Bnechis

Great info, thanks. After Katrina, Federal Law mandate that all shealters must accept pets. Most do not have the ability (but have to) so they need a team like this to help.

From FASNY's Legislative Action Center: "CONSOLIDATION – To enact legislation that would amend the consolidation statute and address the impending issue of town-wide fire departments." In other words they do not like the new consolidation law that allows towns or citizens to have a ballet initative to force a consolidation

Good thing the gas detector is calibrated to methane

You are mixing apples & oranges. Billing a spiller and federal reimbursement for loss are 2 different things. We have been paid many times, we have never been reimbursed. Exxon, Getty, and a number of smaller companies.

Fire districts are limited in their ability to "bill regular for services". This has been a major issue with EMS Transport Billing. That is different than billing to cover lost/damged/used items. Special Districts can bill for somethings, but generally not for anything that is regularly provided and already paid for by the taxpayer. Great find, however the program you found is not about billing the spiller. It is part of a special section of EPA that will reimburse local government (except special districts) when their is no one to go after (i.e. clandestin drug lab).

I do not think so, I think its FASNY (according to them its their idea) I suspect they dont know that their is a federal law covering this.

At $62,000 per unit I do not think you will see many purchased. FDNY has ordered 4.

By the time you get that thing in place and set up, you might be in the collapse zone

Nope, NRFD and FDNY have high rise nozzles. They are light weight handheld nozzles supplied with a 2" or 2 1/2" handline. This is more like a deck gun than what we have (and FDNY has deployed citywide) The highrise nozzle is intended for residential units with a wind driven fire, with loss of the door to the common hall, thus making the hall untenable. This monster looks more like it might be needed in a very open floor spaces, like an office building

If you go to the post you want to comment on (in this case yours #22) then hit the reply button (not the "add a reply" button)or go to multiple posts on on each one hit the "multiquote button" You will see the posts you want to comment on in the typing space. Also use the preview button to see if you got it correct, before posting

Good point. Here's another one. While on a final inspection at Pierce 2 years ago I noticed that our rub rails did not come out far enough. That means if we side swipe something, the expensive to repair roll down doors take the hit and protect the less expensive sacraficial rub rails. So we looked around the factory and found this was true of every rig with roll down doors. It apears the design was based on pan doors and no one ever checked it. Thats 1,000's of rigs from that manufacturer alone. We brought this to the engineers and they were stunned (they had 30 or so look at it) and fixed ours. To this day I have seen the same issue with almost every manufacturer. Most buyers are more concerned with how it looks and not concerned with potential damage during its life time. Another common one is the Q2 sticking out beyond the bumper without protecting it in some way. In particular when mounted above the bumper it often sticks out 1 inch beyond it. Let the bumper take the hit. Or add bumper guards.

All are not class B, but many are, In addition to the fuels, much of the foam in seating when heated becomes class B as does some of the plastics. I have seen many car fires that needed 500+ gallons to extingush and even with CAFS being more efficient how much water/class A foam can an ambulance carry (100 gal or so)? How many of those fires involved a trapped occupant? If you start off with too little, you have bought the patient a minute or two, with a more effective agent you may gain more time. The ICMA (International City Managers Assoc.) has been agressivly pushing the concept of replacing class A pumpers with pick-up trucks with CAFS sliders as a way to cut cost. In particular they claim that a 1 man CAFS pick-up is as effective as a 3 man class A pumper. It was pushed in the August issue of their magazine and was highlighted in a study they did in Sandusky Oh.

CAFS for class B fires? Wouldn't it make more sense to go with a class B system? Or instead of the money, complication and maintenance, add 2) 20Ibs DC & 2) 2.5 gal AFFF. Very few ambulances carry that simple "fire" power. I have worked on ambulances that had some basic tools and its great to be able to pop a door, but most units with minimal equipment (even engine companies) NEVER CARRY ENOUGH CRIBBING to stabilize even the simplist 1 car accident. Having the tool without the cribbing is like doing ALS without BLS. And it encourages cutting corners, as we saw in the NYPD ESU drop the car on the motorcyclist. I got the tool to pop the door, but I can beat the FD to do anything with it......

Maybe this will clarify your statement. I had a 1989 Ford E-250 van and there was a factory sticker on the door post that said converting it to an ambulance would void all Ford warrenties. Starting in 1989, it was very hard to find gasoline units.

Its been done before and in most cases the dept always goes back to a seperate eng and amb.

I was told Rye donated it because it was junk and too costly to keep inservice.

In a commuter county like Westchester, the majority of the volunteers no longer work in or near town and even if the employer allowed them to leave. they are still an hour or more away. Then we have a fundamental flaw in the system and MA is a bandaid, but we need a operation. If the contingency plan for not enough interior firefighters is to call MA. Then you are hoping for the best and not planning at all. The insurance industry has been playing the odds game for 107 years with dept ratings and they have figured out the odds and thats why depts. in this county have ratings that range from 1 to 9. The fire service has built itself up on the odds game. Most depts. operate with crossed fingers and hope for the best (as they tone out for any available driver). Wrong, evaluat your ability to handle each type of job and adjust. If you need help then get it. But if you can not handle call #1 properly, then you cant worry about call #2. I know depts that will send 1 engine and 1 truck to a structure fire, and keep 2 engines back, incase another call comes in. But they are not dealing with the fire with enough to safely and effectivly handle it.

While a good concept, I see this done all the time. Consider dept. "A" and dept "B" each has 2 engines and a ladder. Dept "A" has a fire and requests dept "B" relocate its only ladder to cover its house (leaving its own house uncovered....and its done all the time. Why have a local dept. if it can not handle a "bread and butter" fire? I have no problem if you need something special or even to get a FAST unit. But I know many depts that have purchased many rigs and stations and are stretched to put 3 or 4 interior members to a room & content fire and have to call MA. If you can't handle something that simple its time to re-evaluate your service. In a single dept. like FDNY this makes sense, but dispatchers in Westchester do not know what is going on in local depts. This is not a knock on DES, but they do not know if rigs are scheduled to go to training, medicals or the shops. Based on this cost/benefit analysis we do not need 58 fire depts in Westchester. Why does every square mile need 3 engines, 1 ladder, 1 rescue & 3 chiefs if the risks are so low. Your risk assessment would allow each dept to drop down to a fire company instead of a dept. Then maybe they could also properly staff the rig. Is this OTJ usefull? Sometimes it is and sometimes it reinforces bad concepts. If you are using it for training, how do you evaluate this "training" and ensure its improving your personnel? Same holds true for IC being exposed, is it good or bad exposure? If you have 2 depts responding with 10 firefighters & officers that equals 20. If the 2 depts became one dept and had the same 20 members responding, they will perform better, because as 1 dept. they will follow the same procedures with less devistions than the 2 depts. Have you explained that to the taxpayers who believe you have got them covered? Maybe its time to address that.

Would it help to know that the new Fire Station, Police Station, Municipal Building is about 350 feet to the south of this former one.

Often because the chiefs (both of dept and those in the car) have not mad it clear how critical the position is. Most managers/politicians see it as a driver (perk) that they dont get so why should BC's, AC's or DC's get them.

Thanks & I'd like a raise in my consulting fee. Extra reach is great, however what are you giving up to get it? 1. Heavier rig that maybe cant go in the station or respond over some roads/bridges. That means it can not cover all of its district. (I know a few depts. that went with quint towers that are too heavy to cover the district...but they had to have them because everyone else has them). 2. Taller, longer....again do they fit? 3. Slower to set up because of additional jacking needs..."don't worry...just hang on for another minute" 4. Cost If it was perfect, we would all have them.

Ok lets move it away from that, What does your text book say? What does ConEd say in their training material and what do you written policies say.....word of mouth is not the way to go. Many people use numbering because it makes your point clear, you are really streatching it to make it a bad thing. While some go overboard (bashing) we would never want to learn from others mistakes. I wonder how many new FF's or Jr. FF's on here look at this and at the very least say to themselves, "this is an issue, I dont know who is correct, but I better learn more about it". True, the dept knows and maybe they will reevaluate their operation, No need to let any other FF's know about it because it might embarress someone. If 1 more ff "gets it" from here.....Thats a good thing. You are correct we don't know the whole story, but from what we see its hard to justify and their are learning points here. Adapt does not mean ignor SOP's, Rules etc. We have buried a lot of brothers who "adapted" when they should not have. No one said he did have to on here, they said he could if he wanted to. However, as a chief if he is not accountable for all actions (good ones and bad ones) then he should not be chief. If his actions were wrong and he does not acknowledge that (to his dept.) what happens when a new member who witnessed it, tries it 5 or 10 years from now and it does not work, whose fault is it then?

While it might be "nice", why should the NYC taxpayer subsidize other comunities? Each local government has a fiduciary responsability to its tax payers and they do sell to the lowest bidder, so potentially they do get a good deal.

Chief, you are correct in your percentages, but the fire depts 50% is more than the waters 40% and each of the 3 sections has many sub parts. Of those sub parts the largest # of points is manpower and it is the one that can most rapidly alter the mathimatical calculations of the rating. Man power is also the only one that is open ended, meaning the more men the more points, while more engines or hose or water after you hit the requirements for your community fire flow do not count. The changes are significant, but I don't believe the will change what depts are rated at (except for those with substandard manning).

That sums it up. The manpower is the single largest points portion of the rating.