Bnechis

Is there even a bill? There wasn't when the truck was spec'ed, or initial build A8409 & A8470 and S4006 & S5593 were introduced this past tuesday and sent to committee. That means if they are fast tracked we might see them for Xmas.

Nope. My guys wanted to know why we dont order rigs with the blue rear. We told them when it is legal, it takes 1 min to swap out the red or amber for blue.

I hope its on when they back into my vehicle...it needs replacing and the taxpayers in Somers have more $$$ than I......

The proposal would be that the vote would desolve the current FD's (including laying off all personnel) Then forming a new dept (and hiring those personnel). There are no provissions to have any input from the fire service. Seth, you have a lot of high ideas about how great this could be, but what happens if the town supervisor gets his way and he & the town board figure the way to save money is drop the levels of protection. three 1 man engines, one 1 man ladder and a chief....a five man staff....great savings. This proposal is very dangerous. If Albany passes this it also will affect the VFD's in districts. I.e. When Mt Pleasant has to drop to 1 dept. a lot of apparatus sales people will be very poor. They do not pay fire tax to the town. It is not clear who gets to vote. Yes you can, but thats not what the AG is suggesting Thats easy, edgemont does not want to be part of Greenburg Central 7 and no one in Hartsdale & Greenville want to pay for all the none profits in Fairview

THis can not be done under current NYS Law.

It does not look like FPD's are affected. But Don't all voters in the town get to vote in town issues (like the library) so all the residence (and volunteers) in Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Elmsford, Irvington, Hastings, & Tarrytown get to vote on disolving the fire districts in Greenville, Hartsdale & Fairview?

The method proposed here has no fire service input. This concept is the state wants to reduce the number of "districts" (Fire, water, utility, etc.) and are considering allowing the public to vote on the idea. The reason the unions have to worry is this is driven by politicians with no understanding of the needs of FD's. The 3 depts mentioned here run 5 engines, 3 ladders, & 1 rescue. The Town Supervisor will control all aspects of this new FD (read budget) and if he thinks 2 engines and 1 ladder can cover it, he can reduce the budget and lower taxes, which is what this is all about. I am a big fan of consolidation......Too Improve Services. This consolidation is very likely to gut fire services.

Whats different this time is it is not the fire districts or the union that is studying it. If the State passes this proposed legislation all Paul Feiner will have to do is convince a majority of VOTERS (as in the 20-30% of residence who actually show up) that this is a good idea and they will disband the 3 districts and become a town dept. It is not about what it should be, its about what a select group of his supporters can pull off. This does not look at the FD's in the light of what we need to protect the communities. This is the 3rd or 4th high ranking state officials plan to get rid of fire and other special districts in the state.

Since when does a legal parking space come with a guarantee that nothing will happen to your car? If a brick was thrown thru your window & your radio stolen, was it the PD's fault for not arresting the crook before? What if the car was hit by a DWI, is that PD's fault for not getting him 1st. Caulk it up to bad timing, parked in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is a big problem in America......stop blaming everyone else & take responsibility. And if he/she had minimal insurance, took a chance to save money.....next time think twice

Since the MVP is rated at 2,000 gpm or more (they claim they should be able to do 3,000 with the next one off the line) and the PUC was designed to do 1,500 but in tests is around 1,200. If your buying a pumper, then it should be able to pump, if your buying a quint, then its pump should be able to actually feed itself, I dont think the PUC can do it.

No much new, except for Ferrara had there new MVP pumper, its similar to Pierces PUC, but can actually pump 2x more water. Otherwise the show was basically the same stuff as before, with a lot of companies taking about the lack of sales and how all the other companies were going to go out of biz.

TZ_Bridge_Tornado.bmp This was taken from the tappan Zee Bridge about 5 minutes before it hit Hawthorn. The rest I have to resize

Here you go....that didn't work. I'll try again Nope I could not get them uploaded. I'll try again in the next day or so.

Maybe it was one of those police impersonators pulling over an unsuspecting helocopterist? Did they have a Kojac light on the dash?

"Bill Introduced in Congress to Protect Volunteers WASHINGTON - In their continued support of firefighters nationwide, Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced the Volunteer Firefighter and EMS Personnel Job Protection Act today. This bipartisan legislation would prohibit employers from firing or disciplining volunteer firefighters or EMS personnel who were forced to miss work to respond to a presidentially declared disaster. First responders will no longer be required to make a choice between losing their job and responding to a presidentially declared disaster or emergency." So what would happen if that volunteer was also a career ff, cop, medic etc. or worked for FEMA. They would not lose their job if they responded as a volunteer ,but who would do their job? Maybe the country would be better of if every congress member did not feel the need to creat one new law after another.

Chris the same question could (and should) be asked of any and all departmetns that claim to have a team (a group, a capability, etc.). We should define a hazmat team and what a minimum response should be. For example what does YFD send as a minimum on a hazmat response?

Basically you need to ask your dept. officer(s) what the district policies are. As a FF you should not have to worry about it, the commissioners (and chiefs) need to set policy as to how the district will comply with the law.

I know you were not. Sea tow called NRPD Harbor, NYPD Harbor heard the call and responded, they requested ASR & SCUBA. Then the following agencies also showed up: FDNY R1 & R3 (plus other units), NY Housing Rescue (in case it was an elevator car in the water and not a car in the water), NYC*EMS (4 amb, 1 supervisor) and 1 VAC. To finally get control of the incoming units that were not called the draw bridge was raised (a great tool for staging/securing a scene). The communications between the 3 lead agencies (WCPD, NRPD, NRFD)was excellent. It was not bad after the copter incident once lots of NYC Bosses (from 4+ agencies) arrived. It was not automatic and at the time USCG NY Air (Floyd Bennett) was still in service. I dont believe the copter was buffing, just lack of communication, but many others did buff. I have no problem with them responding they are a great resource. We just need to coordinate things better. Agreed

Could a taxpayer F.O.I.L a districts records and then sue the board of commissoners for misuse of public funds? Could a DA, looking for PR go after them? Both are unlikely, but I wonder if it could happen?

The medivac was in the center and the other copter was large (a huey) and he landed at the edge of the 100'. I agree that tape is not a good marker, we were in a large parking lot, with 100+ cars and 100's of people (WCPD did a great job of clearing them quickly). Our concern was keeping all the moving cars & people away. He cursed the LZ officer out for using the tape, when asked if the IC had approved or even requested his agency respond outside of its jurisdiction he mumbled a "sorry" then went back to pulling scene tape from the engine intake. I don't know, does a helicopter need approval to land in the middle of an emergency scene? Does the IC have any say over what agencies respond into his community? Particularly when they have self dispatched themselves (buffed?). Now we really appreaciate the capabilities that other agencies can bring to help, but that particular scene was amazing. I never saw so many self dispatched agencies in my life and most arrived after 1 victim was transported and the other was DOA.

And any fish his divers missed

Laws of NY 2006, Chapter 236 Section 72-g of the GML http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/fdrefo...tm#affecttravel Fire district commissioners, other fire district officers, fire district employees, and the chief and assistant chief of a fire district can continue to attend conferences at fire district expense, but a recent amendment requires that conference travel must be for official business, using a “cost-effective and reasonable method of travel.” Conference travel still requires the prior approval of the board of fire commissioners. The new laws also limit the mileage allowance that a fire district may provide to its officers and employees, paid employees, and all paid and volunteer officers of the fire district, for the use of a personal automobile in the performance of official duties. In determining the amount of the mileage allowance, the board of fire commissioners may consider the cost of gasoline, but in no event may the mileage allowance exceed the standard mileage allowance for business-related travel adopted or prescribed for federal income tax purposes. Volunteer firefighters of a fire district may continue to attend training schools and courses of instruction, with the fire district paying most of the expenses incurred by attendance at the school or course. Attendance continues to require authorization by the chief of the department and, if the school or course is located or given outside the county in which the fire district is located, the authorization to attend continues to be subject to the prior approval of the board of fire commissioners. Effective October 24, 2006, if a training school or course of instruction is located or given outside New York State, the authorization to attend must be granted by the board of fire commissioners if they find that the school or course is necessary and in the public interest, and is not available within a reasonable distance and time period in the State. If a volunteer travels to a training school or course of instruction using his or her personal automobile, the mileage allowance that the district may provide must not exceed the standard travel allowance for mileage adopted or prescribed for federal income tax purposes. In addition, the chief of the fire district must provide to the State Office of Fire Prevention and Control notice and proof of attendance at any out-of-state training school.

Chris I agree and most of the problems (traininng and policy issues) are in the ground crew, however what happens when the problem is with the air crew? We established a medivac landing zone in the parking lot of a large park, there was an LZ officer who was in radio contact with the pilot and a 100' x 100' LZ was marked off with scene tape (that was secured). After the Medivac bird was on the ground, a 2nd coppter landed without contacting or getting approval from the LZ officer. The coppter landed at the edge of the original LZ, on top of the scene tape. it broke and was sucked into the coppters engine intake. The pilot was later sceen pulling bits of yellow tape from the engine and stating lots of colorfull things about the firemen and the fireline tape. We had no way to contact this agency and the pilot felt he did not need approval to land.

Technically without venting it will always stay in the UEL. The structure will need to be vented to get it below the LEL and make it safe. The issue is when is the best time to vent, what safe guards should be put in place 1st.

Faster to call 911. If you call ConEd they call us anyway as their response is often 15 - 20+ minutes.