Bnechis

This is all because to many agencies have forgot the only reason for existing is the patient and not for the organization or the members. ITS ALL ABOUT THE PATIENT! I wish the State DOH would start to question agencies that have a pattern of failing to respond or major delays in responding as to why should they be allowed to maintain their C.O.N.

Seth I understand your experience and perspective on this is different than most. But it still does not change the fact that in Westchester the poor residence of many communities got ALS 25 years before the tax payers in many communities. We had agencies in Northern Westchester that were against ALS, even if it was free. The services provided and the response times in the worst neighborhoods in NYS, Newark, Yonkers Mt Vernon, etc. are vastly better than those in communities where the property taxes alone start at 50k.

It is very respectable, but only when you consider that some agencies on some days take 60-90 to get a call covered. On the same note its criminal that the homeless in every city get an ambulance in 8 minutes or less and a high end taxpayer gets a hope and a prayer.

You took this very differently than I had intended. 1st the FDNY group were the top 45 guys on a new list. 42 came from trucks, 1 rescue, 1 engine & 1 FM. 2nd. Yes in extrication we were way ahead as at the time only FDNY Rescues practiced it and NYPD ESU was responsible city-wide for it. 3rd My point (which I may have missed) was that because we operate differently we have different outcomes. The upstate depts. have no back up on search, no more truck companies and as such the upstate crews were more conservative which lead to finding fewer victims. But also ment when the time limit hit we were not as deep. I do not know if the time line was a realistic one, but it was very effective from a training perspective. The FDNY crews were more aggressive because the normally know they have more back-up, so they covered more ground and found more victims. I also think the scenario was less realistic for FDNY crews than upstaters, in you normally have more than a single 3 man search team.

No the outcomes were very different. We were very upset that we had on averaged missed 1/2 the victims. But learned so much from it that we would not make those mistakes again.

And the 4 or so other VAC's in the same town(s) are doing the same. It would be much better to take those 2 one manned ambulances and CONSOLIDATE into 1 two manned unit so response times would be reasonable. Each of these agencies is paying 1 EMT to do 1 or 2 calls in 12 hours. Most city ambulances are doing 8-12 calls in that time. Big waste of $$$ and the response times still stink.

When I was there we had 2 sections that forced the comparison: 1) Extrication. FDNY was just adding tools to ladder companies so they wanted to review procedures that some of the FDNY LT's had not practiced since probie school 10-15 years prior. So we di side by side cars. They worked on basic door pops, while the instructors told us to do what ever we wanted as they new we all did more extrication than any of the instructors. So we flipped one car on its roof & another on its side and had fun. 2) Floor above victim search in a tenement. This was EXCELLENT. 3 member teams sent to search for up to 6 members of a family missing on the floor above. 20 teams (15 FDNY teams, 5 "upstate teams), I was teamed with 2 members from Illion, NY. The apt. we searched was fully furnished, including bedding and clothing and empty bottles on the table. The walls were only 1/2 height and the instructors had platforms above so they could see & film our searches. at about the 10 minute mark the radio would advise that the engine on the fire floor lost water and we needed to get out. As we were evacuating we heard a pass alarm from the back of the apt. (we were previously advised that the OV from another truck was back there). We had another 3 minutes to find him and get out before the apt. "flashed". What was most interesting as we watched the 20 teams on video we found the "Upstate" teams averaged finding 3 of the victims and the OV, plus the team got out before the apt. flashed. The FDNY teams found all 6 victims and the OV, but all 15 search teams and all victims were killed when the apt flashed.

As an "Upstate guy" my commute was shorter and closer to the City than any of the 45 FDNY Lt's in my class (total 60, with 15 "up staters"). Most drove 45 min to an hour each way from as far as Orange County. I'd roll out of bed and be at the rock in under 15.

You get what you pay for. Yes its easier & cheaper and fewer feature particularly on the firefighter safety issues. And yes anything is easier to program than Motorola

State law is silent on who provides law enforcement, other than the requirement to have law enforcement, so village town, county (which includes Sheriff) or State is acceptable. State law specifically prohibits county fire. In fact in the 1980's they had to pass laws to allow counties to run hazmat teams and in the 1990's to run USAR teams.

Depends on what you are trying to do with them. Motorola tends to be much more expensive than other brands, but they have features that are not available in other brands. The ability to do electronic roll calls, evacuations and for the dispatch or command post to see if a radio is dying or changing to another channel.

Correct And Mamaroneck's TDA is not one of the models listed

They did not write this. I did and the original agency #'s (without the A, B, M or u) was transferred from a previous version that predates the EMS office and it was done by the Westchester EMS council (which predates the Westchester REMSCO)

If that were true, we would have left room for NR & WP.

How is this different than 99% of the depts. in Westchester? Which departments do not call for mutual aid when they have a fire? About 6 months back their was a dept that requester about 8 depts. mutual aid to handle a room and content fire. If no one comes to assist them, the mayor will claim, they cant afford it and the loss is because the mutual aid companies refuse to help. Nothing will change. Meanwhile, the brothers on the line will take a beating, while everyone sits back and claims they are helping them by not coming to their aid.

1) The "plan" says you are suppose to respond if you can. But you are not required to give a reason if you can not. 2) The system does not document that. Their is no place to put "no" into what you are going to do. 3) Each Fire Chief fills out who he wants and for what and in what order. If everytime you are asked to respond you are "unavailable" for what ever the reason, the chief will change his request list, because its not helping him. Everyone keeps assuming that YFD will not respond to MVFD, but if they are not called, they clearly never will (btw I know YFD was in MV on MA within the past 2 months). 4) YFD has in the past said they will respond to fires or station coverage when asked, but they expect the dept to make an effort to recall to restaff the dept. and they will not cover a station indefinitely

What makes you think the Mayor would change? If the next major fire no one shows up mutual aid, do you think he will go out and hire?

Was located at 40 Northwood Circle, not 35 (they were the caller). 2nd Alarm E-25,23,21,22,24 L-13,11,12 2302 2301, 2306 MSU-3 Covering: L-73 Sq-11 Bat2 TL-3 Sq-15 Recall 2304 (operating in U-91) E-17 L-14

But the Mayor fails to acknowledge that the majority of members who are out sick are out on service connected injuries or illness due to exposure from documented contamination in the fire stations. Understaffing is the leading cause of service connected injuries.

Mt Vernon Hospital got out of the biz 20 years before we wrote the number system. Cortlandt Vac was started after the numbering system, that's why its not in the alphabetical order. Note: I say we, because it was written by a small committee and it was 1st written on my PC. And Montrose VA was added to the municipal/commercial numbers 30's & 40's since it clearly was not a volunteer agency (50's - 80's)

The communities that contract for service or having an independent fly car were issued numbers in the 30's: 30 - New Rochelle 31 - White Plains 32 - Mt Vernon 33 - Yonkers 34 - Yorktown Medic 35 - Cortlandt Medic 36 - Briarcliff/Croton Medic 37 - Mt Pleasant Medic 38 - Pelham Medic 39 - Peekskill Medic 40's were used for commercial services. I do not remember if there was a 71, But Mt. Vernon has never had a VAC. They have had: Transcare, Empress, Abbey Richmond, AA, Affiliated and before that Mt Vernon Fire Dept and before that Mt Vernon Hospital ran it.

1) Many small combo depts. that do not have a career chief or admin operate this way. A common complaint to the IAFF is total lack of admin policies & procedures. I have seen a number of these depts. that routinely will not replace career members, even for scheduled time off. 2) Because labor laws are pretty clear, if they do not have a written policy, then management is wrong and they are going to lose the case. better to drop it before paying the lawyers to lose it. 3) Because that's how they do it. In other words that's this depts. policy. Stupid policy yes, but their are lots of stupid policies out there.

If this was a valid reason (as opposed to an excuse) for the benevolent to not pay, then they must look at everything they do and if it does not include EVERY member then they should not fund it. How many annual dinners do they fund? Does every single member go to these dinners?

And they still haven't crashed into the ambulance quarters, you were there about 15 years ago?

Some of the comments have been assuming that this is the fault of the apparatus spec committee, but I have seen a couple of other issues out there. I know a number of depts. that have made it clear to their City, town, village or Board of Commissioners that the new truck they will need in a few years will have a problem and the house needs to be modified before that point. This is often ignored. In this case the existing 10 year old truck is too heavy, so how long has this been an issue? I bet for 10 years, so its hard to blame the current committee or the apparatus manufacturer. I have seen a few depts. that have bought rigs knowing they would not fit, with the hope that the committee would then replace the fire house. In some cases this worked, but it often meant the rig was under a tarp for 2 or 3 years rotting while the house was fixed/replaced. In Conn. it is the law that each bay have a max weight rating. In NYS just load it up till it collapses.