16fire5

We have examples like this in the City of New York. While I can see how some may view the relocation to a house that does 150 runs a year as a poor use of resources I think that travel time must come into play also. If the next due to a empty firehouse will be in the 15 minute travel time range then it probably makes sense to cover that house. If on the other hand 3 firehouses in close proximity are empty for a working fire then a relocation into a single centrally located firehouse makes more sense. The FDNY does use RLS on relocations that is in the department's opinion justified by getting equipment into an area that has deffecient fire protection. I think that Robert Benz gave a real practical example why using RLS to get to the response are makes practical sense.

it should be noted that Engine 16 and Ladder 7 still do a mass and small ceremony each year. They truly don't forget and are a class act.

You are correct the terrazo floor provided an insulating effect. Additionally the seat of the fire was in the basement that extended under the rear of the store from the building around the corner and was not accessible from 23rd St. so the members were having great difficulty accessing the fire which allowed it to burn unchecked and ultimatly bring the beams to failure.

Good luck with that they're 15 miles away. I bet Rescue 2 is closer. All trucks have tools and Squad 270 is about half that distance. Hope it all worked out for the best. Speedy recovery to the injured officer.

The crop of instructors teaching at the fire academy right now is as good as it has ever been. Many of us went to proby school trained by instructors who were on forced details freshly out of FLSTP. They definatly did a good job but now you have senior firefighters and officers from great companies with great leadership from the chief of training on down. While we heard plenty of stories how the last class was not going so well the ones who graduated were very competent and well trained.

Also make sure you're not donning your facepiece too early. Don't donn the facepiece on the rig because you are going to clip the regulator in later. If you practice you can be quck at putting everything on at the entrance to the IDLH. While moving in it's normal to have to clean the outside of the facepiece with your gloved hand. If you have the TIC you will have to do the screen and the lense.

I believe they agreed to the ruling to settle the violations.

In this one it looks like the the truck had a catastrophic aerial failure. Any story on that? http://www.crotononhudson-ny.gov/Public_Documents/CrotonHudsonNY_WebDocs/HistoricalSociety/archives/fd/00109%20FD.jpg

UL researched the subject and has both a report and online learning module on the subject specifically for firefighters. http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/offerings/industries/buildingmaterials/fire/fireservice/pvsystems/

Howie was an exceptional boss. He is sorely missed by 42 Engine, the big house, and all who knew him. RIP brothers.

It's probably this exact reason the suburban Washington DC counties have evolved to the system they now use. Still plenty of volunteer opportunity there but a systems that ensures response to reported fires.

Greenville is rural and it could be argued that most comparable departments don't have a truck or even tower for that matter. I would question their ability to staff the tower for structural responses after the required engine and tanker. One poster alludes to the waiting for a truck when trapped in a window but an auto response truck might actually the fastest way to get a staffed truck on scene. Receiving a truck auto aid to all reported fires would not necessarily be abuse of the system especially if it was part of a reciprocal agreement. Most of the country readily accepts the concepts of auto-aid, mutual aid, boundary drop, and closest resource to better serve their customers and ensure the safety of their members. While I agree that consolidation is usually a worthwhile consideration many times starting small can be the catalyst and be the best immediate practical measure to address the issue.

Please don't take this the wrong way but any discussion about the fact a brand new truck is coming to the firehouse 1.5 miles and 4 minutes away?

And this statement is based on what? We've had fire officers wearing CO meters on every call for probably close to 15 years. EMS has had CO meters since a near miss on a EMS call. My experience is a large portion of the fire service is monitoring.

I have commented on this before but a major down side to the hanging tag system is that it's so hard to see the names quickly. Take for instance the bear claw mentioned-you basicly need to pick up each tag to see the name. Here's a system that seems to work very well in a volunteer department. Passport on the rig with riding positions. Passport is in the back so members place their name tag on the passport and hand it up front to the boss. Officer places their's on the officer spot. Once on scene you hand it off to a chief on scene or leave it on the seat. Anyone not going inside has their nametags upside down. This way in the event an emergency roll call is needed you look at the passports and note the names right side up. Small boards with velcro hold passports for 1/2 alarm incidents where with a grease pencil you can note location and assignment. Large boards for larger incident. Also you can have extra passports aka phantom passports for splitting crews and the event people report to the scene. You can have blank passports for your mutual aid to track. Simply record the PAR number of personnel entering. While many were skeptical of this system when introduced it worked very well. I have really never seen the benifit of the hanging tag system. What I want as an IC a simple way to rapidly determine who's in the building and the basics of where they are. The above is combined with portable radios and SCBAs (Pak Tracker equipped) that are position specific. All this needs to be combined with competent ICs with diciplined fireground crews. Staying apprised of the locations and tasks being performed is also necessary. One thing that I have heard recently is some departments have crews announce their entrance to the building with PAR number. I think this bears consideration. The things that will make this sucessful is strong leadership and using it everyday. If you don't use this on automatic alarms and other everyday runs you will not do it when you need to. If you think that knowing who's inside, basically where they are, and what they're doing is too much to ask then you have no business sending your members inside.

It also mean you get more qualified better equipment faster to your house too in the unfortunate event you need them.

I think it's safe to say working that many hours is probably physically not safe nor healthy.

As sick as all this is if you watch the video it is imediatly apparent that this is an intentional terrorist act and instead of everyone running away you see both the professional and citizen rescurers taking immediate action to save lives in the face of extreme danger. It is without a doubt the immediate care on scene by bystanders an the rapid and professional care provided by Boston's EMS system and the excellent hospitals saved lives. Be vigilant.

Unfortunatly simply measuring CO is probably not enough. I have some friends who worked on this project and the research found that micro-particulates were present well after the fire. As uncomfortable as it is SCBA probably should be worn throughout the overhaul period in the fire area. Not saying I am without sin here just citing the facts. http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/offerings/industries/buildingmaterials/fire/fireservice/smokeparticulates/

Wrong wrong wrong. If we have learned anything in the past few years it's get water on the seat of the fire fast and first.

There's not as many fires as there were 30, 20, or 10 years ago. That's a fact. Sometimes I think guys feel the need to do some tactics at fires because they think this is there only chance. I could be dead wrong but how else can we explain things like cutting peaked roofs after the fire is under control, VES and searching above with no hoseline when the occupant meet you and told you nobody was inside. Stories like this happen everyday and no departments are immune. Part of being a professional is doing the tasks to match what need to be done not what's fun. A friend of mine works for a small paid department and told me how he went mutual aid to a neighbooring depatment and on arrival they had no water on the fire but were on the roof cutting away. If you are interested in doing cool stuff you heard NYC does so you can tell cool stories at the bar you need to re-evaluate being a firefighter.

Actually to keep it they make you bring a notorized statement to that effect and an $100 check.

Most of us have never been prouder of our job than right now. The selflessness of the brothers has been unbelievable in the past month. First the members worked through tremendous adversity the night of the hurricane and there are countless stories of initiative and heroism. Which was quickly followed up by helping our brothers and neighboors in need both out of our pockets and with our backs. The service and selflessness seems to be contagious and has inspired all of us to do more. It is during all of this that the member in question has chosen to publicly release his suit. To me it shows how out of touch he seems to be with the job.

I agree but what I was referring to were supposedly and inordinate amount of nonsense calls that didn't even generate a response. Stuff like hey my lights are out and it's windy out there and the sign fell down.

I'm sure the actual problem was not the true emergencies calling in but the loads of increased call for nonsense.