SageVigiles

Gotta hand it to New Haven, they treated LT Lambert like one of their own, made the right call to the EHFD Chief. Rest in Peace Lieutenant Lambert.

Original Incident Alert: West Haven - 2 Alarm Fire - 9/20/09

What the hell is a city like Pittsburgh going to do without a tactical team?

Date: 9/20/09 Time: Approx. 0330 Location: Highland Street x Campbell Avenue West Haven, CT Frequency: 453.800 (Fire Dispatch), 458.650 (Channel 3) Units Operating: Center District: Car 19 (Chief of Dept), Car 20 (Deputy Chief), Fire Marshal and Deputies/Inspectors, Engine 21, Truck 22, Engine 24, Engine 25, Rescue 27 (Delayed, originally off-duty on a medical), Volunteer Company 3 Rehab Unit, Volunteer Engine 23 and Volunteer Truck 26 relocated to Center Dist. HQ Allingtown: Car 4 (Chief of Dept.), Tower 1, Rescue 1, Engine 2 West Shore: Car 30 (Chief of Department), Engine 32, Quint 33, Rescue 34 relocated to Center Dist. HQ West Haven PD AMR New Haven Red Cross Disaster Services CT State Police Fire Marshal Weather Conditions: Cloudy, chilly, dark Description Of Incident: 2-alarm fire in 1st floor of a 3-story apartment building Reporters: Writer: SageVigiles Original assignment I believe was a reduced box for Engine 21 priority 1, Truck 22 and Engine 24 priority 2 on an activated fire alarm. West Haven ERS (Emergency Reporting System) reports callers indicate smoke in the building, ERS filling the box, Engine 25 added to the assignment, Rescue 1 and Engine 2 from Allingtown replacing Rescue 27 who is off-duty on a medical, Tower 1 also mutual aid for the 2nd truck company. Rescue 27 cleared from the medical, responding to the fire. Engine 21 called Signal 73 (Working Fire) on arrival, requested Signal 22 (2nd Alarm of Fire) Added to assignment: Engine 32 (R1 and E2 would have been added, but they were already en route to replace R27) Cars 4, 19, 20, 30 responded after 2nd alarm transmission. 2nd Alarm brought Quint 33 and Rescue 34 from West Shore and Center Dist. Volunteers as well to cover Elm St. HQ. New Haven FD may have been at Allingtown's Minor Park station for coverage, I honestly have no idea, if they were, it was Engine 9 and Car 34 (West Battalion Chief) Numerous people pulled from 3rd floor via ladders, victims assessed and I believe some were transported by AMR. Red Cross called to relocate residents West Haven PD Investigative Team requested to the scene, Fire Marshal also requesting State Police Fire Marshal and fire K9. West Haven PD Patrol Division being requested back to the scene to secure the building.

Seriously, a tune up is definitely in order. Scumbags...

Requesting a FAST/RIT Company from a neighboring department is one thing, but there are very few volunteer (and even career) departments that can RIT themselves. Neither of my departments (one volunteer, one combo) can do RIT without mutual aid. Who has 6 guys to spare at a working fire scene? As far as tankers, in New Fairfield, there are VERY few times when a tanker doesn't get on the air for a fire alarm, much less a structure fire. We have no hydrants so tankers are a crucial part of our response. At whatever firehouse is responding, the first truck out is an engine, and the second is generally a tanker.

Wait, the cops take blood? Wow, thats different.

I will, when I figure out this photo system, it never works for me.

New program my volunteer house in West Haven initiated this year, the night-time driver starts this week, so they will be fully operational as of tonight I think. Great program for the district and the guys bunking (I'm not, I prefer my apartment, haha.) The guys have been living in the house for a few weeks and have been doing a good job sticking to their responsibilities and keeping the firehouse orderly. Hopefully this is the start of a long and succesfull program.

Yeah, there is, Engine 8, the vollie truck, doesn't get dispatched alone. When they arrive at a call, the career guys are there, and they are more than willing to show us tips and tricks. Also, the drivers who are on duty at nights are all experienced volunteers.

Date: 9/7/09 Time: Approx 0630 Location: East Grand Avenue x Quinnipiac Avenue Box #1002 Frequency: 851.3125, 851.0125 Units Operating: NHFD, NHPD, AMR Weather Conditions: Sunny Description Of Incident: Reported basement fire, turned into a working fire in a row of storefronts Reporters: Writer: SageVigiles 1st Alarm: Engine 10, Engine 17, Engine 4, Squad 1, Truck 3, Emergency Company 1, Car 33 (E Battallion Chief) 2nd Alarm: Engine 8, Engine 5 (Quint), Truck 1, Car 32 (Deputy Chief), Car 31 (Chief of Department), Car 39 (Asst. Chief - Operations) Car 37 (Fire Marshal) 3rd Alarm: Engine 6, Engine 16, Engine 9, Truck 2, Light and Air Truck, Emergency 2 Spare Special Call (above the 3rd): Squad 2 East Haven Truck 1 and Engine 4 as well as West Haven Center Engine 21 called for station coverage. Box 22 Associates Canteen Truck and AMR provided rehab support, at least one FF transported with what appeared to be minor injuries. Shift change occured during the fire, spare rigs were used to shuttle the new crews in and the old ones out. Big job, burned for awhile, long enough for IzzyEng4 to make it down from Mash-Peq FD!

Date: 8-31-09 Time: Approx 1700 Hours Location: Squantz Pond State Park, Shortwoods Rd. New Fairfield, CT Frequency: 155.6775 (FD), 155.010 (NFPD), Units Operating: New Fairfield Fire/EMS (numerous units), CT State Police, CT DEP Park Ranger, CT DEP Environmental Conservation Police Weather Conditions: Fair Description Of Incident: Drowning of 9 year old boy in Squantz Pond. Reporters: Writer: SageVigiles This is the first drowning in 2 years at Squantz, the new Park Ranger and the State have made significant safety changes. Unfortunately no lifeguards were working as personnel used are all back at school. The DEP workers put up signs saying "No lifeguard on duty," but these people decided to let their child swim anyway, unsupervised. The parents didn't notice their child was in the water until it was too late. Personally, I hope that the CT DEP Police, CSP or Department of Children and Families take a serious look at charging the parents with Risk of Injury or something, what rational parent would let their 9 year old swim unsupervised with no lifeguards present?

Our department has a LOSAP (Length of Service Awards Program) that after like 20 years (I think?) of ACTIVE service (certain amounts of calls, cleanups and drills) gives you a tax abatement that lowers your town property taxes after a certain time of service with requirements. I'm too young to worry about how that works right now, but we have it.

Good point. Guess I didn't think of it that way.

They are replacing Collapse 3 with a smaller rig? Or are they getting another tractor-trailer?

Which Collapse rig would this be replacing? I know 1, 2, 4 and 5 all have Macks, and 3's has the tractor-trailer. There are also the POD rigs, so will this be another extra piece or a replacement for something else?

Agree with MFC, more or less.

Maybe contact whoever does your Emergency Management planning, those organizations are DEFINITELY paying attention... Public Health Departments as well.

For those of you who don't know Danbury well, when the guys refer to the "town" companies they mean the outlying companies away from the Downtown area, most of which are multi-rig companies. The following Danbury volunteer stations have multiple rigs. These are all the ones I remember, but like the Captain said, Danbury has a lot of trucks, its hard to remember them all. These stations, if I'm understanding correctly, will NOT be part of the consolidation effort, as they own their own stations and are big houses. Germantown Company 10: Telesquirt, Pumper Tanker, Mini-Rescue Miry Brook: I honestly have no idea what these guys run, other than the canteen truck and the Fire Police rig Beaver Brook: Engine and tanker I believe Mill Plain Company 12: 2 Engines, Suburban, Tanker King Street Company 14: 2 Tankers, 1 Brush Truck (I'm 90% certain King Street actually owns the building where career engine 25 is housed, if I remember correctly, the city actually pays them rent, but Capt. Meehan would know better than I) Knowing alot of the Danbury Volunteers, I would have to say what Captain Meehan said about the volunteers and career guys getting along is fairly accurate. Especially recently, everything I've heard from my buddies in Danbury is that the volunteers and career guys get along well and work efficiently. There is no power struggle because everyone knows there job and just does it.

I believe you can, if you have permission from the Captain of 6 Squad.

The word I'm hearing is that the Chief would like the vollies in the current career Headquarters on New Street and to get a new HQ for the career staff, since alot of their apparatus gets stored outside due to lack of space. New Street is an 8-bay house I believe. The volunteer companies with multiple rigs and the ones that own their own quarters (a few do) are largely going to be left alone, but alot of the single-engine houses in the central area of the city are in city-owned buildings. Housing Squad 6 and Squad 7 together? I'm not sure how I feel about that. Usually only one goes to a call, but as it stands now there is one on the Eastern side of town (Sq 7, near the hospital) and one near the Western (Sq 6, between downtown area and the mall) Putting them both in the same house would be kind of redundant. If the volunteers would work together more, they would be able to better staff rigs. Alot of times what ends up happening now is one station has 2 volunteers standing by and another has 2, whereas if they'd all respond to one house, they'd get a truck out damned near every time. A lot of work is gonna be necessary for this to come out effectively. Glad its not my job.

Damn, I was hoping they would be found alive. Rest in Peace Brothers.

Missing isn't dead, not until somebody in the Department comes out and says they are. I wish the BFD members good luck in rescuing their missing comrades, God willing they are still alive.

I had the amazing opportunity to ride the CT DEP Environmental Conservation Police's boat, almost exactly the same as this. Let me tell you, they are a FUN ride. With 10 people in the cabin we were doing 180s like it was nothing. Awesome boats, very high performance, after all, the Coast Guard uses them all the time. I won't be first on line to test out the self-righting feature though JCPD, haha. Good luck with the new ride!

Rightfully so, the price probably just skyrocketed. Probably my part of Fairfield County too, if the farm was really that big. I don't know about you, but I won't lose any sleep worrying about the smokeless potheads. Haha.