SageVigiles

Our Tanker down at Ball Pond has an enclosed pump panel. Works great, never had a problem with it. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if the new Engine got it as well in a few years.

Do the NYPD ESU guys carry down there?

Mt. Kisco Ladder 43 SOLD!!!! Sorry to have kept this to myself for so long, but I didn't want to post any speculation until everything was approved. Anyway, you heard it here first, unless you are a New Fairfield or Kisco Ladder member. Last night the Board of Selectmen for the Town of New Fairfield, CT approved the purchase of Ladder 43 from Mt. Kisco. If all goes according to plan, delivery should be by the end of the month. Don't know the exact purchase price yet, I was not able to be at the meeting so I will find out, or maybe one of the other NF or Kisco guys can put that out here if they know it off the top of their heads. Ladder 43, which will be re-designated as Truck 4 when it arrives in New Fairfield, will replace the current Truck 4, which we purchased used from Newtown, CT Hook and Ladder. Current Truck 4 is a 1975? Seagrave 100' Straight stick, purchased for I believe $15,000. It was refurbished when we bought it by Pierce. "New" Truck 4 will be stationed at the Company "A" Station at 302 Ball Pond Road. However, the truck does not belong to Company A, it is a department vehicle not purchased with money from any specific company. Current New Fairfield Truck 4, soon to be retired.

Stewart can handle it, trust me. That place is huge. There are several C-5s and C-130s there that would be able to load up. Not sure if there are any C-141s.

Update: Elements of the US Army 82nd Airborne Division (about 100 Troopers) are being forward deployed to Haiti to prepare shelters and logistical support for an additional force of several hundred from the Division which is to arrive sometime Friday. Navy and Marines should beat them there, though I'm sure the Paratroopers aren't too happy about that... haha. NY1 News is also reporting that New York Task Force One (FDNY, NYPD ESU) is deploying this morning to Haiti. Good to hear. Where do they deploy out of, Stewart AFB?

Upon further review, I stand corrected. But still, that's a lot of people for us to send. Now, who provides operational security for the Task Forces? Disaster or no, Haiti isn't known for being the friendliest place in the world. I know law enforcement officers are part of the USAR TFs, but there are definite questions of jurisdiction. Will the Marines be doing that? UN Peacekeepers?

I think you underestimate how large a USAR Task Force really is. VA TF-1's website, there are over 200 members to their team. Los Angeles County USAR (CA-TF2) has 70 members, and Miami Dade County USAR can send 70 members to a rallying point within 6 hours for deployment, according to their respective websites. That is ALOT of personnel for one country to send. Don't forget other nations (Canada in particular) will be sending teams/military forces as well. In addition to that, the US Navy is sending the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) whose ship's company consists of about 3,200 sailors with an air wing of about 2,500. Again, according to websites that talk about the ship. Naturally, not all 3,200 sailors will be directly helping the rescue efforts, as I suppose someone must watch the ship (Pirates of the Carribean anyone?) In addition, the US Marines are sending a Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) of about 2,000 Marines, and President Obama has placed a brigade of another 2,500 troops on alert. Also, you may be over-estimating how large Haiti is: Virginia's Area: 42,774.2 sq mi Virginia's Population: 7,882,590 Los Angeles County Area: 4,752 sq mi Los Angeles County Population: 9,862,049 Haiti's Area: 27,750 sq km Haiti's Population: 8,706,497 The state of VA is larger in size than Haiti, and the County of Los Angeles is more populated. That's a LOT of rescue assets for a relatively small country.

I believe I read that Los Angeles is sending a USAR TF as well, I'll try to find the article that stated this information.

Sounds pretty similar to what CT does. The CT Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (DEMHS) is the supervising authority for all things terrorism/OEM/etc related. There was a time that this was spread out between the Fire Commission and Dept. of Public Safety (State Police), but that's no longer.Though I'm not sure if the state Commission on Fire Prevention and Control is underneath that, may be a different agency, but its only a Commission, not a full fledged Department. All in all, good way for the state to organize. They should have done this years ago, before all the financial crises. Probably would have saved them a ton of money.

What I meant is that the Pats are done. Stick a fork in 'em!

Patriots? Come on, are you even WATCHING this game?

You're right, canopy, I misspoke.

New Fairfield Truck 4 (1975 Seagrave) has open cab, all other open cab rigs have been replaced. Truck 4 may also be on its way out soon. Allingtown Engine 3 (Reserve, 1986 Mack CF I believe) is also open cab, as well as West Haven North End Engine Company 3.

J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS. Chad "Ochocinco" owes us a damned name change too... How's the view from Revis Island buddy?

In New Fairfield our Fire Police guys are only supposed to do traffic at a non-fire incident (wires down, flooding condition, etc) for 2 hours. After that, the PD has to call in guys on OT. God only knows why its so hard for us to GET those OT guys in, I would be all over a minimum 4-hour road job.

Only 1 of our Marine Units can really be operated year round. Ball Pond in New Fairfield operates 2 boats under the "Marine 17" designator. One of these is a flat-bottom metal boat. We can remove the motor and simply use it as an oversized sled if necessary. This is obviously the only one useful for a real ice rescue situation. All members on the boat must wear the "Gumby" rescue suits. Since we don't have any moving water large enough to operate a boat on, the lakes pretty much allow us to use the Rescue Alive sled or just walking/swimming to the victim in a suit if we have a rescue situation. All of the other boats in town have V-bottoms which would tip over easily if resting on the ice. EMS always evaluates the rescuers after removal from the water inside the ambulance.

To be eligble for LOSAP in New Fairfield you need to attend "12, 12 and 12" which is 12 calls, 12 cleanups, and 12 drills. Also your CPR, Bloodborne Pathogens and HAZMAT Awareness training must be kept up to date. Otherwise you lose LOSAP and you may be suspended or terminated. Anyone who has ever sat through Bloodborne Pathogens or HAZMAT Awareness refreshers knows that might actually work.

Absolutely

Unfortunately its like anything else in the fire service. We wait until a disaster happens to make a policy, so that we have a policy in case it happens again. As usual as a whole are reactive to a problem instead of proactive, with some notable exceptions.

Alright, I guess I walked into that one... Should have expected somebody to say that. Touche good sir, touche. Now, can somebody tell me what an NYPD A-Team is?

What does an NYPD ESU A-Team do? If I remember correctly HAMR is for transit security and Hercules is counter-terrorism, what are the A teams?

Two interiors AND a SEPARATE driver should be the bare minimum. Driver does not count as an interior firefighter when he's driving.

THANK GOD, its about time the NH Line got an upgrade, the trains running there now are in horrendous shape.

Let me first preface by saying that I'm the son of a 20+ year tradesman, a Fire Science college Junior, and hopefully a future fire or police academy student. There seems to be some big stigma by the more "traditionalist" members of emergency services against those who have college degrees... why? Whats to say someone who graduates college doesn't know how to work with their hands or doesn't have any discipline? The military is great, I almost enlisted myself right out of high school, but to be honest, it just doesn't work for some people. For example, I wanted to enlist as a firefighter in the Air Force, but the recruiter told me I had to pick 4 different jobs and I would be guaranteed one of the four. That's when I got up and walked out of his office. I have great respect for anyone in the military, but letting someone else choose what I do for the four years is not whats best for my career. For some people the military is best for their career, and thats outstanding. Tradespeople are obviously useful in the fire service. Knowing concepts of building construction and mechanics are absolutely important and is great to have on the fireground. But at the same time the training as a tradesman does not provide any additional career building skills. A college education in fire science or criminal justice is great. You get an understanding of the basic laws and principles of the field and training in areas such as building construction, fire protection systems, incident command/management, public administration (budgeting/grant writing, etc,) HAZMAT/Chemistry, fire investigation and hydraulics/water supply. All important areas in a modern fire department. But OF COURSE, most college programs provide very little practical "in-the-field" training that can NEVER be duplicated so the experience of a graduate is all theoretical unless they join a department as a volunteer to learn the hands-on skills needed. These degrees also include alot of "core" classes forced on by the Universities about things totally unrelated to the career path, but this is for the purpose of making students a better rounded individual as a whole. Also, I've found that most departments look for college graduates in general, not giving preference to those with degrees in their specific field, this is so the department can say "X% of our officers are college graduates, look how professional we are!" B.S.... just because you graduated doesn't make you professional, having a team of qualified, educated, experienced personnel is what makes you a TRUELY professional organization. So whats my point? My point is that firefighters, police officers and EMS personnel should come from ALL THREE of these backgrounds. Having a company or shift with college graduates, military veterans, and tradesmen all provide different backgrounds of experience that make your organization more capable of having an all-hazards approach that is so important today, when duties are simply piled upon the emergency services field by politicians and government. Its important not to just take tradesmen, veterans or graduates just for the sake of tradition or because they are there, but because it would better build the repertoire of your agency and give you the widest range of experience to draw from as a Chief/administrator.

One of my departments, Allingtown in West Haven, does storm coverage, usually. But since the UNH kids have all gone home (myself included) I don't think we had a crew at the house, unless some of the older, non-UNH members went. This storm is KILLING ME. I gotta try to get to the Meadowlands for the J-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS!!!!!! Girlfriend got me tickets and of course it snows like hell!