M' Ave

I have never heard of a Medic being promoted to Fireman. Not to detract from EMT status, but the time and commitment needed to become a medic far exceeds that of EMT. This is just an observation, but I find that people who put in the time and energy to spend nearly a year in the medic training program are headed for a career as a medic and not interested in moving out of EMS. I'm sure there has been a medic that made that move, but I've never heard of one. I've worked with plenty of former EMTs. As for running ALS engines, yikes....I wouldn't say that too loud around a room full of engine men. That's liable to start a fight! In all seriousness, they city has a lot of ALS units (not enough but...) and engines are busy enough with EMS comprising 20-40 percent of run totals. I don't think they need to take on the extra runs, never mind having more companys out of service for fire duty.

Well, I'm sure everyone would rather be in their assigned company. However, working with 4 Fr and an officer is certainly not as good as having a 5th Fr. I have heard the word that all engines will go to 4 Fr come Feb.1st, but I know the union is fighting this hard. This will open a can of worms operationally. When members are injured or get sick during a tour (With almost 2,000 guys working at once, it's bound to happen) the 5th Fr. is pulled from one of those 60 companys and sent to another firehouse to fill out that company with an injured member. Without the 5th man, they will take a person from a ladder company. That means that trucks will run without the O/V position. NOT GOOD!

You are correct. If one of the 60 Eng. Co's designated to have a 5th Fr. is short they will take any extra guy from any company that is over for the tour. That includes taking the 5th guy from a 4 man company.

Well, promotions aren't the same as a new hire, so I don't know that they're beholden to the same scrutiny. That said, I didn't know that they're were many left on the promotional list. I thought they exhausted that list with the last proby class. Is anyone left on the list? If there is and they can use it, why wait this long?

Details?

Another well written article that will fall on the deaf ears of the few. The average citizen, of all races and backgrounds, is not in favor of this ruling. Let merit prevail! I'm so sick of the whining and complaining when things aren't just handed to you in this city. Last week I was sickened watching the NY City Council hearing on the snow storm. Councilmembers wanted to know why Public Housing wasn't adequately plowed and shoveled...uh, to the residents: You get what you (don't)pay for. Other council members wanted to know why people in the "Welfare to Work" program weren't getting paid by sanitation when they showed up to shovel. Uh....'cause you're already getting public assistance and shoveling a little snow for it isn't the worst thing ever. Along the same lines, I love how the FDNY should mirror the population that it serves, like it has some obligation to offer city residents jobs. What? I always thought it was to hire the best from the candidate pool and provide the best possible service. Where would I get a crazy idea like that!? Guess what!? Life isn't fair. You get an equal shot, a fair written exam. Actually, it's more than fair, it's a veritable bunt! However, someone loses! That's that. In fact, most people lose and you can't please everyone. End of story. The Judge is still holding onto the final decision, impeding the city's ability to appeal. They will as soon as they have the ability. ***Crack*** There goes my soap box! Thanks for listening, rant over.

Interesting story....only odd part is price. The website says 31 million for the whole order. That's really cheap!

It's a cool looking rig. Why did they stop (or did they?) building the cab forward style. With the flat front and the cab in front of the wheels? That always seemed ideal to me, from a visibility stand-point.

It's a mid 80's building. Don't know the exact year.

I remember that day. What an eye opener! The two most striking points to take away were 1) That Gene is walking and talking after his horrific ordeal. 2) After going through all of that terror and pain, Brendan is back at work in the firehouse. What does that say about him and what does that say about our job? Any fire department with a single building over 2 stories should outfit every member with a bail-out device. Men had to die or suffer irreparably for us to have these devices. Leather helmets, buff sirens and LED lights should all be forgotten until every members has a personal bailout device. That's the business end. After that, as in individual, KNOW HOW TO USE IT!

They are connected by walking through the housewatch, a walkway at the rear of the apparatus floors and a shared walkway to the kitchen. Upstairs has a pass-through between the old and the new as well. It is a single firehouse with an old side and a new side. It's a nice house, great companies, good guys. There are a couple of other houses like this as well. 73 & 42 were at one time two separate houses built side to side, but they are now configured as one. 64 & 47 are similar except they are separated by a parking lot. At some point a kitchen was constructed in the rear that connects the two. However, they still have two housewatch offices and each company must man the watch and turn out their respective company from the appropriate side.

An AED costs, well, nothing. They are cheaper than some iPhone's. Every single person with a pulse should be familiar with CPR and the use of an AED. Every engine co. in NYC has one. Perhaps every patrol car should have one as well. They should be in every single public gathering place and someone who knows how to use one should be within useful distance of it at all times. It's so easy a child could use one. They're so cheap there's no budget excuse not to have one. They can and do mean the difference between life and death. If more people are trained in CPR and more AED's are available, perhaps they're mean life more often.

How about the fact that they are spraying water INTO the structure..... It hardly looks too far gone to begin an interior attack. Spraying water into the structure...especially with a automatic nozzle is a quick way to successfully save the cellar. Of course, I suppose that interior attack tactics would first require firemen numbering more than 1. Also, what are they doing with that chainsaw?? The fire's vented, to some extent, just get in there and get some water on it. This has disaster written all over it. Obviously, this is a case of extreme condition, however it highlights a need for some "back to basics" training. We all need to be rock solid on the basics of fire attack and fire-ground operations. This is especially important in the volunteer realm where tools aren't being handled and looked at everyday. In a situation with many more variables, including manpower, a great deal of emphasis needs to be placed on what to do at a fire in the first few seconds. What line would go where, who does what and where should I go with what tools in (_____) situation? I know that, at work, we're trying to incorporate more basic drilling on a regular basis alongside keeping up with the new tech. that comes up. I also know of volunteer agencies keeping a good ratio of basic training mixed in with a hurst tool drill or bail-out practice. Sounds like good logic to me.

The photos on the Ferrara web site seem to change a lot. It's hard to say how far along each rig is. At one point there were photos of R5 fully striped and now they're gone and the most recent photos are of the rig without the complete graphics package. Who knows.... All in all, they look to be set to arrive one after the other, in fairly short order. While R5 does do the lowest volume, it's not by much and they still run a lot. I think you'll see them all replaced over the course of a couple of months. I don't think there is a plan to "shake one down" before the others are delivered. It looks like they're all to far along to be able to have much trial time on the first before the rest arrive. I'm making an educated guess. Really? You are? Why, 'cause it's a secret that blue in the rear is more visable? I hope this isn't what keeps you up at night?

This is a pretty stupid response. 1st, R3 does about 1700 runs, give or take. They have a few 1st due boxes in truck company form and that is part of their total response #s. The rest are made up with being additional unit on a 10-75 or specialized rescue runs. Run #s are pretty meaningless. It's what you do when you respond that makes a difference. There are some company's around the city that top 4 and 5 thousand runs, but respond to far fewer fires than company's with half (or fewer) runs. Runs and OSWs are the two silliest numbers to compare or rely on.

Its a round wire cage. Its a step like any side loading box truck.

Link to full story: http://online.wsj.com/article/AP12880725e9ef44f69ef9116af06506d5.html However, it seems to be a done deal that the 60 fully staffed engine co's will loosed the 5th firefighter and be down to 4+officer.

I'm going to start by saying one thing; NFPA is a broad baseline that does not always apply well in large urban settings. Furthermore, their 8 minute response ideal is pathetically long. Second portion of your post about saving lives vs. the city's claim of cuts having no impact on response times. This is incorrect. The fire commissioner stated plainly that operations would be impacted if his cuts were in acted. Going back a bit you asked how often we respond well outside of our area when multiple company's are tied up at once. The answer to that question is: Daily. That's right, every day companys are 40 and 50 blocks outside of their regular response area. Guess what that means? The response is longer due to distance, it is also longer because the chauffeur isn't familiar with that area. You are now dealing with a company that doesn't know the buildings or quirks that may exist there. This is also true during relocations. On average, every company is relocated due to a multiple alarm fire, approx. 8-12 times a month. Sometimes it's as high as 20 times. Now you're operating well outside of your area on unfamiliar streets. If that multiple is up to a 3rd alarm or higher, that can put us into fall-back step 3. This means 1 and 1 on structural responses. This is a bad thing, very bad. Two weeks ago my company was operating with one other company at a 10-75. Do you know how long it takes on engine company to stretch a line to the 5th floor of an old law tenement? Who was checking and venting the floor above the fire? NO ONE. The simple fact is, you are speaking from a position of ignorance. You suggest that operations be curtailed or adjusted a night and that we might not need as many resources. You are simply wrong. How would you respond if I stated that most of the time I see medics from EMS show up, they don't have a critical patient and it's a simple transport to the hospital. I think that we should probably drop down to 1 medic alone on every ambulance. Why do we need two? Strap the guy in the back and then get up there to drive! Now, I don't agree with the above statement one bit. Nor do I feel there is anything wrong when 2 buses and a supervisor show up at a diff. breather. Who knows? Maybe that person is having a heart attack and the next minute you're going to be doing CPR and need all the help you can get. I'm simply pointing out that you're assessing an extremely sensitive situation from a disadvantaged position. You have no operational reference with regard to the FDNY, or any fire department for that matter.

THANK GOD(!!!!!) That you are not in any position of authority. A minute or two of quicker response isn't the difference between life and death, that's the difference between MANY lives and deaths! In my particular area of the city, we are fairly well covered. What I mean is, there are a lot of companies per square mile. However, with only one full assignment out 20 blocks north, we become second due engine to box locations 10 minutes away. Do you know what that does to overall response times? Forget the public, how about that truck company that arrives 2 or 3 minutes before an engine in some cases? Those guys need to get in there to begin searching and the longer they have to do this without the protection of a hose line, the better the chances of catastrophe become. Considering we are losing our 5th man on many engine co's, the second due engines role of backing up the first hose line becomes that much more essential. One thing that I must completely refute is your assertion that the FDNY needs to be run more like a business. This is wrong, plain and simple. It needs to be run in a professional manner of productivity and accountability, but it is not a business. A fire department is a drain, an expense. It is a cost that the municipality must incur in order to provide safety to the public. What we have now is, just barely, the resources to perform this task. To reduce in the face of cost would be criminal. It may appear that we could reduce our resources, but we cannot. Only in comparison with poorly staffed fire departments does this appear so. The simple fact is that most FD's are not properly staffed. Not at all. Staffing and resource conditions are the most important aspect of proper fire protection. The level of staffing in many areas and the idea of reducing staffing in NYC is an insult to the single greatest resource that most fire departments have and that is an extremely dedicated work force. How about bolstering that with the tools and manpower needed to perform the task and stop trying to figure out how you can best stretch and abuse the personnel on the street. In New York City, the FDNY uses about 3% of the annual operating budget. For that small change, the 8.5 million residents and numerous businesses the best insurence policy money can buy. That's what a fire department is to it's municipality. The biggest and most versatile Swiss Army knife you've ever seen.

Except, as I understand it, they don't fall into the same chain of command. Do they? There is an EMS Lt. or Capt. at many runs we respond to, but as far as I know, they do not hold rank over firefighters. They hold authority at the incident as personnel with the higher degree of training....although some of the ems officers are EMT's and they oversee Medics. How does that work? What I'm really looking for is some insight into the EMS command system.

Ya beat me to it! Thanks for bringing that up though. There is talk, as well, about bringing operations, conduct and standards more in line with FDNY. This would be a good thing, as our operational differences represent what we really are, which is two completely different departments. To a post above, there is no talk of Medics on engines. This would not be of any benefit. We are a BLS agency and the cost of a medic and their experience would be wasted working in an engine.

Are you typing on the sauce again? Anyway, all things considered, it's a good thing that the company played it really cool. IT WAS CAUGHT ON CAMERA! No one looks bad here except the bus driver. Yes, if bus was pushed by rig.....big trouble.

It's nice to see this written into law...but I doubt it will do too much good. It will be difficult to enforce and most will not be aware of the change. The highway has to be one of the most dangerous places that emergency workers operate and that's why it's best to block as much of the road with a rig as is necessary. Flares and cones only do so much. If people can physically fit a car in any area, they'll try. Motorcycle's....forget it.....

I don't disagree. Certainly considering that this, clearly on arrival, was not a bread and butter vehicle fire. It also appears to be under and EL and that adds to the severity in terms of ventilation. I'm not suggesting aggressiveness, only that you can't typically douse a car fire completely without eventually getting close to the car. I'll certainly add O2 tanks to my list of items to be wary of at vehicle fires. That, along with not standing in front of or behind the vehicle in the path of bumper shocks, ect...

It is always a good idea to open the line from some distance and begin knocking the fire down with the reach of the stream....but you have to get right in there to get the fire out completely. You need to be able to hit the ceiling and break up the stream. As far as the SCBA goes, of course you should wear one. I usually don't and I'm not alone. HOWEVER, wearing one is the smart move and considering the size and involvement of the vehicle in this particular situation, I probobly would have worn a mask. This was clearly not a routine beater on fire. Vehicle fires are nasty. It isn't a little wood burning, it's a lot of nasty petroleum based plastics and other chemicals. I gotta go with you here. Magnesium is what gives you that white hot flame and it's no explosion, just a brighter glow and shower of sparks. This was a brief and fierce increase in the fire's intensity and I would put my money on oxygen. I don't believe so.