Bnechis

In the early 1980's San Bernadino CA (I think) experimented with 3 tractor drawn engines. It obviously never caught on.

30A1 (24/7) is out of NRFD Sta #1 - Harrison St behind New Roc 30A2 (24/7) is out of NRFD Sta #3 - North Ave betwn Iona & NR High School. It has been 24 hour since Abbey got the contract about 12 years ago or so. It was empress before that. 30A3 (7am-7pm/7 days) is a floater. It is posted between NRFD Sta #3 and Quaker Ridge Road. 90% of its calls are in the southern 1/2 of the city, but the politicians want it up north. Sta #5 is too far north. It is stationed there only if we retain it after 7pm due to storms.

How many probies have been sent to go get the: 1) sky hook 2) the squeeggee sharpener 3) left handed axe or the ever popular Bucket of steam?

That particular one only limits the very small manufacturers. KME,E-one, Pierce, Smeal, Seagrave, Ferarra, ALF etc. all can meet this one. I liked one spec that stated: "the mudflaps must have the manufacturers tri colored logo and name in script" we changed that to "mudflaps shall be black rubber, the manufacturer MAY include there name and/or logo at no additional charge to the purchaser". Another one said the manufacturers plant shall be within X miles of a specific airport or other landmark. Still others have stated the dealer must maintain a shop within the county (meanwhile others have shops that are much closer, but they are not in the county). Unless you can justify why these things are truly critical then this is bid rigging. And you are putting your dept at risk. Very true, unless you write performance specs, instead of letting the dealer you want "write" your spec.

There is a very fine line on that common practice between specing a specific company and bid rigging (which is a crime in NYS). I do not know about thornwood, but I have seen many depts certified these bids with only one vendor...the one they wanted. And they often pay a large price for that, since everyone knew the fix (wink) was in.

>>"The committee that has denied Malverne firefighter Paul Brady a place on the state Fallen Firefighters Memorial would lose its authority to make such decisions under state legislation submitted Wednesday by Assemb. Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach)."<< The committee had been debating the concept of a tragic accident while on duty vs. a death while risking ones life to aid another prior to this case. They had already determined that if every "on-duty" LODD was on the wall, it would reduce the honor for those who died while operating a great personnal risk. For example; should we honor an 85 year old member (with a history of multiple cardiac events) who has an additional event while tracking member responses as the same as the FDNY firefighter who ran into the world trade center? The FF Brady LODD was a tragic and stupid accident (he was on top of the rig, when it was driven out of the station, so the floor could be cleaned. He was trapped between the rig and the ceiling). When this case was denied by the committee as a tragic accident, but not up to the same honor, the dept. is trying get Albany to go arround the committee by mandating it.

OSHA uses many NFPA standards as the bases of the OSHA regs. In some cases they refer directly to NFPA (as directed by federal law). Also the courts clearly use NFPA as "what would the prudent person due in the same situation". Federal OSHA Law requires states that set up its own OSHA program must enact all standards at an equal or greater level than the feds. In most cases NYS PESH enforces Fed OSHA regulations to the letter (including the same typos).

We have a specialty unit thats searches for children. The training tape we use to teach responders about the capabilities of this unit can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmbklTNDU2E&feature=related

Thats the best explination of the problem I have seen.

If you believe this, then we could also get rid of PD, FD & EMS in Westchester and rely on mutual aid from everyone else, but it would not be mutual then would it?

Not to close. If you flood it, you can kill the sensor.

I thought the hole for the trap door goes on the floor of a gallows "Bailout simulator"....I thought they were building a public gallows....my bad

One would think that a requirement would include living &/or working close if not in the battalion. Not likely someone who lives & works in Yonkers would be hired to cover So. Salem or vise versa.

That way when LAPD marine div or SDPD marine div get a carrier they will be ready to go?

Sounds like a good idea, but I remember a late night fire in an animal hospital, with a report of a possible worker inside. Upon FD arrival they entered and found a victim at the base of the basement stairs and removed him, once outside they relized it was a PO and the actual victim was still inside, they went back in to get him. The officer's well meaning actions delayed the civilians rescue (both luckily recovered). The PO recived an award for the "recue" and the irony is that when I cut out newspaper article on the award, the back side had the article on the police dept. being charged with violating NYS DOL Law for allowing the untrained officer to enter a hazardous environment. If you reverse firefighter and police officer here, whats the difference? Yes FF's/EMS are not trained in risk/beefit of a pursuit, but PO's are not trained in risk/beefit of a fire entry. One of the reasons we teach civilians not to re-enter a burning structure is that without SCBA it is possible that 1-2 breaths are all that it will take to knock a person out. Even with SCBA, failure to understand fire behavior can cost lives. About 20 years ago a NYPD ESU officer equipped with SCBA (for hazmat) entered a burning structure to search for victims. To reduce smoke in the structure the PO's partner vented the building which resulted in a flashover. The 1st officer was caught in that flashover and FDNY Rescue 1 was able to remove him, and he was admitted to NYH Cornell's Burn unit but he did not survive his in injuries. Fires are just as unpridictable, particularly if not trained in building construction and fire behavior. It is clear that they do not understand the danger. Yes his heart is in the right place, but his head is not.

Anyone can design a single rear axle if keep the weight carried relativly low. Maybe if all you consider to be "rescue equipment" is extrication equipment. Once we add all our equipment to our 91' Single rear axle Pierce it was overloaded and that was with 46% of the box empty and the 4 seats in the back empty. Everytime we wanted to add equipment, we had to remove something else. While that 4th compartment may get you "more space" its only going to be able to carry air (and not in tanks). Most rescues have tons of wasted space and extra compartments do not make a difference but capacity to carry the load (and be able to safely stop it) is more critical. Also most single axle units are 21' box, not 24' so you actually do not gain the extra space over the tandumes. Arent most of those ladders tandums?

I think you hit the nail on the head. It was a simple operation and its pretty clear they have not drilled and are winging it.

TFT warns you not to gate down. Its about Presure (PSI) not flow. We have 95gpm, 125gpm and 500gpm eductors, they all require 200psi and thats what they flow if you give them that psi.

Yes and thats why we switched to it. It costs about 25% more, but each pail gives almost 100% more coverage since you dial down the %. Also means each rig carries 2x as much in the same space.

You are not alone, I think that the majority of firefighters have never been taught what is truly needed for foam operations. After training and performing the calculations for ethonal based fires most FD's do not carry enough to handle a car fire. Very True If you gate down the nozzle you create a back pressure and the eductor will not pick up foam, so you get water without foam. Most eductors require 200psi at the eductor, with a max of 200' of hose between the eductor and the nozzle. the friction loss of the hose and eductor will give you 100psi at the nozzle. This is general, you need to know what eductor psi requirements you have. 1) AR-AFFF 1-3% 2) Flamable liquid fires. 3) 4-5 5-gallon jugs per engine. Each engine has a 95gpm eductor, low & medium expansion TFT nozzles. 4) We do not have "prepiped" systems because they cost extra to install, cost a lot to maintain and almost never work (class when you need them (unless they have been perfictly maintained and exercised). As mentioned they get "gummed up" and I have seen many depts. fail to produce foam because of it. On engine 25 we have it pre set-up (not pre-piped) we have a gated wye on the front bumper with a short length that goes to an eductor. 200' of 1.75" hose and a foam nozzle. If you want foam, you stretch that line, spike a foam can (which is stored in the bumper) and charge the line. It cost nothing extra to set it up, nothing more to maintain and we can get foam as fast or faster than any rig with a "prepiped" system. With 20-25 gallons per rig we can get 100-125 gallons on-scene quick, if that is not enough we can go to our back-up: We stock another 30-60 5 gal pails in the fire stations and we just added (not inservice yet) a large flow system, which consists of the following: 3) 55 gallon drums of concentrate 1) Drum hand truck 1) pick-up truck with lift gate (mechanics) 1) Foam bin (like a dump tank for foam). Its on wheels has a drain bar (so 5 gal pails can be flipped and drain) and a spike (to rip open pails that are dumped in) it can support multiple eductors at one time as it holds about 50 gallons. 3) foam master stream nozzles with built in eductors and pick-up tubes (can work on any deck gun and pick up from the ground or foam bin). 3) 2.5" 500gpm eductors to supply ladder pipes and the tower ladder 1) Jet Ratio Controller - to supply a remote master stream device from upto 3,000 feet away from the foam supply. This way we can leave an unmanned monitor flowing foam.

Fire under a double wide......would that be considered a basement fire.

nice technique.....notice how they didn't even chip the paint on the front door. Thats the 1st time I have seen a chief lying on his belly in the front yard...any takers as to why?

While it maybe "at your leisure"....those members who are behind you waiting there turn may not feel the same and if you take too long they will jump onto you.

NFPA 1901 requires that "fire" apparatus shall have keyless ignitions or if keyed (commercial vehicles) the keys shall be attached to the vehicle so it can not be "misplaced" in an emergency. I have used these systems on flycars before and most allow you to remove the key from the ignition while leaving the vehicle running (to maintain lights & radios). If this is what you are refering to, it would not have prevented this theft, or are you refering to some other system? Also what system is available to custom fire apparatus? The manufacturers all say it can not be done on those ignitions, is there an aftermarket solution that will not void the warrenties?