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Update - The Firefighter's contract was passed by the Board of Representatives tonight with a vote of 20 in agreement and 4 abstentions.

Pete, I hate to sound like an extremist, but many (such as yourself) have invested time and personal capital to try and prevent this type of continued behavior and hostility. To try and sabotage a negotiation that has taken more than 5 years for the Union to reach is nothing short of a "nuclear" sized mistake on the part of these 5 "chiefs". I am not surprised that a couple of these people would continue to fan the flames in Stamford, but having all 5 take part appears to be a collective effort by all remaining volunteers. Disagreements over each departments operations, tactics, hose lays, policies, vehicle colors, etc. are understandable within the fire service....attempting to affect the livelihood of the families of 280 union members is inexcusable and something that will not fade with time. If the volunteer Chiefs wanted to unite Stamford career firefighters behind one common enemy for many, many years to come, they will have finally succeeded at something.

I find it interesting that Stamford volunteers that can't find common ground for issues such as joint-training, accountability, staffing, radio procedures, etc; but always seemed to form a concrete bond and unite whenever the City, Union, or City Fire Department can be attacked. Volunteer firefighters wiring a letter against a tentative agreement after it has been reached in good faith between the City and the Union.... The same volunteers then go on to create a telephone campaign to City Representatives to spread more fear and lies about this agreement???? I have often read here how volunteers are often unfairly attacked by the big bad IAFF or how the IAFF has these (special pamphlets) that encourage hostility toward volunteers (ALL BS). Yet, here is a glaring and very tangible example of another case were a handful of pathetic volunteer Fire Chiefs have attempted to affect the livelihoods of more than 280 union firefighters. Much like Port Chester, jealousy appears to be the number one value being promoted by some of these organizations. I can think of no more clear example of why the term "RIVAL ORGANIZATION" exists. Regardless of what action occurs from the Stamford Board of Representatives, the damage done by these 5 clowns will assure an epic fissure will exist between career and volunteers in Stamford. For these 5 ninnies have managed to instantly erode any chance for cohesion within the system. Something that I suspect they knew full well when concocting their letter.

The last 3 minutes of this video are an absolute embarrassment to the fire service. Any firefighter with an ounce of respect to their trade or craft should be completely mortified to share the title of "firefighter" with the carrot-snappers participating in this "wet down".

FD7807 - I don't have to claim anything......your hero (I mean zero) Fire Chief was the stooge that stood before his personnel and went on a tirade encouraging vandalism and other types of obscene conduct against a Union member. Care to comment on why a Fire Chief would behave so irrationally or irresponsibly? Is his behavior acceptable to you? Do you find this normal? Rather than rant about Unions and demonstrate your personal animus or jealousy for career that you could next have, try and build a case to defend the actions of this Chief and his cohorts. This discussion will work far better if you actually stay on the issues that are tangible. Save the Ben Franklin and taxpayer mantra for your next XXXL T-shirt printing or belly-bumping amongst your pals in the beer garden.

I like how some here will continue to try and sugar-coat what this story is about (very predictable). It is also cute how one clown had such a "strong" defense of his fellow volunteers that he blurted out the "get a life, get a job" rebuttal (that kind of response could get you on the fast track for a Chief's position in Port Chester). Sorry folks...."it is what it is"..... and that is a poorly orchestrated plan to retaliate against Union firefighters for blowing the whistle about actual problems within someone's little kingdom. I know that many volunteers have traditionally cherished the "victim role" in the endless career vs. volunteer saga, but this piece of history should not be looked upon for anything more that exactly what it is = textbook anti-union animus . This story will not have a happy ending for those who had a hand in the release of these firefighters.

As a starting point.....Change the name of the thread to VOLUNTEER VS. CAREER. This entire issue was manufactured by a small group of completely incompetent volunteer fools wearing Fire Chief costumes from the Port Chester FD. Sorry if the truth may hurt for some of the pro-volunteer carrot snappers on this board, but this story is going to sting for awhile (as it should). Contrary to the claim of one "dinosaur" here......This has everything to do with career and volunteer relationships and the absolute jealousy that a few complete losers from PCFD attempted to enact upon 8 unionized firefighters who did not conform to their failing regime. Speaking out earned them being thrown out. Except, the labor world is a bit harder to con than the archaic volunteer fiefdoms that these pieces of trash have matriculated through. Open check book PCFD. Elections have consequences.

Wow, surprise?? Funny how the truth starts to trickle to the surface? So much for the "financial" crisis spin?? Good old anti-union animus alive and well. I am sure that the News12 story is only one of many to come. Careful, who you elect in your annual popularity contests, your vote may come back to embarrass you and your entire Department. In this case, your vote will undoubtably cost your Village and Department enough money that the next gold laced fire truck or grossly oversized ladder truck that you were dreaming about ends up being built by Mattel. Hint...when these clowns wash out of another volunteer fire department, there is usually a good reason for it. Don't become the "Florida" of your local volunteer system and accept all of the trash that funnels down hill. And for all of those that like to cry how the IAFF is running around with false claims of pamphlets on how to eliminate volunteers, Port Chester FD Volunteer Leadership has just provided an epic historical blunder that will resonate for decades the facts about who is trying to eliminate who. Nothing like the truth to ruin a good fantasy.

Absent from most of this banter has been the giant elephant that is the Port Chester volunteers. Now I am not suggesting that the rank and file were part of the negotiations prior to the dismissal of the entire career force, but this thread looks to be painted with financial blame with little said about the animus toward the Union. So where is the widespread support from the PCFD volunteers? Yes, there are a handful out there support the laid off members, but with claims of upwards of 300 volunteers to support the village...one would think that more than a handful would show visible support? Why have more volunteers not taken a stand with their "brother" career firefighters? Have we not heard time and time again "that we are all brothers?", "the fire doesn't care if you are paid or volunteer", "I am a professional too" and other countless canned lines of absolute BS for years on this board and others out there. Where is the cry of the volunteers? Where is the Chief pounding the desk? In places like Lawrence (MA) and Providence (RI) were departments were dissimated due to the agenda of a Mayor, Fire Chiefs have resigned in protest (no worries, some boob is always found to sit-in), but the leader took a stand in protest. I'll throw the gauntlet to the PCFD Chief and other "leaders" at his side....you sure have been quiet about this issue. Your silence is deafening. When will you stand? There must be a bunch of hearing impaired individuals that live in "la-la-land" on this board if they still want to pretend that this was solely a financial crisis. This appears to be nothing more than good old fashioned retribution against a small labor union. You want to know why?....Wait for the court documents and depositions...nothing like a nice controlled and sterile legal environment to find truth and oppress political smoke. Who will stand? The Chief? His subordinates? The Volunteers? BMA

Seth, Although I share your sentiment about family owned companies, KME is an example of why family owned often fails for the customer. Kovatch's little kingdom is riddled with incompetent family members and personal Kovatch buddies that have no business in the fire apparatus business. As good as KME could be, they continually fail at many basic business tenants such as customer service and quality control of their product. Their facilities are tired and ineffective and many of their senior "managers" are merely minions of the king. IMO, new ownership with a focus on their customers, product quality, timeliness of delivery, honesty, technology, and facility improvements could be a welcome improvement to this Company.

If you ever want a more tangible visual example of just how completely dysfunctional the fire service is in some areas, a few seconds of one of these videos will suffice. Absolute ass-clowns.

Hey, if thats what excites you, own it. I am sure that there are others within fire organizations that pay more attention to that type of fact over issues such as overall weight, braking, power, departure angles, wheel base, safety systems, etc.

Thankfully for the residents of Greene County...the Roto-Ray has finally arrived.....Hopefully the rest of the truck serves them well too.....

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RTMM53: Did you take the test or are you passing along from other sources?

The City is in mourning over your decision. The amount of shear talent that they are missing must be staggering. Unless you were one of the 96 people, who passed the first test, the only thing that stands before you is an opportunity to do better on this test. Incessant whining on the internet must be a better investment of your time than sitting down for 3-4 hours of test time to earn a 30-40 year career that pays a six figure salary requiring nothing more than a high school diploma. Good riddance, keep riding the keyboard. Let those that have a bit more stamina and fortitude ride the tailboard. Out.

Do you have any pictures of the house following the fire? Often, most of these fire buildings are obviously terminal within 20 minutes of arrival, yet the fire service calls up their "tanker task forces" and rolls 28 tankers. If the end result of this muster is 1 standing wall and charred remains in the foundation pool, you ever ask yourself if the same result could have been made with 1 engine and 500 gallon booster tank? Obviously I am not advocating that extreme, but perhaps we should recognize when what we are doing is more about the realistic eventuality of the effects of fire, timing, and building construction and not some fantasy water shuttle. I'll be the first to support a "true" property save after such an action. Unfortunately, most of these tanker rodeos almost always end up with the same net result.

Actually, I asked whether the size up that was reported on this site was correct for the amount of apparatus that was listed in the run down. 13 Fire Departments for a single story ranch house...sorry for the question, nothing possibly obtuse about this equation.

Can't possibly be all of those Departments and apparatus for a 30x60 2 story residence?

The City appears to be trying to move on hiring in the very near future. I would expect those that passed and scored at the top of the list will receive notification shortly.

I am not a salesman either and have no issue against Seagrave, but often wonder why some in the fire service elevate them to levels of built-proof perfection. In reality, they are a relatively small company with a very low annual production. This may be part of the reason as to why their assembly is more focused than a company that is producing hundreds (or thousands) or vehicles per year. Unfortunately, boutique style construction is not always an important factor when municipalities open competitive bids. However, I would disagree with the statement that most of the nations busiest and biggest cities use Seagrave. At a quick glance, I can think of one large City in our immediate area, that uses Seagrave (amongst several other contracts including KME and Ferrara). If there are a bunch of other major US Cities still purchasing Seagraves in large quantities, please let us know.

I can't really see what they are doing that is so special? Considering only the frame rails, cab and body are proprietary to Seagrave, the remaining 80% of the rig is vendor supplied. Unless something is special about the type of stainless steel they are using or their welder, they are basically just like everyone else. Their grill and logo look nice, but outside of that, what is the magic about a Seagrave?

K, I must have been confused when I read this.........

Letters were mailed out, the test is still scheduled as planned. Your entrance letter will tell you your arrival time. If you plan on coming into the Department focused on rumors, promoting them, or a general bad attitude towards the City, hopefully your entrance letter arrives sometime in the next few weeks. Best wishes to everyone else.

Is there a difference? I am sure that someone from that Company could tack-on a Seagrave logo on the front of the rig to make you feel better.