Bnechis

You have 2 different technologies that do radically different things here. 1) A Carbon Monoxide monitor on the jump kit is usually a single gas monitor (made by dozens of companies, like AIM, Scott, MSA etc.) that are always on (ususally for 2 years then discard) it is always "sniffing" for CO. It alarms at 35ppm (at that level a healthy worker can be in it for 8hrs/day - 40hrs/week - for 30 years without harm). It also alarms at 200ppm or higher to warn you only have a few minutes to get out. Since CO is odorless, colorless, tasteless you could walk in and not know you are in danger without this. We have been using them for years and one memorable call was for a seizure patient in a laundromat. The crews (both FD & EMS) bags started beeping. At 1st the crews thought it was an alarm on one of the dryers, but as the 2nd bag beeped, they knew it was something else and a multi gas detector was brought in. The back room of the laundromat had levels over 800ppm (deadly in minutes). The patient was seizing due to lack of O2 and needed a hyperbaric chamber (not seizure drugs). 2) A RAD57 (massamo) which is the sensor in the lifepak (& zoll?) is used to get a sense of the carboxihemoglobin level in the patients blood. A great tool to determine if a pt with "flu like symptoms" has the flu or CO. The 1st sensors protect us (cost $200-400) the 2nd help treat the patient ($4,000)

I noticed a few of those complaining were on the fire escape in the rear (exposure #3?). The IC requested VMFD Ladder to the rear to assist those people. While they got there fast, they were the 3rd due truck and were not dispatched until the IC was on scene. These victims could not see the TMFD was already onscene attacking the fire. They might not have been happy or comfortable but they were relativly safe. I'd strongly question 20 minutes, but wouldnot be surprised if it was more than 10 from the time they realized that their was a fire and the time that VMFDs ladder was at exposure #3. The issue of "where do we live" plages many communities. There are sections of New Rochelle that swear they are in Scarsdale, same for parts of Greenburgh. Crestwood & Bronxville P.O. in Yonkers the same and this is true for many other areas. I've been at calls where home owners yell at us: "where is Scarsdale FD"? We tell them in Scarsdale, this property is a 1/2 mile from the border and they refuse to believe it. Even after they admit to paying taxes to NR and sending their kids to NR schools. This fire had the potential for a major loss of life. TMFD and the MA depts. did a great job.

Way to much of that stuff is stuck in my head...no need to wing it. LOL

Unfortunatly, one of the reasons that the pay is so low is that most agencies hire on a perdiem basis and there are many potential employees. In other parts of the country it is civil service and they make enough so this is not needed.

Well said. Some of issues in the rescue plan need to include: Type of water tower and access (both to the base & to the top): The 3 most common are: 1) External ladder (to the platform and/or top) 2) Internal ladder (to the top) 3) Internal ladder (to the top) and an exterior ladder (from the top down to an external platform) Almost all have a seperate hatch on top that leads to the water storage tank. Many have a ladder, but not all. Newer (or renovated tanks) often have built in fall protection with the ladder. One must understand how it works and if you need to bring your own fall protection device to attach to the cable or track. The ladders (internal or external) are either vertical or almost vertical and if you have never climbed at 50' - 200' vertical ladder you are in for a big upper body workout. On FD ladders, you use mostly your legs. On vertical ladders its your arms and back (holding on). On external ladders after climbing to within 30 feet of the platform the ladder often tilts backward to about 95-100 degrees. Also of great concern on external ladders is the platform opening at the top of the ladder is often only 16-18" wide and with your harness you have to turn 90 degrees while hanging on to slide thru. Also often it is common to find a radio antenna at this opening, making it even harder to get onto the platform. Generally it is best to send your strongest climber up 1st and have him/her have a drop bag to pull up additional gear. It helps to cut the climbing distance with a tower ladder (if it can be positioned). Anyone climbing the tower must have fall protection system (either built in or FD provided). Securing oneself on the tower is sometimes very difficult and you should never never never hook in to previous FD protection that was left on the tower (very common find). Once on top you may be face with a "confined space rescue" inside the tank. This requires the same equipment (Supplied air, detectors, tripods, etc.) and it will be very difficult to get it up top. Also setting up a tripod on top requires securing it, which is very involved. Some tank owners have welded anchor points up top, otherwise it may be very rigging intense. THe other major issue is once a victim is removed from the tank, you still need to get them 50' - 200' feet to the ground (and if the rigging is not set up for that, many try using the tripod which can flip over from the side loading. Hopefully, this small primer will open the eyes of those who think they are ready to respond as well as those that have a tank in their district and need to preplan what might be needed.

"Section 6: OBLIGATION TO RESPOND Each participating EMS agency must forthwith respond to any call for assistance from another EMS agency pursuant to the provisions of this plan, through the coordination of the county Emergency Services Communications Center. This obligation to respond does not include unavoidable circumstances, such as maintenance problems, shortage of manpower, or if the agency already involved in an emergency or other call." Yes, you if you are able to respond (but it would strip your area) then you are obligated to respond. This was debated at length, but the issue became what is the responsibility to respond if you only own 1 ambulance (so any mutual aid out would strip your district) and everyone agreed that if you dont give mutual aid, you are not entitled to recieve it.

The two commercial services inthe southern part of the county (Empress & Transcare)have always done standbyes. NRFD has a policy that at least one officer (in addition to those assigned to the MA rigs)is assigned when we go out of town. This is ussually either myself or the dept. Safety officer. When this call came in Car 2302 advised me that he would cover and the safety officer would back-up. I continued to monitor, but did not respond. I heard Bat 15 request a total of 5 (not including L/M Vac) for 2-4 patients. At least 2 pts transported. Red Cross was requested for 20 families and since things were still confusing, requesting 5-6 ambulances was very reasonable, even if some might be put into stagging. I do not know, but....L/M VACs building is only 4/10 (2,100 feet) of a mile from the fire scene, so staging there either to cover the town or the fire would have been a reasonable location.

Since not every EMS agency has signed the county mutual aid plan, those agencies are not required to provide mutual aid. There are also not legally entitled to recieve it. The state EMS Bureau will do nothing about it. But the county has the legal ability to deal with (them not being a signatory to the plan) it if they wanted to. Does the agency have a policy that they will respond to a call, but not a standby? What if they have no one to cover their district? Does that change it?

In most cases it is easier and safer to operate from the bucket than being on a ground ladder. Also most buckets bring additional equipment & lighting.

Particularly, since this type of confined space team is very rare, having it in place is particularly important. Most confined space resuce teams have never even climbed a water tower. the 1st couple times are interesting to say the least.

True, but many of those areas have great difficulty getting the bus on the road. Nice for a medic flycar to have POV back-up when he/she really needs a bus.

They makea great projectile. Not something you want flying around inside your car. NYS requires that on an ambulance they must be secured to prevent injury.

When my inlaws moved from the NY Metro area to a rural farming area, the local sherrif came out to see them on there farm and asked if they had any guns. My father in-law said no and was told then go out and get some. He was told that the response time could be hours and as a working farm they by law could shoot anyone on there land as a poucher and there would be no questions asked. They will come but it will be too late. We have places in Westchester that have "EMS services" who are not coming either and you will bleed out waiting (so they are basically nonexisting). And they are tax supported (either directly or by billing medicaid/medicare)

Most insurance companies only ask what is the closest FD and THey look at ISO and find its rating. Based on the lack of hydrants, this area is a 9 with most of it beyond the 5 mile ISO road distance making them a 10. So even if the FD was comming it still is a 10 and the premiums are going to be based on that. Since a 10 indicates no FD....it does not mater to the underwriter, because the risks are the same. I bet the replacement costs on a used double wide is nothing like what costs are in Westchester.

There are so few real options on ambulances (since they are built on commercial chassis) that the problems are almost never in the specs. Custom fire trucks are another story.

The County can add it to the taxes if the public agrees (and we all know how many people will vote to increase their taxes), but they do not provide the service, the city (who can not legally tax them).

Now my question is what does $75/year get you in fire protection? A volunteer FD with 17 members. 5 have been trained too ff1, the rest have no training (the county proposal is within 5 years they should all have ff1 and it has been proposed (but not approved) that they will have to train at least 4 hours per month. They are very experienced since they respond to 56 calls per year (25 rural & 31 in town) If they become part of a county FD and drop the fees, it is suggested that their total budget should be set at $60,000/yr

State law does not require a response to a location outside your district, unless they have a contract to cover it. How about this, a property owner wants to build a single family house on an Island. Once built he will be paying city tax. The FD does not have a fire boat and no way of responding (particularly during the winter) to provide fire or EMS. Both zoning and the building code require that he provides the FD with access. The owner threatens legal action if not allowed to build on his property. He agrees to sign legal documents acknowledging that the FD may attempt to respond, but cannot insure that they will be able to if allowed to build.

According to thier county a few of the depts. charge $500 if you are not a subscriber and they come out to your emergency, but at least 50% of those people refuse to pay the bill and the FD does not have any legal means of collecting.

ABC world news tonight just ran a story on this and Good Morning America is doing something in the am on it. (They are claiming: "its more common than you think")

Agreed A family friend of mine lives in Alaska. His closest FD is over 180 miles away. The closest person to his home lives 30 miles away. He has no fire dept., should the state or federal government provide fire protection for him and how would they do it? The State Forrestry Div. will respond to a forrest fire, but he says thats an hour wait for the copter. And he does not have 911 because there are no phones.

I agree it is the municipality’s highest priority. And the municipality is the county, since it is "OUTSIDE the City".

We are suppose to provide assistance regardless of status, race, color, religion, sex or economic standing but only if you are on my side of the line. In Westchester almost nobody ever crosses that line. If we did we would be dispatched by closest available unit, not dept. x & dept y. This is why we have communities that have only had ALS for a few years while others have had it for decades. This is why some communities have local police depts and other have NYS. When White Plains had ALS but it was before Harrison even had BLS (just a stretcher car) and a cardiac arrest call came in in Harrison, you got what you paid for. Did you deserve ALS...yes..did you pay for it...no, did you get it....no.

Most oaths I've heard state I promise to "serve and protect the citizens of the City of Happyville". Why should the taxpayers of the City of Happyville pay to support a service to a community that is not part of there city and refuses to help pay for it? If those people in the unincorporated area want fire protection they can: 1)pay the city for it 2)have the county provided it (and tax them for it) 3)set up a rural fire protection district (and pay tax to support it) 4)Ask the city to expand and incorporate them into the city services (and be taxed for it). or 5) roll the dice.

It very disturbing that any fire department would not want to buy fire fighting equipment to save its own members. Its also sad that the members are blind to this issue.