rayrider

This could be a fire where nothing much went wrong. Or it could be a fire where nothing at all went right. The outcome is that firefighters showed up to a well involved fire where residents had self-evacuated, could not make an interior attack, and performed surround-and-drown operations while they watched the building burn down. We don't know if they had 5 members show up or 50 members show up. We don't know if it took them 5 minutes or 25 minutes to arrive on scene. That was my whole problem with this article. It seems like this article is praising a group of individuals for unfavorable outcomes and potentially shoddy performance. "Great job showing up and watching a house burn down."
This gives the volunteer fire service, the residents, and the public a false (poor) sense of what is expected and what is favorable. The volunteers now know that they get a pat on the back regardless of whether or not the building is saved. The residents gain a false sense of security since the newspaper has just told them how great their local department is (that just allowed one of their neighbors houses to burn down without mounting a coordinated interior attack). The public now thinks that the volunteer fire service does a great job (when we all know that most volunteer departments are seriously lacking in manpower, training, and professionalism these days). I would imagine that this fire was not much different than the Vista helmet cam fire where everyone bashed them on this very website for their poor performance (we saw the article that they Huffington Post wrote about how great they were). This article is complete bullshit. Write an article when rescuers make a save. Not when a bunch of losers watch a house burn down.
Don't mistake me for a career firefighter who love to bash volunteers. I am not a career fire fighter and have never been one. I spent 10 years in the volunteer fire service as a Firefighter, Lieutenant, and Captain and quit because I believe that the volunteer fire service is a façade and a waste of taxpayer dollars where members are more concerned with social functions than they are with training and firematics.

There are no Paid Drivers In Westchester. This is a derogatory term used by Volunteers to demean their jobs as Professional Firefighters that work in combo departments. Professional Firefighters in Lake Mohegan, Peekskill are fully trained in the NYS academy and are Firefighters, Not Paid Drivers.

Congrats to R1SmokeEater, EMTBravo's July 2014 MOTM.
R1SmokeEater has been a member of EMTBravo since January of 2004. He regularly contributes great photos of Yonkers FD and Westchester fire history He has over 1,000 posts, and is a sustaining and active member on EMTBravo, always interacting in a positive and constructive fashion. Many members look forward to seeing his photos.
R1SmokeEater is just one our many, many excellent and dedicated members who are deserving of this recognition, and we will continue to recognize the members who make this forum what it is every month.

The NYS Constitution is written to prevent the old "Boss" Tweed type of government in the Tammany Hall days of NYC when the political appointments were based on patronage and graft, see excerpt below:
"The Civil service Law and rules and regulations promulgated there under implement the mandate of the NYS Constitution, Article V, section 6, which provides that: Appointments and promotions in the civil service of the state and all of the divisions thereof, including cities and villages, shall be made according to merit and fitness to be ascertained, as far as practicable, by examination which, as far as practicable, shall be competitive,..."
So what happened? How is it that anyone can be "appointed" as a Chief?

Listen to the audio. That's all I have to say.

I've said it 100 times, and will say it until we get it - but I would pay whatever it took to get my town to the protection level of Arlington or LaGrange...career firefighters and paramedics.

Paid men with broomes !

Croton Falls has gotten a new website, looks awesome!
Check it out here.
Good Luck with it CFFD!

. Correct me if iam wrong but I thought he used four handguns to comitt the horrible act and the rifle was left in the car.

. Correct me if iam wrong but I thought he used four handguns to comitt the horrible act and the rifle was left in the car.

. Correct me if iam wrong but I thought he used four handguns to comitt the horrible act and the rifle was left in the car.

. Correct me if iam wrong but I thought he used four handguns to comitt the horrible act and the rifle was left in the car.

. Correct me if iam wrong but I thought he used four handguns to comitt the horrible act and the rifle was left in the car.

What really is mind boggling about some of these posts is how people can perceive the yfd of going after empress when in fact it is empress who is trying to take all control over the 1st responder program which would result in the possibility of the yfd losing several fire companies. Can someone explain to me what empress would lose (not gain) if the system would remain the same? Thanks!

What really is mind boggling about some of these posts is how people can perceive the yfd of going after empress when in fact it is empress who is trying to take all control over the 1st responder program which would result in the possibility of the yfd losing several fire companies. Can someone explain to me what empress would lose (not gain) if the system would remain the same? Thanks!

Placing ground ladders for egress takes manpower. Something they don't have up there.

Placing ground ladders for egress takes manpower. Something they don't have up there.

Great job b! Keep sharing that knowledge.

Great job b! Keep sharing that knowledge.

Great job b! Keep sharing that knowledge.

Today, I happened to see a westchester county fd chiefs vehicle parked at a mall in Connecticut. Not naming the dept. Wouldn't it serve the town better if it was left in its district with someone else taking over command rather then 30 minutes away from its district? Running errands in nearby towns seems somewhat justifiable but 30 minutes out of state seems somewhat excessive to me. Unless of course it was conducting dept business rather than Christmas shopping. And trust me they were shopping. Lol. Any thoughts?

So then, what is the YFD's goal with EMS? Just to restore the first responder program? And, subsequently, punishing Empress for the demise of the program?

Well, as someone who has been a part of the first response in the YFD for the past 22 years, I couldn't care less about what you Bull might find overdramatic, or what you Jack might find unnecessary and unprofessional. I've spent the majority of my career in SW yonkers and have seen good and i have seen bad when it comes to Empress. I, like JFlynn believe the 2 entities work well together (give or take a nut in a safari hat). But I believe the first salvo fired in this episode came from the bosses at Empress when they stated blatantly false response times in an effort to seize sole control over EMS in Yonkers, knowing full well it would cost jobs in the yfd, and worse yet, put the lives of the citzens at risk. So what would the main benefit be ? Greater profit maybe ? I don't know what was uglier , the false numbers being produced by Empress, or the roll the dice attitude exhibited by the city for the sole purpose of breaking contracts. It seems to me the Bosses at Empress were well aware of what the repercussions were to be had the first responder program ended . For the most part , the buses arrive in a timely manner, but I have witnessed 10 minute plus response way too often, and for Empress to tell the city that there would be no difference in service without the YFD is misleading at best. That to me is unprofessional. This, coming from someone who has delivered 2 chlidren , shocked and initiated cpr on too many to count, all because Empress wasn't on scene in a timely manner. Capt. Geo. Smith YFD

Clearly I have little knowledge of the workings of your local FD's and the politics, but in reading 628's website I see them being honest about something that affects city residents.
First Respnder EMS ties up FD units, for how long is determined by the number of buses on the street at any given time. Like it or not, For Profit EMS services generally have to have all their units in constant motion to remain profitable, therefore they're like the airlines, they have fewer seeats than customers. This is not a reflection of the dedicated individuals who staff these buses, who likely feel the pain of constantly rushing call to call, knowing that the delay of their own definitive care may be detrimental to their patients. These people don't make the decisions on how many ambulances are in a given area, but in fact must work with what their given. This short staffing of EMS units is how a fore profit system stays afloat in times like these and how they pull in profits in better times.
For YFD or other FD's that have similar First Responder systems, the programs are double edged swords: they're clearly out on the street more often positively interacting with their local citizens, but they're also tied up unavaible for other emergencies, a real issue when you're already short staffed and have fewer apparatus and stations than your city and incidents indicate. This is big boy rules, peoples livliehoods are threatened and those who remain after cuts jobs' just get more dangerous. Less personnel, less companies mean, longer times for ventialtion, or water on the fire. Fewer personel make tough work even tougher as the same tasks must be completed by fewer people.
While I'm not looking to stirs this further, I've yet to see anyone that was incensed by the website actually state that the delayed response times are not an issue?

batt 2 has 53,000 miles on it already in just under three years. Does anyone know what the average is for miles put on a fdny batt in say a year? I heard the old batts were a little too big in length for the tight streets and the tahoes may be a better fit for their needs. Any they averaged 3 mpg on top of that. Lol.