AFS1970

I hope they don't make it a soap opera.

I just got this from another (non Emergency Services) forum I post on. Mark Parker died on Thursday, 25 years after throwing his body in harm's way to protect the residents of Orange County. Then 19, Parker was gunned down at the old Orange County Courthouse in Orlando on Jan. 10, 1984, in a massacre that changed court security forever across the United States. His wound crippled the young Corrections Officer but never broke his spirit......His funeral will be conducted with full law enforcement line-of-duty death honors at 10 a.m. Tuesday at First United Methodist Church in Winter Garden. It will include a montage of about 200 photographs of women sitting in Parker's lap and someone, no doubt, will not play his favorite song, "To all the girls I've loved before," by Willie Nelson. "There's a lot of rhetoric today about (law enforcement and corrections officers) putting their lives on the line, but they really do," Lamar said. "The world has changed since 1984 but the dedication of the people who protect us has not changed." Here is the full story: Mark Parker, shot in 1984 Orlando courthouse massacre, dies at age 44

RIP

It also looks like they have no plans to hold an exam for a classified Chief, they just want someone new in the job. Also it is interesting in that the county guy said that they have everyone listed as a part time officer, so they have no official record of there even being a Chief. There is definitely much more going on here politically that the article lets on.

I remember Joe Rockhead's Volunteer Fire Department, I still laugh at the idea that "nothing ever burns in Bedrock, it's made of stone". As a matter of fact, I would love a pic of Fred & Barney in those white coats and red helmets running with the ladder. That would make a great department T-Shirt. A few years ago, there was a debate about an episode of Who's the Boss where Tony joined the Volunteer Fire Department and it was a similar joke. They guys were only members to play cards. Tony was more proud of the blue light they gave him than the work he was doing for the community. Anyone Remember LA Firehouse? That was a soap opera that happened to feature career firefighters. It didn't do anyone any favors either. Let's face it, the days of positive shows about the emergency services like Emergency & Chips are over.

Pretty cool set up. Nice idea using google maps, so that anyone with a laptop & internet access can view it. We have this on our city map that is part of the MDT system. It shows the hydrants in the NFPA colors, and you can click on the hydrants to see the size of the water main. It also has any yard hydrants that we know about marked in yellow, but they are really not usable. I know the two in my apartment complex are painted shut and probably have not been tested or maintained or even flowed at all in the 15 years I have lived there. Maybe you could put any decorative hydrants that you know about on there in black with a tag that says DO NOT USE - WILL NOT FLOW WATER. BTW - You might want to use a smaller picture of a hydrant if you can, that map is pretty crowded looking until you zoom in.

We had a call in town the other day where the incoming Chief did not know about a new hydrant that had been recently installed and the first due Engine Officer did. So these things happen. Most opt for something high visibility like Yellow or Red. Although I remember the in thing was to paint them like soldiers for the Bicentenial in 1976. The town my Grandmother lived in had Black fire hydrants. We had a fire in town several years ago, where this was an issue. The worst part is that when Plan A doesn't work, some IC's are very slow to find a Plan B, no matter if that is Tankers or another hydrant or a drafting site.

I don't think this is a bad idea, but the rationale in the bill seems to allow the thought of eventually repealing tax exemption. Since it uses the theory that these properties benefit from fir eprotection and therefore should pay for it, could not one argue that they benefit from just about any city service that are paid for with taxes? This is probably why the non-profits will lobby pretty hard against this.

We have two old hydrants painted red, white and blue in front of the firehouse. They are next to pushes and clearly part of the plantings. However, isn't making sure the hydrant flows water, why you are supposed to open it up, then close it again BEFORE HOOKING UP THE HOSE, and before the rig drives away. This is less about knowing your district, because any hydrant can be out of service at any time, and more about knowing how to hook up to a hydrant.

This will not work, if your goal is to save a life or stop a crime. At least in CT, most of the carriers only give the coordinates of the cell tower. In order to narrow down the search you have to manually update the data, and then it triangulates based on nearby towers and signal strength. It still only gives us a location that is accurate to about 300 feet and does not address altitude. In the area I work in, this would probably get you to the intersection near the building. 3 out of 4 buildings on those corners are high rises. There is no way to tell from a 9-1-1 hang up, which building the caller is in or what floor they are on. Our best option is to do a manual search in our CAD system and see if that number has ever been used on a previous call, and hope for a nearby address.

I remember seeing pictures of one of these years ago, but then it was about comparing cab heights. One end was the low profile cab that was popular in the early 1980's and the other was a full height one. If I remember correctly, it could be set to drive either way, so that potential customers could compare the two cabs.

Date: 02/16/2009 Time: Aprox 15:50 Location: 241 Rock Rimmon Rd Frequency: Stamford Trunked System, patched to 154.13 Units Operating: E74, R77, M901, M4, M3, M2 (for different medical victim), Stamford PD & Stamford Animal Control Weather Conditions: Clear & Sunny Description Of Incident: 200 Lb. Chimpanzee (Pet) attacked person, victim has severe facial injuries. 1st FD units on scene could not access patient due to animal still being on the loose. FD reported shots fired on scene. M901 requested 2nd Ambulance to stand by for responders. M901 called for 3rd Ambulance for 71 y/o female on scene with trouble breathing. Reporters: BFD182 Writer: BFD182

This came up in an discussion today, and I couldn't find the answer online. I remember seeing a couple of news stories on TV when I was a kid about a Monastary somewhere in NY state where the Monks were members of the towns volunteer fire department I think one of the Monks was Chief for a while. Does anyone remember where this was?

No, it was a Christian Monastary. I think the story was that there had been a fire there and the monks were impressed with the local department and many of them joined. I first saw about it on the show Real People, but I think there was an article on them in Firehouse also.

I don't think the color of the lights matters one bit. As a matter of fact, many states in the area are blurring those lines because of the performance of the lights. When I was growing up in CT, Blue was reserved for two uses, Volunteer Firefighters and State Police. Red was reserved for Fire Apparatus, Ambulances, and Local Police. Green is used so rarely in my area, that I never saw one growing up, except for a local pharmacy that used it on a prescription delivery car, which I have no idea if it was legal or not at the time. As we learned about different colors being seen at different distances, and a combination of colors being more visible than single colors, we started to see red & blue used together a great deal. At some point the law changed for all police vehicles, I think. Didn't NY just allow a rear facing blue on police cars? I know Massachusetts changed to allow a rear facing red on police cars a few years ago. I think the minute we start saying that different colors mean different things, we will be giving the general public the idea that one service is more important than the other. Imagine a driver who sees a certain color combination behind him and does not pull over because it is only a Firefighter and they can't write him a ticket. I know we are kind of at this point already, but there is enough crossover that people generally pull over for warning lights of any kind. As I said before, lets punish the people that break the law, and not those that do not.

No this is where I get unpopular. When the media brings up someones affiliation with e Volunteer agency, we are the first to cry foul, and ask why this was important. In this case it is very important, because the individual apparently had a valid Blue Light permit from one department. But we still champion the cause of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Yet in discussions about this incident, both on-line and off line, I hear a common solution offered, that is to get rid of blue lights for volunteers. I have to ask myself why this would make sense, because one idiot played cop? Even if 100 idiots played cop, it would still be a small percentage of those who use these lights for their intended purpose. So lets champion our usual cause and not throw the baby out with the bathwater this time either.

This stimulus package, like the others before it, are nothing more than an attempt at socializing industry. This was we can all ride government tractors while working at the glorious peoples farms. For better or worse, America is a nation of private businesses, some of which succeed and some of which fail. In order to have the money to bailout any of these companies, there needs to be an increase in taxes. This is not a problem for the Democrats, who believe that taxes are always the solution. This big problem is that time and time again it has been proven that higher taxes do not stimulate the economy. Now as much as I would like to blame the President, we can not place the blame there yet. The house passed this bill, the Senate is likely to. The President does not really come into the picture until he signs it. I agree that it is highly unlikely that he would veto such a bill, and even if he did, there are enough votes in congress to make this nothing more than a symbolic gesture, but until he signs it, he doesn't get his fair share of the blame.

Rest in peace, Brother. My deepest sympathies to his family and his departments. Let us all double our efforts to stay safe. There are no routine calls, scene safety is paramount.

Now when I read the first story, I figured that it was some young kid with his first blue light and not much experience. Now reading that this was a 47 year old, member of 3 different companies, I have to wonder even more.

Just one correction, there was not a 45 minute ETA for an on scene cascade. There was a 45 minute ETA for the on call mechanic who was coming back to fill bottles. Due to the distance to the fire garage, he ended up shuttling them between the scene and Long Ridge Station 1, which was the closest cascade.

Date: 11/27/2009 Time: 23:21 Location: 1181 Rock Rimmon Rd Frequency: 154.130 Units Operating: Long Ridge: E74, E71, E73, K78 (Tanker), 715 (LT), 713, (Capt), 711 (Chief), 710 (FM); Stamford: E8, E9, T2, U4 (DC), E5 (RIT); Turn of River E62, K68 (Tanker), T67, U60 (Utility), 612 (Asst. Chief), 611 (Chief); SEMS: M4, M901 (Supervisor), M3; Springdale: E53 (relocated to Long Ridge Station 1 for Water Supply Ops); Pound Ridge, NY: T3 (Tanker) Description Of Incident: Initial reports of an explosion and fire in a residential garage. E71 on scene reported working fire, car fire inside attached garage. 711 reports access problems with narrow driveway, supply line being stretched by hand, requesting additional manpower. Turn of River sending additional crews. 711 Transfering Command to 611. Four lines in opperation. Additional reports of loss of floor integrity, and fire in different areas of structure. Pound Ridge Tanker Special Called. Writer: BFD 182 EDIT: Additional Units added & Command Transfer Noted. EDIT: Incident details, and additional tankers.

It's out early this year. I had thought I had to wait until February for my Buff Fix, but I was able to get my copy today. The bonus feature, is a cross over episode with Adam 12, which is funny because in an earlier episode, I remember Jonny trying to watch an episode of Adam 12.

I have bought them all at retail stores, mostly FYE (which I think was Sam Goody when the early seasons came out). This one came from Borders Books. There are very few copies of the older seasons out, but you can usually find one or two of the more recent ones, like 4 or 3.

Hey, I wonder if he ever met that kid who took the A train out for a ride a few years ago?

Rest in Peace Brothers, Your Fight is Over