Stiles

I think you need to reread our Instagram. We utilize social media to keep the community we serve in the know and update it accordingly. We've never made any mention the engine was in service. Thanks

Engine 198 is in service? That's weird, nobody told me. I am only the Co-Chairman of the truck committee.

Now the important question.......Will my Uniden Trunk Tracker III work with the new system?

Exactly what we were going for, glad you picked up on that! Thank you for your input...

1 Dead, 121 Injured in Train Crash in Mount Vernon
By chiefhac
And so read the headlines in all the newspapers the morning after the trains collided in Mount Vernon on the evening of June 8, 1973, forty years ago.
The train collision would spark 10 days busy activity for the Mount Vernon Fire Department (MVFD) using all of its resources and with neighboring communities responding to the incident(s) or relocating to staff fire stations.
It was 40 years ago on Friday evening June 8, 1973 at approximately 7:30 PM on a warm spring evening that 2 trains collided on the east bound express track on the New Haven line near Brookdale Place and East First Street. The relocated Mount Vernon East station platform was still under construction and the local track was temporarily out of service, thereby both local and express trains were operating through Mount Vernon on the express track. The local was in the station to disembark passengers when the express train, failing to stop for a red signal, ran head on into the rear of the stopped train.
The fire department was dispatched and upon arrival was met by a thousand or so of people wondering about and attempting to exit both trains. Additional alarms were transmitted and additional manpower was readily available as it was the evening of the volunteer firefighter’s annual inspection and they responded in force. Almost all responding personnel were used in assisting passengers off the train and to those requiring medical assistance, to an aid station and then transported to the local hospitals.
In the rear car of the local train 2 victims were trapped, one dead on arrival, and the other, seriously injured, was pinned in the lavatory of the last car. Rescue 1 and Ladder 1 were assigned to extricate these individuals. The individual in the lavatory was an Australian Consulate to the UN. The extrication required cutting through the floor under where he was located and then smashing the toilet and letting it drop through the opening made in the floor, allowing for his safe removal. A sloppy and time consuming job it was, ask me!
Mutual aid companies responded for a variety of reasons, scene lighting being a major issue, and some companies self dispatched, adding to scene confusion when everyone wants to help. Most of the passengers requiring medical treatment were transported within the first hour or so. For each injured passenger there had to be 10 other passengers whose sole interest was in how they were going to complete their journey to Connecticut and home.
Somewhere in the middle of the week there was a third alarm fire on South Thirteenth or Fourteenth Avenue which consumed 3 attached row apartments.
On Saturday evening June 16 at approximately 7 PM a fire was reported in the Pioneer super market located on Park Avenue and Elm Avenue, just over the Park Avenue Bridge over the New Haven rail line and 2/10ths of a mile from the train crash. The fire would require a general alarm with all MVFD companies operating at the fire scene until after midnight.
On Sunday morning, June 17, around 8 AM fire alarm box 1231 was pulled by a passerby for a fire in the A & P super market located on East First Street and First Avenue, on the other side of the Park Avenue Bridge from the previous night’s fire and 2/10ths of a mile from the train crash. This fire would also require all MVFD companies to bring it under control, with the last units picking up at 4 PM.
I was the assigned driver of the rescue company for the train crash and, back working days, the A & P fire. At approximately 7:45 AM Sunday morning we were dispatched to meet Con Edison at a gas leak at Ninth Avenue and West First Street and en route passed the A & P and did not notice any sign of smoke or fire. When we were called by dispatch to respond on the initial alarm, we couldn’t believe the column of smoke in the air as we headed back down First Street.
Each of these incidents required the full complement of MVFD companies and surrounding mutual aid companies to backfill in Mount Vernon fire stations.
The good news was no fire station commissary was in need of coffee, condiments, etc. for at least 6 months.
And so it was 40 years ago!
chiefhac
6/7/2013
Slideshow of incident:

We all know what this job is about. This is one place that tradition comes into play in a meaningful way, and I don't care to hear from the naysayers and that "200 years of tradition uninterrupted by progress. I'm not talking about tactics and strategy, fog vs. straight, PPA. Those things are not tradition. A firefighter''s helmet is a symbol of who he is or who he was. Whatever style of helmet he wore is not the operative here. The symbolism here is that it is HIS helmet. Wearing this helmet he has accomplished things that the average person could not ever fathom. He has seen life and he has seen death. He calls anyone who wears similar headgear his brother because he knows where that person has been. If a firefighter meets his death on the job, it is his helmet that leads him to his funeral service.
My father passed away, non-LODD, when I was 15 years old. His helmet was solemnly and ceremoniously presented to me by one of his brothers. When my first son got on the job, I presented him with that same helmet. When my second son got on the job, I presented him with my old helmet. Those helmets are kept in places of honor in their homes. Why? Because that helmet says "That's who we are."
Politicians, City Managers, the general public, and unfortunately, some firefighters don't understand the symbolism. As for the rest of us, "You can leave this job, but you can't leave this job behind"
So, then, is that stinky, strange-looking hat worth $100?

The track is going to change every 6 hours with every update from the forecasters and models. Then every meterologist will add their interpretation to impress their viewers so this thread will be as long as the Stamford merger thread if we post every update.
I figure we will either get rain or we won't. :-)

Boston aint got nothin' on PCFD!

My dad Andrew N. Sposta 75th INF 281 DIV also [PCFD RESCUE 40] landed on Omaha beach in the first wave at the age of 20 and came home to my mother. Many Germans that met him that day did not. 2 bronze stars 3 Purple Harts. He was born in Port Chester New York and was a street smart kid that kicked a**. I think about him every day and when things get rough I go back to what he had to face over there and I stop complaning and I go about my day . Thanks dad and every one's dad for what we have today . Your son

Ladies and Gentlemen, in this particular instance, Connecticut wins.

With due respect to the staff,
Before the topic was locked, there was some measure of displeasure with the post from the site's founder regarding one-liners and inflammatory comments, with a poster saying the site has lost it's balls and the members need thicker skin.
It's not a matter of the site "losing it's balls" or members who need "thicker skin", it's about keeping the site educational, a positive environment, and most of all, PROFESSIONAL. Sometimes we need to remember that "we" (emergency service members) are not the only ones who read the content contained in these forums. I'm sure there are enthusiasts, members of local government, members of the media, and so on who read the content contained in these forums. While it's all good to banter amongst each other as if we were in the firehouse, precinct, quarters, or whatever you would like to call it, we still have to maintain some level of decorum and professionalism just as if we were present in a public place, since this board is easily viewed by members of the general public, and more importantly the media. Case in point;
The NYPD Rant for those who's haven't read it is full of so much garbage since there is little to no moderation, it's not one bit enjoyable to read from an educational standpoint. If anyone outside the NYPD read the material in that forum, the useless bantering of a few sets a bad precedence and honestly depicts the members of the NYPD in a very negative light. The media reported today on a thread contained in the NYPD Rant website about posters who posted personal attacks against an NYPD member. As a civilian reading that article, what kind of opinion do you think the "average Joe" will have of the Rant and the members of the NYPD?
So in order to keep this site from becoming another "rant style" website, there needs to be a level of moderation that suits the wishes of the site's founder, since it is ultimately his call on what is and what is not permitted. If any of us don't like it, we are all free to start up our own site where anything goes and all the members can brag over who has the biggest balls. Personally, I'll stick with the site that's an educational portal as well as promotes and exhibits the professionalism of emergency service providers.

It's not the first time that a cop or firefighter has done something heroic for a victim of a tragic accident. Anyone remember Bridget Gurney? Cops, firefighters, and a trauma doc (if I remember correctly) all put themselves in grave danger to rescue her.
Our jobs are not without risk. We're just expected to manage the risk. If you want a safe job, go work at... ya know, I can't think of a job that is wholly without some risk.
The officer in question obviously calculated the risk to himself and did the job anyway. His risk analysis was obviously accurate because he didn't get hurt himself. Kudos to him on a job well done!
Nicely said too!

Lohud Article
I am at a loss for words. I understand that a young man's life was taken, but it was taken because he was drunk and struck a police officer with his car as he tried to drive away. I can only see this causing problems in the near future for Police Officers.

Seth, just to correct something in your last post. the village had nothing to do with us selling our stick. we own are own trucks and so we can let them go when we want. As a matter of fact, the new tower ladder will be in on Fri nite and will out of here in ten years. The smeal was nice but by selling it we put ourselves in a good financial place. who knows, you just might see a spare truck in the near future.