efermann

As a teacher...agreed 100% on both previous posts. Sadly, there's a new teacher evaluation that's coming out soon (as part of the new state budget deal...?...) that's going to require teacher evaluations from administrators from within the school as well as from outside the school (another building, another districti, or an "independent evaluator"). There will be even more paperwork for the administrators to do next year. Think the administrators are going away? My evaluations take about a month to get back to me as it is now... And Dinosaur...they do see the inside of a classroom...2x per year for me for observations and the occasional pop-in to get a student. [kidding, of course...I got your point]

While I realize this site is a fire/police/ems site, the tax cap actually hits EVERY government agency equally (except maybe the village manager's/mayor's office). But DPW, building, etc are all unable to replace retiring employees. It's an issue that won't go away and won't make any governmental agency effective. Consolidation...only if the politicians will allow it to go through.

I'm glad to hear things are going well. This is a reminder -- NOT NECESSARILLY IN THIS CASE -- but it's important to stay in shape for this job. Again, NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS PARTICULAR CASE because I don't really know. Just a general reminder.

Do these laws apply to all structures equally? Or are there exceptions for single family homes, 2-family homes, etc? Good for them if they actually apply equally to all structures. I'm honestly curious, though.

Not really a comment on right or wrong, but I just stumbled across these two items listed in a row on the fireengineering site: Updated NYPD policy: http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/2014/04/new-york-city-police-receive-orders-on-fire-response.html Another case of PD officers being injured at a fire. This time it wasn't a high-rise..."just" a single family house. http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/2014/04/firefighter-and-three-lapd-officers-hurt-in-house-fire.html My guess is that a quick internet search would turn up more of the same. Obviously, this is something that happens often. Hopefully lessons are learned and applied to training and future responses.

In Ossining, a similar building has gone up and is just about finished, I think. The attached photo was taken last summer when my kids and I went to watch the modular components being placed on top of the steel frame underneath. It's going to be mixed use (stores at street level, residential units above). The two floors of pre-built modular components went on over a weekend and maybe one extra day.

Sure. I'm in.

I have no idea where things stand for that site in Sleepy Hollow, but not for nothing, any re-development of that property is likely to incur additional insurance costs at this point. FEMA re-did their flood insurance maps in the not too distant past (February?) and the cost of flood insurance is going to increase incrementally unless the buildings are above their newly determined flood heights. I have a friend who owns a property in Margate (NJ) who plans on selling and then building a new second home. They are going to have to raise their next 2nd home so many feet in order to avoid the additional flood insurance rates. This link (http://fema.maps.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=2f0a884bfb434d76af8c15c26541a545) pulls up the new advisory levels for flood insurance. Feel free to zoom in on any costal region to see the new advisory levels. Zoom in on the Sleep Hollow site in question here and you can see it's in zone ABFE: V and ABFE: A (those abreviations stand for the flood zone levels). Click in any of the pink areas and then click on the Frequently Asked Questions. Read some of that information...it's eye-opening, especially for future development or anyone who owns property within the re-classified zones. My understanding is that it will be up to the local government on if they will accept the new zones, but I could be wrong. In any case, I don't think there really is a way to get around it, even if the local govt doesn't accept the new zones. This doesn't really get at the question of "why hasn't anyone done something there", but might shed some light on why the property might sit for a longer time now.

My son got this from an uncle for Christmas: (picture from lego.com) Not sure if it's all that practical, but he seems to really like it.

RIP. What a terrible thing to happen.

From my own high school teacher perspective...we go through lock down/lock out drills each year. Do i think this would keep someone intent on committing such an act of violence? No. Would they slow them down? Yes. My classroom is on the first floor and it has definitely crossed my mind to "toss" my students out of the class in a case such as this.

RIP. Tragic loss.

A similar news article & video here: http://ossining.patch.com/articles/man-who-ran-from-ossining-car-accident-found-lying-helpless-in-ravine

Rip

I was reading the newspaper today at school and came across the article linked below about cross-laminated timber (CLT) being used in construction in Europe. Seems very different than typical stick construction and different still from light-weight construction. Either way, it's allowing wood /timber buildings to be built taller than previously. The article mentions that this construction hasn't taken off in the US, but if/when this construction works its way to the US, it will probably have an impact on tactics and fire spread (with the apparent lack of void spaces within walls). 1st link to the article: http://www.nytimes.c...gewanted=1&_r=1 2nd link to the large graphic image with some summary information for those that don't want to read the whole article: http://www.nytimes.c...tml?ref=science

RIP Terrible loss any time of the year, but more terrible time of the year for such a loss.

RIP Condolences to the entire Worcester FD.

RIP. Condolences to the entire extended FDMV family

$0 billion is awesome...do it right away! No, seriously, there is obviously a digit or two missing before the 0. The cost there (NH) or here (Westchester) is probably prohibitive. I had a conversation with my wife (village planner) and she pointed out that there's probably easement issues that the power companies will run into as well when they try to either bury the cables under the roads or under the front two feet of my lawn. The power company would need to have access at any time to dig up the road/lawns if there's ever a need to make repairs.

I would have guessed that was the entrance/stairwell to the upstairs apartment on either the B or D side based on the fact that the 2nd floor window didn't match up with the 2nd floor on either side. Zoomed way in, through the half-moon window above the door, I think I'm making out stairs. It's not clear, however, why it's painted a different color.

I'm at home in Ossining with my kids and we felt nothing. My wife is working in Ossining and called to say "Did you feel that?" She tells me everyone in her building felt it and that others in her building called to their homes where it was felt. A couple friends of mine from White Plains sent me a message that they felt it. I teach Earth Science in HS, so I have a bit of knowledge about earthquakes and have connections to data and visualizations and such. For the next 18 hours or so, you can go to this page (My link) and scroll down to see click-able seismic displays from seismographs all around. Right now (2:44 PM), the Earthquake being discussed here is at the bottom of each image on the 17 line. Over time, the 17 line will migrate to the top of each image. (FYI the other large earthquakes currently in the view - at the end of the 05 line - are from Colorado) There's plenty of information available about how the Virginia region is (was) at a relatively high risk for a significant earthquake. This would definitely qualify. There are some reports (older and more recent) that NY and the Hudson Valley are also at a significant risk for earthquakes. Maybe as strong as this one was in Virginia. Clearly, people on here felt the earthquake. For those that did, you can go to this USGS site and complete a "did you feel it" form for the USGS. I just checked and it looks like a lot of people have already filled out the form. From a teaching and science perspective, it would be great if anyone here could also fill it out.

This sounds like what I was under the impression of concerning 1 and 2 family homes. And, this being the case, it's even more important that fire and building departments work together if/when illegal conversions in a 1 or 2 family home are encountered.

That's slick. Thanks for the clarification.

It looks good. But I just can't figure out what the two "U" shaped hooks are on the rear. They look like they could swivel out.

Interesting article... Unfortunately, I don’t have a law to cite, but I know building and fire inspections are periodically required in commercial buildings, and multi-family dwellings (more than 3 family homes). These same inspections are not required for single and two family home inspections except for when they are first built and if a building permit is ever taken out on the home. If anyone does have that law, I’d appreciate it if it was posted. I have a few questions, however. Do all career departments conduct fire inspections? If so, are they limited to inspecting the multi-family homes and commercial structures, or do they inspect single and two family homes as well. I would imagine not, since that would be an enormous task in most communities. Either way, it doesn’t really matter WHO does the inspections, but that they are done. At any rate, I think this is an important topic. The NYS law we've come to know as the "bail-out law" was the result, ultimately, of illegal conversions. Illegal conversions put us at risks that cannot necessarily be predicted from an exterior size-up. They are also a drain on a community (taxes). Collaboration between building and fire departments is a smart move. Illegal conversions found during a response to an automatic alarm could generate an automatic response by the building department. And if all inspections (building departments, career departments) are limited to commercial and multi-family homes, this would be an easy way to deal with single and two family home issues when they are encountered. Would it correct all illegal conversions? Not really, but it’s a start. And if stiffer penalties (only a $250 fine in Rockland?) were enforced, word would eventually make its way around communities and landlords may be less inclined to take advantage of and placing their tenants in danger by renting out closet space. I don’t see a down side to this.