Monty

Mmmmm, what about that thing that every one keeps talking about .... Tradition. It's used as an excuse for all sorts of things - including this topic.

Condolences to all of the family and friends of Robert Beddia and fellow firegifhters. RIP Robert Beddia.

RIP - Thank you for your service to the community.

From the Troy Record. I thought this was a well written piece. I did think that if they had spoken to the Chiefs at some of the departments, they could have presented themselves in a more professional way, other than essentially 'no comment'.

It's interesting looking at it from this side, that there are no windows above the garage door, nor are there any windows to the left of the garage door ..... Definitely need to get a 360 done and advise everyone. I must admit though my first thought is in through the front door. I would also want to get a ground ladder placed near the front door in case the walkway loses it integral stability.

From The Albany Times Union Be interesting to see what updates there are to this. I thought the last paragraph was particularly interesting .....

I hope you're right. There's a few reasons I joined the emergency service business - but hanging around a bar at the firehouse was never on the list. Talking about this offline, made me think to look at the State Liquor Authority's web site and found this as their most recent media advisory:

Well ......... we do have Associate Members that pay their $25 dues and join for the camaraderie.

I was just looking for the right place to post this State Press Release. From what little I know of the situation, seems like a great move for us in New York.

Update from Capital 9:

Make what you will of it: Bush Video. I don't know how accurate it all is - decide for yourself.

A little bit of old news but I thought it was interesting .... From the Evening Tribune

No probs - I agree with what you're saying about spending of government money - that's politics. I certainly thank and respect Firefighter70 and all the men and women serving out there, wherever they're from, whatever their beliefs in the situation. As for West Nyack, I think they can show support the troops - but perhaps as mentioned elsewhere they should hand refreshments to all exercising their first ammendment rights - providing a community service, preventing dehyradion . (Maybe they did but that's not mentioned in anything I've seen). I've seen many trucks with Vietnam MIA flags, quite a few showing support for troops - not sure I've seen any stating support for or against 'the war on terrorism' though.

Update ...... From the Albany Times Union Rensselaer weighs booze ban at fire houses: - this caught my attention. I admit it's probably a long way off before this hits Westchester, but recently my local village enacted / enforced a rule that there would be no smoking in any village owned or leased building or equipment. There was some debate in some of the companies that own their own buildings as to whether this effected them legally or morally. In the end, in one case, it was decided that it would only apply in the apparatus bay that the village leases. In another I believe they decided to follow the spirit of the law and banned smoking inside in any of the building.

I think you are probably talking about Penn. Chief's Daring Move Saves Firefighters.

mmmm, beginning to get a bit off topic but anyway, from Wikipedia's section on NPR. Like anything involving politics, seems to be hard to get a real answer, but it certainly looks like the feds are funding a fairly small proportion of NPR, between 2 & 22%.

My old dept had a 102' Grumman Tower Ladder. If it was extended to about 70' it had enough depression for the bucket to be on the ground (Obviously to the side or rear). In theory, it could go about 10 feet below grade. Quite a few companies have specs on the angle the ladder can go below the horizontal - I think it is often around 15 degress.

I'm inclined to agree with a lot of what Izzy said here. My first emotions watching this, was sadness for those guys. Yes, they don't look the most professional, but this doesn't look like a multi million firehouse. I couldn't find too much on the web about these guys, but there are many areas where the mutual aid could be 10 miles or more away. If all your gear is in the firehouse then there's not too much you can do, especially if you've got mutal aid and they don't have gear on the truck. Maybe this is an un-hydranted area with water supply problems - maybe they were drafting. Yeah, there were a few questionable actions. In the end I didn't notice the guy in gear actually getting inside the firehouse. As for the guy inhaling the smoke - I've certainly seen departments in Westchester without turnouts being too close to the action (Admittedly not that close - not yet anyway). Hopefully they were well insured, and can get back in business soon - and maybe learn something from this (good alarm system and sprinklered building?).

Mmmm, how far does professional courtesy go? Would it have made a difference if a different Officer had pulled her over? I'd like to think not - but I have my doubts. Maybe professional courtesy can be excused for minor offences but when does it / should it stop?

Would appear that Lady Luck was on their side. This time. Here's a link to a story on this fire. Here's another one to wonder over: LaHarpe Fire Luv the ciggy look too Guess they don't have the same policyt as the Florida department discussed a while back. Ooops, just seen this one over here.

Thanks ckroll for running with this. Glad to see that I wasn't completely bonkers with my thinking. Interestingly this week I was on an interstate and coming the other way was an ambulance. I'm guessing our combined closing speed was approximately 150mph, I saw the lights first, and heard the siren for all of 2 seconds - maybe. It seems there have been some attempts to find alternatives to the current lights and sirens, although I don't think they have been too successful. I remember reading somewhere about this topic - but of course can't find it now! I did find a couple of things: Emergency Warning Radio Transmitter - interesting little disclaimer at the bottom of this page. Basically it seems you can't legally buy this thing in the US! Here's another idea, but this is from 1996 - so obviously not a commercial success ... Transmitter for Radar Detector . On the sub-thread of when to respond (or not) with L&S, I agree that there's too much equipment responding L&S. However, in certain areas I don't see this changing any time soon. Without getting in to the whole home rule discussion, I see this needing to be supported from something like the County Chiefs - maybe writing standards in to mutal aid agreeements. Maybe setting standards for what 'Respond with Caution' means might be a start.

If you're intrested, check out the Emergency Services - maybe take some patches, T-shirts, caps. The services in Europe are very different. I'm sure they'd be very hospitable to a visit.

Maybe I should buy a lotto ticket today. Just found out I had 444 points! JIMMY has them now! Good luck.

Some good press for the fire service for a change ...... From Ventura County News:

I worked with Holmatro, and now occasionally with Hurst (very old toolset). I've also done classes with TNT and Lucas. Personally I much prefer the Holmatro. Admittedly my experience with Hurst is biased as the tools I've used are antiques, so maybe the newer ones are much different. The only problem with the Holmatro, although I think probably with others, is that it could be a real pig to get the pressure out of the lines to change them (connecting/disconnecting couplings). I do prefer the cutters, but I think the combi tool has its place. We used to run with those two preconnected. For an 'average' car, the combi tool was enough for any spreading and light enough to maneuver easily enough. If needed, it could also do some cutting. If you can only get two, get cutters and spreaders, but try and get all three. I agree that for pure vehicle extrication, lose the rams. The other tool I very much like to have on hand is a sawzall with a good demolition blade.