AFS1970

This was too little, too late. They should have received a full pardon, and it should not have had to wait until the last day. he could have done this in 2005 and made everything right. As it is now, they are still convicted felons and will never work in their chosen professions again. This also does not fix the case law issue. I am actually surprised that President Bush did this, as I sent a fax from the NumbersUSA site, which posted the message that the administration was ignoring all calls and faxes from the public during the last week in office. By doing this today, along with a whole batch of last ditch political tricks, that every outgoing President seems to do, it minimizes this case to just another moment in political footnoting.

Please join us in a fundraiser for Stamford Public Safety Dispatcher (and Retired Stamford Fire Rescue Captain) Walt Finch, who has been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. The Benefit will be held on January 16, 2009 6:00pm - 10:00pm at the Knights of Columbus, 507 Shippan Ave, Stamford, CT Tickets are $50.00, includes buffet dinner, beer, wine & soda. There will also be T-Shirts available for $20.00 For further information or to buy Tickets & T-Shirts contact PSD Tim Croke (TCroke (at) ci.stamford.ct.us) or PSD Frank Blefari (FBlefari (at) ci.stamford.ct.us) AKA PSD8109 on EMTBravo Or call Stamford Dispatch at (203) 977-4444 or (203) 977-5555

Bumping this thread up, as we are only three days away from the benefit. It would be great to see a big crowd show up for the cause. A brother needs assistance forthwith.

We can't keep quoting Python, because if we do, sooner or later, we will be accused of SPAMMING this forums.

I guess it was too much to hope for to make it more than a day into 2009 without a LODD. Rest in Peace, Brother. My heartfelt condolences to his family and his department.

Rest in peace, Brother, rest in peace.

The T-Shirts are in for the Benefit. They are Dark Purple (The Color for Pancreatic Cancer Ribbons) and have a gold Maltese Cross on the left chest, with the Purple Ribbon in the center. Stamford 911 on top, and the date of the benefit on the bottom. We also got in silicone wrist bands, like the live strong ones. They are also Purple, and say "Friends for Walt Finch. These are $2. All items will be for sale at the benefit. Or you can contact one of the above Dispatchers. You can also call our Dispatch Center, someone there can get you the information too.

Rest in Peace.

I think the first time I ever heard of these laws, in a medical sense, was in a CPR class I took, before becoming involved with fire & ems. The general interpretation there was that CPR training was medical training, and such you were covered as long as you did not excede what was taught in class. I later heard this same interpretation in my EMT class. I would think however that someone with no medical training, like the general public is still acting in good faith, as long as they don't do something that goes against what they have been trained in, which is nothing, or that a reasonable person would know is wrong. At the risk of being logical here, I think it is important to remember why these laws are called Good Samaritan Laws, it is from a biblical story, where a mugging victim was passed by and not helped by first a Priest, then a Levite, and finally when a Samaritan (which refers to where he is from, not how he acts) saw him, he stopped and treated his wounds and brought him to an inn and actually paid for his further treatment. I know it is not popular anymore to believe that most of our laws stem from biblical principles, but the story clearly shows that a passer by rendered aid, not a Doctor, or EMT, or other healer. Interestingly enough, the person who asked for a definition of Neighbor, and thus got the story of the Good Samaritan told to him was a Lawyer, and at the end he was told to "Go, and do thou likewise". I would actually think that someone with training has more limitations under such laws, because they are bound by what they know will be harmful. If I pull someone out of a car by the shoulder or arm, and then everyone else agrees that there was no imminent explosion, I will have gone against what I know about spinal immobilization. Thus I am not being as Good as the Samaritan was. However I doubt that the department store cosmetics clerk has been trained in spinal immobilization and thus is only thinking about preventing injuries incurred in the potential fire & explosion. As for Fire Departments not training in back boarding? I know in CT that MRT (First Responders) can not put people on back boards while EMT's can. Since most departments only train to the MRT level (although that is changing in allot of areas) they probably shouldn't even be doing this. I have however seen a few MRT classes where they go over assisting in back boarding a patient so the MRT's will know how to help with straps and securing the head, when they are working with EMT's.

A few years ago, I was able to see how this position works in Tulsa, OK. They have an interesting take on it. They have Battalion Chiefs and the aide is a Captain, who is on the BC promotion list. When they are both working, it is a kind of apprenticeship program. The night I was there, the Captain was out, and the Chief was driving himself. That is a way they keep down the overtime. Conversely, if the Chief is out, the Captain is the Acting BC and also drives himself. Interesting concept, but it does of course allow for too many days without the services of an aide. I also don't know if it has changed or not since I was there.

You guys are debating which bar is better and we here in Fairfield County have to wait 13 months before this is even an issue, my heart bleeds for you. Now someone mentioned holding these in a Firehouse, but it seems like it is leaning more towards a local pub. I guess that depends on what this is for. If it is solely social the pub is probably the best place to be. If it is more buff oriented, then the firehouse might work. Remember that most firehouses (especially municipal) can not have the same kind of beverages that the local pub can. Also since we have members who have no affiliation to Firefighting, he local firehouse may not have the intended draw, just a thought.

On this I couldn't agree more, I got an e-mail with the following two links in them. Since they are youtube videos, I will say that the information is not verified by me. The second video is easy enough to verify what the people said, but I do not know for certain how big the sample was. Either way, they bring home this point. What Do Barack Obama Voters Know? These also show how bad the media was and how critical the media's role was in this or any election.

Closest unit response is all well and good. But there are a couple of factors at play here that also have an effect. In many cases these historic district lines go back to before there was any development in the area, and fewer roads leading to these areas. At one point they probably were the closest, or at least fastest. Fire stations are built where land is available, not always where they would do the most good. When a district has the resources to put in a sub station at a different end of town, a parcel needs to be found, then the NIMBY neighbors who all want the fire protection but not the noise hold a hearing and the new station is nixed. Even if Westchester went with either a county wide closest unit response plan or a county wide fire department, there would still be border issues. Westchester borders other counties and even another state that would not be part of this plan but might in theory be closer. Remember Long Ridge Fire Co. in Stamford is first due (dual response) to a few streets in Pound Ridge, NY. When 60 Control gets the call they send it out and call Stamford dispatch and we send Long Ridge. Does this mean we should consolodate Fairfield and Westchester counties into one big mega department?

How do you loose an unopposed position? That is a neat trick. One thing I would think of, and I have no idea how it would play out in any eventual court case is this. Firefighter A is accused of a crime, he is suspended pending outcome of the case, being suspended he can not run for office. Sometime within the term of office he is cleared of the charges. Has he suffered damages by not being able to hold office? Just some hypothetical wondering. I don't know how if at all the courts deal with parliamentary issues that come up in civil cases.

I got this warning in my e-mail from a conservative news website other than FOX that I subscribe to. After reading the press release they sent out, I am skeptical at best. I no longer have the original E-Mail but it wasn't holiday specific or very location specific. Basically it said that members of Al-Qeda had been heard discussing the possibility of an attack on mass transit in the NYC area. No time frame or specifics. The press release even went on to say that there was no credible threat heard, just some initial discussions. Does this mean we should not be vigilant? ABSOLUTELY NOT!, Does it mean that an attack is imminent, no more so than it always has meant that. But as I have done for the past several years, I will probably be in NYC on Christmas, and I will probably travel by Subway to see my in-laws. I am not going to change my routine based on such limited information, because if I do, then the terrorists win by getting me to change my way of life for them.

So if PFD already calls in the neighboring towns when they get a multiple alarm, and in all likelyhood that is the mainrole a volunteer company would serve in the city, that begs the question. Why not stay where you are, provide first due service to a neighboring town that really needs it, come in on the multiple alarms just like you would in the new agency, and be proud of both services you are able to provide? I am one of the most pro-volunteer people you can find, but I just don't see the positive to this concept as presented in his opinion piece.

Rest in Peace, my sincere condolences to his family and his company during this time of loss and beyond.

This is not about if Volunteer Firefighters are good or bad, better or worse than Career Firefighters. It is about what is best for Poughkeepsie. I have the benefit of being able to look at this in abstract terms as an outsider. I am sure that there are many on here that have far better frames of reference than I do in this matter. Like I said, forming a volunteer force in Poughkeepsie may help, but not as fast or as much as the writer thinks. If the system depends on mutual aid members who are not full members but respond and provide assistance, how on earth do you quantify the size of your force, to ISO or anyone else? These members may well be a valuable resourse to many communities but I can't imagine them being the backbone of a new enterprise. On a semi related tangent here, how does a state law (in any state) that restricts how many departments you can volunteer with, relate to the recent IAFC position paper that respects the right of members to serve multiple departments? It seems that these are at least conflicting in spirit if not in practice. Should laws like these be changed, both as a sign of the times and also in face of the IAFC position?

There are, regardless of the merits of volunteer firefighting, some operational concerns that I would think need to be addressed. Since all firefighters need to be trained, it is not like people can walk in volunteer and be on the line the next day. So even if a new Volunteer organization were to start in the City, it would likely not be operational in time to provide the budget savings. I also can not see how adding volunteers can in any way save jobs? It can increase fire safety for the community, it can increase long term savings, but I just don't see it having any short term value to the current budget. I don't think this will be the miracle cure all that some are looking for in Poughkeepsie. Now, even if the Dozen or so city residents who volunteer outside of town, all came on board with this plan, would it be enough to make a difference? How big an organization are they looking for? Now if all 12 joined up, what would the impact be on their other departments? Would they have to stop volunteering there? If not, would their responses go down as they divide their time between the two? What would be the adverse impact on the surrounding towns, which in effect might increase demands on the city and cause the new city volunteers to have to respond to cover their own vacancies.

I was the one who used the phrase "statistically insignificant" in this discussion. I should also not that I followed it with the statement: (although all human life is signifigant, so statistics should not be the standard we use to measure such things) I don't think that many people would want me responding to their calls for help if I felt otherwise.

Really? I think that whatever statistics you are using must be seriously inaccurate if you think that the majority of gun owners have mistakenly killed a family member. Even without seeing the real numbers I would venture that this number is not only a minority but so much of a minority that it is statistically insignifigant (although all human life is signifigant, so statistics should not be the standard we use to measure such things) I would also bet that in just about all of the cases of tragedies like this, there is a failure to secure or other safety violation, that if not present, easily could have prevented the death and maintained the right to gun ownership at the same time.

Once again I am going to make a point that I fear I will have to make much more often in the coming four years. If we go with the concept that the 2nd Amendment is out of date, it is not so much of a stretch to declare the whole constitution as out of date. If we re-write the basic ideals that formed our country, then anything is possible. There are some that say only guns that were around when the constitution was written should be protected, yes that is right, we can all go get our muskets ready. I would say that if we want to outlaw modern weapons then lets apply the same standard to the rest of the amendments. So Freedom of the Press will now only apply to single page, hand set type, local papers. All TV, Radio and Internet news outlets will have to submit to government control, since after all the founding fathers never saw them. Anyone think the New York Times will agree to this? As for the term assault weapons, I would like anyone to show me a weapon that can not be used to assault someone? No you can't, this term was invented by the anti-gun lobby to frighten the masses into abdicating their basic rights. As for extending term limits, why bother with a law, once this new Security Force is in place there will no longer be term limits or even elections. The King is dead, long live the King!

Rest in Peace.

Yes but if we concentrated on making decisions based on who was the most qualified, we wouldn't have elected a Black President. The American public let themselves be caught up in a swirl of emotion and rhetoric and the majority could not bring themselves to believe that sometimes the right thing is simply the right thing to do. Every time you see a promotional case similar to this one, it is the same story. We gave a test, tried to make it honest, but in the end honesty didn't give the result we wanted so we scrapped it in favor of bias. It's not right, but we could go home feeling all warm and fuzzy about ourselves. Remember when you were a kid and your mom told you that "Two wrongs don't make a right"? Maybe the bosses and politicians should remember those playground lessons more. The way to fight discrimination is not with more discrimination. That is kind of like saying we are going to fix a broken dam by knocking more holes in it to take the stress of the existing hole, and then complaining that the valley below is still getting flooded.

I wholeheartedly agree with an internal class before sending people into a Firefighter 1 class (even if you are running your own FF1). This helps with several things. First, it gives the new member a basis in their own local department. Second, it lets them see if this is really something they want to do. Third, it lets the department see if they are committed to taking a class before expending money and effort. While I think there is a place in FD training for both types of classes, certifications always win because they have become the industry standard. That and they are usually taught by outsiders and we have a tendency to place more stock in what someone from outside (regardless of where outside they come from) thinks than someone from inside our own department. In reality, knowing all about the construction of 10 different kinds of rope is useless if you don't know where the rope is on the rig, and what the applications of the different types of rope on that rig are. Knowing all you can about your own equipment is far more important than knowing how someone else's equipment works. We just finished an internal class that was entirely based on our own operations, equipment and history. We had a mix of FF1 and pre-FF1 in the class which made it somewhat of a challenge. The end result for the post FF1 was a final exam which lets them off of probation if they pass. This exam was updated this year, but usually gets an update about every five years or so. I realize that that is not officer level training, but it is an internal class. In theory there could be a similar class offered at a higher level.