Monty

I'm not sure how I missed the post mentioning this law as it was immediately preceeding mine. That said, I still don't see where it says this in the law. It's a pretty big piece that I'm sure is written by lawyers. You can se it at http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/42C103.txt - it seems that most of it at least is talking about the superfund. After looking through this for a while (why the missus watches her TV .. ) I see that Section 9607 estabilishes liability. Maybe under this, local agencies can claim they fall in ( B ) but it seems to be far from obvious. I certainly don't agree with everything that FASNY puts out there, however as I mentioned before NY is not alone in this type of legislation See google search 'hazmat recovery costs state' which seems to have at least 7 other states on the first page dealing with this topic. I think it would be hard to argue that just because a state law applies that limits consumable to $10,000 that federal law doesn't apply for higher recovery costs. Unless of course I guess there is something in the federal law that says it doesn't apply if replaced by a local law. Whatever happens, I'm sure it will keep some lawyers busy

In my hazmat training, I was always given the impression that costs could be recovered from the entity causing the incident. However, searching the other day I couldn't find anything that backed this up. From google, I did see that a lot of states do have legislation similar to what is being proposed here. Maybe, just maybe if there is a federal law, this will complement and strengthen it, as opposed to watering it down.

Was on a class out west with the gentleman below, he seemed very knowledgable ... Tony Tricarico Captain - Squad Company 252 (Ret) FDNY - Special Operations Command 631-514-1291 Of course there is also http://www.dragonrescue.com/ with Mike Dragonetti (who is on here) who has a wealth of knowledge.

Thanks, I got a mailing yesterday about this bill. I wondered why we needed this when I thought the federal laws covered this. Is this big business driving this I wonder? What makes it better than the existing legislation?

Kudos to TMFD. Now, I'll be curious to see though if the insurance savings actually show up ... either in the near future or at the next renewal.

Thanks for the update. Not surprising, but seems like everyone worked together for the common goal without any problems. I did find it interesting though that the spokesman on the videos I saw was Commissioner Longworth of DPS .... I also saw a video by the County Exec too complete with his DPS jacket on .... I could say more but I shouldn't say it in this thread. Again, excellent job by CFD leadership, and everyone else involved.

Good thoughts. I've heard that some folks are a bit reluctant to do standby's because of things that might happen at home. Maybe it's a good time to send the family out of town for the weekend? Go visit the inlaws or something One of the things that came out of Katrina was the first responders that didn't show up - or didn't have their head in the game becuase they were worried about what was happening to their families at home.

Some pictures of the incident http://www.firstonscenephotos.com/FDNY/FDNY-Queens-2nd-Alarm-Maspeth/18582710_BJbp3s#1435808374_f7QrB4g

Interestingly, checking the BOR web site and minutes for the steering committee meeting, it seems that this proposal wont be on the agenda for September. Don't know if the Public Health and Safety committee will be meeting this month - nothing obvious on the calendar. Actually, it looks like they haven't met since June. Guessing there wont be any answers on this topic for a few more weeks or months.

One thing here, you talk about 20% contractual time off ... who's to say what contract they put in place? They are a private company. Yes, they can unionize but I'm sure it could be a whole different situation than a truly municipal department. It will certainly be interesting to see how this plays out from here ....

You can apply - but I doubt you will get very far with just NYS certs. I know when I applied to a similar job they requested my SSN so that they could verify my certs.

My son found out at the beginnig of summer. 6 hours in the pool at a party. Sunblock washed off .... 2nd degree burn to the upper arm (although the first Dr to see it thought it was 3rd degree). Screwed up camp plans for the first couple of weeks. I think the lesson was learnt though - plenty of sunscreen since then.

The site at http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/certification/11302/certification_levels_presently_offered/563966 has some pretty good information. Also, the NYS Fire Academy library has some practice test books that are pretty useful to get an idea of the exam questions.

Very cool. Thanks for the updates & pictures - It certainly sounds like a unique experience. Part of me would love to experience it - but part of me knows that it would be a real tough experience.

I took them a few years ago. Try googling for practical ff1 certification - I found some sites that listed the possible stations. For FF1, I think I had hose packing, ladder raise, hydrant lay, ppe donning, knots. For FF2 I onyl remember extrication and foam.

I skimmed the document - I don't see it saying as much. It does have some conclusions based on various papers and research they carried out. Interestingly there's a lighting research group at RPI that provided some information. Some lighting patterns cause drivers to perceive the vehicle is moving, even when stationary Blue is more visible at night and red during the day It does mention the negatives of too much lighting Amber (generally) washes out blues and reds The FHP ended up working with Code 3 to design a light bar for them based on the work in this paper. Some of the interesting things it did are: Have a stationary mode that kicks in when the car is put in park which changes the flashing mode (to a slower more synchronized pattern) Has a photo cell that switches between mostly red and mostly blue based on ambient light Has an override so that LEO's can force red in cases of smoke or fog where red penetrates better than blue Mounted a 'rectangular arrowstick' in the rear window of the cruiser Interestingly it seems that the 'Javelin' that Code 3 has is no longer available so I don't know if FHP have replaced this with something similar or have gone away from this approach, looking online I couldn't tell. A lot of the ideas seemed to make sense. I would agree that you need different lighting patterns while responding versus being stationary at the scene. I think NFPA has something along these lines with flashing white lights? I know sitting at a scene with the hi-beams flashing away is really unproductive and annoying - but drivers seem to be reluctant to turn off some of those fancy (and not so fancy) lights .....

Yeah, I wonder how much of this is playing to the crowd and not really expecting it to go through but singing the tune? A bit like the pols trying to win points that have suggested shutting down Sing Sing?

Interesting after the discussion on chevrons to see the 'battenburg' markings - first time I've seen them on a US vehicle.

Thanks Bill for posting the details. Certainly seems to make some pretty strong points and is obviously not a knee-jerk response or proposal.

Great post - thanks for giving us a view of it. I've wondered how in these kinds of places (and Gitmo) how they staff the KFC and Fridays etc Stay safe! Look forward to hearing from you again ... Monty.

Isn't this very similar to what happened in Croton? Although I believe it was an internal decision in Croton unlike how this appears. I wonder whether the consensus is that EMS is better or worse off in Croton as a result? And how it has worked out financially?

Can you quote that? Now, if you want to exercise the rights of an emergency vehicle under V&T Section 1104, then yes you need lights and an audible device. But if you are doing 50 in a 55 mph zone I don't believe there is any issue in using lights only.

Hope you don't mind but I chuckled when you said 'duel' response - is that fastest one wins ? As opposed to dual response because the location straddles two districts ... In this case Code 2 is non-emergency - Code 1 is by default and is lights and siren.

going back to the Town of Colonie from one of the other threads - they have had DTMA (daytime mutual aid) for over 18 years - usually just an engine from an adjacent department, although sometimes a truck or rescue depending on the location. It's recognized that daytime coverage can be a challenge so you don't usually end up with an extra apparatus or two on the response, but you do have a bigger pool of members to pull from. It works well, and you can certainly have a mutual aid Chief or Officer as IC without any friction. Something like that could certainly happen here - and to a limited extent it does - look at Montrose, Buchanan and Verplank. Should it be expanded? Probably.

Probably the biggest issue with contingency budgets is that big brother - sorry the State, dictates the way the money can be spent. For instance, only emergency building repairs can be done - no improvements, it also effects to some extent community use of facilities - AYSO, Boy / Girl Scouts, Little League. There's probably a whole bunch of other restrictions but bascially it's taking the control out of the local boards hands.