M' Ave

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Everything posted by M' Ave

  1. Okay, if you see a rig that has different light bars, it was a demo. Research and Development does try new stuff from time to time on in service units to give it a real test. Once they put the light bars on, that's that. The Ferrara you see with E26 and others, is the Ferrara Ultra Chassis that they designed specifically to compete with Seagrave. They did win the bid for the high pressure units, but that's it. They've had a mixed review. Some say they're O.O.S. too often and they have less interior space, but not much else is different after that. I worked in one once and all I can say is, they ride better. That rented collapse truck was the quickest way to get large amounts of timber in the hands of a S.O.C. before a specific rig could be spec'd and bid. It's a product of the post 9/11 rush to be prepared. It was returned with the delivery of the Collapse rigs. 283's Ferrara was a generous donation by Louisiana Following 9/11, but it was only in the field briefly before being assigned to Chauffeur Traning School at the Rock. It was not to FDNY spec and that doesn't really fit into our plan. We have a tremendous amount of apparatus and it is beneficial to the firemen and especially The Shops to have things be uniform. The rig was donated back after Hurricane Katrina. The E-One and ALF were both demo units that performed poorly (hence you saw no more) The Pierce/Kenworth is used everyday when HazMat 1 responds. They bring both pieces everywhere they go. Seems to be holding up well, I don't see that Mack spare below it used very often.
  2. Got a chance to poke around one of the new GMC's the other night. They are not drawing rave reviews. They ride very rough compared to the excursions, although the interior is nice. They are FAR less visible at night, mostly because they did away with the white/red scheme. Stupid.... The slide out tray in the back is really heavy. If you're facing down hill, it's a tough pull out, if you're facing up hill it'll knock you over as it comes out. Also, since the rear is a cap on a pick-up bed, it requires a separate key, one more to carry around. Lastly, when the back is open, there is not enough/any decent rear lighting as it's blocked by the caps rear door. They did away with the highway risers, so that's an issue.
  3. Looks like a nice display by the YFD. The S.O.C. rigs they have are pretty damn impressive. It's also nice that they took the time to lay everything out and showcase what the rig carries in stead of just parking a shiny red truck on the pavement which could be empty for all we know. Who staffs the Collapse Rescue, USAR rig ect ect?
  4. Haha, no they don't. The boss wears one, so I suppose that would solve that. Realistically, if it was that bad and making guys sick that rig would go out of service. Just FYI, changing over a rig is a process that takes the better part of a day tour. The rig must be carefully stripped of EVERYTHING from masks on down to each individual fitting. In an engine, all 2700' of hose are removed as are the spare lengths and roll-ups taking the total amount of hose far north of 3000'. 45 degree elbows are taken off of every pump panel discharge and the deck gun tips removed. There's more, lots more. Then the rig is driven to the shops, the new on picked up and always taken around the block by the chauffer. It'll also be put in pumps and flow water or put up the aerial if its a truck. Once it passes muster it has to be driven back and re-packed with everything. I'm in a double house and this process takes an hour, much more for an engine....imagine if it was a single engine or truck Co.
  5. Very interesting figures about repair cost and the tipping point in an apparatus' lifetime. The rig assigned to my Co. is 9 years old and has spent a couple of months O.O.S. over the last couple of years. When we receive a spare, it's from the previous order, placing it in the '97 to '99 range and it's usually just barely breathing. As for TL's, there are a few '94's out there as spares! We would love to have a few later model TL's to take these scary rust buckets out of the spare pool and scrapped. When a rig is responding thousands of times a year and the crew is spending hours on board while testing hydrants and doing building inspections, a reliable unit that isn't rusting through or leaking exhaust into the back-step is definitely not a luxury.
  6. New Haven, busy city with some seriously rough/fire prone areas. What's with the "Medium Duty" designation for the rig? Seems to me that they, and any other city, shouldn't have anything designated as medium duty. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but wouldn't it less able to take the beating of running around a busy city?
  7. From the grapevine, you could be waiting a while. The word is that Ferrara has not begun construction as of yet and a date for production is unclear. The same story for the 5 rescues, although, I think you can get a pretty good idea from the HM 1 rig.
  8. Who are you taking the exam for? The psych test is not something you can prepare for, nor is it something you should worry about. They test I took was predominantly multiple choice/true or false questions. They ask LOTS of them, over and over again. You also have to draw a picture, or maybe it was a couple of pictures, I don't remember exactly. Draw simple things and don't try too hard. I have no idea what they're looking for, but I would find it hard to believe that they scrutinize all of the lousy drawings they get. Perhaps they use it if they find some issue with your multiple choice portion. The sane answer in the multiple choice portion should be fairly clear and sometimes it will be painfully obvious. You don't hear voices and no one commands you to do anything. Relax, I've never heard of anyone failing the psych.
  9. Good! Nice to see the stuff shirts in the NFL home office aren't afraid of the cold anymore! Football should be played whether it's 90 and sunny or you have to plow snow off the field!
  10. Well done FDMV. This is truly another step in the right direction! Well done and lets all hope that the courts decide in favor of merit!
  11. I'm sorry, but beware the person who says they know it and don't need to learn it in class. Everyone from the 15 year old Junior FF to the Chief of Dept. in the FDNY has something to learn. Only a small portion of FLIPS is FDNY specific and that is an extra week that doesn't include the "upstaters". 200 hours of class to learn how to lead a company of 5 men/women into a fire is nothing. FDNY proby school was almost 1,000 hours in total and when I got out I was still just a proby who knew nothing about nothing. Now I'm the Johnny who knows a little about nothing. For an officer, 200 hours only scratches the surface as far as tactics and personnel management are concerned, but I think that like all course work, it gives us the tools with which to maximize the effect of our experience. This is why newly promoted Captains are sent to the Captains Development courses and likewise for Battalion Chiefs and on and on... There is always something new you need to learn. In the volunteer service, it would be nice if prior work experience or professional position could be factored into officer candidacy. If you're involved in the emergency services as a career, that's a little extra experience brought to the table. Perhaps someone is a personnel manager in their professional life and has a leg up on delegating responsibility and separating themselves from the rank and file. Tying this back to the original question about career and volunteer officers in a combo dept; there doesn't need to be a separation. With a tightly regulated promotion program in the career side, the onus is on the volunteer organization to insure proper legitimacy of fire officers. Some departments do this very well by strictly enforcing a very high training standard and assigning meaningful responsibility. However, the 21 year old who joined at 18, never had a job, barely has the min. training requirements and was simply voted into an officers position is the problem. Weak standards hurt rank as a whole, because many people don't know the difference between the guy who's doing it as a career and their neighbor who's looking out for them at the sound of the alarm horns.
  12. This is a tough topic and one that's surely going to raise the collective blood pressure. However, that said, I don't believe that you can have a successful combination department if you actively create what ends up being, essentially, two classes of firefighter/officer. How can it really function? You're going to have to preface every officer's title with either "Volunteer" or "Career"? That sounds a bit silly. I believe that for operational management and individual moral, you can't have a structure like this. I can imagine that you might have a situation where only career members can be officers, or vice versa with only volunteer officers. Or, all things being equal and you have all members holding equally weighted titles, the way it should be. Now for the tricky part.... ....you gotta have equal qualifications and this is where the waters get a little murky. You cannot call a guy who took Intro to Officer and Fire Officer 1 a Lieutenant and have a guy who went to FLIPS 5 days a week for 5 weeks Lieutenant as well. Career officers were promoted through competitive examination while volunteers are voted into office. This does call into question the validity of the member holding that rank as popularity can play an unfortunate roll. The manner in which a person is promoted is something that is simply not going to change, so we're going to have to move past that. Volunteer/Combination departments can bolster the validity of an elected volunteer officer by insuring that the candidate pool is very strong, has a certain number of years of experience and holds far more than the basic set of certifications from state fire classes. FLIPS is almost 200 hours long, so you have to put that in perspective and put together a list of prerequisites that can, at least, somewhat compare. The smart, dedicated volunteers (and I know a bunch) have already or will put in the time. You just have to hope you have enough of them.
  13. You make good points, but i have to disagree with the very last statement. New and up-to-date equipment is helpful an I'd like to think essential, however, NOTHING replaces manpower. I'd rather have one extra guy working in my company and a 20 year old rig than something new and shiny to ride SHORT in. People put fire out. People save lives. I'm not saying that we don't need reliable and modern equipment, but I just don't want to ever think that a rig will stand in lieu of proper staffing and position assignments. **Also, to 191SH. Your question was answered several times above. You cannot compare the money spent on people to the money spent on apparatus. It is budgeted differently and you cannot interchange them. Apparatus are paid for with municipal bonds and over 10 or so years. This makes it's impact on the annual budget very small.
  14. Sure! Whether tax money pays for it in a municipal budget or from the insurance tax, what's the difference. It may not stack up against firefighting equipment, but a dept. needs a dress uniform. I think it just falls under the category of professionalism for P.R., fire prevention education and official functions from funerals to inspections and such. Now, members wearing that uniform correctly.....that's something that has to be policed!
  15. True. Also, I believe that equipment costs can be bonded and the cost spread over many years. Even if a rig costs a million dollars, it serves for 8 or 10 years and then goes into a spare pool. That means that the annual cost is less than 100k and that's an amount that cannot pay for 1 firefighter. Either way, equipment and personnel are apples and oranges. The city should be paying for both, not even considering one for the other!
  16. There is now a petition, please follow the instructions on the website and sign that as well
  17. hudson144, thank you for bringing this up again!! Dept. Chief Mannix is a true fireman's fireman and a gentleman to the core. He's leading this charge and at some personal sacrifice. (HQ is not a fan of publicly outspoken upper management) Please signe up here: http://meritmattersusa.blogspot.com/ Follow the blog and SIGN THE PETITION! This is an issue that will have a ripple effect across all civil service jobs. Stand up for merit!
  18. Right! Thanks, thats what I was thinking of.
  19. I think that they actually had a '99. That being said, give or take a year, we are on a fairly consistent 10 year replacement program.
  20. No problem, just FYI, recruits don't learn anything about pumping/driving while in the academy. It won't be for a few years when they are sent back to Chauffeur School. Rescue Me lacks a lot of real FDNY ANYTHING I THINK that some rigs have had HME cabs in the past and they did okay. Yonkers seems to do okay with them as well. I've said this before, it's not who makes the rig. It's how it's made based on what the specs are.
  21. The new Seagrave is the first of it's kind for us. That goes for both Tower Ladders and Engines. It is vastly different than the previous models. When you have a fleet of 200+ standard engines and 150+ standard trucks, you need to have one of each for training. Only stands to reason. Those Bureau of Training rigs will serve the academy for a decade and beyond, hardly wasted money. The order was for 70 engines and the BOT rig was the 71st. Engines, for us, cost about $600,000 (if someone knows the correct figure, correct me!). That price is inclusive of extra parts and the warranty. For an apparatus purchase in the neighborhood of 40 million dollars...whats another few hundred grand. Another thing.....that investment will last 10 years. Spread 40 million out over that decade and you only get 4 million a year. That's a pretty small percentage of a budget that closes in on 2 billion annually.
  22. A civil service hiring exam is given every 4 years. Of the total applicant pool, you need to be in the top 5-10% to achieve a position. In these uncertain times, it's not a good thing to bank on. By all means, study, train and try hard, but have something to fall back on.
  23. She is a beauty....and the twin will be only a couple months behind. Great photos, thanks.
  24. I believe you're right Lou. 40 and 40.