helicopper

A Florida Turnpike toll collector's worst nightmare!!! 3.64 MILLION NICKELS!!!

California merged their office of emergency services with the office of homeland security. Given that NYS has several agencies with similar (and sometimes competing) mandates and resposnibilities, do you think such a move would be a good idea here? Let's take a look at our "system" (grossly simplified for illustrative purposes) : Office of Homeland Security - homeland security / training / counter-terrorism preparedness / support to local municipalities / now adds "all hazards preparedness and response to their mission statement Office of Fire Prevention and Control - fire service / training / counter-terrorism preparedness / support to local municipalities Division of Criminal Justice Servcies - law enforcement / training / counter-terrorism preparedness / support to local municipalities State Emergency Management Office - all-hazards emergency management and planning /preparedness / training / counter-terrorism preparedness / support to local municipalities / hazard mitigation It seems to me that many of these functions are duplicative and/or redundant and we (as the public and taxpayers) would be better served by a more streamlined approach and broader strategic outlook rather than the old discipline specific focus that has been so common for so long. What do you all think? Director Matthew Bettenhausen comments on Governor Schwarzenegger signing AB 38 merging Governor's Office of Homeland Security with the Office of Emergency Services Actual Legislation Merging Departments http://cbs13.com/local/california.emergenc...e.2.827348.html

Since when has the law ever stopped someone or an agency from doing what they wanted?

I have since found out that Connecticut, Louisiana, and Texas have already done what California is now doing. What do you think?

Broadcasting the location over your own radio with the size-up is nice but the really important thing is how the CP is identified as the incident continues to grow and additional resources/departments/municipalities become involved. Unless your regional dispatch center (you know, the single 911 answering point, multi-jurisdictional/multi-agency, centralized point for all public safety communications) continually rebroadcasts the location on all applicable talkgroups, people aren't going to know where it is. Compound that with the numerous vehicles proclaiming that they are the incident commander (how a vehicle is the IC is another question ) and the ready identification of the CP is a challenge to those arriving later. The use of a command post flag or single green light is generally considered the standard identification for it but I don't see that being practiced anywhere around here. At a Newark, NJ airport exercise years ago the ICP was clearly marked by both a flag (daylight) and then a green light (once it got dark). This still assumes that the location will be readily visible to all responding resources.

This is not the first department to alter foot pursuit policies. Many agencies have adopted policies that specifically direct officers to stop the "pursuit" upon losing sight of the suspect and immediately go to containment and establishing a perimeter. Once you lose sight of the suspect (i.e. he runs between two buildings and when you come out on the other side, he's gone) the odds of being successful without a perimeter drop exponentially. Go to containment, establish a good perimeter, call a dog (and a helicopter) and you'll very likely apprehend your suspect. Lessons learned from many more progressive parts of the country!

Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery! Get well soon, brother!!!

Is there a single school district for the County? That's the lion's share of our taxes. I'm not terribly unhappy with the municipal taxes (although they could always be lower), it's the school taxes that keep having double digit increases.

I think the more fundamental issue is the lack of accountability for the FF inside the building not the injury.

Um, Yonkers is in Westchester County and has full-time ALS - more often than not. There are going to be calls in every jurisdiction that don't get ALS sometimes. There are only so many medic units and if they're tied up with a prior call they're not available for the next one. On the subject of endotracheal intubation, damage to teeth is a potential side effect but I think it is far less prevalent than you're implying. Another way of looking at is without the ET tube they'd be dead - if they get tubed and a tooth get chipped or "knocked out" they can visit the dentist when they get out of the hospital. Death vs. Dentist? I think I know which one I'd pick (maybe, I hate going to the dentist!). The first day on a vent may be very expensive but the alternative is rather final. CPAP may be a great option but you seem to be pitting it against intubation. Both have their place and their usefulness. Let's hear back after you investigate and have more definitive answers about it. I'd like to know: cost of CPAP equipment, required training, required inspections/tests of equipment, cost of maintenance, cost of required training, limitations and contraindications, etc.

If they made stupidity a crime, we'd need a LOT more prison space!!!

I wholeheartedly agree with your point about quality over quantity! Everyone has proposed some meaningful changes and additions to the curriculum but doubling the hours and adding 100 hours of clinical rotations? That's probably going to make it an EMT-I course and then some, not necessarily a bad thing but it may become problematic. As for skills such as endotracheal intubation and venipuncture (starting an IV), I could not be more opposed to making these basic skills. There are paramedics who cannot perform these skills often enough to be proficient - to make this a BLS skill without incredible continuing education mandates to insure proficiency will have people struggling with unmanageable airways in the field rather than getting on the road to more definitive treatments. Other airway adjuncts I'm in favor of but ET intubation is tough enough for the limited number of paramedics that we have. Background checks are properly the responsibility of the employing agency but DOH does check for certain convictions to insure that someone is eligible for certification so I'd argue that that is already in place. To that I say nonsense! EMT's predate paramedics and before ALS services were so prevalent there were a lot of excellent clinicians and extremely qualified EMT's who took only an 80 hour EMT course and had 10 hours of ER "clinical time". EMT's use ALS services as a crutch (and agencies allow it - some even encourage) rather than developing their own decision making processes and clinical judgment. It's ridiculous. What he said! Thanks, Tom, for putting it so succinctly! Great ideas everybody! Keep 'em coming!

I'm sure cops won't be the only one's to reply - any parent and any person with one ounce of common sense will have an opinion. I heard the story on the radio and couldn't comprehend the stupidity of allowing a child to handle a fully automatic weapon. As a police officer and a parent, I've already started teaching my six year old about firearms safety. He's been taught how dangerous they are and he's been shown how they work at the range but he's never been allowed to handle a gun by himself, let alone fire one by himself.

There is a death penalty on the books but the language in the jury instructions was deemed to be unconstitutional so it has to be re-written before it can be "executed" (pun intended). Hopefully there will be some movement on this and we'll all be able to start saving money on housing, feeding, and educating prisoners who will never see the light of day anyway.

What happens if the FD doesn't do the test and the FF goes on at full-duty with an undiagnosed life-threatening condition? Then he drops in sudden cardiac arrest. A disability pension is far better than a funeral and a family trying to figure out about death benefits and pensions. I think police and fire personnel should all have more comprehensive physicals...

If you've got a pre-existing cardiac condition how can you remain an active firefighter? If you're 75 years old and have a history of heart trouble should you be responding to jobs as the fire police or anything else?

There has to be some standard and I don't think FD's are qualified to start developing their own medical training curricula. The CFR program is sound, it is relatively painless, and it serves the whole "entry level" first responder population. To do your own without any certification is asking for liability and while Gamewell and I agree that you can't live your life fearful of it, "doing your own thing" in the medical world is asking for trouble.

Gamewell, if you're against FD's doing EMS just say that. To suggest that a FF/CFR will "freeze up" when treating a patient is absurd. Will the same FF freeze up when attempting a rescue while inside a fire building? Again we see the disparity between voluntary and career agencies - all Police Officers and all career firefighters get CFR training in their academies - how many of them "freeze up" during an EMS assist? Like it or not, we are all first responders - whether certified or not - and we should be doing more than standing there looking at someone saying "medical help is on the way". Why are you there in the first place if that's all you're going to do? You want to educate the public so they know what you DON'T do, huh? Be careful with that one or when budget season rolls around they'll ask how many calls are actually fire calls. Nobody's suggesting making every FF a paramedic but knowing CPR and at the very least first aid is a small but meaningful requirement. It is disgusting to suggest that promoting minimum training standards such as this should be opposed by the fire lobby. If 51 hours is too much to ask of someone who is going to be coming to my (or my family's) assistance, time to rethink why you're doing this and what the bare minimum training requirements should be.

That's a weak excuse. If they have no stomach for "blood and guts" how will they handle an extrication or other rescue call? How will they react if they happen upon an burn victim during a primary or secondary search in a fire? What if one of their colleagues is suddenly injured and bleeding? All first responders (police, fire, and EMS) should be certified officially as CFR's. There's no reason NOT to do it! The big issue will be once certified in their academy or probie school how do they keep their certification? Many departments (police, fire and EMS) turn a blind eye to ongoing, continuing education so for three years you're good but then what? As for bnechis's comment about EMS providers being more insightful to the needs of the patient during an extrication, I happen to agree. There are entirely too many instances where a simple extrication becomes an AVET drill - at the patient's expense. There's no reason to cut the car up more than is necessary to safely and efficiently remove the victim but that's not always the mindset. Izzy, I see your point but I have to say: screw CYA! What about being able to take care of each other if *it hits the proverbial fan?

True but the source of this information is not a medical entity so there is probably no foul (pun intended). This does point out the vulnerability of our communications but that's for another thread!

Does the unit designation really make any difference so long as everyone knows that these resources are available and request them when appropriate? It shouldn't matter what the unit number is (or isn't) but rather that these assets are properly staffed with qualified and experienced responders armed with all the necessary equipment and supplies.

Attack stance? He was in a defensive stance and that's what probably saved him from taking that 'punch' full force. If he was that aggressive there should have been more PD on scene and EMS should have backed off. No reason for ANYBODY to get hurt in a situation like that. There's no assault by intimidation - that's harassment. Assault (in NYS) requires injury. You might be able to charge menacing but that's tough to successfully prosecute - especially in Westchester. As for stomping on someones ankles or using a choke hold - law enforcement is only going to use the tactics that they're trained in. I'm not aware of any law enforcement agency still using "choke holds" at all. Most have gone to the Taser for obvious reasons.

We've all done it... leave a vehicle idling at a scene. Given these two incidents should this be revisited? How would you recommend increasing vehicle safety and security without compromising our effectiveness? This thread is not about critiquing the two threads referenced, it's about figuring out how to prevent another similar incident! Police Vehicle Stolen - one arrested after chase Man arrested after moving ambulance at a scene

That's not exactly the case. It was our regular day off but we could have been recalled for a mission. However, we've neither trained nor been qualified for night bambi-bucket operations. There are so many concerns associated with bambi-bucket ops that work in darkness makes the risk analysis heavily weighted against the mission. Out west they train for it and do it all the time. We've been called for fires three or four times in a year so we can't maintain proficiency with that volume of work. The NY State Police were also called and they had someone working with Putnam to determine what, if anything, would be done during the night. They would be "first-due" to Putnam in most cases anyway. They did say that they'd go out for recon/surveillance if requested. The NYPD does do bambi-bucket missions as well but I'm not sure if they would do them at night either - especially in unfamiliar terrain. Yes, the National Guard does have assets that can do fire suppression but I don't believe that any are in our area. The proximity to houses may be a reason not to use the helicopter. If you have a house, you probably have a road, if you have a road, you can probably get close with fire apparatus negating the value of doing water drops in someone's backyard. The big picture has to be considered and if you can put an engine with 1000 gallons of water in the driveway of a house on the periphery of the fire you're far better off than having us drop 180 gallons. Calling in the Rangers is a very smart idea because this is their area of expertise. Just like they'd call for you for a structure fire.

That's a neat idea but what happens if you're outside your vehicle transmitting on the radio while on scene? Does it go UNlock, LOCK, UNlock, LOCK every time???