SageVigiles

Read a lot about him lately. What a skell.

I'd rather have that 120 pound woman than some of the 300+ pound guys I've seen on both career and volunteer departments. But ideally, I'd rather have anyone that was mentally and physically capable of the job, regardless of whether they were female or not. More to the point of the article, the idea that a sexist prank should cause us to recruit more females makes no sense. I've seen some females that can bust chops better than anyone and some that take it WAY beyond the scope. Its about having some respect and decency and understanding where the line stands.

Yes. Volunteer departments should be making every effort to encourage their members to staff stations. I actually beat the career guys in our department first-due to a job the other night because we were doing a shift night. We have dinner as a group, run a couple quick drills, make sure the rigs are in order, maintain some tools, etc. Not only are you providing a more timely service to your first due area, you're building camaraderie and helping keep the station in order. Not everyone can come in for cleanup night due to work schedules, etc. But maybe they can hang around the station for 4 hours to respond to whatever alarms come in. If your department uses a points system, X number of points every 4 hours for a staffed crew at the station. Helps the guys with odd schedules stay active in the department and keeps the rigs on the road. Obviously not everyone can do this due to work, family commitments, etc. But if we get 15% of the department to start staffing the trucks, are we not improving service? I don't think we should be doing away with pagers, etc. But if we can encourage our membership to be in quarters to at least get a first ambulance/engine/rescue out the door within a few minutes, it only helps us. The guys at home can come get the next call or the second-out piece.

Date: 6/17/13 Time: Approx 1500 Location: 1572 E 15th St (Off Avenue P) Box 3813 Units: Didn't catch the 1st alarm, but Battalion 33 was the first-in Chief, Division 15 is now Incident Commander. 2nd Alarm Units Engines: E321, E281, E255, E253, E284 (bringing Satelite 3) Trucks: TL157, TL161 Special: Tactical Support Unit 2, Command Tactical Unit 1 Chiefs: Battalion 41 - Resource Unit Leader Battalion 43 - Safety Officer Safety Battalion Rescue Battalion Numerous relocations to note, but ain't nobody got time fo' that. Description: Fire in the basement of a 3 story residential, primary of basement negative, possible extension to the 1st floor. Update 1532: Primaries negative, P/W/H.

Rest Easy Brothers. Thoughts and prayers to their families, I can't imagine how difficult today must be.

Deleted: I was thinking Milton.

Explosion reported at Williams Olefins plant in Giesmar, Louisiana. Unknown number of injuries at this time. Plant makes polymer grade Ethylene and Propylene (about 1.2 billion pounds and 90 million pounds, respectively) every year. http://www.fox8live.com/story/22582337/giesm http://www.ascension-caer.org/williams.htm I'll update as more comes in, but there's no scanner feeds out there in the boonies.

Date: 6/12/13 Time:Approx 1440 Hours Location: 57th St x 8th Ave (Hearst Tower, 46-stories) Box #0915 Units: FDNY Battalion 9 Engine 23 Truck 4 Rescue 1 Squad 18 Rescue Battallion Safety Battalion Division 3 RAC-1 FDNY*EMS NYPD Emergency Services Unit Aviation Unit Office of Emergency Management (Numerous others, I'm updating as I go) Description: Window washing scaffold failure, FDNY and ESU performing a high-angle rescue for the workers outside the 45th Floor. Looks like they're planning on removing the glass and bringing them through the window as opposed to sending anyone over the side. 1550: Division 3 requesting NYPD Aviation and news choppers back away from the building, causing a communication issue. 1605: Per Division 3, 1 glass pane cut, the other in progress, members will remove patients through the windows. 1609: Per Division 3, both window panes cut, 1 member of Rescue 1 will go out onto the scaffold to rescue both victims. Incident still DWH. 1616: RAC-1 assigned on the box. 1617: Division 3, reporting 1 victim brought into the building. 1620: Division 3, all members and victims brought in, still doubtful as they secure scaffolding. Duration 1:08.

Does it have to be? USAR is an interesting concept, it's understandable that people want to know how it works. Besides, if it's a resource available to be called to major incidents all over the place, it would seem prudent to understand its capabilities and organization.

That's what I thought. Heard some scuttlebutt that they were going to start cutting back FEMA USAR, any truth to that? I see a lot of the teams listed as "Conditionally Available" everyday on the FEMA Ops Briefing. I know CT and NJ's Task Forces are part of the State USAR System.

They are not part of the FEMA USAR system though, correct?

Good thing the "History Channel" is doing a Pawn Stars marathon all day.

Oh, coverage makes sense. I just used to live in Marlboro, so seemed far for them to actually go to the scene when you have Middle Hope Stations 1 and 2, all the Newburgh Departments and Beacon right there. I was curious to know if maybe Marlboro started some type of Tech Rescue Team or something that would have had them S/C'd to the bridge.

I saw Marlboro FD was called to the scene, seems a little far for them, maybe 38FF will see this and answer, if not, what brings them to the scene?

So.... where are the pictures???

Agreed, self-rescue is just as important, if not more so, than RIT, if I were stuck I'd rather call for the RIT team and cancel them because I freed myself than have to wait to get dragged out. Just my opinion.

When I first read JM15's post I didn't realize exactly what he was saying, but upon re-reading it I have to agree with Chief Raftery. The way I'm reading it now (and JM please correct me if I'm misunderstanding) is that until your county FAST arrives, you set up your own smaller internal RIT, but that the two aren't effectively the same thing. I've never heard of FAST being something different than RIT (other than a snazzier name.) A RIT Team may start out small due to manpower constraints and get bigger as personnel arrive, but the name doesn't change. 2 in - 2 out is an OSHA requirement. FAST/RIT is taking the concept of 2 in - 2 out and recognizing that 2 Firefighters cannot effectively locate, extricate and remove 1 downed Firefighter (much less 2) and assigning a crew of Firefighters to standby for a lost/disoriented/trapped Firefighter. In my opinion 2 in/2 out is my initial first due way of handing the situation, but a dedicated FAST/RIT MUST be assigned as soon as staffing allows. Aggressive FASTs/RITs will also mitigate some hazards outside the building to make it easier for Firefighter to self-rescue instead of just standing outside doing nothing, but that's a whole other discussion.

I've noticed a lot of departments in Putnam/Westchester treat FAST/RIT as more of a "special ops" type of unit. This is fundamentally different than what we do here in CT, where we basically run our own RIT or call in any mutual aid department as our RIT team, as opposed to having designated departments within the region assigned to do it. This seems like a pretty big fundamental difference, but I wonder does this concept work better, or is it that these departments largely don't have the extra manpower to have a fully staffed RIT team? Not critiquing, just curious. In Wallingford, CT the volunteer Rescue Company is the designated RIT team for the department. They are dispatched on all reported structure fires to act as RIT, but recently our company has also bolstered our RIT training in the interest of being prepared in the event the Rescue is tied up or can't get a crew. In West Haven the second due Rescue (Ambulance) is the initial 2-man RIT team, supplemented by additional companies and/or volunteers as they arrive.

For the department's that have the luxury of a "water supply engine" that's a great idea. But not everybody has that. It would be great to have a nice low bed of 5" hose, but if you need the tank capacity in case you're first due and all alone, then what choice do you really have? If you're doing relay pumping, by definition you aren't doing it alone. That means you have multiple hosebeds to put to use for the stretch. But if you calculate your furthest stretch from a water source, why would you need to carry much more hose than would fit on it? Sure, keep some extra on the rig for unforeseen circumstances, but at a certain point you pass the threshold of "prepared" to the point of "unnecessary." Seems wasteful to expose all that hose to the elements if you aren't realistically going to use it. Also, NJ's Neptune system has 12" LDH. But that's beyond what 98% of us are ever going to face, that's for a catastrophic fire scenario or a total shutdown of water supply systems to an entire region. Think of the high hazard occupancies mid/northern Jersey has to face, chemical refineries, storage tanks, massive railyards with every kind of methyl-ethyl-bad-stuff, the list goes on. It makes total sense why they'd plan and equip for something like this, the event probability is high and so is the impact probability. Why would Westchester or most of CT need that kind of system? We simply do not have that kind of industry on that kind of scale.

Don't forget West with the explosion.

Chief, Good point, responding POV does create some inherent issues. In one of my departments we are permitted to respond POV, but all personnel are to check in with the Chauffeur of the 1st Due Truck for their tags and stand by until the IC gives them an assignment. That has cut down on the freelancing.

In Wallingford we use tag rings, simple but effective. Tags indicate whether you're a Firefighter or EMS-Only responder, (we don't have Exterior Firefighter that aren't EMS) as well as your rank, etc. The Chauffeur's tag gets clipped directly to the ring, the Officer's tag to that, then the crew is clipped to the Officer, actually makes it pretty clear whose on first. One of the Chiefs (career or volunteer) will end up being the Accountability Officer and will gather up the tags for the board.

What year is that rig? Its been around a little while, hasn't it?

With some of the Homeland Security funding that's issued out to States for funding projects like this, there is a requirement that a certain percentage of the funding go to law enforcement projects, I believe it may be 25%, but don't quote me on that. So that could be why WCPD had the money to spend. Not saying whether or not a boat was the best option, because I honestly don't know much about WCPD, just saying how the funding system works. Two sides to that: If law enforcement is routinely involved in the planning process on a county/regional basis, it ensures they are well represented in receiving the funding that comes with it without being outvoted by the other members of the planning team. However, it can go the other way and the PDs can simply "phone it in" by taking money without actually participating in anything. I've seen both.

I would also be curious to see the legality behind this. Fortunately I've never been stopped while carrying, but I know enough to tell the Officer that I was carrying with a permit, but beyond asking for my permit, I don't know what the Officer can legally do in terms of searching me/my vehicle.