Bnechis

The problem is too many "managers" do not have the ability or desire to do it. They just want the car and the scrambled eggs on the hat. The public sector is divided. Career personnel do have protection from improper discharge, but they can still be fired or encouraged to leave. How many VFD's show people the door? Much of this thread has mentioned the slakers coming for the credit and clearly, the depts allow this. They can easily be addressed but it appears that no one is willing to do it. Maybe because in private sector and in career service you dont get to run the show, because this year its my turn. Very true. Now how many volunteer depts. or even small career/combo depts do this?

This is a very nice gesture, but how was the program sold to the taxpayers? If it as a gesture to their long committment thats fine, but I've seen FD's sell this only on the concept that if we dont retain and recruit it will cost you millions to go paid.

I wont tell that to my patients (or the lawyers) if you wont. For a while then I tried to show you the ropes of the vernon......but thats another issue. I also did the NICU gig without your guildence. Nope, I love the work too much to sit on the beech and yell instructions to the Jr. sailors. Thanks, your memory is going (must be the age). The cycle was broken Jan 1, 1985 when I went to MV. Then again with the Lt. promotion....who followed who (and by how many years)? Thanks, thats about the best thing I've heard.

Then when it flew off they became an unequipped taxi. Maybe going back would have been worth the extra minute. The strap just broke...I don't by it. It was either not rated for the job, already damaged, cut on an edge,or not secured to something structural. For example 1" tubular webbing is rated at 4,000 Ibs. A 13' inflatable is about 200 Ibs. Even with 55mph wind it is not going to just break. After 25 years of technical rescue training I've never seen a rated strap breaking without 1st showing some signs of damage.

I was in the CP, EMS Command was standing next to me and the EMS side worked perfect on the trunked system. The fire side was on NRFD radio system and it performed flawlessly.

"You have reached 9-1-1, I am sorry but all of our responders are unavalable do to hurricane Ike. We told you a 10 to 20 high wall of water will wash over the city and to get out and you decided that you are smarter than the average bear (right boo boo?) and stayed. Please leave your name, any identifying marks, next of kin and your current GPS location (cause your street number, and street, house, etc. will be gone) and we will be searching for you when its over. In the animal kingdom this is refered to as thining the heard and survival of the fitest (in this case the smartest).

Generally not, because those type of storms while very nasty, tend to be steady gale or whole gale with higher gusts, but we are not worried that in minutes or a few hours we will get a major increase in conditions. Another concern is do you allow your responders to go out when the eye is passing over. Its nice weather then, but in a short time its back to 70-120 mph winds. Our general plan is to only go out to check the conditions of the fire station and prepare for the next hit. Remeber if you trash your personnel or equipment, you cant help anyone.

"The state launched a volunteerism Web site this week, and Gov. David Paterson added a position to his Cabinet in an effort to spur volunteers in New York. By visiting Volunteer, people can find volunteer opportunities by county, ZIP code and subject category, such as human services, public safety, animals and environment..........New York is the second state in the nation to have a Cabinet position to address community service, a Paterson spokeswoman said. California was the first, she said....................New York has one of the lowest rates of volunteerism in the country at 20.1 percent of the population, according to a 2007 report by the Corporation for National & Community Service. The only state with a lower rate over a three-year period was Nevada (17.5 percent). The highest was Utah (45.9 percent). The national average was 27 percent of adults............The initiative to increase volunteerism and post opportunities on the Web is fantastic, said John Ravitz, chief executive officer of the American Red Cross, Westchester County Chapter. Volunteers make up 96 percent of the group's work force, and the chapter wants to increase its volunteers from 500 to 1,000 in three years, he said........" From http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...EWS05/809130356 Interesting article. I wonder if they count volunteer ff's & EMS into there numbers? Also I went to there web site and found no EMS agencies and only 2 Fire Depts in Westchester advertising that they need volunteers. I guess either no one knows the state is trying to push this or agencies don't want "outsiders" joining.

One hand wants "volunteers" the other hand is against paying for them. "To demonstrate his continued support, Governor Paterson appointed his wife, Michelle Paige Paterson as the Honorary Chair. First Lady Paige Paterson has long been involved with solving community problems, along with her husband. She is a role model and active supporter of service and volunteering to the citizens of New York State." from http://newyorkersvolunteer.org/CommissionI...issionInfo.aspx Look the governor is willing to give his wife and all you want are his hands

Sustained Gale Force Winds (35 mph) ahead of a hurricane. That does not mean gust, it also does not mean that in a regular storm with winds that high we will not respond, but if the winds are already that high and zero hour (the time the hurricane will hit) is approaching we cant risk sending our responders out into that. This am I was watching the news on the storm and they were showing one town in texas that someone called 911 to report that the water was up to his neck, inside his house and he needed rescue. The PD advised him they had no way to get to him. Maybe thats why they told everyone to get out of the way.

Thanks.....Now what did I ever do to you?.....lol

Yep we were. It started with the 2nd alarm at the high school (with units delayed do to other calls and flooded roads), We had 9 reported structure fires and about 20 reported floodings (including 3 or 4 with trapped occupants). 60 Control, NRFD F1 (for most, if not all) 4 years ago the county advised us that the trunk system (as planned) would not work in the southern 1/2 of our city and even if it did, it would not work as we needed it to. As has been mentioned before its a vehicle based system only, and that is what we had for the previous 20 years and we needed a vehicle and portable based system. So based on what the county advised, we developed our own system. It works great. It is basically the same set up that YFD, EFD, WPFD set up. and most of the career & combo depts are able to program it in there rigs. So when they come to us, if the switch to our frequence, everything works great. How well would it work if we were on our ch. and they were on the trunked ones? We have 4 channels. Dispatch on F1 (for all calls, NRHS and all others), but all units at NRHS were operating on fire ground 1(F2). Have no idea, but 60 does dispatch for PFD. Dont know, but it did not effect field units and it appeared to be well coordinated. 60 Control was able to get us the help we needed and every call was handled. Boy was I surprised when E66 and L32? arrived at an alarm with me on Union Ave. I was not sure till they arrived who they even were. I cant remember WPFD responding to calls in so. NR before.

Define "normality" ? If the host is not active on it, then how much use is it to the MA units? Not sure whats the norm to MV is, but when we had the storm last month and the NRHS 2nd alarm, I was running calls with Larchmont, Eastchester, Greenville and White Plains. I was being dispatched by 60 control on NR frequency as were EFD & GFD. I dont know about the others, but I never heard them on the radio.

And the smaller call volume communities can do it if they are willing to merge with surounding communities. The public cares about having good service, the only one who cares about defending turf is the local agency.

Many of the career depts. (EFD, MVFD, NRFD, YFD, Others?) are not using the trunked system for incidents in there communities (because we have our own radio systems that work better for us). Last month when NRHS was on fire and we had LFD, GFD, EFD, SFD & WPFD in town responding to multiple calls (due to major storm), most have our radio and that worked great, 1 or 2 were trying to contact us on the trunked system, which was not in use. EFD, NRFD & YFD set up there systems prior to the county system and in NR's case because we were told by the county that the trunked system would not do what we need a radio system to do. On a more positive note, last spring we had a highrise fire requiring about 6 different MA EMS agencies. They used the trunked system and it worked perfect for coordinating that component.

Regardless of the law, I think rigs should speed up when coming up to a red light, because the faster you go thru the intersection, the less likel you are to get hit. Dont ignore the law because you dont like it. Work to change it. City ordinances cant supersede NYS Law. It appears that YPD just decided to either ignore the law or they were above the law.

Maybe it has, but preventing fire and protecting the community is no longer the primary goal? I know that for some the primary goal is to spend more $$$$ than all other FD's, run RLS and try to prove how wonderful they are. But I dont think those are the goals of the fire service and if they are, its time to change.

Yes it is a majority of what we do, but we have never tried to hide that fact to try to "impress" anyone. And its NRFD not FDNR (we dont need to imitate NYC) thanks

Are you saying I have a bad attitude? It appears that information is not listed, I wonder why? In 2007 FDNY Suppression did 207,677 EMS calls which is 42% of 490,767 calls they did. If you look at FDNY-BEMS the % are higher, but then you'd also have to add PGFD's EMS Division as well. They just forgot to mention that EMS is a majority of what they do. People are talking about them because they are either very impressed or feel they are an embarrassment to the fire service

I like Statistics, they help show what trends are. Granted often there are minor errors, but they help to give a general overview. According to the PGFD 2007 Annual Report (from PGFD website) Kentland 33 had 5,287 EMS calls and 1,901 FIRE calls in 2007. Total 7,188 74% EMS 26% Fire (plus all other calls) Interesting that Kentland 33's site brages about how busy they are (claiming 7,200 runs) but there is no mention that 74% is EMS. I guess they would not be that impressive to the buffs if that was there. Also interesting that the Fire to EMS call ratio is the same for 33 as for the rest of PG county. The Rescue Engine responded 1,815 Engine 4,439 Mini 3,255 Tower 947

My original IFSTA Essentials book said that the primary goal of the fire service is to prevent and protect the community from fire. It appears to me that Kentland is very impressed with the number of fires they have. This is not progressive. What are they doing to prevent all this fire? I know most firefighters take an oath to protect the community. When Kentland refused to allow ALS units into there station to protect the community they showed me that they are to busy "playing" and could care less about the safety, health and well being of the citizens they are sworn to protect.

Nope. The EIS system can be manipulated in many ways. One of the best is to claim that an issue (safety, noise, traffic, etc.) will have no significant impact, then if the review agency (city council) does not question it, then its swept under the rug. can anyone define "significant impact"?

Nope its not age.....its more likely the fact that I have not listened to TMPD since 1985/6

If your in TMFD then you may or may not know that TMPD had codes for food locations for pick-up. If memory serves DD was "location #1"

HOW DARE YOU CLAIM ITS IN NEW ROCHELLE. Everyone knows that that area is Scarsdale, because the real estate agent told us it is. Just because its on the NR map and they pay NR tax in no way makes this location in NR..........LOL