mllax14

In December 2009 the county officially launched the new Motorola 700 MHZ digital public safety communications radio system and to accommodate the new system, the county built 21 new radio towers, partnering with the state to build five of those. The total cost of the system was approximately $76 million, with $14 million in federal and state grants. The system is operated by PSC (public safety communications) that moved to their new building in May 2011. PSC dispatches the Fire/EMS department, County Police Department and County Sheriffs office. Basically each Dept (fire/ems, PD and SO) have their own dispatchers, supervisors and call takers that all fall under the PSC umbrella, the fire dept works off of talkgroups. With a main channel used for dispatch then units switch over to the designated talk group for that specific call all of which have a dispatcher that is dedicated to that channel. The system works pretty well. The COG is short for metropolitan Washington Council of Governments each county works together on a multitude of levels including public safety/ homeland security COG numbers 0 - DCFD 1 - Arlington County 2 - City of Alexandria 3 - MWAA (Metro Washington Airports Authority - Dulles & Reagan) 4 - Fairfax County (includes Fairfax City) 5 - Prince William County (includes Manassas and Manassas Park) 6 - Loudoun County 7 - Montgomery County, MD 8 - Prince George's County, MD 9 - Frederick County, MD hopefully the links help with the info you want. http://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/sites/911/Pages/default.aspx and here is some info about the COG radio system http://www.mwcog.org/uploads/committee-documents/aF5YWFhf20100917063924.pdf

I agree and I think a system like this would make a lot of sense, but I can see it meeting some resistance from people that don't want to lose that traditional numbers. Now this might seem like a silly question and I'm not a radio guy, but why don't we have a digitall radio system? It just doesn't make sense to me that Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and even the City apparatus can't communicate easily on not only a regular basis, but on large scale incidents such as the brush fire in rockland today. I agree and I think a system like this would make a lot of sense, but I can see it meeting some resistance from people that don't want to lose that traditional numbers. Now this might seem like a silly question and I'm not a radio guy, but why don't we have a digitall radio system? It just doesn't make sense to me that Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and even the City apparatus can't communicate easily on not only a regular basis, but on large scale incidents such as the brush fire in rockland today.

Personally i think part of the problem is with the terminology commonly used Such as "mutual aid" which I feel is used to mask the problem that plagues our area. From what I was originally taught and understood was that "mutual aid" meant 1) you needed additional resources such as manpower, or additional apparatus to assist you at the scene. 2) you need a specific reasource that you or another agency/department don't not have 3) you are already committed to a incident or whatever and need "mutual aid" to handle an additional call while you operate at your initial incident. But, what I see "mutual aid" used for around here is a loophole to cover up the all but true actuality of what many have pointed out here that calls are going unanswered. I would like to see is the term (FTR) "Failure To Respond" used which would keep agency's/ departments more accountable for their inability to perform their primarily function and respond to emergencies within the acceptable standard. If that were actually used the facts would be presented front and center to the public and state that there is a problem and it needs to be addressed. Otherwise it just seems like this problem will continue to fly under the radar and put the public and first responders In danger. Just my 2 cents.

How does the system in Nassau County work? I know the Nassau County PD has a number of ambulances. Not really sure how its set up with the large number of volunteer ambulances corps in LI.

Why didn't anything come from the 2008 study?

Yorktown Heights FD (Westchester County, NY) 2012 -655 Runs (No EMS) Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department (Prince Georges County, MD) 2012 - 6,219 Runs Breakdown as follows Engine Co. - 1,522 Truck Co. - 515 Rescue Squad- 420 (Was OOS for 45 days this year) BLS Ambulance- 3,700 Volunteer Paramedic Ambulance- 26 (this is the units first year and saw limited service.) Utility- 36

Yorktown Heights Engine Co. No 1 Sunday October 7th, 2012 11:00AM- 5:00PM Yorktown Heights Engine Co. No 1 (YHFD Station 1) 1916 Commerce Street Yorktown Heights, NY 10598 YHFD Open House and Fire prevention is once again being held in conjunction with the The 4th Annual Yorktown Festival & Street Fair. For more information visit http://www.yorktownfire.org/ http://www.yorktownfestival.com/

I never had the privilege of knowing Mark personally, but i'm friends with a few of the guys at Lutherville that did and i must say it was one of the largest LODD funerals i have ever been to. The show of support was unbelievable. These videos in conjunction of the ATF report offer alot of insight as to what happened that night and the things we can take away from this tragedy, especially with the 3rd video showing the alternative models that show how different things could have been if doors were shut, i know while operating on the fireground it can easily be forgotten, but it could make a tremendous difference in conditions. http://statter911.co...mark-falkenhan/

Alright guys, As some of you may or may not know on February 24th, 7 PGFD Firefighters were injured while operating at a house fire In Riverdale, Maryland that has since been declared arson. Of those 7 injured, 2 were admitted to the Burn Unit at Washington Hospital Center with serious burns, Bladensburg Co.9 FF's Ethan Sorrell had respiratory burns and has since been released and FF Kevin O'Toole who is still currently recovering in the Hospital with burns over 40% of his body. I personally know both of these guys and was at the fire the night they were both injured and can honestly say they are two of the strongest people i know. Kevin has had multiple skin graph operations and has made great strides in the past few weeks enough so to be admitted in the step down unit from the ICU. With being said Kevin still has a long road to recovery. So here is what he needs Kevin (A Native of New York, from Bethpage, Long Island) as you can imagine spends alot of time in his hospital room. Although his family and at least two firefighters from either Company 9 or Company 1 have been at his side 24 hours a day he would like to make his room feel a little more like home. So he is asking that any of those following his recovery could send him a company or department patch to liven up the room a little bit. Any departments wising to send a patch and or a card to Kevin they are to be sent to 4213 Edmonston Road, Bladensburg MD 20710 and they will be sure to find a place on his wall. I will be home this week for a few days if you would like to PM me i may be available to pick up the patch if that makes things easier before i head back to Maryland. Here are a few of the news articles incase you have no idea what im talking about to bring you up to speed. http://statter911.co...fe-threatening/ http://statter911.co...s-kevin-otoole/ http://pgfdpio.blogs...vin-otoole.html Again Thank you guys for your support and we hope to see a few patches on the wall to show Kev some love from New York. Thank You, Matt Lauria FF/EMT-YHFD Live-In FF/EMT- Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department Co. 1

This might be a stupid question, but isn't the new Ford Police Interceptor All Wheel Drive? Wouldn't that be a little more beneficial for Troopers especially those further upstate?

Yorktown Heights FD (Westchester County, NY) 779 Runs (No EMS)- Most runs in department history. Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department Co. 1 (Prince Georges County, MD) 5,719 Runs for the Engine, Truck, Rescue Squad, and BLS Ambulance.

got my the other day.

Bunk rooms don’t have to just be for the stand-by or the 1 way street to career staff. They can be used to ensure adequate volunteer staffing for the future. Live-In programs which are quite popular in Maryland, PA, and Virginia have been around for years and have been proven successful time and time again keeping some of the busiest Volunteer Fire Departments in the Country with reliable staffing day in and day out. I never understood why nobody in the area has a program like this the only two I can think of is Purchase and Moyers corners. Check out this site for more information about live-in programs and the departments that utilize them. www.fdlivein.com

Two pretty good articles about size ups and calm communications on the fire ground. My link My link

Why does this sound like the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard? So because the Police have a pretty big budget and they do a really good job why would you want to get rid of them?