helicopper

And water and the combination thereof. Great in theory but not practical in our area.

Why is it always an either or proposition? Why not establish minimum standards and if the standards are met by volunteers, great. If they're not, augment with career staff. This is more cost effective than 100% paid and more reliable than 100% volunteer. It seems to work in so many other places, why can't it work here in the Northeast?

Sending 33% of your available ALS resources to a soccer game for a broken ankle is a waste of resources. The BLS level of the system has to operate effectively and efficiently too.

A few points... 1. Nobody has suggested abolishing anything. Several people have suggested that area residents would be served better by a department with a different organization, tax base, and staffing. There has been no agency bashing. 2. Members should discuss the issue and not "attack" or criticize each other for having different styles of communicating or perspectives. If necessary, agree to disagree but don't jab each other. Several inappropriate posts have been removed by the staff. 3. Emergency service organizations are inanimate objects and do not need to be "defended". They're not your little sister and their feelings won't get hurt. Since nobody is bashing an agency there's no need to take this discussion personally or respond in defense of it. Let's stick the issues and continue having an interesting and informative discussion about fire service staffing issues and potential solutions. 4. If you have an issue with a post in this or any other thread, please use the REPORT button at the bottom of the post window to report it and the staff will address it. Do not respond to the offending post; let the staff handle it. To those that have already been adhering to the above, thank you. Please return to your regularly scheduled discussion.

This is NOT a career vs volunteer issue and nobody is trying to steer it that way. The issue is adequate staffing (staffing is blind to pay status) in the fire service and everyone is discussing the problems objectively and without prejudice or malice toward either side. Some extremely experienced mermbers are posting very thoughtful replies to a situation that is not at all unique to Rye Brook or Port Chester and we can all learn from the discussion.

I honestly don't know what you mean with your reference to Mayberry unless you're suggesting that this will somehow be swept under the rug. In Florida, and with all this publicity, I doubt very highly that it will be. Given the circumstances shown in that video, treating the operator as a high-risk suspect and exercising extreme caution (weapon drawn and handcuffing the driver) was entirely appropriate. I would have assumed the car was stolen if it took off on me like that too.

Or, and this is becoming the disturbing trend, they will simply reduce the number of required positions cutting both officer positions and overtime.

The joys of retirement! You just gave me something to look forward to.

Interesting thought. If done as a separate county 911 center it may be feasible. I don't see the benefits of spinning off the two radio rooms as a separate agency under the current model. Eliminate all the PSAP's and create a single, state-of-the-art 911 communications center. All 911 calls (wired and cellular) should go through it with regional dispatchers for communications zones based upon strategy and volume not which side of the street you live on. Yonkers and the other big cities with sufficient volume to warrant it could have their own "section" in the center much like Onondaga County where there is a "county section" and a "city section" for Syracuse. There would of course be some growing pains and compatibility issues but in the long run it could revolutionize communications for the county. Let my great, great, great, great grandkids know how it works out.

Great post George, and it is spot on. Problem is that communications are supposed to be two-way and if the chief communicated with the subordinates or the union when he heard it was going on, none of this would have happened. If the Chief knew it was going on he bears just as much responsibility to inform them of his decisions or intentions. The local and the subordinates shouldn't have to be mind-readers. It's the classic example of failed communications that is completely avoidable.

The same is true of an e-mail alleging to be from the IRS and other government agencies. If in doubt, delete it!

Big difference between emu and giraffes and lions and tigers.

If the old bridge is saved, then we'll have two bridges to maintain, right? Who's going to pay for the repair and upkeep of the "park bridge". It won't be the Thruway Authority unless they're allowed to have tolls for the pedestrians and bikes. I can't support the idea of maintaining the old bridge as a park until someone can figure out the cost and who will be paying for it.

The department is the one making the issue. Every major league sport and many other high-profile entities wear pink for cancer awareness at various times. To say you can't wear the pink shirts off FD property is just silly. The union is just trying to do the right thing. You know, we complain about visibility and being conspicuous all the time - the pink shirts definitely remedy that.

http://www.emtbravo....ias-guidelines/ Not every accident, fire or incident gets posted because the focus is on noteworthy or unusual incidents. Even some of the jobs that do get posted aren't especially noteworthy and that is something the staff continually wrestles with. It's hard to balance when you have members from rural areas where having a call is "notable" to NYC where every day dozens of "noteable" incidients occur. Sorry about your friend but it sounds like he was lucky enough not to be involved in a "noteworthy" accident.

These are the same people who spend $15-20,000 to fly from Manhattan to the Hamptons every weekend in the summer so they don't have to sit in traffic. Why is a snobby ambulance a surprise???

The Regional Councils and Medical Advisory Committees (MAC) do have some statutory authority and the ability to be the impetus for change - if they're not obstructed in their efforts. 15-20 years ago, when Westchester was still part of the Hudson Valley Regional EMS Council, the Westchester delegation (and others) sought to have a response time standard adopted for all EMS calls. The responders and even some council members fought the effort and ultimately succeeded in preventing its passage. Had it been successful and implemented back in 1991 (or thereabouts), we would have had a response time requirement for 20 years that would (in my opinion) resulted in radical changes to the EMS system we have today. Some agencies would have had to change to meet this standard and we might have a more comprehensive effective system than we do. I also remember battles royale over the training curricula and strenuous opposition to efforts to raise the bar for CFR, EMT, and advanced EMT courses - all because it would "be hard for the volunteers to meet it". So, we were stuck with the bare minimum and now 20 years later we still face the same problem with volunteers not being able or willing to meet the standards. Jon Politis, career EMS educator and administrator from upstate NY, said it best and I'll paraphrase him. "EMS has long-term problems but short-term leaders". This is true of the fire service as well. It is very hard to be the impetus for change when you have one year to learn the job and one year to do the job before you're "voted out" to make room for the next up and comer. It's also hard to be the guy advocating change that may be unpopular when elected in a popular vote. Change will have to come from within but it is a challenge to sway the majority from the comfortable status quo regardless of how ineffecient it is.

I'm a big advocate of regionalization but not necessarily a county level/sized system. Going from 40-something EMS agencies to a single one may create an entirely new set of problems. I'm not sure if that's the answer. In the interim, how about going from 40-something to 12 or 15? That's a huge improvement without a complete loss of local identity. There's no disputing that people in the bigger, more densely populated cities, have access to a better system than the most affluent but rural communities to the north. We have no system and until the players realize that and make a move to change it we'll always languish with this patchwork of good, bad, and indifferent agencies providing EMS.

I have to echo INIT's point. I don't believe that unions are very strong in the south and almost all municipal workers are "at will employees" - that is, they have no union protection.

All this banter about border issues yet the fact remains that close to 150 FF were engaged in suppression/foam operations for 14 hours. Sounds like they needed Yonkers and White Plains and the close to 100 FDNY members on scene. Whether by design or by errant 911 calls, everbody worked (and worked hard it sounds like). It has been discussed numerous times in the past... FDNY is not a primary mutual aid resource to Westchester.

MODERATOR NOTE: Discussing "hypothetical" situations is fine but some of the "case descriptions" are becoming extremely detailed and moving closer to the possibility of identifying a person and/or agency. On behalf of the staff, I must caution everyone not to post anything that identifies someone specifically or makes unsubstantiated accusations (if a person is not convicted, the allegations are unsubstantiated). Any posts that identify a specific person and are not based on public information regarding a conviction will be deleted immediately.

It may have been even earlier than that. It was a Bell 47 helicopter being operated under contract to the then Metro North Railroad (prior to the MTA consolidation) and it crash landed right around Fenimore Road.

Date correction made to topic title as requested. Please note the new date.

If you need a few cops at your house you'll get them. The statement that Somers has only one troop car at night is not entirely accurate. The State Police have several units operating out of the Somers barracks at night and if they're needed at your house, they'll respond from other areas/towns and mutual aid can get your more cops than any town can provide. Comparisons with Manhattan are misleading as well. While comparable in size, there is no comparison in population, population density, or activity. There are probably single police sectors in NYC with the same population as Somers so one troop car is an appropriate level of coverage. If activity warranted more coverage, there would be a reallocation of resources. That's something the State Police can do because they're the STATE police. 59 fire departments in Westchester don't have the same luxury that a single agency would enjoy.

None of us can say "regardless of cost" anymore. Look at the decimation of departments (Camden, Hialeah, Oakland, etc.), consolidation, closure and contracting of services, etc. The same is true on the PD side in many places also. People will not accept "regardless of cost" anymore and are saying so in elections, editorials, budget votes, and with their feet. People are moving out of areas with prohibitive taxes.