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I was very interested in the Ascendant when it first came out, after looking at the specs and drawings I realized a few things: While a single axle intially sounds very appealing, the wheelbase of the single axle Ascebdant is actiually longer than most tandem axle ladders. Due to the engineering, the weight allowance for equipment in the compartments is minimal. The ground ladder complement is an abortion for a ladder truck In my case the Ascendant was not a good fit for a urban career dept, I am sure others have found the Ascendant to be the "end all be all".

Yes, A second alarm will bring an off duty members back manning an Engine, a Truck and another Chief plus an additional off duty member to for rehab. If the manpower is not needed at the scene they hire back companies will cover the City.

We staff Engine 1, Truck 1and the Chief out of the Grand St firehouse and Engine 3 from the Broadway firehouse with at least 3 on each.

That is a very very long ride for Washingtonville (18.1 miles and google maps say 34 minutes). I am pretty confident that there were closer resources.

Obviously with the commitment to maintain adequate coverage in the City in mind, Newburgh has not turned down any mutual aid request unless they have all their resources tied up. Like 201/65 has mentioned, Newburgh will hire back and staff additional apparatus (which can be manned relatively quickly) and/or use "staff" personnel to staff an additional apparatus.

So then when you move the aerial to the right with a left side pedestal the same thing could happen!

Maybrook and the T/Cornwall as well as the V/Montgomery and V/Cornwall on Hudson share the same unit designators as well. What's worse is at during the midnight shift OC911 dispatches all of these agencies and you realistically will have two 421's or two 404's talking to couny at the same time. The way the County designates the difference is by saying CORNWALL 404 versus MAYBROOK 404. Like everything else is the County, this is ass backwards.

I can't speak for Westchester, but in Orange County I would make an educated guess that at least half of the departments have ice/cold water rescue capabilities. If a department does not have the training or equipment I can guarantee that at least of their neighboring departments does. In my department we have a 14 suits and an extensive inventory of other associated equipment.

You are absolutely incorrect, no such policy exists. For some reason FAST is treated as some speciality team rather than having every interior member trained to get the guy your crawling down the hallway with out. Due to this belief only some departments in Orange County have FAST, which often result in the FAST coming from further away.

I want to preface this post with the fact that I have been in the fire service for 17 years both Vollie and Career so please don't interpret this as Vollie bashing... I just think the volunteer chief officers have to be a little more conscious about where they bring their District Vehicle. Yesterday while shopping at the Woodbury Commons with the family I stumbled upon a Chief's vehicle from Jerico, NY. The first thing I thought of was "typical Long Island again", but then I tried to give this guy the benefit of the doubt and say he was probably coming back from Montour Falls (even though no classes ended yesterday). Whatever the reason was that brought him 90 minutes outside his district....it does nothing for the public perception of the "Extravagant Long Island Fire Departments" to have your vehicle sitting in the Woodbury Commons parking lot.

Funny that your brought that up, I have recently been thinking about the same thing that happens in Orange County. 1. Dept A is operating at a BS call, quite often they only have one apparatus on scene operating (because that's all they could staff). Dept A calls for Dept B to standby at Dept A's firehouse. Dept. B then calls Dept. C to standby at Dept B's firehouse, it becomes an endless cycle until they finally get to a dept that can actually staff more then one crew. 2. Dept A (who only does 150 calls a year) calls for not one but two standby companies while they are operating at an incident..... The taxpayers are better off.... Lets by quite honest, if you do 150 runs a year what is the probability that you will have a second call, and then if it does happen why not just dispatch a mutual aid dept then.... 3. Dept A, B, and C are all operating at a big old barn burner..... each dept then calls for there own standby companies. Why not just have one standby company cover all three depts? Just a few examples of problems that develop when everyone has there own kingdoms!

Freedom Of Information Law

You are absolutely incorrect on your statement as far as it pertaining to Fire Depts. Though I believe what you mentioned is a great idea there is no policy. I am sure if you listen during the week you will hear the same departments not get out time and time again.

Great, just what Orange County needs..... another department. We should be thinking about how to provide more streamline and consistent responses instead of forming another kingdom. Lets address the issues at hand (which is witnessed everyday lately) such as responding for calls of service in a timely manner with a crew (not 1 or 2 guys). Why do departments (usually the same departments everyday) continually not crew up for a call, yet no plans seem to ever be put in place to correct the problem? Last week there was a department who could not even get out for a structure fire, mutual aid departments who were sent (only after the first department could not crew) had to respond and extinguish the fire (good thing fire only doubles in size every 30-60 seconds). This is the last thing Orange County needs, we should be working together towards consolidation and not duplicating resources.

John, Below is the section directly out of the NYS Fire code regarding knox boxes. In the town that I am a C.E.O. for we require the installation of knox boxes on any new commercial structure and we require the installation of a box on any building that the FD has had an issue waiting for a key holder. In the city I work for they have a city ordinance in addition to the state code requiring it on any commercial property. Just make sure that you have a well spelled out policy covering how the knox box master key is secured, inventory of the master key and who has access to the master key. KEY BOXES §F506.1 Where required. Where access to or within a structure or an area is restricted because of secured openings or where immediate access is necessary for life-saving or fire-fighting purposes, the code enforcement official is authorized to require a key box to be installed in an approved location. The key box shall be of an approved type and shall contain keys to gain necessary access as required by the code enforcement official. §F506.1.1 Locks. An approved lock shall be installed on gates or similar barriers when required by the code enforcement official. §F506.2 Key box maintenance. The operator of the building shall immediately notify the code enforcement official and provide the new key when a lock is changed or rekeyed. The key to such lock shall be secured in the key box.