Bnechis

Chris, can aviation track lojack?

They are also prized collectables. I know of 3 NYC hydrants that have been installed in residential back yards in New Rochelle (& no I do not have one). One was even plumbed to supply a garden hose.

The FD must routinly respond to EMS calls (not just MVA's) and then apply to NYS DOH BEMS to become a 1st response agency. The only way to not pay is to have a State Agency Number.

While I agree this can happen with the any of the NFPA standards, thats not how it always goes. Lets take the rope standard. After the tragic loss of FDNY Firefighters LAWRENCE FITZPATRICK - RES. 3 and GERALD FRISBY - LAD. 28 in a 1980 fireground rope failure, the FDNY requested NFPA develop a rope standard. I watched in amazment when the NFPA 1983 committee 1st met. FDNY insisted that the standard be 1 use and the rope is no longer useable. Every rope manufacture in the country said this is nuts and they voted against including this in the standard. The fire department reps out voted them. The testing that was done on Dupont 6.6 nylon which was the primary component in almost every rope until just a few years ago (its still #1, but there are others) showed that in the pH levels found in our atmosphere a rope that is stored in ideal conditions (on a spool, no exposure to UV or heat and never used) losses approximatly 1% of its rated strength each year. After 10 years thats 10% and we all know how well fire service ropes are cared for. I looked thru 1983 and can not find an experation date for rope. But the manufactures recommend 10 years (unless in an ultra acidic location, i.e chemical plant) based on the above.

Normal operatiing pressure is 185psi. Some depts test at 200psi others at 250psi (Angus list the test pressure at 200psi). Angus claims that at normal operating pressures 5" hose max's out at about 1,500gpm. All the tables I find show a 1,500gpm pump capacity with 5" LDH will get you 1,500 gpm to about 900 feet. A 2,000 gpm pump will get you another 300 feet. Generally when calculating delivery its measured at the recieving end, not the source pump. I suggest you check your flow meters, because your numbers are not what they should be. Yes it did. Thank you comrade

1) could you clean this up a little, it reads like russian. 2) You moved 1,800 gpm through 5" hose? What brand? Dacron Hose or Rubber? What was the maximum pressure?

Good Job Chris. Now how do you dust for prints at 600 feet?

Here is one of those NFPA some good some bad ideas. If its on a 2 1/2" discharge, then having NST behind your elbows is a good way to go. But what about on other outlets? All pump plumbing starts as NPT (national pipe thread) & is then converted to NST and then to your thread (if not NST). Our last engine has 2 LDH outlets (5" Storz) we wanted the 4" discharge pipes NPT to attach directly to a 4" NPT to 5" Storz elbow. The manufacturer would not do this, because "NFPA requires NST" so we recieved a 4" NPT with a NPT to NST adaptor to a 4"NST to 5" Storz elbow. This creates a weaker system, that sticks out beyound the vehicle (increasing the likelyhood for serious damage), for more money. The manufacturer advises if we want the other we can buy 2 more elbows and set it up ourselves, then keep the 2 extra addaptors & 2 extra elbows. So we have the versatility of 4" NST. Does anyone use 4" NST? We are ready for you. Agreed, but also if in a region 80% of the hydrants & threads are not NST, then make sure you have those threads, or stay home.

And storz connections were patented in 1894, so who great idea was National Standard? Why did National Standard Tread come into being? Its because when FDNY arrived in Baltimore for the "Great Fire" they could not hook up. So a group in a room decided everyone in the country should go to a single thread size. Whose size did they pick? It was not FDNY's. Now they want NYC to change every hydrant, every hose coupling and every pump outlet so that mutual aid can work in NYS. That mutual aid was not called for 97 years. Who would have to pay the costs?

Can you explain this statement

This week FOX News was reporting that the administration is preventing ICE from doing any meaningful enforcement. Now FOX claims to be "fair & balanced" they are often on the right trying to offset the media that is often far to the left. It is hard to tell how true this story was. The next day I met a supervising ICE officer, and he told me they have direct orders to "look the other way" and not enforce the law or their mandate. He was very frustrated and did not know how to turn this around. I asked if he had seen the FOX News piece and he said no. I do not understand why Washington is not only ignoring the problem, but preventing those that are charged with addressing it to address it.

So some depts there are 30 years behind and others are trying to go backwards. Let me guess the depts. that went back to 4" buy 1,500 gpm pumps.

Enough to get from the water supply to the fire (or the other way round for you reverse layers) I know depts with 750 feet and others with 5,000 feet. Also with a hose wagon would you consider 2 lays?

We use portables that every on-duty member is assigned. We are also trying a new technology on Rescue 4. Reverse Control is a wireless hand signaling device that was developped by members of the Los Angeles FD after a backing accident killed a female ff (as mentioned earlier in this thread). This is the unit: It works as follows: You press the button the little light flashes red (test) then goes green (safe to back-up). When you want the driver to stop you release the button and on the hand unit the little light goes red When the light on the hand unit is green the lights in the cab are green, when the light is red the lights in the cab are red and a horn goes off in both the cab and in the headsets. We have 3 lights in the cab; Above the back-up camera screen and on the drivers & officers "A" post in line with the mirrors: The unit has a 1/4 mile range and the vehicle does not have to be in reverse to work. The idea is simple Red light - Green light and the lights are where the driver normally is looking. http://reversecontrol.com/ We thought this might be useful for not only backing up but manuvering to position the crane. In a fleet like LAFD each rig has its own so, you do not have multiple rigs saying stop or go on the radio. Might be a good idea for depts that do not have enough radios for everymember and they dont want to give them one.

The lessons of the Waldbaums fire must be learned by all fire fighters and officers. We must never foget these men or the lesson of that day. If you do not understand what happened you must read both Brainigan & Dunn. Mike thank you for sharing your experience. It teaches us why it is so critical to understand what happened that day and hopeful will remind all firefighters why it is so critical to our families and the families of our brothers & sisters.

Failure to get Zoning board, Planning board &/or historic/archatecter board approval can result in 1 angry citizen (like the one who moved in 1 year ago, accross the street from every fire house and wants us to move) going to court and stopping your project. You will lose this one in court.

Point proven. Who 20 years ago considered that violating the law (it would be in NYS, dont know about CT) would ever cause an issue? So if you do a project now with out the proper permits someone will have to clean up your mess later.

Time to take a closer look at Public Safety Systems that use cross trained FF/LEO's. The number one reason stated for them is cost savings (also we can't afford a career FD). "You get what you pay for". How many small FD's or PD's run ambulances with personnel that the take from one assignment (patrol or suppression) because they do not have enough personnel? So when there is an EMS call, do not expect a timely response for a burglar alarm or a pot on the stove. How many FF's are needed? How many LEO's? Most of the public safety cross trained are getting away with fewer of both. If you need 20 FF's and 25 cops on duty per shift they tend to have 30 combined, which saves in the budget and is fine if you do not have calls that require both activities at the same time. Now does it really save money for the property owners? Well the budget is less. But does that mean other things like code enforcement are not being done or is the building dept bigger to perform that function or does an outside company charge buisnesses to perform this and report it to the city? What about parking and other enforcment s which often pays for itself? Whats the ISO rating? If you are not on the fire apparatus ISO wants 36 responders and an IC? In the station its 12 and an IC. So for a dual role system to have the same rating with say 2 engines, 1 ladder & 1 rescue they need 36 LEO's & FF's that can be released to fire duty. if they were seperate with the same rating you would need 13 in the FD leaving 23 LEO's. So we are short changing the FD since we all know thats the side thats not getting the manning. What does this cost? In NR we determined that if we drop the onduty force from 29 down to 25 the property insurance premiums would go up $8 - $12 million per year. So saving $1m in taxes costs $8-$12m. If its still coming out of your pocket is this a good deal? The number one question is what level of service does this provide. Can responders handle the training requirements and maintain effectiveness (generally thru actual working incidents and drills)to more than one discipline? Yes. what about more than two, three or four? Can a good LEO also be a good FF? Yes But what other roles are required of these members? Do they provide EMS? ALS or BLS? Hazmat? Ops or Tech Level? Basic Rescue? Technical Rescue? Who does fire prevention training? Who provides for prevention inspections/code enforcement? What about speed enforcement (radar)? Tactical or SWAT? Other law enforcment specialties? We have found that with 40 hours per week and you take out time for minimum training requirements, maintenance/cleaning of equipment/station, fire inspections and incident responses there are not enough hours left in the week to do all the specialties. Therefor we have each station specialize (hazmat, tech rescue, etc.)so not everyone has to maintain all the training. If you add patrol to the responsabilities something has to give. Can you maintain certification in all areas and be good at all of them or are you trully a jack of all trades, master of none? The final issue brought out in this thread is the actual response by the dept. in this thread. Any dept. (career, combo, vol or public safety) can have the same issues as brought out here; training, PPE, policies, command etc. I do not think that because this involved a Public Safty Dept. it means that all Public Safety Depts. are the same. But I do think that maintianing the training levels and more importantly the drilling and experience levels in this type of dept are very difficult.

About 10-15 years ago, Fed OSHA gave citations to both Abbey & Empress for failing to protect their employees by providing PPE as required by the general duty clause, CFR 1910.132 - 1910.138 In General: 1910.132(d)(1) - The employer shall assess the workplace to determine if hazards are present, or are likely to be present, which necessitate the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). If such hazards are present, or likely to be present, the employer shall: 1910.132(d)(1)(i) - Select, and have each affected employee use, the types of PPE that will protect the affected employee from the hazards identified in the hazard assessment; 1910.132(d)(1)(ii) - Communicate selection decisions to each affected employee; and, 1910.132(d)(1)(iii) - Select PPE that properly fits each affected employee. The NFPA standard mentioned by others covers what gear needs to be to meet the OSHA regulations.

Yes, NYS UFP&BC has the same requirements for all buildings. The only difference is the Building official may wave any fees on public buildings. Failure to meet all UFP&BC requirements places a huge liability on the FD if anything ever goes wrong. I have seen many municipalities ignor this and it always results in an issue later on (maybe not liability, but egg on the face).

And you know what they are from the rig

Even better is when they become firefighters. "What a great job, whats the chance there will ever be a fire" and "Save my elephant"

We need more of that

Good thing DPS just completed a $2m+ upgrade of its communication system. I agree that dispatch should be merged at the TMC. Cellular 911 will continue to rise and thats where they come into. The question is what savings in consolidation will be wiped out the moment you have to build the dispatch facility?

Never admit to that........