Bnechis

Having a substandard response covers the politicians butt. This way they do not have to provide sufficient service and no one ever catches them. This case may force an action.

The line between Westchester (NYS) & Conn was established by the King of England. Vista, being in Westchester never "used to be in CT". However, Vista fire district may have or still have areas in CT that it covers (similar to Banksville).

1st Thanks for the IAFF 1710 Drawing. As you noted: its just for the initial response. The moment you call this a "working fire" the standard requires at least 2 more FF's to compleat the IRIC and make it a FAST and a safety officer. Not included: personnel for rural water supply Also note: the standard is based on a 2,000 sq. ft home without a basement. Larger or with a basement requires more. That means most homes in Westchester need more.

Yes it does happen all over, particularly in the Northeast. This is less of an issue in the south, west and midwest as the fire service is more often run regionally. You are 100% correct about the political boards, but has the local departments ever told them and the public that they do not have the personnel (regularly or at specific times/days) to properly respond? If the Fire Chief, Police Chief, EMS Chief and the Departments do not speak up, then they are simply enabling the politicians to skimp on providing for public safety.

No it is not. The issue is do you have enough responders to cover calls and meet the minimum standards. PCFD, RFD, and HFD's staffing has always been some career ff's (to drive) and a majority of the response being volunteers. RBFD is in a similar situation, because its relying on PCFD to respond with enough personnel. If enough volunteers are showing up, then no issue, if not, you are putting the career member, the public and the few volunteers who are onscene at extreme risk. How few Firefighters can you get away with? What is the minimum number that should be on every response?

George, I agree that there should never be 1 or even 2 man rigs and PCFD & RBFD need to work together, The size of the 2 communities makes it highly unlikely that they will ever increase the manning (infact I understand that PCFD has many openings as they have not replaced retiring members). Lets look at this area of the county. PCFD: 1 career member on some rigs, RBFD: 2 (but coverage drops to 1 at night with PCFD), City of Rye: 1 career member per rig, Harrison: 1 career member per rig and Purchase is all volunteer, but a few years ago they were considering paid "housemen" to get the rigs out. It is much more likely that a department of that size would be better able have sufficient staffing, a better volunteer response and the costs will be much more managable.

The taxpayers who's homes burned to the ground 80 pages ago suffered because not enough volunteers showed up? It does not mater how many you have if they do not show up in sufficient numbers every call. Cogs, you have explained how you would provide the coverage and how its done in other states, but the volunteers in No. Stamford have not shown any interest in "staffing" the stations so the coverage would actually be 24/7.

The only AHJ that can order SFRD to do anything is the City administration. The volunteer Dept AHJ only have authority over their depts. TOR's administration can not order SFRD or even the other VFD's. When SFRD responds to calls in No. Stamford they are basically providing Mutual Aid (which is pretty much one sided and not exactly mutual) and must follow its own policies. It is very difficult for the AHJ of a VFD to exert the same controls as the AHJ of a career dept. How do you order volunteers to respond to calls with enough trained personnel in a timely fasion?

Let us not forget that the mayors plan of 54 (or 51 above) career personnel (plus Chief, & marshalls) is still short to meet its own staffing pattern. 1) 18 daytime and 12 nightime shifts averages to 15 firefighters 24 per day. 2)To cover the average 15 shift positions requires 60 personnel, but they are only hiring 54 (who figured the staffing #'s needed). This means that each shift will be assigned 13.5 firefighters (average) to cover 15 positions. This is before any of the 13.5 firefighters are off on contractual leave (vacation, sick, personal, etc.0 So the mayor's plan needs an extra Million or so, just to cover the poor math.

About 20 years ago I remember this argument was going around based on should a library be sprinklered because of the potential water damage. The best statement during that was you can dry out a book, but how do you un burn it? It has been stated that the human race lost so much knowledge when the library at Alaxander burned that if it had not, Neil Armstrong would have been the 1st man on Mars, not the mon.

Well put. Retrofitting with sprinklers is not cheap, but in new construction the cost is much lower and the average insurance reduction for them means they are paid for in less than 7 years and for the rest of the building life, you are saving money. With most morgages being 30 years, that means you will pay less for the home for 23 of those 30 years. And that does not include the cost savings if you have a fire. Communities that are fully sprinklered (mostly built in the last 40 years) have required a much smaller FD, which would save this anti FD guy the money he is so pissed about spending). It is not realistic to sprinkler older homes, but if you start with new ones, in time, the community will benefit.

No, I see problems in that plan as well. But a lot less problems than the 2 or 3 dept plan. Its pretty clear that no one is willing to compromise thier position. The said fact is that the current situation in No.Stamford has already comprimised the safety of Mrs. Smith and everyone else. SFRD does not have to comprimise, since they have to do what the AHJ orders. The 2 dept. plan will not work, financally, economicly and operationally. The number of career positions does not add up to the number of career shifts. So the proposed budget is short by millions. The plan does not resolve the rural water needs, which will keep No. Stamford paying the highest possible insurance premiums. The plan is to strip everything to cover a simple fire and then rely on SFRD to cover the gap. And the plan is based on hope that the volunteers will come back and cover like it was long ago. Infact there will be even fewer, once they are hired.

Is that the best option for: a)The Mayor (politically) b)The Volunteers C) The Taxpayers (In general) d) Mrs. Smith who still does not get the response that she is intitled to I am sorry, but if Stamford requires everyone agreeing to play in the same sandbox and to share their toys is the stumbling block, then the taxpayers have already lost the battle and Mrs. Smith will lose the war. UNITY OF PURPOSE IS YOU SWORE TO DO YOUR VERY BEST TO SERVE MRS. SMITH!!!!!

Can a Capt. or Lt. handle command.....depends on the call type and the dept. staffing. On an EMS call...sure Public assist sure Automatic Alarm & fire calls...What are you sending and what is your staffing? An engine with 3ff/1of....pump operator, Capt.(IC) and 2 FF's going in...ok what if its a probie and a FF with a year or 2? Should the capt. be IC or supervising his company? What happens when you get 8 or more FF's on scene and no company officers? How do you handle span of control?

"its first such effort in three years." Could that be because they had an active list and had no need to recruit anybody...... Amazing how the JN can make something so simple look questionable.

Think about this, he drove it there in his car. We teach responders at any incident to evaluate the scene. Consider if this guy had an MVA in route to Sta 13. Now we must look for land mines in the back seat......

That meter is only for engine companies.

Are all VAC trucks the same? Are all VAC trucks safe to use in a trench close to victims and rescuers? About 1.5 years ago ConEd purchased a vacume safety release valve that gets added when working around people. It does not fit on the VAC truck for transport and is transported in a seperate vehicle. VAC trucks are a fantastic resource at a trench incident, but they can also be very hazardous. Its nice that Cook is willing to help.

Of course the Mayor wants them to fast track it, the longer its open the more likely someone will figure out that its a big shell game and the numbers do not work. "Skigen said the mayor's administration has itself delayed progress on the fire plan by failing to provide a financial analysis of the proposal, which members requested in April." As I already figured (and posted), the number of career firefighters in the proposal does not equal the numbers needed to cover the minimum manning as proposed. That’s even before taking contractual time and sick leave into effect. The emperor has no clothes, if we pass it fast he figures no one will notice.

Lance was my nozzle man down at neptune hose (E-24). While searching in a dark basement of the post office during a high CO level (in the exposure), he was right behind me....when I heard a giant thud. I turned to find he has vannished. I had cleared a pipe by less than an inch, he walked right into it.

Or was dinner

Sounds like the type of place you would live....oh yeh you do live along a long bridge with condos built along it......LOL

It is unsafe. I am always amazed that the jumpers dont fall thru the holes, before they get to jump.

FAST is not part of any OSHA standard. It is in both 1710 & 1720. Agreed.

Thats not completely true. FAST is not in the Federal Law (29CFR1910.134) only the 2in,2out. FAST is an NFPA requirement (1710 & 1720). Federa law requires that all OSHA plan states (which includes NY) must adopted equal or more stringent regulations. Therefore NYS Labor law has taken the federal regulation (word for word) and made it NYS Law. Correct. But the qualified rescue team is is not FAST. Correct, but again the rescue team is not FAST its the 2 out. Correct, this one is ignored by many depts., and its a major problem.