helicopper

And the REP's always have the truck (and additional REP's) to back them up. I'm pretty sure this is one stop shopping for DOC.

Agreed. It's great to see an agency taking advantage of an opportunity and truly making improvements not just buying equipment and proclaiming that they're prepared.

Interesting perspective but the focus of this thread is not on agency's providing EMS services but on the one's that do NOT. So this isn't about a BLSFR FD, it's about a fire-only FD that just pulled up first at the scene of a motor vehicle accident with injuries, fire with someone jumping out a third floor window, or God forbid a FF drops during the call or at training. A reasonably complete set of equipment/supplies should be on all apparatus but I would stop short of traction splints and things like that for an FD (or PD) that doesn't do EMS. I would counter that traction isn't going to be initiated until someone decides to apply the traction splint so it should be there before grabbing some poor soul's leg and hanging onto it. In nearly 25 years of doing EMS I can count on one hand (alright maybe two) the number of times I used a traction splint but that's a different story. The goal is to be able to provide immediate meaningful treatment to somebody until EMS arrives. For that the cost of replacement equipment is negligible and if the FD won't commit to that token expense there are bigger problems. There are also problems in an EMS agency that won't give the FD/PD an O2 mask or bandage supplies but that's for a different discussion. Patient care reports get written by the EMS agencies involved. If the FD is not operating as an EMS provider, this isn't an issue. Of course the EMS agency should document what was done and by whom but that really has no bearing on an FD training its personnel to be able to operate effectively within their scope as FF's. I too have been deposed and testified in many proceedings about EMS operations but that has very little to do with this topic. With regard to the proper application of a cervical collar, were they applied by certified personnel or well intentioned responders without medical training? That would have a lot of significance to this discussion. Proper patient care isn't in dispute here. Quite the contrary, the whole point is what level of training should be required of an FF? Good points, thanks for highlighting these issues.

Come on, Tom. I'll give you underpaid. No question. But overworked? Really?

Latest rumors I've heard are that the exams will be posted in the next few weeks and testing will be in April. There's speculation that there will be several openings for Disaster Preparedness Program Representatives (DPPR) during the life of the list so if you want a job with incredible responsibilities, meager pay, and no thanks, it may be the test for you.

The Stellamare. That was one hell of a boat accident!

Info on the settlement was recently released:

Are you sure about that wind information? I don't believe Patterson is downwind most of the time; they're certainly not in the 10 mile EPZ. I think they are a reception center for people that are moved north and east but I could be mistaken.

Grant application information from the Entergy website. My guess is that if an agency didn't receive anything, they didn't apply or they applied and didn't meet the below criteria.

Simple and unbiased? I doubt it. Is there a plan that creates one single FD for the entire City?

One of the reasons that resources would respond to specific designated locations is that they can be provided with adequate security and prevent the type of incident you're referring to. As for the mutual aid move-down, don't assume it would be to NYC. It could be to the train stations at Yonkers, White Plains and New Rochelle (for example). Or, it could be to your local train station to meet and assess/triage everyone coming off trains from NYC. That alone would be a major challenge. We have changed since 9/11 and I would suggest that its for the better but in a cost/benefit analysis I'd say we weren't getting our money's worth.

There is a plan for mutual aid to NYC and I'm sure the same holds policy for credentialing and accountability applies to Long Island resources and New Jersey resources just with different mobilization points (Citi Field and Staten Island as mentioned above). The new Commissioner's comments aren't so much about us going to NYC but rather the incident victims relocating to Westchester and points north... How prepared are we to deal with a train load of 1500 injured or contaminated people arriving at ANY station in Westchester? The points about us not being able to cover day to day calls is significant. What will we do about it? Tune back in to this thread 5 years from now and I'll bet you'll hear almost all the same discussions.

I'm not sure it was "invite only" but I'm pretty sure it was for the brass hats and big guns and not line dogs.

I would ask the vendor what kind of guarantee they'll provide for painted roll-up doors. It seems to me that you're going to get lots of paint chipping from normal use unless they have some special way of painting them.

The state's DIVISION of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. There is no more state "office of homeland security".

Why is discussing an incident backseat FF or Monday morning QB'ing? When you're in training don't you debrief every evolution to figure out what was done well and what should be done better next time? Isn't that what training is all about? Shouldn't we also do that after incidents so we can figure out what can be done better next time? You can't conduct a federally funded (grant) exercise without doing an after-action report and improvement plan; do you think they created that just to generate busy work? NO, they did it to have us identify what capabilities can/should be improved (and to fatten the wallets of consultants everywhere but that's for a different thread). That's why they call it a process. I don't see anyone saying that they would have done it this way or that way. I see lots of questions being asked and discussions about different ways of obtaining water when you're in a non-hydrant area. No, up there in the north county you don't have hydrants but you do have tankers and you do have other options. You should put the "city slickers" to shame with how well you can find and use alternate water sources. There are rural FD's with much higher ISO ratings than we have in Westchester with 10x the apparatus and alleged numbers of firefighters. How come rural parts of the US can do it and we can't? Thank you . Lessons learned are critical and if you don't share them you're doing someone a great disservice. We can all learn and while to some it may seem as though it is criticism or Monday morning QB-ing, there is probably someone somewhere that is using this discussion to develop ideas for training, pre-plan initiatives, or something else that will benefit him or his department. www.llis.gov is a website dedicated to sharing lessons learned and best practices. Check it out. Maybe it will help you or at least broaden your horizons. We all need to get over the notion that we shouldn't or don't get second-guessed or critically evaluated in what we do. If we get riled up at a simple discussion like this we're going to fall apart when we're in a deposition or courtroom being asked very tough questions.

God Bless America!!!!

Without knowing the identity and background of every member in an online forum you should absolutely take everything with a grain of salt. Every response to this thread has been opinion because we're not the background investigator with this application nor are we policy makers in the FDNY. Simply being an employee of FDNY doesn't qualify anyone as an expert in applicant investigations either. Lots of input has been provided, the original question answered with several different viewpoints, so the thread is now closed, Any further dialogue on the subject should be by e-mail or PM. Thank you.

First off, how much younger? If it was 10 years ago you may not have that much trouble. If it was 10 weeks ago, different story. Talk to your investigator, tell him the truth, and ask for guidance. If it was an honest mistake, you simply forgot about old part-time jobs, you may be alright but you have to be honest in your application package and any other documents they ask for.

Sadly 2012 is off to a bad start also. What may be the first LODD occurred in Washington this morning at Mt. Ranier Park during a traffic stop. You never know what you're stopping!

This is a long-standing problem with synthetic drugs. As soon as the legislation is passed outlawing the chemical compound, the druggies simply change the compound slightly and voila, they're not violating the law anymore.

Text of new law:

Tow trucks, HELP trucks, and DOT trucks can't ENFORCE it. All you can do is hope for voluntary compliance or a cop nearby when somebody doesn't move over.

The PD is shut down also. The City will now contract with the County Sheriff's Office for police services. The city is a Detroit suburb and has a population around 60,000 in 20 square miles. From the article: All you that think your department is invincible, pay attention to the writing on this wall!

Another interesting disparity. Training for fire police is 21 hours but the required training to be a peace officer in NYS is 40 hours (and that may soon change as was noted in another post). They may be authorized by statute to be called peace officers, but they are definitely not trained to engage in police actions such as arrests.