TRUCK6018

One thing I forgot to add: If anyone decides to go on their own free will to "help out", you are doing nothing but freelancing. You will be getting in the way and are undermining any accountability there might be.

My reply to this from another thread:

The only way one would be covered by the VFBL (Volunteer Firefighters Benefit Law) is if the response was a mutual aid request, period. If Joe Schmo and Joe Blow decided to team up together, call FEMA and go, they will not be covered! If you chief gets a request from the county that FEMA is requesting a deployment, and the chief signs off on it, then you would be covered. If you contact FEMA directly and they approve you going with compensation ($$), I would think you are an employee of FEMA and will get no insurance coverage from your local agency.

As Chris said, Somers did donate their former R20 to the museum in 2001. It is a 1947 WLF rescue truck. One of three made. The last one in existence.

As has already been said, 60-Controls radio archives are not availible in an online format. Mike Volk is the proper person to request copies of any tapes. The proper person to make the request would be the head of your agency (chief if FD, Capt. if VAC). Assuming you're requesting the tapes due to a problem that has occured, it's not up to the indians of a deparment to take this sort of action. Problems should go through your superiors (Lieut, Capt, Chief). It would be the chief to ultimately make the request, should it be necessary. If the reason for requesting the tapes is for "buff" purposes, don't even waste your time.

Well said!

Doesn't the "Big Five" companies operate independantly from Stamford Fire and Rescue?

That's Wiccopee's sub-station. It's located on Townsend Rd at the intersection of Shenandoah Rd. Sub-station 2 is on Mountain Top Rd off Rt 52 right near Stormville Mtn Rd.

There are parts of Heritage Hills (off Lovell St) in Somers that has natural gas provided by NYSEG. That gas comes off the Algonquin transmition line running through the whole northern part of Westchester County. There is also a Central Hudson sub-station off Route 6 (also in the Town of Somers) which feeds into Putnam County. Lastly, Con Ed has numerous sub-stations in the nothern parts of the county. Two I know of are in Yorktown (off Gomer St) and another in Peekskill (off 9A). Interestingly enough, the sub-station off Gomer you would never know it's there (except for all the markings on the lawn). It's enclosed in a structure to match all the other houses in the neighborhood.

As would Ossining: Engine/Hose Companies (6): Ossining, Cataract, Steamer, Holla, Independant and Moniter Truck Co's (2): Washington and Senate Rescue (Fire Police)

Vent Enter Search

The hamlet of Shrub Oak is within the Lake Mohegan Fire District

The task force concept is in the latest revision (12/04/2003) of the WC EMS Mutual Aid Plan. Unknown if it's ever been utilized beyond that. I am sure it would be interesting to see the reply an IC would get if he requested 2 EMS task forces to respond to an incident.

Date: 7-24-05 Time: Approx 1600 Location: Orange County Fairgrounds City/County: Middletown, Orange Co. Agencies: Mechanicstown FD, Regional EMS Writer: Me Description: At the Orange County Fair, a human slingshot/bungee type ride malfunctioned leaving two stranded approx 50 feet in the air. The ride consists of two seats in a roll cage type device attached to two bungees suspended by two 100 foot polls, similar to this: http://www.ride-extravaganza.com/rides/bun...e_rocket_04.jpg It appeared that one of the bungees malfunctioned, leaving the cage suspended by only one bungee. Mechanicstown FD responded with a tower ladder and rescue and removed the riders. Riders were then treated by Regional EMS.

Wouldn't you think so? That is dependant on the municipality. In some towns, the fire department has no say. Many towns have fire advisory boards which only make recommendations. The planning board is the ones that make the desisions. If it's not required by state codes, then it could be a moot issue. New developments are only required to have hydrants if its exceeds a certain number of houses (I forget the exact #). Many times, to avoid the expence they will plan one house less than the amount. Even worse, I've seen developers plan construction in phases, under different names, with each phase under the amount specified. PVFD113, just out of curiosity, what is the size of the tanks required, and who is responsible to initially fill and the upkeep of them?

Sorry S2758, only the first part of my post was aimmed towards you regarding vollys being charged. The rest of the post was just adding to what you said in reply to the original post.

I am. The law states you're not allowed any radio monitering equiptment capable of receiving police frequencies. With that said, regardless of what you're listening to, just possession of the scanner is illegal.

Date: 7-19-05 Time: TOA Approx 1920 Location: 5 Deer Ridge Ln Frequency: 46.260, FG2 Units Operating: Armonk (C2021 IC), Banksville E159, T7, L77, Mount Kisco U13 (FAST), E105 , North WP E75 and Chapaqua E147 to backfill Armonk. WC B16, Zone 5 C&O Description Of Incident: Working Structure Fire, 3000 sq ft contemporary structure. Writer: TRUCK6018 2003Hrs- Under control.

From today's Poughkeepsie Journal:

Isn't one enough?!?!? That would make him x635's Mini-Me.

I think the question at hand is how often does it work to its potential? Not from our point of view, but from the public eye. Sure, our primary goal is to all go home safely. Does the public see it that way? Does the public see us with the adequate resources needed to preform a task in a timely fashion? Most of the new residential construction are close to million dollar homes. Homes constructed of firefighter killers. Lightweight truss construction, laminated I-beams, all the fun stuff that the longer the response takes, the more dangerous fighting the fire is. On top of all that is the several thousand foot driveway barely wide enough to drive a car on, let alone get a pumper or ladder on with no water source in sight. Is all of this exagerated? No, not really. Minus the driveways, it's most true unless it's with in a hydrant district. Granted, none of this is our fault as firefighters. The political boards at your local town hall allows this to happen but when it hits the fan, who's going to get blamed? We are. For not getting there within minutes, before the trusses fail. For not having the resourses to get in these driveways. Fore not having the availible water on hand for these several thousand square foot monsters called houses. These houses that the homeowner pays stupid amount in taxes for us to protect. The brass in the fire department needs to stop this type of construction before it happens. They need to approach the planning boards, the fire bureau who ever oversees this in your town. Sure, there are minutes collecting dust in some vault to show that has happened, unfortunately the politicians have there own agenda. It will cost that developer too much to put a water system in. There's no code that says you can't have long driveways, the usual replies. So we need to accommodate. We can't accommodate because of budgets. Raising the budget will raise taxes. Taxes are too high already. So again, who's fault is us not having the immediate resources to fight these fires in a timely fashion?

Most of the issues stated comes into play when a department gets their ISO rating. Water supply, staffing, apparatus, training are all factors during ISO's visit. Bottom line, does it have an effect on taxes? To buy those upgrades to receive those extra points that could make or break a grade advance, could raise operating costs, thereby raising taxes. On the flip side the improvements should lower the homeowner's fire insurance. Unfortunately, it's not always seen that way. I have fielded my share of calls from insurance companies in the past about the closest water source to a given structure. More times then not all the insurance companies care about is whether the location is within 1000 feet of a water source. A yes or no answer can (and has) been the difference in the company insuring the homeowner. When it's explained to the insurance agent about ISO, they react like you're speaking a forgein language.

I'll take this thread one further. How would your department refuel during extended operations? I know of one department that has capabilities to do this. Arlington (Town of POK) has a refueling vehicle that does go out every now and then for this purpose. It also gets called out for mutual aid.

The truck in the middle was never a flycar. That is a 1992 GMC Yukon orginally purchased for use as a command vehicle (chief's car). That was the first SUV the Somers Fire District owned and the second command vehicle. The first was a mid-'80's Chevy Caprise wagon. The '92 GMC was retired as a command vehicle with the purchase of 2441's current vehicle (2001 Chevy Tahoe). At that time, the GMC was stripped of it's roof lights and transfered to the maintainace department. That replaced the original maintainace car, the '80's Caprise. The current EMS flycar (1993 GMC) served as a command vehicle from 1993 to 2003 at which time the Somers Fire District purchased 2442's current vehicle a 2003 Chevy Tahoe. It was at that time, the fire district decided there was a need for an EMS first response vehicle and that vehcile was assigned to fulfill those duties. While were at it, MA-13 wasn't always called designated a mini attack. That was the original Engine 185 and it's twin was originally Engine 186 (later to become MA-14). In 1978 an Oren pumper became 185 and the mini's designations were created.