Bnechis

HIPAA regulates what info is transfered to whom & how. Filming in and of itself would not be a violation. What you do with it after the fact is up for debate. Since crews have been accused of stealing, abuse and improper sexual conduct, I would think it might be useful to protect both the crew from being accused and the patient from being a victim. The key is how its used and if it is saved.

37 Rescues, not including DES units and police units.

Correct, they train for this evolution without it. I do not know what the "policy" is but I know that the Rescue companies have trained before and after that incident to do it without a bombproof anchor. They do not use a victim harness I do not believe its listed in the SOP. But its been some time since I looked at that one from FDNY. As listed above, they trained for that evolution and performed it like they trained for it. The lack of safeties is based on the need for speed. If it takes more than a minute or 2 to set up and get down to the victim, they will most likely jump. This is not how many depts do it. But its how FDNY has for decades.

But there are 1,200 fire dept. employees.

Thank you. I did not take it personnally. You are correct, I should have 1st given him credit. My questions were not ment to take away from what the specific officer did or did not do. My comments were ment to be general about that type of incident and not that specific incident. The problem is way to many responders either do not do a risk vs. benefit analysis or do not have the training &/or experience in the risks to make a proper risk assessment. We see this in so many of the death and injury cases of members that its shocking. Yes, I did not question when a firefighter who had the training & experience to do a risk assessment of entry into a fire. And yes I questioned the PO who is not trained who did the same. As a medic, I worked an incident where a PO was killed when his partner vented a fire. The techniques used changed the fire conditions which cost the partner his life. On the same note, I would have a problem with an on or off duty FF tangling with an armed perp. Is it heroic...maybe. But I would not question the actions of an offduty PO doing the same, as they are trained to do so. Almost everything done was inline with there training & SOP's. The primary "violation" was the "1 use only" rule, which the entire rope industry felt it was an overkill rule, set up based on a previous FDNY incident. Note: after that incident the NFPA standard was changed to allow it. While PD & EMS should not be shut out (and while it is common in the hands on classes because of space, there is no excuse for it in awareness classes). Some of these classes are legally mandated for anyone who responds to these incidents. It is sad that many PD & EMS bosses do not provide it/make it available to their workers.

Since I am the only one who questioned the risk assessment, instead of saying "individuals on here" you can just say me. At numerious heavy extrication courses, it is tought to never go under a bus until it is properly cribbed. I have witnessed busses in the shops drop unexpectantly. I dont think this is nitpicking, I thnk this is a forum to learn from others actions, both the good and the bad. If no one questions, what is routinly tought as an unsafe action then many readers here might consider this the proper action at an incident. So here is a question for all responders: Does your initial training, inserves training or at least your policies/procedures instruct you in the hazards of the following type of incidents: 1)heavy trucks/busses 2)trains 3)Trenches & collapses 4)building collapse 5) machinery extrications, including elevators 6) hazmat Now I know which of these are covered in the carreer fire acadamy, but how many are covered in police training and EMS training?

You are splitting hairs. Would you consider it an administrative violation or a crime if your mother, wife or child died waiting 29 minutes?

Last Year I was at a seminar with all the engine manufacturers. They all made it clear that even if emergency services were exempt, they would not offer an engine without it. The reason is we are only 1% of the total engine sales. They are building for the over the road trucks and we are just an add on. It would be too expensive to custimize for us.

Just because he did not get hurt does not mean his risk analysis was acurate, he may have just been lucky and next time he wont. My biggest concern is does the person doing the risk analysis have the training & experience to perform it? I find it common that many responders do not have the training in the hazards of rescue incidents to make this assessment. In this case, is the bus off, in park, break set, & chocked so it can not move? Does it have a kneeling feature? Air suspension? And does the officer know that the responders will safeguard him with proper stabilization before lifting it? (think about the recent incident in NYC where ESU dropped a car on the patient, in part because cribbing was not in place).

Based on your statement you clearly do not understand the job. You need to go back and relearn the basics. If a member gets hurt the job stops and all efforts tend to be refocust on the injured rescuer and the original patient suffers.

While I did not mean it it terms of violating a specific law, it actually is. NYS Public Health Law Article 30 Section 3012. Enforcement. 1. Any ambulance service or advanced life support first response service certificate issued pursuant to section three thousand five of this article may be revoked, suspended, limited or annulled by the department upon proof that the operator or certificate holder or one or more enrolled members or one or more persons in his employ: ( b has not been competent in the operation of the service or has shown inability to provide adequate ambulance services or advanced life support first response service; or (g) a voluntary ambulance service or voluntary advanced life support first response service has failed to meet the minimum staffing standard and has not been issued an exemption, except that such certificate shall not be suspended or revoked unless the commissioner finds that an adequate alternative service exists. The commissioner shall consider the recommendation of the regional emergency medical services council in making a finding; or

Is this a Croton problem?..... Yes But 4 mutual aid depts also had a problem. This is criminal. How large an area and population are "protected" by these 5 agencies? What if it was a multi patient call, people will die. Hiring a few EMT/drivers here and there will not solve this problem.

Can the pump actually deliver 1,500gpm? The 1st group that came off the line were advertised as 1,500 gpm but in testing it was reported that the "s" curves in the intake prevented it from making its required minimum capacity.

The only part of our uniform that is issued is the officers hardware. We are required to buy the uniform, bell cap, blouse, coat, shoes, belt, tie. Not cheap. So you have read every departments policies and know what is part of their dress uniform?

The "Town" has no say in it. Its up to the board of Fire Commissioners and the voters who elected them have the only say. Since in most districts less than 50 votes is what is cast in an election, The people of the "town" have made it clear that they do not care.

This was a major topic with ConEd during Tuesdays County Emergency Managers Meeting. During the last storm, which ConEd did not send its muni reps out in a timly manor, but did send reps to the County EOC had a major delay in restoration because of the delay in ConEd recieving and prioritizing calls. Most of the local emergency managers agreed that things run better when the Muni Rep is available to them. In my case, if we had to call the county EOC for each request, instead of turning my head, we would have not been able to handle any other issue. ConEd does not "keep 100 liasons". According to ConEd's emergency manager, They don't even keep one. All of the muni reps are, lawers, billing clerks, accountants and customer reps. They are trained to work within ICS and trained in data entry into the ConEd service network. In some communities, particularly smaller ones, the rep in town hall may not be very effective, but that all depends on what the municipality brings to the location. While the jurisdictional borders often does not matter (A tree down on wires on one side of the city line may effect the other side. As I stated above, those 40-50 reps are not field reps. This is not about regional restoration, its about customer & emergency service provider safety. Here is how we operate and how ConED's muni rep fits in. During major storms we open our EOC radio room (we also have a full EOC, for dept heads if needed). In the radio room, we have a police supervisor, fire dispatcher, OEM coordinator, DPW Dispatcher and ConED Muni Rep. 1) 60 Control turns over all nonemergency FD calls and many lower level emergencies, including wires down calls to us. 2) All calls to DPW (downed trees, flooding) are answered here. 3) PD Supervisor monitors all dispatches via radio & CAD. 4) ConED's Munirep can monitor the status of the system. We have at our disposal all field units (PD, FD & DPW) to report back what they find. We can map the problems and prioritze them. Since DPW crews will not clear trees down (and blocking roads) with downed wires and cConEd wont clear trees down (and blocking roads) to get to downed wires, it is critical to ID and dispatch ConEd and/or DPW crews to the same incident at the same time. This could never be done without the munirep siting right next to the DPW dispatcher. The munirep can communicate with the field supervisor to prioritizewhat they find. During a storm, ConEd handles dpwn/damaged primary & secondary wires differently. The secondaries are easily cut free by a 1 or 2 man crew. While this does not restore power, it moves the hazard 20 feet up away from people, which frees PD & FD from having to babysit the hazard. It also allows DPW crews to open roads, often by front end loader or snow plow. This would be delayed by days if the muni rep was not able to communicate to the DPW dispatcer that the secondary wires are cleared and its safe. Primaries still need protection and will take days for crews to get to. We are also able to direct coned resources as to what roads are blocked and what route they need to take. Since we implimented this system we have seen the time to reopen all roads has dropped by atleast 24 hours. This is critical to safeguarding the community.

Often its not the "best person for the job" in fire district elections, its "running unopposed for the 3rd, 4th, 5th time" Whats the difference?

1 engine & 1 truck On I-95 or HRP: 2 engines, Chief & Rescue or truck (blockers)

In general, a bottle change is an excellent time for rehab, it just is not after every bottle change (considering conditions & work load). Many SOP's I have seen talk about after the 2nd or 3rd bottle (40-60 minutes). Until we have regional departments we will never have the personnel available in an organized fasion to do this. We will have lots of trucks and lots of stations, but either no personnel or no way to control them. We have proven that we are unwilling to learn this leason and are just waiting for the politicans and/or the lawyers will do it there way.

A box, since it is near a structure. 2 Eng, 2 lad, Command and at disp. descretion a 3rd eng. (usually)

Do members really need to go thru rehab after 20 minutes of work? Thats what often happens. It is very rare for the IC to have enough personnel (at least in this region) so rehab is often an after thought. They should, but rarely (with the exception of hazmat incidents) do, particularly if you do not have a dedicated rehab unit.

Unfortunatly, in Mt Vernon this week we saw how fast the scene of a basic working fire can deteriorate. 1 BLS ambulance is not enough for us. If there are fire victims, then its even worst. In many communities FD assits EMS, particularly in treating/transporting critical patients. When there is a working fire, FD no longer has personnel to spare for the EMS assits, so EMS needs to have greater resources to cover that component. I have been a a number of fires where we went from no patients to 3, 4 or more in a matter of minutes. Nice to have EMS ready. If it is hard to mobilize them, then it is even more important to get them started early. No one wants to be doing CPR on a fire victim on the front lawn, while EMS is toning out for any available driver or EMT.

This is a very difficult proposition. Fire Districts are easy, since 100% of the cost is in their district budget. But City & Village Fire Dept. budgets are very difficult to calculate since many municipalities do not do dept. based budgets. For example, so FD's do not pay for the fire station, fuel, utilities and maintenance (vehicle & station)as they are covered under DPW's budget. New apparatus which is bonded, may be carried in the municipal capital budget, not the FD's. liability & property/vehicle Insurance under the risk manager, health insurance and pension or LOSAP under personnel. In one study a 25 man career fire district was budgeting almost 2x what a 45 man career municipal dept was. I thought it should havebeen the other way around, but found all of those things listed above covered by the district and none in the municipal FD budget. The municipal fd budget only covered salary & equipment, all other costs were covered by other departments.

I find this is a common issue with inexperienced crews. They get to close to the scene with the ambulance then get trapped in by hoselines and we need to get additional ambulances to cover them. I am also surprised to see how often these inexperienced crews pull forward into fire scenes, in some cases this means having to back out a long narrow street if they have to transport, very time consuming if they have a critical fire victim. We make them back out, turn around and back in. They tend to remember that and don't do it a 2nd time.

One must be very careful when reading into the firehouse run survey. There are all sorts of info ommissions. One major one is only 1 engine, truck, station, etc. counts in the numbers. In otherwords when FDNY lists its busiest engine with say 5,000 runs, the engine with 4,999 and 4,998 do not get into the survey and the next unit list from the xyz dept may only have 3,000 runs (making 20+ FDNY rigs busier but not listed). Note: all number made up as examples. Carlisle PA has Union Fire Co #1 and Carlisle Fire & Rescue (which is the boroughs offical dept.) They claim to have 80 active members, covering the same area. Very common in PA to have multiple departments in the same town. Different muncipalities place budgets in different areas. I have seen FD's that have very low budgets like this, but maintenance iscover in the central garage budget, insurance in the risk management budget, stations (& fuel, utilities, etc.) in public works. So without seeing the total budget.