plectron pager system advising the location of the call. For us it really came down to a liability and maintenance issue. The system was hard wired and was thus very suseptible to wind and tree limb damage. We often were unaware of box outages that were very often difficult to identify without actually sounding all the boxes. This left us holding the liability in case of system failure. We did not remove the boxes without research and felt comfortable with removing them based on the little actual use they recieved over the years. We were never able to identify a call through a pull box that we had not already been notified of via landline or cell phone. We only had 24 boxes so the vast majority of the Village was not covered by the boxes and we never had a notification problem from those locations. For us the system became obsolete. As for costs, in my municipality my department is scraping by on a miniscule budget so every dollar counts. It is a shame when dollar costs get involved in public safety initiatives but it is the reality of the world today. In some other localities there may still be a benefit and need but others can get by without them.

We had several addresses in the Village hooked into the municipal system such as college dorms, a hospital a nursing home and municipal buildings. These locations were removed from the system at the same time. All of addresses were contracting with an alarm monitoring company for their burglar alarm system so adding a fire alarm capability to the system was very easy for them to do. The fire department is just that a fire department. We are not an alarm company. By allowing addresses to hook into your municipal alarm system you are assuming all liabiilty for the operation of the system. We were also assuming all costs for mainitianing the system which was not right when you are dealing with profit making entities.

Back in 2000 Dobbs Ferry removed the 24 street boxes they had. The decision was based on useage and maintenance costs. Before pulling the boxes we did a study and went back 5 years. In that time period there were over 1600 fire responses in the Village. Out of the over 1600 calls 37 were from street boxes. 35 of them were malicious false alarms the other 2 were pulled after the FD had already been notified via landlines and cell phone calls. Both were for car fires. We also spoke with several municipalities in the County who also had boxes and asked about their experiences. With the explosion in the use of cell phones the boxes were becoming obsolete. There has been no impact on service devlivery. The boxes were just not being utilized by the public. Mainitaining the aging system was becoming more problematic and costly and posed a serious liability issue on the village in the event one of the boxes did not operate properly.

What exactly was said that is so offensive to Police Fire, EMS and other emergency service personnel? As a responder who was present that day when both towers came down and who lost a lot of friends I take great care in issues evolving around 9/11. I think he picked a poor topic to include in his game but I am not offended by it. To me this sounds like a very poor attempt at humor by this bartender. I don't think there was any intentional malice towards public safety personnel. Regardless of how many police are stationed at this new precinct they will not be able to stop another plane from crashing into the Freedom Tower. Using the tower as an airport. I believe that is what his reference to an airport is all about. As for the costs, he is right, there are going to be tremendous costs associated with this staffing level which will be borne by the taxpayers. With a family member involved with NY City budget issues I know that staffing this site will require reducing police manpower levels in every precinct in the City because they don't have the money to increase manpower by hiring large numbers of new police officers. The federal government will pay a portion of the security costs but they will never come close to the actual costs that NY City and it's taxpayers will be assuming for years to come. This knowledge in no way diminishes the need for security or the costs of protecting our Freedom and should not be construed as supporting budget issues when making security decisions. I am all in favor of rebuilding at the sight and building even bigger to show our country's resolve against those who attacked us. They will not put us down and we will come back stronger and better. But the reality is the terrorist have the same attitude and will view this tower as their number one target. Terrorism expert around the world have deemed this site as a target and fully expect another attack. It might not be tommorrow or ten years from tommorrow but there will be another attack. Look at the resolve of the terrorist after the 1993 attack (which I was also at). They were beaten but not detered and came back 8 years later when we let our gaurd down and became complacent. I think people need to step back and take a look at what really happened here. This was a piss poor attempt at humor. 9/11 is such a raw emotional issue for so many that it is often considered a personal attack by public safety personnel when someone mentions something other than remembrance and honor for those lost on that day. The bartender made a mistake. It is normal human behavior to become defensive when confronted like he and his boss were. To think that they don't respect the feelings of police or firefighters because they didn't immediately give an apology is some how tied to 9/11 goes a little far. To my eleven buddies that never came home, you are with me every day.

Dobbs Ferry Fire Department 2010 Runs - 401 (No EMS) Busiest year on record. 43 More runs than 2009