M' Ave

This is a good question. My company received a push cart a few months ago. It's not the MOST well thought out thing that I've seen, but it's still pretty straight forward. It has straps, we strap it to the back of the rig and go. It's not so heavy as to be a problem getting it down station stairs with the included dolly. We tried it. It fits together with east and the brake is simple enough. I believe that you can connect several of these to the motorized carts that are manned by S.O.C. How and when we'd know to bring it is still a mystery, but we'll see! If we're out of quarters, than we're of the game, but plenty of engines have them, someone else will come.

Either way, I think it's a safe bet that you will not see a Ferrara aerial in the FDNY fleet for some time. We'll start with a year, who wants the over/under?

That's kind of a funny press-release from Ferrara. As we were told by the shops in the field, the order was going to be for 20 to begin with. As for the city "being happy with the progress", as I was told, they haven't started building a single truck because the city hasn't paid yet.

When I said 4000 to 1 I was referring to RESIDENTS. So, yes, during normal business hours the ratio is exponentially higher. As for the 60 Eng. Co.'s that ride full, that can't be "taken" by the city at the end of this contract. It really has nothing to do with the collective bargaining agreement and everything to do with the RSOT agreement. That is up in January. According to the agreement, it can't just "end". It has to be renegotiated come January and it will remain in place if no agreement can be reached. At that time, I'm sure it would go to arbitration.

The proposed elimination of fire companies is all speculation at this point. The city council funded 16 of the proposed 20 last year and they may very well be able to do that again. The council does not support Bloomberg as they did in the past and the new head of the Fire and Criminal Justice Committee is STAUNCHLY opposed to the elimination of fire companies. The ratio of firemen to residents in NYC is close to 4,000 to 1. In a city like Yonkers, it's a bit better, more like 2800 to 1. That's the benefit of size, however. Benefit to the bean counters at least. Should we really make it 4500 to 1? I love that we seem to need less safety when the fiscal picture turns downward. Try cutting back on pothole repair and food stamps first! I personally don't believe that 20 fire companies will get the axe. I would bet that the original 16 on the block from last year continue to be funded and at worst, the mayor gets the 4 he added this year. They get to save some fact that way; "hey look what we did, saved 16 fire companies!" (b.s.!) Now if the state really bails on funding......we could be in for a world of hurt..... ...I'll just hope that there's no chance of that coming to pass.

Good point, thanks Lieu. Don't have a great deal of PDs down south so I really don't have any experience to speak of there. We do talk about it, along with the neighboring Eng. Co's. Everyone seems pretty on board with the 2nd due stretching, unless there is an unusually long distance for the first line. For all the old laws, H Types and the Brownstones, I've seen 8-10 just about everytime and some up to 15 lengths.

Two companies for each line is another thing you might have seen. First due, first line. Second due assists with the stretch of the 1st.

The first of the most recent 75' TL order has arrived, assigned to Bureau of Training. Tried to link photos, but I couldn't. Sorry. The cab is the same as the new Engines.

Thanks for clearing that up. Makes sense. Enjoy the ride!

EVERY city pays for alcohol. I can't think of a single city or any one of it's agency's that doesn't have some formal function or gathering during that year and booze is included on the bill. Do you think that the New York City Hall annual Holiday Party is dry? Come on now. I remember when I still belonged to a volunteer company. Included in EVERY years budget was money for the annual inspection. This event included a cocktail hour and formal reception at a fairly expensive hall. Booze was served, many invited and the municipality covered the bill. What's wrong with all of these examples? NOTHING. There is nothing wrong with a government paying for business/social events where alcohol is on the menu and legally served to attendees. Adults can drink, so says the 21th amendment. If the contract states that a collation should be paid for by the city, it's only natural to expect it to include the serving of alcohol. This article is a slanted disgrace. In the matter of non-contractual functions or (god forbid) LODD functions, I would assume that all municipalities are indeed cutting back on non-essential functions. It would only be prudent in these economic times.

I'm curious.... I was always under the assumption that New York City went to a Pickup truck because a diesel SUV was no longer made. If the YFD went with a gasoline engine, why not get a Suburban or other? Perhaps there's more to the Pickup truck choice? I have nothing to do with the specs, I only drive the guy in a white shirt on rare occasion. What is the advantage of a crewcab pickup and what was the driving factor for it's purchase. It's very nice looking, watch the ejector seat.

This term comes from the tasks of an engineer's apprentice. Back in the day's of steam powered vessels, the engine room was a very dirty and steamy place and all of the machinery required a lot of attention. The Wiper got his name from having to carry around a rag and wipe steam off of the gauges for the engineer to read them. He would consequently be learning from the engineer the whole time. Wiper is a promotion from FF. Engineer is a promotion from Wiper.

Come on Izzy. You're not defending LI FD's are you? I work with LI vollies. They'll ALL say that LI VFD's are incredibly wasteful and spend a lot more money than is needed for fire protection. Long Island is screaming for consolidation, but no one wants to give up their litle piece of the pie. The island could have a very well outfitted regional fire department. Keep many or even most of the individual stations, but keep only one apparatus in each. Spread out ladders, engines and especially rescues. I don't know the island well enough to cite locations, but I'm sure with a very little amount of time, you could figure that all out.

They are. Our '02 has been retrofit with a "crew cab" MDT, as the they call it. This is one of the best ideas to come out of...well, wherever it came from. I can't tell you how often we're out on the road and a run comes in. Previously, the guy sitting with his back to the officer had to crane his neck around and try to see the MDT screen through the scratched plexi-glass. This was how you found out what you were going to. Now, when we get a run, we hear the MDT ring and up comes the info for all to see. We get incident information, location, the response rundown and hopefully C.I.D.S. for the building. As they say, size up begins at the receipt of the alarm ticket. It's an excellent tool.

I don't think it should be a choice. I think you should own up.

The "Q" is buffy and guys like the sound. That's the ONLY reason that some companies (including mine) have them. They look cool, they sound cool and that's that. Getting into the "what's more effective" game is going a little over the top, in my opinion. If they don't hear the siren, they'll hear the air horn or move when you take up the entire rearview mirror other their car. They're fun, they're classic, they're buffy and that's all cool. Lets just leave it at that. And yes....we remove it when it goes to "da shops" (To the first poster: You visited E. 1's HOUSE, we live there, it's not a station )

I saw a good move once on a tight block. Small space on either side of the hydrant so he couldn't really tuck the rig in for the trucks to get by. The move? The chauffeur pulled onto the sidewalk, perpendicular to the street, leaving no more of the rig in the street than the width of a parked car. Used the 10' flex suction from there, nice and close. Guys really do go to lengths to avoid the front intake.

In NYC we can and do write summonses to property owners for alarm systems that go off repeatedly. Most of the time this bill is just turned over to the alarm company. While we do do this, it's rare. If we go to your house or place of business for a false alarm for the 5th time in a day, there has to be some recourse. This, however, isn't billing for services. It's a penalty for having an alarm system that continues to call on the resources of an agency needlessly. There has to be some penalty for repetitious summoning of 5 emergency vehicles to respond and the danger and waste that entails.

Without saying it straight out, you should understand the "lack of enforcement". Also....it doesn't really matter. Really, this is not a topic worth making an issue out of. People don't pull over immediately for emergency vehicles for a host of reason. Some people freeze, sometimes they don't see OR hear you coming because of loud stereos and such, sometimes they don't really know what to do AND some people just DO NOT CARE. These are only magnified when you talk about volunteer fire/EMS response because most of you have small lights and no audible warning. I still believe that people will move. Slow down, be a little deliberate in your movements and they'll get out of your way. Except of course for the people that do not care. It does not matter how many lights a tow truck has on it. It doesn't matter how many flashy, whirly lights an emergency vehicle has. Lets not worry about the tow trucks.

You cannot bill for F.D. services. It's just that simple. That cost of fire operations is expensive, too expensive to bill on an occurrence by occurrence basis. People pay taxes to have this essential service available to them should they need it, even though most never will. It's like insurance. The public safety sector is the best and cheapest insurance you can buy. In NYC, Fire/EMS is valued at about $300.00 per person. Not bad. What do you pay in car insurance?

How does this effect religious outfits? i.e.: Hotzolah? (spelling?)

It's a real shame that a busy urban FD like 'da Vern has to deal with hand-me-down rigs. Probably seen more fire this week than ever before! From an operations perspective; both of the "new" rigs seem to have a very long wheel base. How does this work out for you guys on some of the streets you have? I assume that the top-mount pump panel is the reason for the long wheel base. As far as I know, FDMV is the only urban dept. in the area that operates with one. How does it work out?

During a secondary and especially overhaul, the windows should be trimmed completely. That means the sash should be removed and the frame should be split and removed as well to check for extension. I'm not sure what stage they were at when these photos were taken. Maybe L14 knocked a few out quickly to vent, but the more complete overhaul wasn't completed yet. If you look at a photo towards the bottom of 14's bucket you can see that that window appears to be completely removed. Could have been clearing windows at that point....who knows.

Tower Ladders or specifically Aerialscopes, are designed to be lifted off of the wheels completely. All 6 TL stabilizers are Hydraulic. The front and rear go straight down and lift up. The mid-mounted outriggers lift as well as supply latitudinal stability.

And why are you not a fan? 'Cause you don't like the way it looks? I think you need to have a better reason than that. From a practical standpoint, that rig is HUGE for NYC streets and the shorter it is, the better it is to operate. With a long bumper having no operational value, they order a short one and hope to hit less stuff. General FYI: TL's have "Jacks" on the front bumper and rear quarters. "Outriggers" are the mid-mounted stabilizers.