M' Ave

There really isn't any reason to have any gear on while driving. I see a lot of Truck Chauffeurs wearing pants while driving, that's considerably less of a hindrance than a coat and it makes it easy for them to go to work once they arrive on scene. Engine Chauffeurs, unless it's a multiple, they're not going inside. They will be pumping or assisting another Chauffeur. Why do they need gear on? Especially in the summer? If it's hot and you're staying outside, stay cool and comfortable.

Where was 22? Needed 95'?

MAN! You have a GOOOOD memory! I think that was almost a year ago on 139th. You dispatchers........forget nothing....

Are you stating you'd like them to lose their jobs? Huh.....that's f'ed up. And, how can you possibly suggest that being in a sleazy joint, in a lousy part of town at 4am isn't relevant? Where do you work? On Fantasy St. in the center of Happy Town? Come on, you view actions differently and treat people differently based on time, place and condition. Who's at a strip joint at 4am in South Jamaica? People who stand a very good chance of being less than upstanding!

There was no little face picture that was vomiting, so you'll just have to imagine that's what I'm running to do right now...... Not for one second did anyone look at this with a level head. Nope, we're just going to give the family 7 mil and name a street after this guy. So now we name streets after political and sports hero's, firemen and cops who suffer LODD and apparently, guys who try to run over cops and get shot in self defense..... If only 5 bullets had been fired, and this guy was still dead, would we be having this discussion? I know NOTHING about police training, but I know how easy it is to fire a handgun and I know they carry a lot of bullets. If I was almost hit by a car intentionally, or saw my partner almost hit by a car intentionally at 4am in a lousy neighborhood, I'd shoot a lot. If the result of this whole lawsuit is some additional training for cops, fine, whatever the politicians need to make them feel better. However, to pay the family of a man who was killed in this manner sets BAD precedent. Everyone loves to forget that this was a guy who was out at a sleazy strip-club, suspected to be a drug spot, in a high crime area only HOURS before he was supposed to get married. (what kind of lifestyle is that anyway?) He was in an altercation witnessed by cops and there was some scuttle about a gun. They got in a car and tried to hit the cop who attempted to stop them. I guess that action isn't supposed to have any consequences? The deck is stacked against the cops everyday. I work in the most economically depressed area in NYC with high crime and I watch what the cops are up against everyday. They are the enemy to many everywhere they go and that's a tough position to be up against. Do we really need to neuter the cops ability to enforce law and keep order?

Once had to do the same with a 500lb corpse. Medical examiner couldn't handle it from this particular 5th floor walk up. Called for a TL, used a stokes and out the window we went....

Capt, I was pushing more of an advocacy towards a centralized dispatch, not the specific staffing of Scarsdale. Surely there are many contractual issues, however, they shouldn't impact the function of emergency response. I'm sure that Scaredale did a fine job at the dispatch console, but the resources available to an agency that does that SINGLE task, are far greater. They have redundancy within the same office, ect. ect. That aside, I couldn't agree more that you need to have positions for those who cannot, for any reason, function as a Full Duty fireman. It's true, while there are many light duty spots around the city, there are also 12,000 firemen/officers. If that single position as a dispatcher was a good place for a Light Duty guy, then it shouldn't be too hard for the village to find another position for someone off-line to fill. Bottom line, firemen get hurt and that's that. Accidents happen, par for the course. It's up to the municipality to provide a place for them to work in Light Duty capacity if they are injured. If they don't have a place for them.....that's the villages problem. Perhaps part of this arrangement could be unlimited sick leave. Of course the municipality will want to supervise this, but....whatever. Again, that's on them. If a member suffers a traumatic injury on the job, well, that's what a 3/4 disability is for. Lastly, about the city's dispatch, some of the dispatchers were moved to 11 Metro-tech. Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island are in Downtown Brooklyn. Queens and 'da Bronx continue to operate out of their original offices, and that's how it's going to remain. Bronx dispatch is also set-up to handle city wide, should something happen. That said, I think the consolidation is a terrible idea. WHY would you put your eggs in one basket? It doesn't really save that much money as all positions, more or less, have remained. It's all part of this UCT dispatch program. NYPD civilian call takers answer 911 calls and send the info to the respective agencies via glorified text msg. FDNY dispatchers then turn out the companies based on the initial information received from the call takers (who are not anywhere near them). We roll out the door, all too often, with little more than an address, cross-streets and "multdwell" or "pvtdwell" and a letter code A-E, all of which mean "smoke or fire". Sometimes, if we're lucky, we get SOME additional information enroute, such as the nature. Is it an odor of smoke, or a sparking outlet, ect. ect. UCT, for Unified Call Taker, is referred to as "U Can't Tell" in the firehouse. It's lousy. Prior to UCT you could get a sense of what was going on. If it was a phone alarm, that was a pretty reliable source, meaning, someone actually called in and spoke to a dispatcher. If you got a second source, it was because the dispatcher felt that another source was providing them with information that added to the severity of the alarm. When the dispatcher actually spoke to the caller, they could determine if it sounded legit. Some seasoned dispatchers would actually tell you when, "it sounds like you're going to work". Now everything is a UCT alarm and a second source is given anytime the NYPD call taker gets another call for the same incident, regardless of whether there is more information confirming an incident. Boro centralized dispatch, excellent. Moving to 11 Meto-tech, seems a little short sighted in this day and age. UCT, SUCKS! Rant over...

Huh, I thought this was a thread about a new Airline.......oops.

There may very well be some trade-offs with a move to a centralized dispatch system, but the benefits FAR out weigh the costs. Having a fireman on the line may be helpful in terms of knowing the lay of the land, but thats what we have CIDS programs for and what not. Dispatchers are pros at just that, dispatching. They're specialists in handling calls and the caller who may be in some kind of duress. Having that fireman on the rig is far more beneficial than having them sitting at a desk. 911 calls should go to ONE place. That's the safest way to ensure the best response and coverage.

Say what you will about the Late "Boss". He turned a completely failing franchise into the greatest franchise in sports. He so with respect and dignity, remembering that without the LEGENDS who wore pinstripes, they'd be nothing today. He was a character sometimes to a fault, but that's a part of what made him great. Thanks for making the Yankees what they are today!

It is indeed. Since that name is ruined as well....

My friend, your logic is as sound as your spelling, grammar and sentence structure.

With the money to maintain companies in place, for the time being, the job is looking to curb the steadily increasing O/T flow. NY1 Video News The only questions arise surrounding the approval of a federal judge, with regard to exam 6019. Hopefully merit prevails.........

The reached list #865, however only about 230 were hired to reach that number. Many differed or were on active military duty. If they indeed hire without interference from the courts, they'll be a bunch of guys with numbers below 865 who are going to take the job. I don't believe that there are many, if any EMT's/Paramedics left on the promotional exam. If they indeed hire 300 this summer and follow it up with a talked about 300 in January, I believe they would reach into the mid 1,000's on this exam. As for hiring the brothers who are laid off; It would be a great thing to be able to do this, as their fortunes are poor and the acts of the politicians deplorable, however, it is unfeasible that the city could take them on. It is a completely different civil service system and there are a lot of guys who were sent letters to report for duty at the fire academy and then their appointments rescinded. Those guys are just as deserving of the job they've worked for and waited years to get. Having graduated the Westchester Academy doesn't save the city any money either, as they would most certainly need to go through the FDNY academy and it's specific training regimen. With cities, it's all about the money. My best wished to those laid off and a speedy rehiring! My best wished to those who's careers have been put on hold due to the economy as well. I know the feeling of waiting and it's miserable.

No one, and I mean no one loved the fire service more than Scott Seaver. He was a true friend and one of the strongest people I've ever had the privilege of knowing. He suffered greatly over the past 4 years, beating cancer only to endure the persistent effects of his treatments. He would never complain and never sulk. He always had a witty remark and his sense of humor was never dulled. I'm proud, even at this most sorrowful moment, to have had him as a close friend. His outlook will undoubtedly leave an impression on all he knew for ever. His sudden and unexpected passing leaves a tremendous void. Your time came all too soon. Rest In Peace, Brother. FDNY Dept. Order #52

TRULY as poor show of professionalism. This reflects poor leadership and lousy foresight. Hopefully, someone with some authority in Mamaroneck made a phone call the to Chief in Bogata and informed him that this behavior was unacceptable and they wouldn't be invited back should this conduct persist. The Mamaroneck parade is a great event. It's a great day for the community to see the men and women that donate their time, or dedicate their career to the protect each respective municipality. It's also a great time for the dept. members to meet and socialize with one another at the parade's conclusion. Unacceptable behavior needs to be policed as to not besmirch a positive event.

Well, they have to fill the same # of spots regardless of whether they hire or not. I don't know how the math works out, but at some point it becomes more cost effective to hire someone, rather than pay a guy time and 1/2. Obviously you have to factor in the pension and benefit costs associated with a new hire, but a 1st grade fireman (top pay) makes more in one 24 of O/T than a new proby makes in 2 weeks. Most of that has to do with the dismal starting pay and the longer stretch to top pay, but..... ...we'll see. As for that crack-pot judge and his politically motivated leftist decision, we'll see. The Bloomberg administration will appeal, just as soon as the remedy phase is complete.

This is an excellent point. Same thing is true with Gatorade to some degree. It has more sugar than you'll need. Maybe you pour out half the bottle and fill it with water. Really though, lots and lots of water is all you need.

Because it's the JUNIOR guys job. And definitely not the bosses!

If you have any intentions or hopes in staving off disastrous public safety cuts, you have to get out in front of the problem before it becomes a reality. It takes time to garner public support. You NEED some information to educate the constituents of a certain district. If the city council and the mayor in Yonkers are kicking the idea of such drastic cuts as company closures around, then that's fuel enough to start a campaign to stop them. As someone who has a great deal of family in Yonkers, this is of utmost concern. I don't care if Santa in the North Pole writes Amicone to try and persuade him to continue funding public safety.

It's condition shows a lack of company pride. How about a few night tight folds and straight columns. Trucks don't go to work with rust tools and an engine should have a nice tight bed. As for the Capts comment, I certainly agree that this would help 3 guys do a job that would take forever, but I would hope that there would always be more than three people to pack a bed. Other companies, ect. ect.

if it leaves the hose bed looking like the one in the photo....I'll pass... Seriously though....this is another contraption, along with the hose bed that lowers to the ground, to make a job easier when it isn't that hard to begin with. No one likes loading hose, but many hands make light work. There's no reason you can't do this without a "device".

You'd be surprised.... In the short few years that I've been around, I've been to a couple of ERS (emergency reporting, or street pull boxes)that ended up being jobs. Now, I'll admit that, on each occasion, a second source was received and information was updated en route, but it was an ERS pull box that got us rolling in the first place. They cost NOTHING! A couple of million dollars a year? Even it if's 5 million, that's nothing on a 64 BILLION dollar budget line. What about natural disasters or 9/11? What happens on those crazy days when cell phones aren't all that reliable? It's mere pennies in the great scheme of things, to offer a priceless service.

If that's the case, that's very interesting. I wonder if something can be done to curb his use of the press prior to our January agreement expiring. I don't go to many union meetings, but they few that I've been to have covered the RSOT agreement. The current position is, it's not up for debate. The 5th man stays, end of story. He'll have to go to arbitration if he wants a shot at having it pulled. To be honest, our contract is up July 31st and I'd bet that we don't get a new one until the RSOT issue is resolved. Lastly, as for the Alarm Box issue; this is an American's with Disabilities issue and that might be a major hurtle. I hope they get rid of those nonsense things....

What a surprise.....they "found" the money again. Smart too. How any politician could think to cut F.D. in this day and age is crazy. Hopefully the bean counters in a few other near by cities will follow suit.... I think that the reality is, a city's Fire Dept. is not even close to the largest budget line. In NYC it's about 3% of the budget. I'm sure that the % grows as the budget is smaller, but still. If pushed hard enough, a mayor can find something else to cut! It's important to educate the public and rally their support.