Beekman

Pojo's 2nd Fire District story in a week and oh what is next Tuesday (14th)? Didn't we play this same game last year around this time?

$3500 to draw up a map and plan???? How about having the Pleasant Valley Fire District assume the contract since they are Pleasant Valley's experts when it comes to Fire and EMS in Pleasant Valley?

The law prohibiting Fire Districts from contracting with an ambulance company was repealed several years ago. The NYS Association of Fire Districts attorney can cite the exact section. Beekman had to verify the change when the contract was transferred from the Town of Beekman to the Beekman Fire District. Union Vale Fire District was one of the first to contract directly with the EMS provider. I heard several other in Dutchess County are considering the same when the contracts get ready to expire.

Beekman Fire does. Some were past Interiors or Exteriors and then we have some who retired, joined BFD and just wanted to give back to their community and help out.

Check out Beekman's 34-61 and definitely Wassaic's new rig Wassaic

I give Mohegan VAC tremendous credit. To go from 100% volunteer to having a paid crew is a huge step that most departments won't take even though they need to. Regarding the employees vs contractors, consider this. Someone from Mohegan VAC just pays a bill (if there is one) once a month to Empress and then the Chief/Captain handles any issues that may come up. If you direct hire employees, you have a fixed number of employees, whereas Empress can pull any of their employees to fill in shifts at Mohegan VAC and you are also not dealing with the whole human resources aspect of the paid crews (vacation and sick coverage, benefits, training, certifications, terminations, hirings, physicals, immunizations, etc.) Beekman pays a bill once a month and TransCare handles everything else. I don't need any more headaches and I'm sure Mohegan VAC doesn't either.

As a Chief's Council meeting attendee, and nothing more, I haven't heard any discussions about "Unable to Assemble" or 3rd dispatches or mutual aid abuse at the meetings but there appears to be a willingness to start tackling some of the issues that have plagued the Departments at the Chiefs Council level.

60 Control to Croton Command...what's your pleasure?

In Dutchess County, the Dutchess County Chiefs Council sets the policies for the Departments to follow i.e. Radio Plan, Acceptable 6 o'clock announcements, etc. Couldn't this be done in Westchester? Dutchess also has timers for all dispatched resources including FAST. 5 minutes until 2nd dispatch/retone, then another 3 minutes until 3rd in which it should go mutual aid or to another department.

Several of the new homes I've inspected in the past six months have buried 1000 gallon propane tanks as well as, get this, two furnaces. The second furnace is hidden in the attic. It's the latest fad in home building.

Fire Company pays for everything including shoes. The Fire Company gets the funds from the 2% and donation, not taxes. Unfortunately I wear my uniform to more funerals than parades.

From the 14th round of 2009 AFG grants.....so now they are a Fire Department and have to comply with OSHA and PESH?

I don't believe it has to do with Departments that "deny" their older members participation in LOSAP but it's part of the program that the residents vote for/against. When Beekman's program was approved by the voters in 1999, the cash out age is 62. The question that Beekman has asked, and I couldn't tell you who they asked, was "do the voters need to approve raising the age for LOSAP?" The answers they got were "yes" and they didn't want to risk losing everything entirely with this economy.

There was an article on another website about ignoring comments made on these newspaper websites as the posts are "anonymous" and people will post things they would never say in person nor would they post if their identity was known. One would wonder why the papers still allow "anonymous" comments but the more controversial a story becomes, the more "hits" the website gets and the greater the advertising revenue. Paid, combo, volunteer, whatever.....there is always someone out there who hates us and has an axe to grind. Ignore them. Beekman Fire will have the honor of protecting Roosevelt while they mourn the loss of their brother. R.I.P. Captain http://www.artsjournal.com/diacritical/2007/03/the-great-newspaper-comments-d.html

So here's a question....how long do you keep the completed truck check sheets?

01-05-0018 Firefighter Assist and Search Team (FAST) The firefighter as a member of a FAST operation will identify the tools and staffing requirements for a FAST operation; develop a rescue plan for a missing, lost, or trapped firefighter; demonstrate rope search techniques; and demonstrate removing a firefighter/victim up a stairwell, up or down through a hole in a floor/roof, moving a downed firefighter out of a window, and lowering a firefighter down a ladder. This course requires students to perform a number of practical evolutions with self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). Designed For:Fire service personnelCourse Length:16 hours

Correct me if I'm wrong but Westchester was the first to attach Firefighter Survival to the end of the Firefighter 1 classes. Dutchess started incorporating the class into FF1 last year. East Fishkill was gracious enough to host a Firefighter Survival class in November of 2008 and they had to send a ton of people away because the class was way over the max. In the next two months, Dutchess will add waiting lists to its online training registration website and CC-9 will truly have an idea how many Dutchess firefighters still need Survival. Then they can tackle the FAST class issue. Should every firefighter have FAST? Absolutely. You just need to remember that your firefighters will need to practice those skill regularly. Taking the class 4 years ago and not practicing the skills should not qualify you as a FAS team member. FF2 touches upon some of the FAS skills but firefighters should take the full FAST class.

Where was DOT? On any long duration call I've been to in East Fishkill (haven't had any in Beekman) DOT (TSP) or the Thruway (I-84) came out and relieved us. Secondary roads in Middletown? I don't think anything would help that situation but please feel free to bill the heck out of that carting company that is registered in Carmel but is really located in Beekman. If you have any of these major thoroughfares in your jurisdiction, have your Fire Police lay out a traffic diversion plan. Keeps them occupied.

Take the HSO and ISO class and ask your Chief for the HSO policy or a list of what he expects you to do (job description)

1) Empty the fireplace/stove 2) PPV fan 3) Dry chem up the chimney 4) We have Chimney flares and chains if needed We try to avoid the roof especially considering all the snow and ice we have now, One of our developments has the chimneys on the back of the townhouses with multiple roof lines that are a good 40 feet from grade. It would be great if we had a snorkel or Bronto.

I think this thread brings up numerous issues which, in Dutchess County, should be handled by the Dutchess Chiefs Council and whatever policies or rules created should be abided by all. Dutchess has an awesome Radio Plan which is ignored constantly so why bother having it? Interiors- For career personnel, they are required to graduate from the Academy but for volunteers it's up to the AHJ. Even if a Department has educational requirements, are there continuing education requirements? How about passing a physical examination? How many Departments allow firefighters to use their own physician for their physical examination? Technology is great (Moggie) but we aren't even there yet. In terms of buildings and hazards, most Building Departments on the Eastern side of Dutchess County are part time, if at all, and the larger ones on the western side have had major cutbacks in inspectors. Sure volunteers could do pre-plans but I keep hearing "the economy is horrible and we don't have time to do that. I'm too busy working 2 or 3 jobs to survive". Sullivan's system is great but we have too many firefighters and CHIEFS who can't even remember the address they are responding to and need 911 to repeat the address for the 5th time. I guess no one has the Minitor 4s or 5s with the stored voice capability. My advice? Have the Chief talk to the offending Department. If nothing is going to change, take them off your alarm assignment. The rest? Send out a survey and try to get honest results? Interiors- How many do you have? How many are ACTIVE? What determines what ACTIVE is? (LOSAP, Policy, paying their dues, OSHA training completion) What are your requirements for education, continuing education and physical examinations? You may not want the true answers.

Forgive me if I'm wrong but Beekman FD, starting tomorrow, pays the difference between what it costs TransCare to man and equip 34-79 minus what Transcare receives, or expects to receive from insurance and billing. With the City's call volume and the close proximity to both hospitals, I can see no money being involved like it's been since the 80's.

If you liked the license plate issue, wait until you get your renewal notice for your registrations. They want $46 for the renewal for my 5' by 8' landscape trailer for one year. Last year was about $16.

After you are elected Commissioner, go to the NYS Association of Fire Districts Educational Conference every November in Ellenville (formerly at Nevelle, now at Honors Haven). Since you are a member of EMTBravo, something tells me you will do a good job for your community.

174 residents and no businesses equals a city in Arkansas? Or is a Town because the Yahoo article keeps switching between the two. 58 MPH on your driveway? So the cops set up a speed trap on his driveway? And people wonder why NYS DOT is responsible for approving speed limit changes in Towns in NY...to avoid this nonsense. 7 Cops for 174 people? And all of the cops showed up for the ticket hearing? In Beekman you are lucky to get a first appearance within 2 months. Same day service in Ark.? Someone vandalized the police cars? The police department "disbands" and "city" hall is shuttered. If I were a smart man, I'd use this for the script for my new movie sequel "Super Troopers- Da' South"