M' Ave

Don't twist words. I don't know any protesters and i never said they were our frien ds. Many are misguided. Some are using this event as an excuse for anarchy and nonsense, but thats not the majority. Don't pick out isolated events or focus on the wackos crying for Steve Jobs. When you have a large over the top movement you get a few crazies and unfortunate events. Look past that at the bigger picture. I'm sure the British were pretty pissed off about all that tea being wasted back in the day, but that wasn't really the point, was it? Look past the silly nonsense that makes the cover of the Post and examine the bigger picture. The big picture is something that the vanishing middle class should embrace. Not an end to capitalism, not pure socialism, just a more fair and equitable system that doesn't grant excessive protections to the extreme minority while the rest of us working stiffs watch our income dwindle and our rewards for working dry up.

I gotta say....I'm a little disappointed to read some of the comments that are written here. Why are we so excited to see this movement broken up? You don't have to agree with everything they're saying or rallying for down there. You also don't have to like the people who are doing it, BUT it's nice to see a little activism. It's nice to see people pushing back against the establishment because it's our constitutional right. The basis of this action is very similar to the founding of this country. Lets not be so quick to get excited that they're being "shut down". I don't like a bunch of leaches and do nothings, but I also don't like some CEO's salary increasing 23% while his company sheds 10,000 jobs or the bank he runs won't lend money to the honest working man. The balance of power and wealth in this country is more lopsided than it's ever been. Remember, if you're a civil servant (as I am)or any other Union worker, these protesters are your friend! They like you. They want you to make more money and be taxed less. The people that they're rallying against want to reduce your pension because it's too lucrative. They want to close firehouses because they'll never need you. They want to ship jobs to India because it'll leave them more money to pay themselves. Look, it's probably about time they shut down this camp-site and cleaned up the park which must be a disaster. However, lets not be so quick to jump for joy at the end of a protest that has the working man's ideals in mind.

I could never, in good conscience, tell someone to get a Blackberry. I had one for 6 years. I had an AT&T 7280, then an AT&T 8700 and then on to Verizon with a Curve and then a Storm 2. The Curve was great in it's day and the Storm 2 was never great at all. When my contract was up I decided that Blackberry had fallen far behind the times and that I needed to move to Android. While I gave the iPhone a brief look, I ended up deciding that Android was the better fit for me. I purchased a Droid Bionic and I couldn't be happier. The transition was a little tough. The UI has some differences that will require adjustment. There is no "go-to" button like the BB button. Be patient, it won't take long, but it is a big change. Now, having had an Android device for 2 months, I never even think about the dark days of Blackberry. If you have AT&T, I would strongly recommend the Galaxy 2S. I don't know about AT&T's "4G" availability, but on Verizon....it's amazing. Most every city of medium size up is covered, as are the surrounding suburbs and the speed is amazing. With the Blackberry, you had some form of internet, but it was incomplete and extremely slow. Now, I have what amounts to a micro-sized tablet in my pocket. Dual-core 1ghz processor, 1 gb of ram...ect. ect. It flies! Blackberry has nothing to offer in comparison and because of this, there is a serious shortage of 3rd party apps. If you must have the physical keyboard, there are options. However, I'd urge you to consider the move away from them. I know it's hard and I was in your camp as well. Once you adjust, you'll be glad you did. The phone displays the keys you need, not the standard layout all the time. With the vibration feedback, you get some tactile response and it's quite good. Like I said, there are options, but they're limited. For the most part, the latest and greatest are being brought to market in full touch screen form.

It's nice to see a fire department with a starting salary such as the one listed. These guys actually secured a starting salary that is entering the realm of a livable wage in Southern Westchester. Well done by the local.

Sorry to hear about this...6 guys is a lot. That's a really big hit. I love the mentality...well, money is a little tight, so we should make the neighborhoods less safe. All of these politicians love this new, "do more with less" catch phrase. I'm sure that for the 4th year in a row, NYC will look to close companies. We don't do more with less. We do the job we can with the manpower they provide us with. I'm looking out for me and the people I work with, I'm going home everyday and so are they. Everything else comes second.

Read, digest, comprehend and then respond. If you do these things you'll realize that I have a lot more than negativity to bring to this topic. It's called constructive commentary. As for your writing; I'm not trying to insult you. I'm simply pointing out that if you want your point to be taken seriously, you should be able to string a properly constructed sentence together. No one is looking for perfection, but I have to read your post about 4 times to make sense of it. Part of a respectful argument is to address everyone here like well read adults. As for PCFD/RBFD operation; why should be not discuss that here? Isn't that the point of this forum? What should be do, buff out to apparatus and incident photos all day? Or perhaps we should only give big pats on the back for a job well done after every incident. No, that's not what this is for. We have this forum and it allows us to do many things. We get to share photos, report incidents and most importantly, discuss operations in the hopes of improving them. If all of those things can't be done, than why are Seth and the rest of the staff killing themselves and spending money keeping this site open? As for the RBFD issue, lets cut to the chase. Everything is not fine. Those guys are in a position of having to do too much with not enough. Sorry, but waiting for PCFD to show up is also not appropriate as a first due means of providing emergency service. How about night time? Do you REALLY think that the lone chauffeur of engine 59 thinks showing up in front of a building fire at 2 A.M. is fine? I DOUBT it. What do you think residents see? They see a big red truck and a guy killing himself to hook up to a hydrant or whatever, but then they have to wait a few LONG minutes waiting for people to arrive to actually fight the fire. That's B.S. for that fireman to be in that position and B.S. for the residents. There are many ways to skin this cat, but the system as it exists now is in fact NOT working. It is not sufficient and it puts a lot of firemen and civilians in danger, let along property. This is not about the dedication of those who work or volunteer in this two department system. This is about not being provided with the tools or manpower to do the job. Why are you defending this system? Is it because, "this is the way we've been doing it for 175 years", as someone said? Well, I guess we should dust off the hold hand drawn pumpers because they worked fine a century ago, right? Why examine a system to look to improve it? If this doesn't get through....nothing will. I'm going to put the soap box away for now....

I'm not familiar. What's the story? I hear that Chrome will be available for Android in the coming months. This, I must say, is excellent.

Worried? No, not at all. However, if you'd like to make a credible argument, spelling and grammar are great building blocks. Disrespectful would be saying, "Rye Brook FD and PD should be dissolved and all their members should be fired". I don't believe I saw anyone approaching that level of crass suggestion. The root of what is being discussed here is fire department operations of the RBFD. What the politicians have created here is the illusion of fire protection. Residents call 911 and big red trucks show up and no one knows that there are only two firemen who are going to have to put themselves through the ringer to accomplish a fraction of what needs to be done at a fire. First and foremost, this is detrimental to the safety of the members while working, as well as to any other emergency personal who may be called to work at the same scene. I mean, seriously, how much burden can you lay on the shoulders of two guys?! It's crazy! No, actually it's criminal. Public safety isn't hard to justify. We know it and we all know that no one, not one single department, has the staffing that we should always have. The issue here is not what all of US think, but what can be accomplished in reality. All of us, along with the people we serve, deserve top quality emergency services provided by properly structured agencies. That means commanders (chiefs and line officers), support staff and last, but of greatest importance, the number of firefighters to get the job done. The sad reality is that RBFD probably won't suddenly hire a chief, enough officers and firemen to properly staff (at least) 1 engine and 1 truck, 24 hours a day. Could they afford it? Probably. Is that a wealthy community who's residents can take a tax hike? Yup! But, as the saying goes, "the rich don't get rich by giving their money away". They're wrong and they think that they'll never need the fire department, but things get awful ugly when you start looking at numbers. The bottom line is this, that firehouse is very necessary, so lets talk about how to get those guys the proper tools (i.e. manpower) to do the job they're forced to do without proper manning. I believe, IMHO, that the only way for this to occur is (get ready, here's the buzzword again) CONSOLIDATION!!

I've never seen so much written in, what, 4 sentences? I agree with you that the elimination of the RBFD , allowing for PCFD to cover is not a good idea. However, bulking up the staffing of the dept. might not be the answer either. It's a community that is remotely located, as far as fire coverage goes, but it's in a tough area to justify the costs associated with all that's necessary to run a fire department properly. All this comes full circle to the consolidation issue. There are so many possibilities when we get into that sandbox. Perhaps RBFD would come to house a fully staffed engine and wait for one of the ladders from what is currently a PCFD firehouse, ect (because it wouldn't be RBFD or PCFD in that case) As for your last comment, sir, I don't understand. We should not address an issue or offer ideas because someone from that agency is reading this thread? That's silly. I hope that someone from the RBFD is here to offer the inside scoop and some additional perspective. Not all opinions are going to be liked or popular, but we can't make nice all the time. As long as it's constructive and respectful, we can lay it out there honestly and continue the discussion.

Looks like a lot, yes, but it's typical for a response of that level. You have the Batt. chief (B15, i bet) who was assigned on the initial ticket. After that, Div. 7 would be the ranking incident commander and then the other BC's would fill several other roles. These include: All Hands Chief, Resource Unit Leader, Staging Area Chief, Foam Cooridnator, ect. I wear a black helmet, so I can't really begin to explain what they all do. Looks like a sticky incident that could have been much worse. Well done.

100% Correct. I'm willing to bet that you will indeed have some bumps in the road, but they by no means bar you from gaining employment. There are many roads to go down and oportunities to explore so make sure you cross all your T's and dot all the I's. Best of luck.

I've seen home owners insurance discussed as well as not wanting anyone to risk their lives to save what you can rebuilt. That's a little short sighted, don't you think? What about when you wake up in the middle of the night and your exit is blocked by fire and smoke? No one is risking their life to save some furniture and a flat panel TV. We're here to save lives and to do that, you need to get in there and search and extinguish the fire. You might live in a single story ranch, but what about the guy who lives in the attic apartment who's windows are 30' off the ground? How about the person who is overcome by CO in their sleep and could still be rescued and resuscitated? We're a tool box. Hopefully we're a bottomless one, and can mitigate whatever issue it is tasked with. If managed correctly (career or volunteer) we can be the best insurance policy money can buy. However, to do that we must respond quickly and with adequate staffing.

True, they're pretty beat up. Also, they lost one rig on 9/11 and it was never replaced, so the remaining three have been picking up the slack. Can't be too big a deal to replace them, it's basically a beverage delivery truck with racks for cylinders.

Remember, rigs typically serve 10-12 years in front line service before they serve as spares for several i.more. Last spare i worked in was from 1994, a Seagrave rearmount. It had over a hundred thousand miles on it and it was a rust bucket held together by duct tape. It was finished. Probobly worth it's weight in scrap only.

This is the truest statement thus far. I'm not going to make blanket statements about ESU vs. FD rescue operations because mistakes and accidents can happen to anyone at any time. However, FDNY truck Co.'s have the manpower advantage. With the Hurst tool and the extensive airbag equipment, it is much easier to effect a rescue when you have 5 firemen and one officer. Those firemen each have a position. One will take the tools, one the power unit, another is on chocks, ect.... ESU has only 2 members until additional units arrive and that could take quite some time. Lifting something that weighs 3,000+lbs demands time and careful protocol. This is a terrible mistake, regardless of the fact that the individual was probably mortally wounded already. We won't know what really went wrong for sometime. All we have now is a fuzzy video and some civilian (who don't know sh!t) commentating.

I'm with you, the wire frame is great. It's tough and simple and that's all we've got. They've added a larger remote gauge recently and that PACtracker thing (which is in a terrible spot and took some getting used to). That new Scott mask seems to not add enough in the way of improvements and I can't even imagine the cost to replace all cylinders so they work with that quick connection. By they way, how well will that work with a little debris in it?

Come on Capt.....I thought you were around a while! Some guys on this job definitely know everything. Ask'em, they'll tell you! LOL, anyway...this certainly was, "just a car fire", but that doesn't mean that there were a few curveballs involved. Multiple agencies, terrain gradient, gasoline and exposure to name a few. Thanks to the miracle of You Tube (for better or worse) we are given the opportunity to critique. Nothing wrong with kicking tactics around and looking at what was right and what was wrong. My company covers an area that is plagued by car fires. Still, something is different each time and we get them a lot. I don't always wear my mask. Maybe I should. I've been caught not paying attention and opening the line facing the building, rather than the street. Dumb sh!t happens....good things too. It's nice to talk it out. I definitely was caught wondering why there were, at times, 5 hand lines putting water on a vehicle fire. Maybe there was an explanation, what do I know? I wasn't there, but we can all ask questions and read answers from those in the know.

Believe it or not, that was almost 6 years ago. That rig racks up a lot of miles responding city wide. That rig has had spotty history. It is popular with a few of the Haz-Mat guys I've talked to, but it's reliability is so-so. It was built on one of Ferrara's existing chassis, not something new to FDNY spec. The current round of deliveries is on this Ultra chassis which is brand new this year and designed specifically for this FDNY order. Perhaps it's built to a higher standard of durability? It certainly brings the cabs/mechanicals into some sort of uniformity, although separate from the Seagrave, obviously.

It should be noted to any out of state candidate (or out of city for that matter) will be at a 5 point disadvantage to any city resident. Remember, there will be people who have a lot of extra credit on this list. The Vets returning from our two wars get a well deserved 5 points extra and those who lost a parent in city service, LODD, will receive an additional 10 points. Whomever is #1 on this list could conceivably have a total score of 120. That's a vet who lives in the city, lost a parent LODD in the F.D., P.D., EMS, ect and scored 100 on the written. This in no way means that the job is out of reach, but it does mean that you need to score 100%. If past history is any indicator, a TOTAL score of 100% would put you in the top 1,500-2,000 list numbers. Put that in time to be hired; I'd say 2 years, give or take. A rough breakdown of the numbers is this: We are currently in need of about: 300 Fr. We lose 15 per month to retirement Currently they promote the equivalent of 15 per month (though this will most definitely slow) That means that, by the time this new list is certified, we will be short as many as 750 +/- and that's 18 months from now which does not include the 18 weeks that an academy class will take. Realistically, there will be a need for 1,000 Fr. in the next 2-3 years and should take the list in the high 2,000's or even break 3,000. One foot note: That's all rough math and educated estimates. Who know what'll really happen. This is a new test and a new way of conducting business. Best of luck come January.

Doesn't West Point employ seasonal personnel as well? Thought I'd heard that....

...on a side note...has anyone seen the recruitment ads or online video? Fairly...uh, biased, no? Just an FYI; i went through proby school with a couple of people from the recruitment poster and they resigned under threat of termination and had to come back for the next academy class and repeat the entire program before getting through. Maybe if these folks put more effort into being good firefighters and less effort into being part of a one sided, loud mouthed, racist group they'd have less trouble actually performing the tasks demanded of them. You can't erase lines with a highlighter.....

The only crime this new Chevy will see will be parking violations. They are all being assigned to the Traffic Division.

There have been some really terrific posts here so far. I'm just picking this one as a jumping off point for my opinion. The FDNY's policy has been eroded over the years by lazy individuals whining about not obtaining the job on their own merit. Do you need a BA/BS to be a good firefighter? Nope, not at all. I know many terrific firemen, and know of many before my time who they still tell stories about, who did not have a degree. There are many tradesmen who have skills and knowledge that lends itself to our craft and they did not go the college route. That being said, the overwhelming majority of my co-workers have a 4 year degree. I think we're a better department for it. To quote someone who posted before me, "it teaches you how to learn" and that's an invaluable quality. The experience of going to college teaches you how to think objectively and analytically. Some people may have that trait innately, but a degree serves as an affirmation of that ability. In addition, attending college shows effort and drive. You actually had to put in the time and effort to achieve that Associates or Bachelors degree and guess what.....it's a lot of work. Putting in that time and effort shows that you MIGHT at the very least have the drive to be a self starter and a motivated employee. Firemen are often in a position of having to think and make decisions independently and they're better off with a deeper well of experience to draw from. With today's increases in the diversity of our workload, our interaction with the public has increased as well. We don't just sit behind closed doors until we head into a fire and then go home. We interact intimately with the public on EMS runs, fire prevention initiatives, class visits and fire inspections to name a few. In every example, education can do nothing but help. Having a college degree doesn't make you a smart individual and they're are plenty of bright articulate people who don't have a formal higher education. However, with a civil service hiring process and it's simplicity, pre-requisites do nothing but help to distinguish a more qualified candidate. Even if obtaining some degree serves only to show that someone put in the extra effort. The FDNY's current hiring standards are pathetic. 15 college credits (one silly semester) or 6 months of work experience. That's right, go flip burgers for 6 months, you're in! It's a tragedy to lower standards and to do it simply to increase the number of minority members is embarrassing to every member of a minority group who puts in the effort and it's a serious dis-service to the people of New York who deserve the best. Historically, the acceptance rate to the FDNY is between 8 and 10%. That's pretty low. If you have tens of thousands of people testing for, at most, a couple of thousand positions......you should be able to demand very high standards. They're obviously not having any trouble filling positions. The only people who I've heard complain about standards are those who haven't put in the time, effort, care or thought to take the many free assistance tools available to them.

This test, it's format and the company who made it are completely new to NYC. I don't think you'll find anything out there unless something is published (and probably will be) by FDNY or DCAS.

Woah....easy. I think he's suggesting that we have one historic FDNY vessel that is being preserved as a museum and it's hard enough to find the funding and dedication for that. There are a great deal of vessels from the FDNY fleet that made saves, battled historic waterfront and vessel fires and we can't save them all. I wish we could. I wish there were places for all the historic boats, but there aren't. We have one museum piece and should focus efforts there. Additionally, the condition of the Firefighter was poor. The hull had reportedly been plated over several times and was in need of an extensive refit.