Bnechis

N.E., I thought Garrison was ALF & now Ferarra

When you consider "Combination" Departments, you need to also identify if they are primary volunteer or primary career. sometimes that is hard to do - Eastchester - Primary career, since they no longer allow volunteers to respond to scenes Fairview - Primary career Greenville - Primary career Harrison - Primary career Hartsdale - Primary volunteer Larchmont - Primary career Mamaroneck Town - Primary volunteer Lake Mohegan - Primary volunteer Peekskill - Primary volunteer Pelham - tough to call, the dept would consider itself Primary volunteer 50 or so volunteers & 16 career, however they average more career responders than volunteers on calls. Pelham Manor - Primary volunteer Port Chester - Primary volunteer Rye - Primary volunteer Scarsdal - Primary career (SFD has a very active vol. group, but the only get paged to confirmed jobs) so most everything is covered by career.

Thats the plan, but there is a citywide hiring freeze and we are down about 8 positions now

Paterson is about 10 trucks behind us. They are the only other NYS dept on the list.

When we spec'ed it we were planning on it. With the economy the way it is, it is unlikely we will be able to man it at this time.

OSHA violation if it is not covered. Hey I never thought about that before.... 1910.212(a)(3)(ii) The point of operation of machines whose operation exposes an employee to injury, shall be guarded. The guarding device shall be in conformity with any appropriate standards therefor, or, in the absence of applicable specific standards, shall be so designed and constructed as to prevent the operator from having any part of his body in the danger zone during the operating cycle. They said we were the 1st dept to have our own CAD drawings for venders to see as part of our bid package. Thanks. end of October

You would. We have a special seat for you hanging from the top.

Chassis Completion

It can also be controlled by a wireless remote control that TFT gave us for free.

just to throw a little munkey wrench in......Our union also fought hard to get a system for every rig. The new E-25 can not be used on the system. Detroit D. & Pierce will void the warranty and we were told the new exhaust system will melt the hose. But on the good note it captures the particulates in the system. over the next 20 years as rigs are replaced, you will see less and less need for these systems.

Here is my drawing R4_Right_6_25_08.pdf Its original work, that I did to help develop the spec

It would be a great idea for the county to let us know how to deal safely with these busses. They are already in service and on the street, I saw one today

Its the new standard Detroit 60. We do not have the Ward no smoke. Even before regen, the temps are much higher

The only coffin box is already there. We have a number of other systems/equipment that will take up the entire roof space. no seating...I dont think NFPA allows it.

Curb Side 8/10/09 Rear Upper 8/10/09 Front Upper 8/10/09 Street Side 8/10/09

"Rent this space".....is he the dept. fund raising officer?

Every "heavy" winter fire we freeze 40-60 sets of gear that are then unsafe until they thaw and dry. We can not expect 25 to 30% of our department to be out of service for the next 24 hours. All of our gear is custom sized, this reduces injuries and we found the high end gear we use lasts much longer than the "standard" off the rack gear. ISO requires a spare engine for every 1-7 you own and a spare ladder for every 1-7 you own. We have 2 spare engines for 5 engines and they are inservice (due to maintnenace) as much as the frontline rigs. We have 1 spare ladder for 3 inservice and often that is not enough. 80% of the time we have a spare inservice (and we have a modern and well maintained fleet). How often do we have thunderstorms? If your gear is soaked it can not be used, unless you want to be boiled like a lobster. unless you do not go in on fires, then I guess if you do not care for the comfort of your people, then what the hell. So by your logic, we should get rid of the FD, then we can hire extra secretaries and teachers. BTW if your in NYS and not in the big 4 cities then the school money does not come from municipal government. so if you buy the gear, it does not change the school budget, if you do not buy the gear it does not change the school budget. Does your dept. spend $$$ on dress uniforms and parades? How important is that? Note: as I've pointed out the law requires you provide adequate and safe gear, but does not require all the other bells and whistles. You really need to learn how governments budget. If my dept. buys millions of $$4 worth of anything, it is because we budgeted for it and the sity agreed. The School District, does not care what we spend or don't because they will do what every they want. In fact, 30 years ago our municipal budget was 25%, County 25% & school 50%. The city has held back, even the county has, and now we see the school district has just filled in the difference. As we have no control or impact on them.

One interpretation that I saw said that closing the road does not count if there is any vehicle movement, such as the tow vehicle or EMS, fire apparatus, etc.

New gear cost between $2,000 and $5,000 so with 100 members (how many are interior?) you are talking about $200,000 to $500,000 or the cost of defering an engine purchase for a year or two. 1910.132 (b ) - Employee-owned equipment. Where employees provide their own protective equipment, the employer shall be responsible to assure its adequacy, including proper maintenance, and sanitation of such equipment. 1910.132(h)(1) - Except as provided by paragraphs (h)(2) through (h)(6) of this section, the protective equipment, including personal protective equipment (PPE), used to comply with this part, shall be provided by the employer at no cost to employees. 1910.132(h)(5) - The employer must pay for replacement PPE, except when the employee has lost or intentionally damaged the PPE. The dept. needs to pay and not just help defer the cost, see 1910.132(h)(1)

The law (29CFR1910.132) requires the employeer (your FD) to provide your gear. And the standards require the gear to be no older than 10 years old I must assume your dept has 40 or fewer members or they are not meeting their obligations. Maybe a review of the budget is needed.

From an opertional standpoint there are very few better ways to use that money. How many ff's have been taught that wet turnouts can cause you to have steam burns when you go on the next fire call? We have had simple calls that gear was contaminated and the gear had to be removed from service, without 2nd sets, those members would not have had gear for weeks. I'm sorry we can't go on any calls for the next few hours (till it drys) or weeks till the new gear comes in is not good policy.

We dont run battalions, why should the rigs be numbered that way. But I agree the numbering system is very poor. They do enforce poor concepts, like if its not an eng, ladder, rescue or tanker it must be a utility and all utilities are the same. We have utilities that are: pick up trucks dedicated tow units vans busses dewatering units rehab MCI units spill response units Mask service units (this one was later given its own designation) and I'm sure a host of other things. Sometimes its nice to know what something is

If you do not know, either ask for both or reconsider what do you really need. Getting a rig that can do "either" job poorly is not the answer. Get the correct rig to do the job.

Two weeks ago (before this thread) we met with our city corporation council to discuse this article and this issue and should we change from SOP's to SOG's or "best practices". She advised us that after extensive research she found the appelate courts have specifically written that in police dept cases (she said she found no relative FD cases) it did not matter what you called it. She said the content was what matters and the courts will ignor what the title is. For example, if your SOP says when the vehicle is in park it shall have the wheels chocked, if you do not do it in the fire station then you will lose in court. If it says you should chock them when parked on public roads, your ok.y In general make sure your "shalls" and "must" are enforced. Unless its required by law (OSHA, DMV, etc.) consider "should" instead. If it is required by law then it must be "shall". Also a good idea to add an escape clause, such as: "there may be some situations that are beyond the scope of this SOP, the IC shall use his best judjment to meet the intent if not the actual details of this SOP".

Darwin would call this "survival of the fittest"........If the dumb ones do not survive to reproduce, the species will thrive. It has also been called thinning the herd. It is sometimes harsh to think in those terms, but it has been going on forever.