M' Ave

I got a speeding ticket in Colchester recently and the court wasn't even the least bit accomodating! Let it burn.....

No

Boy....you musta checked before that pesky ice age changed our geography! From the very tip of Inwood to the Battery, Manhattan is 12 miles long. NYC EMS is VERY on top of thier units. Each is tracked with GPS and they are constantly asked (almost forcefully) for hurried status updates and hospital turn-arounds. The city is, indeed short medics and EMTs. As for the dispatch being local comment; how does this apply? The city is dispatched by boro. How much more local do you think it should get? Do you think that every EMS station Police Precinct and Firehouse should be a 911 site? I don't understand how that applies. The last way to look at it is this: Why is this news? Because it's incredibly ODD!

What I was trying to convey is was better "spoken" by the poster who commented prior to you. Simply that the field tests are not regarded as being accurate enough to be admissable in court.

Listen, I agree that this kid should serve some time and a major community service debt at the end should it come out that he was actually intoxicated. There's no question about it! ....However, just a little word of mouth info before we walk the guy to the electric chait: At this point he's only failed the field sobriety test. (That little box with the tube on top that senses alchohol.) He could easily have been drinking the night before and had residuals on his breath. Maybe he wasn't intoxicated and this is just a really terrible accident. Obviously the poor 9 year old is the big victim here, but no one wants to the life of an 18 year old ruined. If the results of his blood test are positive, then he will get what is deserved.....but till then....ease up. **You CAN blow an eleveated BAC and not be intoxicated**

FYI, the Dept. Orders are edited for the online edition.

Nothing else needs to be said as far as car fires go. At least as far as silly front mounted remote deck guns are concerned.....I mean, while we're at it, lets add robot arms to open the doors, hood and trunk so that the water will actually get TO the fire.

I wish I had a good answer for you with regard to our "12 percenters" No, there is no parody there. Members of Sq., Res., and some SOC support eng. and tru. companies get extra money plain and simple. Here's the issue though. The city offered the 12 percent to SOC. The money was sourced from Federal funds (I believe). Either way, how are you going to turn down money in a contract? When it comes to raises, or any extra money at all, you can't turn it down. What are you going to say? "No, it's all of us or none of us!" You can't. Hopefully it helps get money for the rest of us in the long run.

You have to be kidding me, right? What you just said makes NO sense. I'm not even sure I understand it! As to the rest of you, what the hell is so wrong with the re-opener clause?! It's called parady, something that Ray Kelly has saught after forever. We're looking for the same raise you got. If we get it, it's good for us and it's good for you too! Starting pay is fine, top payis not! Every city agency should be backing the other in search for better wages from the city. Nassua cops make more than NYPD, Jersey City FD makes more than FDNY. We're both behind the payroll 8-ball. One department doing better will mean the others will have a better opportunity then next time your contract is up for renewal. The UFA is looking for a percentage parody, GOOD! I hope the cops do the same next time fire gets a raise. One agency doing well in contract doesn't hurt the other, it HELPS!! As for give backs: No wouldn't like to give back 10 or my 20 vacation days.........maybe it's cause I only get enough vacation hours to take off 4 days a year...... Give backs suck, you should never have to pay for your own raise. Not to mention, at the end of all this.....the cops didn't even get the contract they deserve, so it's a shame all around.

Who makes up "SOC" as far as daily operations? Does this mean the members that staff a rescue/squad, training ect...are there members not assigned to a company that comprise SOC? ~Sorry to hijack the topic just a bit, but the Chief's answer spurred a little curiosity.~

Yeah, not bad ideas at all, but I have to agree with what was said above. The rear entrance of a commercial occupancy or an exterior stairwell entrance may have more locking devices. Even if all it has is that panic bar, a lot of the time you can get the adz end into the jam and crush the door back enough to dislodge the *typically* small latch on a panic bar. Good thoughts though, I'd think that saw and square would be the fastest.

Huh? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

Yeah, especially since it made a little sense when the TL was called an engine co because of history....now the building says "Engine 78" Why not use the historic Co. numbers that went with the names? The stations look great, but I have to ask...why two separate single co. houses? Wouldn't it be A LOT cheaper to have one kitchen, one gym ect ect?

No one around the job seems to have heard much about them, but no one I've talked with is happy about the rear seat configuration. if you're sitting in the center of the cab while faacing forward it would seemingly make it much more difficult to get a look at what you're heading too and no one likes that idea very much. What I'd like to know is; why the jump to 2,000gpm pumps? hydrant pressure isn't usually a problem unless something is wrong with it and the city has had 1,00gpm pumps for decades. Why the jump to 2,000? Why not 1,500? I'm not saying there's no reason, just wondering what the city has in store for us.

Best response to a thread.........ever..... Way to go. "This one's for you Boppers..."

When you say, "high rise stand pipe kits" I'm gonna assume you mean roll-ups and we still keep them there on the shelf above the compartments. Having the two forward facing seats be centered in the cab sounds like a terrible idea. It's very helpful for us to get a look at what we're going into before we actually pull up in front. As for the guys facing backwards, I've been there too. The window on our current seagraves slides open. It ain't much, but it's better than a fixed window. That little silver box behind the ECC is DEFINITLY not big enough for gear. We'll have to see how they work out, who knows?

Not so sure I like'em......although, a lot of the layout is the same. Hose bed, high sides and other compartments are the same. I don't know what all the mounts for suction hose is for? 2000gpm pumps for everyone? Is that a definite fact cause the plumbing of that rig looks like the engines that go with the Sat. units. This really doesn't look like the unit that every engine co. is going to get. I'm going to guess this is the new High Pressure engine. What's with the fixed middle window on the officers side of the cab? What's that silver plate behind that chauffer on the side? How's the seating in the rear? 2 face back/2 face front? Anyone have interior pictures? It looks like the guy facing backwards doesn't even have an opening window..........that'll go over great in the summer when the A/C isn't working (and it never does)

Didn't you hear!? We're getting a helicoptoer! It just happens to be permanently afixed to the top of a training tower at The Rock for roof ops repeling.......... Seriously though, it'd be kinda nice, but it would be good if Tower Ladder companies got Tower Ladder spares instead of a rear mount like they do. Rigs that work 1st, some other stuff and a helicopter somewhere down the priority list.

This is the attitude that EVERYONE needs to have when beggining this thought process and ensuing discusion. Fire departments (both career and vol.) suffer short-comings which desparatly need to be addressed. Fires are down and while emergencies are up, gone are the days where we are going to multiple jobs and constantly require the maximum manning and apparatus availability. Combining depts on some level has to happen. In the career case it may result in more jobs, it may keep the same number and it could reduce the number of jobs. I would tend to think that there wouldn't be a reduction, but more likely a more productive allocation of staffing. For instance, a career dept that staff's an engine and a truck answering 1,000 alarms a year doesn't have the manning for a fire without calling for M/A. Why can't they be combined with similar neighboring dept.? Now you have 2 and 2 with a staff of 20 answering 2,000 alarms. That many people could even handle twice the run volume. Now you reduce administrative costs and perhaps the # of rigs while using the same staffing level more efficiantly. Look at some volunteer/combo areas: In the sound shore there can be several depts within' one town. THat's several chiefs, several budgets and a lot of fat. Some dept's are combo, some are all vol. Some have enough staff, some do not (the term staff encompassing everyone). However, combined they might make better use of that staff. Most combo dept's don't have enough guys on the payroll to operate safely in the event that there is a shortage of volunteers. Others have plenty of volunteers. Through combination, you better insure a adequate volunteer response. If you look at a cross section of volunteer availability as a whole, you find that there are people who are able to respond more than they are called. Why not give them more opportunity to respond? At the same time, in the event that the response is not sufficient, you now have more career responders available, those neighbors who otherwise might not have been doing anyting while the others are responding. There is no job elimination, simply better use of current resources or any hired later. Lets face it, no where is there a precident for the elimination of ANY career FF positions, though, there are areas that do not need more, and some that do. How about apparatus in those cases. There are areas that cover a population about 15% the size of Yonkers yet have the same number of rigs. WHAT?! Think about that too... *Soap box breaks* Adios folks...........

Someone with a little more knowledge of Westchester fire history is going to have to field this one... I'm aware that Tower Ladders and Ladders are listed separatly. As in, there can be two #12's for example (ect. ect). I understand the desire to differentiate between the two types of rig, but doesn't this cause more confusion in the end? Also, to add to the mix in more than one case, both the Ladder X and Tower Ladder X are in fact Tower Ladders. (Yes, this was all prompted by the photo on the EMTBRavo page shower "Ladder 1" which is a tower) Why, and what is the method behind apparatus numbers?

It looks pretty stupid from the video, but you make a good point. Who say's he didn't peak in and see a pair of feet. Maybe he put his mask on just inside the door..... ......who knows. Looks dumb, but it is a short video.

There is just no need for this, at all. What, you're going to have them installed on every floor of every hi-rise? Not to mention, I don't care abou that plastic tape stuff, do you really want to take the risk of knocking out a huge pain of glass from a 50th floor? Sure, they might break on their own on the fire floor, but do you need to add to the problem? Dedicate one member (on my job, the OV Man) to operate the elevator, in firemen's service, to the floor below. It's gonna be faster. If no elevators are working, then the problem is pretty damn serious already to consider setting up some wild piece of equiptment like that. Humping equiptment up stairs sucks, but it's part of the job. Stay in shape, that's part of the job too.

NO, you must be a Westchester resident to take the exam and (realistically) a Yonkers resident to be hired.

This is a skewed statement and I don't completly agree with it. What qualifies as so called "ahead"? Having the latest and greatest new piece of equiptment or the implementing the newest tactic in the book? Fire dept's in the North East, along with some of the other larger OLDER cities like San Francisco, Chicago ect. ect. have many more years of experiance collectivly; and due to building age and polpulation density, pre capita, fight more fire. It's a tough thing to determine: is it a lack of being progressive, or is it using time tested methods. Simple is our best friend.

I believe the extended time on the stepper is for medicals, not the CPAT. For the CPAT it's the standard 3:20. If you're in the kind of shape you should be for a fire academy then the CPAT should be a cake walk. Carry weights, walk stairs. That's the best bet. Remember, the whole test can't be longer than 10:20, so you only have to kill yourself for that long. Shouldn't be too hard.