JustSomeGuy

"Senator Kennedy has also led efforts to bring improvements to fire fighter pay, retirement, benefits and health and safety. His work included guaranteeing fire fighters overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA); establishing a medical monitoring program for fire fighters responding to disasters; protecting fire fighters against infectious diseases under the Ryan White law; creating the Public Safety Officers Benefit (PSOB); protecting and expanding fire fighter deferred compensation plans (457 plans); improving federal fire fighter pay and protecting fire fighter jobs against contracting out; establishing tuition assistance programs for fire fighters; creating the nation’s first plan to respond to bioterrorism; and expanding OSHA coverage to include fire fighters." Taken from the IAFF Website.

Just to play devil's advocate, because I do agree with you both. What happens if the FF fails? Does he lose his job? In FDNY he can go work the desk somewhere but most departments in Westchester do not have that luxury. And the long term disability insurance for FF's is through the roof, which by the way no FDs provide for their employees that I am aware of.

I do not post often here but this I do know the answer to, Reaganomics. Promotes big business, makes the blue collar worker feel as if he is being benefited. when in reality it is just making the top 2% of the country extremely wealthier leaving us to fight over the scraps, and yes the workers receive a little more but lose so much more in potential social programs i.e. universal healthcare etc etc etc....

I agree, good thing NYC has the lowest paid metropolitan police dept, a not too far behind FD, a collapsing economy, nowhere near affordable housing being offered, and more and more luxury living high rises but hey we will give you water falls... LOL, but I will probably check them out.

Another good point is that Foxwood will not be able to grandfather in the replaced building that means meeting ALL new codes.

Just curious, was there an interior attack made? Or was it an immediate defensive position. I know A LOT of elderly reside in Foxwood.

I think that a lot of unions unfortunately are aware of MV's crisis, but unfortunately are choosing not to go MA unless of course its absolutely needed. I know my local is against going MA to the vern. We are not adequately staffed ourselves, and now we have to leave our district unprotected, to help a district 20 min away. Also another problem for depts. in Westchester, is that they normally ride 2 or 3 on an engine, but then when a MA alarm tones out, we immediately put 4 or 5 guys on, So tax payers are protected by the bare minimum the rest of the time. Also where is MV's union? The subject being brought up here is informing to us, but maybe MV's local needs to involve the press, make the citizens aware that their fire protection is not adequate, possibly a county identity could solve this problem. We need reform, unfortunately they are trying to Banish the county government entirely. A lot of these districts like to hold onto their traditions and supreme rule. Why would a Chief want a new Boss over them? I wish "Bnechis"? best of luck with the consolidation study. I would love to be a part of the new county system if implemented, all though I think the unions and chiefs will tare it apart like a pack of wolves. Unfortunately in this day and age, people will complain but not act. Look at this war, gas tax, prior threads talk about rising costs in all aspects of our lives and what do we do... nothing... we complain on a website. MV's local needs to get out their with the support of their neighboring brotherhoods and make the public aware that now is the time for change.

Yes you are correct, It is always easy to point blame at the leaders, and granted I am sure no Chief really wants to upset his superiors in city hall, but, for the men to know that the chief is working with them. And yes there are a lot of things that are double edged swords, My union is a great local (at least IMO), unfortunately there are some issues that we (the union) fight the Chief on, and unfortunately IMO both sides are not focused currently on what is important. We have let a few differences divide us and the tax payers, the people we are to protect are suffering.

JFLYNN, I have A LOT of RESPECT for YOU and your views, I personally feel the same way. I think the Fire Service leaders in the lower Westchester career departments have to start standing up for their dept, they need to fight city hall, more importantly Managers, Mayors, and what nots who have no clue about the fire service. I also believe that the Chiefs should be more focused on fighting city hall then fighting his men and his union, especially since thats where they come from. Unfortunately I think time and time again Chiefs are battling their own men and not standing behind them. Too bad you can't speak with other chiefs to get them on the same page. Maybe some of them will read this.

Doc 22, I feel that both our views are correct, I am not saying that career staffing is cheap, but this really isn't a cost item. If you can NOT get a rig out instead of RELYING on rigs the municipality should PROVIDE the fire protection. I believe that this is a fact and can not be debated, HOWEVER I agree with you that most places can NOT afford it currently. Can we look back 10 maybe 15 years ago with the ambulance corps? I believe there were no paid medics or EMTs in most agencies outside of the cities. All of the agencies were 100% volunteer? I could be mistaken (not counting major cities, Yonkers, W.P., New Rochelle, etc..) Somewhere we had a problem people were dying, ambulances had hard times getting out, so what did municipalities start doing? Hiring their own supplemental paramedics with fly cars, or a group of towns hiring an agency together, splitting the cost, maybe this could be an option Why can't there be a new castle dept? A Mt. Pleasant dept? Or a Westchester County Fire Dept? Or some larger area dept that can provide a steady engine and a truck if the local departments cannot get out. With the call volume between a few departments it would be more then enough to warrant a paid staff. This is just an idea. Also keep in mind that when hiring a career staff its pretty likely that they will hire people familiar with the area or with some sort of residency requirement. And if the funding from multiple municipalities still can not be afforded to have this staffing then I certainly wouldn't want to live there as well and you can count on a for sale sign in my front yard as well.

Not to start a controversy here, but this kind of thinking infuriates me. Think of all the services that your village would pay for rather then your fire protection: that nice new park, a new extension of the school system maybe? a new statue dedicated to Mrs Jones who used to plant daisies in the town square, as in my town unnecessary police forces that each neighboring town has such as a K-9 unit, a mounted/motorcycle cop. It always makes me upset to see failing volunteer agencies such as the ambulance corps. and the fire departments, but like was mentioned earlier in this thread we have to swallow our pride and look at when it is the village/town/cities responsibility to PROVIDE our fire protection rather than RELY on one. Another thing people fail to see here is that when the pagers go off, a lot of local shops and local agencies shut down for the fire alarm, is this providing a service to the local municipality or a disservice. What about Volunteers who are teachers and leave the school system for an alarm!! How would you feel if that was your child's teacher. I have heard this happens in a few municipalities in Westchester. I am not bashing the volunteer service at all, I think its great, and love to see highly trained motivated volunteers, I have worked with both, and I am always happy to see enthusiastic volunteers and give advice. But when we can't get the rigs out we have to step back and bring someone in, if its a few times and m/a can cover OK, if not we HAVE to look at hiring a supplemental staff at first, tell the parents or a child of a victim who succumbed to smoke or fire that we couldn't get there because of.... the above quoted passage. Just my thoughts as always, very welcome to constructive criticism, and hopefully provided some.

I think this is a large problem, too many chiefs choose whatever costs the least w/o listening to their men, seeing what is more comfortable, and what they can perform the job better in. In regards to this thread I will say this, I have worn two kinds of gear "Globe Xtreme" and Morning Pride, in my mind there is no comparison. Morning Pride blows the competition out of the water. Much more room in the shoulders for any over the head work, the Xtreme limits movement and tight feeling in the shoulders. Xtreme pants literally fit like a diaper, and I am not the first person to describe it this way. Morning pride fit the legs very well as well as providing adequate knee protection, the extreme has small piece of suede or "dragon scales/skin" which doesn't do much, just has a fancy name. And one last thing, Morning Pride comes to you, and tailors the gear to YOU, as for Xtreme, you drive down to nearest distributor where they give you what they have in stock, and sizing only takes into account your waist, thats all, thinking everyone has some junk in their trunk and that everyone wants to swim in their pants. LOL again JMO, but I feel strongly on this subject and am extremely anti GXtreme.

How are the Greenburgh depts staffed?

The Salaries vary usually from 20-40 most common, but a select few are over, but trust me NO ONE takes these jobs to get rich, you are in the wrong line of work for that. And also a real good guy who was been on the job for 25+ years used to tell me "shut up, take the job kid, get that pension started, and take every test you can."

Take the test and move on, Unfortunately most places have residency preference, so the list doesn't get to far down normally. However I believe that Westchester is going to start using the CPAT instead of the old agility exam. This will give people further down the list a better shot. P.S. why is the Yonkers test such a big secret? All the other test are known when they are going to take place and are anticipated, thus creating a great amount of revenue for the city.