61MACKBR1

Now that the Mayor and City Council approved the 2013 Budget, agreeing not to fill the 30 open positions with the YFD, does this mean that the city will proceed in eliminating Engine 312 and Tower Ladder 71, as last reported just prior to the budget being passed. Also, does anyone know if the First Responder Program has also been eliminated? (This is absolutely insane, given the recent industrial development in the city [ie: Ridge Hill (with proposed new fire house included, Stew Leonards, etc] and the proposed new downtown development) Look back to the YFD levels back in 1975 compared to today: 1975: 13 Engine Companies, 7 Truck (aka Ladder) Companies, 1 Rescue Company, 2 Battalion Chielfs 1975; Station 1 (New School Street) Engine # 1 Truck # 1 Rescue 1 Station 2 (Vineyard Avenue) Engine 2 Truck 2 Station 3 (Vark Street) Engine 3 Battalion 1 Station 4 (Radford Street) Engine 4 Truck 4 Station 6 (Oak Street) Engine 6 Station 7 (Central Avenue) Engine 7 Station 8 (Warburton Avenue) Engine 8 Station 9 (Shonnard Place) Engine 9 Station 10 (Saw Mill River Road) Engine 10 Station 11 (Bronxville Road) Engine 11 Truck 3 Station 12 (Fortfield Avenue) Engine 12 Truck 5 Battalion 2 Station 13 (Kimball Avenue) Engine 13 Truck 6 Station 14 (North Central Avenue) Engine 14 Truck 7 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Potentially For 2013 (effective July 1, 2012) 10 Engine Companies, 5 Ladder Companies, 1 Rescue Company and 2 Battalion Chiefs Station 1 (New School Street) Rescue 1 Station 3 (Vark Street) Engine 303 Battalion 1 Station 4 (Radford Street) Engine 304 Ladder 74 Station 6 (Oak Street) Engine 306 Station 7 (Central Avenue) Engine 307 Station 8 (Warburton Avenue) Engine 308 Station 9 (Shonnard Place) Engine 309 Ladder 72 Station 10 (Saw Mill River Road) Engine 310 Station 11 (Bronxville Road) Squad 11 Station 12 (Fortfield Avenue) Tower Ladder 75 Battalion 2 Station 13 (Kimball Avenue) Engine 313 Ladder 73 Station 14 (North Central Avenue) Engine 314 Ladder 70

Isn't that one of American LaFrance's new "Compact" line of Fire Apparatus? : ) LOL

Absolutely the wrong thing for the city to do. The whole "First Responder" program was put into place "years ago" to help in the "CRITICAL 4 MINUTE RESPONSE" It's no secret to every member of EMTBravo.net, that “Four Minutes” is a critical time frame for someone who has experienced a heart attack, injury, or other illness that makes them stop breathing. The heart and brain have a better chance of full recovery they receive oxygen in four minutes or less. After that, a person can suffer brain damage or worse. Yonkers Firefighters (as well as others in Westchester County), many of them educated to higher levels of first responder training (EMT-B, EMT-I/85, EMT-I/99, EMT-P (Paramedic), can use life saving techniques including defibrillation and medications to help prevent death or permanent injury. These life saving techniques are much more effective if they can get to a patient within the first four minutes. Eliminating the “First Responder Program” in Yonkers, will certainly have a major impact on the Quality of Emergency Response Service that the citizens of Yonkers deserve. Personally, I don’t think that the politicians that run the city will even approach this idea. If you think that the City Council Chambers gets crowded during Union Negotiated issue, wait until this subject gets discussed (if it even makes it to the council) openly, in public. There would not be enough room in that building to hold back every citizen that would be calling for “Heads to Roll’

No disrespect to the tragic loss of the worker in Peekskill. The job is a very dangerous one and to which the loss of his life can never be replaced. I was just posting about the fact that the union contracts have verbage written into it that prohibits automated trucks in some cities (yes, I know this as a fact as I am in the Safety Equipment Industry)

Bottom Line is that many communities, especially out in the Southwest and Southern States, are going more towards using Automated Side Loading Garbage Trucks (1 man operations), used on Residential Routes, as a measure of safety and efficiency. Yes, these kind of trucks have a large upfront costs, but only having 1 individual covering a route, rather than 2, 3 or sometimes 4, decreases the overall overhead significantly (Thus saving taxpayers a tremendous amount of long term costs) Why we don't see many automated trucks in the Northeast and other major cities in the country (Chicago, Detriot, etc) is because of a number of reason, such as: 1) it is written in the UNION CONTRACT that routes are to be covered by a certain number of men, and the union will simply not allow for Automated Trucks to take over operations at the cost of losing union members on the job 2) Cities are simply reluctant to put up the significant upfront costs to equip their cities with Automated Side Loading Refuse Collection Vehicles 3) Cities like New York City, with the way cars are parked on the streets, cannot use Automated Side Loading Refuse Equipment Vehicles HOWEVER, if you look at areas such as municipalities outside of Phoenix Arizona and down in Texas, you almost never see Rear Loading Refuse Collection Vehicles on Residential Routes (You see more Front Loading Trucks on Commercial Routes and some Rear Loaders doing Industrial Routes). For some of the rural areas up the Northeast that are handled directly by municipalities, for Residential Routes, Automated Side Loading Equipment could work, but again you have the upfront costs and the most likely fight with the Sanitation Workers Unions that to most local governments is just not worth the fight.

Yonkers, be prepared to hear the same thing that was proposed a few years ago. Station 8 will CLOSE and Engine 308 will cease to exist. YFD will move Squad 11 to Station 7 and then proceed to CLOSE Station 11. Ladder 70 will cease to exist and YFD will move Tower Ladder 75 to Station 14 to replace it (vs. the better alternative of moving TL 75 to the propoposed to be closed Station 11) Wake up Yonkers, because the administration will more than likely propose these cuts within the YFD to close the budget gap. Add to this, you will most likely hear that the Sanitation Department will again propose a 1 day a week collecetion schedule. Then you will have the same slow down and piles of garbage seen on the sidewalks this summer and the city will smell like a sewer. You will also probably again watch the DPW Union heads, while attending a public city haul meeting, treating women reporters covering that meeting, like they were street walkers on the lower west side of Manhattan. Police Cuts will now allow the gangs of Yonkers to have free reign on the streets of Yonkers. Willow Avenue will again be "GANG CENTRAL" for them to have as they like. Yonkers, the Emerald Citiy !!!

Dick Clark's legacy began in Mount Vernon, New York. Along with his first wife, he was a graduate of A.B. Davis High School (which at the time, was the only High School in Mount Vernon). Rest In Peace Mr. Clark

Barry - My thoughts is that if you try to "Piece" this all together, rather than just doing 1 single wholesale consolidation might be more painful to specific districts. Why not just create 1 "County of Westchester Department of Fire/Emergency Services" Engine Company 55, Engine Company 217, Engine Company 306, Ladder Company 16, Ladder Company 11, Ladder Company 72, etc, etc, etc. No boundries, ensuring that everyone within this county-wide department are ALL trained (or brought up to the) on the same level. No restrictions on who can go into what communities to help out. For example, if there is a Fire Alarm at Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville, you could have "The County" send Westchester County Fire Department Engine 29, Squad 11, Ladder 16, Engine 27 and say Tower Ladder 75 and County Battalion Chielf # (Whatever) and have a better and more efficient response than having Ladder 17 come all the way down Route 22 from the North End of Eastchester or having an Engine Company come up from Chester Heights)

Agree totally !! (Except it has to be a total countywide consolidation, no omissions of any cities, for it to work properly)

Is it the City of Rye's Old 1975 Seagrave 100ft Tractor-Drawn Aerial Ladder (aka - Hook n' Ladder Company # 1)????

Another reason why a complete county-wide consolidation plan for fire services makes sense. In the long run, it will save communities tax payer money and allow for efficiencies and better response, with properly trained personnel at fire/emergency sites. I know that Barry is an expert in this and I am sure that the time spent on his own dime was greatly appreciated by everyone in the City of Rye. However, it appears as if this solution may only be a "band-aid on an open wound" (although the "Open Wound" may take YEARS to ever come to being)

I Voted Again - NEVER GIVE UP - NEVER GIVE UP (My heart is and always has been with the team within the YFD)

just placed my daily vote again, but I think that it just not be enough. Keep voting everyone, you never know

Voted again today. YFD Engine 306 is still 16,641 behind. I only hope that when Yonkers ends up building their New Yonkers FD Headquarters (New Big House) on the corner of New Main Street and Nepperhan Avenue, that they get a "State of the Art" Kitchen Area and Sleep Quarters (especially given the architects rendering of this new faciilty [6 Bay Headquarters])

Voted again today, but again looking like 16,000 votes still behind (Something Screwy (PS - Seeing how bad Station 6's Kitchen/Oven is in, I wonder what Station 10's Kitchen and Oven is like, given both are the oldest Fire Stations in the City)

I voted again (still 20,000 votes behind the other Fire Department (I too think that the "Fix" is in). PS - When/If the time comes to vote for a new Kitchen at Station 11, I wonder what the video to push for the vote for that house would be and the music score behind the video? (Probably some Ladies with British Accents and Businessmen with suits walking down Bronxville Road, coming home from work from the Train Station in Bronxville, pushing for the staff at Station 11 to get a New Kitchen with some type of musical score from composer John Williams). Goes to show what a cultural diversity the City of Yonkers has.

Got my vote again

added my daily vote again

As it relates to Engine 298 (Former YFD Engine 306 [Mack CF], I believe that you are correct. I believe that it is downstairs at Station 8 in "Mothballs" next to YFD's Restored 1950's ALF Mid-Mount Truck 5. I also think that YFD sold off Engine 299 a few years ago (I am sure that someone within YFD can confirm)

Saw on the video stream out of News12 that YFD Engine 307 was running a master stream from along the Old Croton Aquaduct, up into the complex that was on fire. I was curious to know what logistic issues 307 had as it related to getting water into the rig from that location. Also read that water pressure was an issue at this job.

Thought all of FDNY's Rescue Rigs were Fererra's ???

Another Classic Video courtsey of R1Smokeeater. Much Thanks!! (Also great to see the Old Ladder 3 and the "Classic" FDMV Snorkel 1 in action - Like I have said in the past, the Old FDMV Snorkel 1 was a true workhorse of a piece of apparatus during its tenure in Mount Vernon)

Probably a "Very Sore" subject on here, but I post it anyway. Why, on some Major Jobs in YONKERS, Greenville is dispatched by 60 Control to help cover Yonkers on Mutual Aid requests BUT Yonkers is not dispatched to assist Greenville in their requests for Mutual Aid????? (Yonkers Station 14, with Engine 314 and Ladder 70 is just down the road on Central Avenue from the Greenville Fire District (Why Eastchester or even better Mount Vernon ????) My opinion is (and always has been) that the Westchester Mutual Aid System is flawed, broken and in dis-repair and the "ONLY" an FULL AND COMPLETE (with ZERO EXCEPTIONS) County-Wide Consolidation (and this INCLUDES YONKERS) is a MUST

Then who can make these types of decisions within the Eastchester Fire Department/Eastchester Town Board??? Having a Spare Aerial Ladder Truck (Ladder 15) in service, as a temporary (although it appears to be a longer than originally planned temporary) front line piece of apparatus, WITHOUT A FUNCTIONAL AERIAL LADDER, is absolutely INSANE ! Again, I ask why hasn't someone who is "In Charge" and can make such decisions in Eastcheter, reached out to the Yonkers Fire Department to ask for them to "Loan" EFD one of their Spare Ladder Trucks (Like Mount Vernon and New Rochelle did a few years ago)????

Barry - good point. Then someone needs to bang on the door of the Eastchester Board of Fire Commissioners and tell them that the community has been compromised with inadequate Fire Apparatus