firecapt32

I am throwing my 2 cents in again might be 3 cents with inflation PC is claiming 150 interior and 150 exterior firefighters. its all speculation but lets just look at the 150 interior. questions I would have to ask. do all have nfpa physicals? all mask fit tested?? bail out qualified? with personal ropes? ages of the interior firefighters?? training of the firefighters??--osha-bbp haz mat?? do they all live within the confines of PC? do the Officers and Chiefs have additional training above the firefighter lever?? if what the mayor claims to be true then these records should be made available to the public to assure them that they are safe. does any one of you know the answers?? I am sure there are well trained well qualified firefighters in Port Chester. it just how many.

lets look at this another way all the career firefighters in Port Chester are National certified firefighters one and two. they should have been doing their "in service" training of 100 hours every year. All of them have well over 400 hours of initial training from the career fire academy. from FF1-FF-2 -codes -haz mat- FF survival- rescue tech EVOC - ladder ops --eng ops. ect. that my fellow firefighter friends means you are well trained and certified by not only the State of New York but Nationally. This may be a blanket kind of statement--I am sure there are exceptions but here I go adding my 2 cents how well trained are the volunteers in Port Chester? don't jump down my throat if you have facts please air them out. I am asking- not criticizing. I gave facts about the career staff. Do the Chiefs have any Officer creditable courses?? how many interior firefighters complete with new York state Firefighter one and or Firefighter two do they have?? maybe the departments that call upon Port Chester should take a closer look. again my opinion.

AAA will have mask next week. I tried it out here very interesting-- not quiet a heads up display but a little TV like monitor.

FAST is part of the "live burn" policy that the County has just released. every Chief should have received a copy of the policy. It is very comprehensive. your Departments should take a close look at it and understand the responsibilities of the chiefs and officers when conducting a live burn evolution at the training center.

congratulations-- a lot has happened over the years--both good and bad-- but a whole lot of learning and understanding too. keep up the good work

first of all we all have to remember--the public is always watching and the camera is always there. Second--good practice(training)makes good firefighters--I am not saying that these aren't good Ff's just that training make you do things the same way. How many noticed that most if not all that did have pacs on did not ware them properly-- masks have waist straps for a reason--to take the weight off your shoulders and on to you hips. good officers will reinforce theses things at training sessions. Cancer and firefighters--we just are not getting the message or we think it wont happen to us... lets get real in the fire service--its there its happening and will continue to happen as long as we make bad decisions. the Chief smoking??--- lets call it stress relief just my thoughts

Mutual Aid--We have discussed this over and over--its a never ending drama. This situation is again being brought to light because of "misuse" of the system. The system is in place to help any and all fire departments in the County. It is not intended to supplement manpower or overtime. We can all agree that YFD is the largest and responds to the most fire in the County but even they at times relied on mutual aid to the city. If departments do respond to YFD they are released ASAP-upon additional Eng and ladders put into service by YFD members. That is the way to handle mutual aid. All departments need mutual aid at sometime it is how you handle it that's important-- FDMV -upper personnel- and management--not firefighters or officers make those decision. FDMV Chiefs know mutual aid is a radio transmission away. We are all in the business together to give the citizens the best protection we can. Mount Vernon management need to understand what the other municipalities do and how they handle --"giving " mutual aid, cost of coverage-call back, holdover. That I believe is a thing that Mayors and other Officials must discus at their level. Just my thoughts

Great topic Chief==I think that most Fire Departments should take a real close look at them selves in a mirror and see what they see. Are they stuck in the 70's or 60's or worse yet 50's. We see time after time departments buying bigger--bigger--biggest--bester things. We all realize that especially in the volunteer service there is a erosion of manpower. In the career side its do more with less-- basically it's the same thing. How do we get everyone into the 21st century is the question.. better recruitment? incentives? training? community involvement?? getting home to our loved ones is a priority --- as I say in my classes---you didn't start the fire--- you joined to help your community. you cant do that if your not trained properly. 5 points I strive for -- get there--get there safely--do your job--do your job the best you can--get home to your loved ones. I guess the answer might be in full disclosure. I once knew a Fire Chief that every meeting he went to stated that he did not have sufficient manpower. So Chief there is not easy answer to your question just more questions

I am pretty sure a pulley system and some weights will work as well if not better then a tree-- but hey you never know "necessity is the mother of invention"

best in your retirement--its not so bad--in a few weeks you will wonder how you ever went to work at all!!! now you can do things you always wanted to do but above all stay healthy make the system pay you for a long time be safe my friend retired 13 years in May

I remember flying up there for the funerals---dam cold we froze our asses off standing in line for the brothers.

lets get back to the subject-- Greenville fire was a perfect example of how mutual aid is expected to work. no hesitation no waste of time get the mutual aid coming--knowing what your are going to get--have a plan of what to do with them--establish a command post--keep in contact with all units and release them with thanks ASAP. How this relates to the new FF1 I am not sure. FF1 is here. period I understand that WCDES is having their first FF1 starting and of Feb we will see how things shake out.

let me weigh in on this- I have been quiet too long. NYS OFPC has set the standard--let me explain-- FF1-FF2-survival-FAST-RES tec-Eng Co operations-truck co ops-haz mat the list goes on. add them up and guess what you come up with the career standard or close enough. give or take a few hours. so the career firefighters get all of this at one shot we call it probie school or Career Academy or what ever name you want to give it. On the other side OFPC has divided all the classes into separate training modules. so it is possible and is being done by firefighters all over NYS just in a different manner. So the Training is out there just in different formats. Now for the quid pro quo--is spelling and grammar correct?? OFPC has left it to--"AHJ" authority having jurisdiction---gotta love spell check to establish the standards for individual fire departments. The State legislature has established the Standard for fire departments with more then five personnel. that would be the 229 hour standard we have in NYS. So the Career department are mandated by State Legislature and the other departments aren't-with the exception of OSHA and haz mat. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday season and above all be safe out there.

its called TOAC--task-orientated-air-consumption. it is given in the third session of FF1 a student will be given two chances to pass the TOAC. the second chance will be given later in the course. The TOAC students will have a set of vitals taken before and after the test. medical staffing must be present during the testing. There is a lot more then just this--there are 16 skills that have to be done and signed off by the home department. New Books-- its the start of a new look for OFPC. this new FF1 class will allow students to take National Certification upon completion. and by the way signing a false skill sheet is considered a misdemeanor and may be punishable. FYI-- CPAT is considered a entry level test..TOAC is considered skills oriented.

Well Spike for one thing if --something should happen and no one wishes it does-- they would not be covered by any standard. You figure out what that means. Second any chief that allows this to happen would be in violation of NFPA standards. OFPC stated that no more then one days growth for scba use. whether your the Yankees or the Giants or the Mets or even in the minor leagues rules have to be followed and penalties exist for those that do not follow them. nycmedic--ignorance may be bliss but its no excuse.

just letting everyone know the BurnCamp is in progress this week with 80 burn survivors in camp. The Foundation has also helped over 20 families so far this year who have had burn injuries. The Foundation has also worked with mount Vernon firefighters on a smoke detector give away program. The Foundation is currently working with Child Life services at Maria Ferreira Children's hospital to being back all the burn survivor children to the hospital for a day of fun. the Foundation has sent two nurses to the annual Burn conference to up date their skill and bring back new information to the Center We thank the hockey teams for thinking about us this year. if others cant make the hockey game we have our biggest fund raiser this September 8th---Golf out at Salem golf club fire companies please take a hole sponsor--$200.00 wanna play $225.00 full day --worth the cost. Still wanna help we can always use prizes for our prize table. more info facebook- burncare foundation or message me Walter Ferguson Director BurnCare Everywhere Foundation Inc

job has to be posted and advertised every two year because of the 211 exemption that he has.

I just saw a article about bullet proof blankets that children can buy to protect them selves. We shouldn't have to invent theses things for our school children---they should be safe in schools. there should never be another Newtown again but sadly there have been a lot of school shootings since that tragic day.

Two times they will yell 1- not enough 2-too much as long as no one is yelling your doing pretty good. preset at 150 and adjust from there

every one--all firefighters should take the "Courage to be safe" program. there are over 80,000 "REPORTED" injuries every year in the fire service... how many do not get reported?? firefighter deaths except for last year are down--not down enough but down. what about injuries how do we stop them or at least curtail them??

As some one that knows Chief Raftery pretty well his statement of being in the right place at the right time is perfect. He did however leave out one thing-- he has never forgotten his training. His training was the difference between life and death that day. as for his 15 min of fame?? thought that was taken by the East Hartsdale fire its the only fire that I know of that had departments from the river(Hudson) to the Long Island Sound involved in some way. and from the NYC line to I am not sure how far north the mutual aid was involved. So great job by the Raftey family and my he not go to the fire station in the sky for a long long time

I am not sure how many of you have pulled into a job with 5-6 firefighters but let me tell you its no fun. decisions have to be made and made quickly--the lives of your firefighters depend on those decisions. second due mutual aid may be coming but its those first few minutes that are critical. From everything I have read about this job it was handled--professionally with firefighters doing what they have been trained to do since probie school--they put their lives on the line for one of their citizens. you can criticize all you want but until you have stood in those boots and made those decisions you just don't understand.

Thank you Barry couldn't have said it better my self. I am not arguing that the villages get the money or that the village fire departments get the money. that wasn't the intention. Its the fact that the Town pays a lot of money for fire protection. money that could be used to equal out the Fire tax base in the Town of Greenburgh Your right about Edgemont also Barry.

dct2 This was looked at many years ago at least 20 if I recall. They found out that the Town PAYS repeat PAYS the villages to protect the unincorporated sections of the town. Each Village gets money but guess what not all of it goes to the fire departments--the villages can keep some of the money for general funds. how much you ask!! good question . Lets just say a lot-a whole lot--lots and lots. If you really need to know ask the Town supervisor I'm sure he knows. and the glaring question that no one is raising is why just Fairview and Hartsdale?? Maybe Barry can do a regionalization study on that and I am sure he can come up with some interesting facts and figures. one big fire district including all the unincorporated areas sure it could work but will it be efficient and safe for the residents-- if it included all unincorporated areas taxes would equalize out--some would go up some would go down depending on where you lived. just my thoughts

Most Fire Chiefs in the county are" management confidential" and are not part of any Firefighter local--- they maybe " honorary" members. Management confidential are not protected by any labor contracts. you negotiate your own salary ect. you are protected if you are a civil servant but all costs are yours to fund.