grumpyff

All around general stupidity. From the genius Deputy Inspector in the NYPD Transit HQ that came up with the brilliant idea to have transit districts not field RMP's during the storm, and instead take the subway. That great idea worked on paper until the subways stopped running before the worst of the storm hit. I don't think I saw one RMP in the Bronx that had chains put on. The shops were closed, tire shops on the street were not sure about putting the cable chains on the new hybrids, or in my commands case, a new van, but the chains in our locker didn't fit this size tire. MTA Bus was equally unprepared, with numerous buses with no chains. The accordion style buses fared the worst, often taking on a jack knifed appearance and getting stuck in snow banks. I did see several NYC Sanitation trucks driving around Boston Road in the Gun Hill Area, one problem though, the plow doesn't work when kept in the raised position. Mid town Manhattan did look nice and clean this morning so that Bloomburg could go see his Broadway shows, while a good portion of the Bronx has yet to a single plow on the side roads.

Its more people need to learn to stay home and out of the way. I lost track of the number of cars just abandoned in the middle of the road because the driver got stuck, including one black car left sideways in the middle of Morris Park Ave. Subways were full of morons who acted like this storm was a surprise that came out of nowhere and then expected PD and EMS to take them home. Granted some of the calls were real, like the subway worker who fell down a flight of stairs while shoveling snow and twisted her knee so that her lower leg was behind her. After waiting with her two hours her leg was numb and she couldn't walk. Others like a child with a fever don't need 911, the parents just didn't want to be out in the snow.just plain stupid when they complained about the wait and just walked off.

16 minutes does sound excessive, but take at closer look at it. Figure 5 minutes from alarm dispatch for the volunteers to get a crew to the house and respond with an apparatus, with 10 minute driving time. Sure you could make it better, paid crews in house, more firehouses, but at what point is it economically unfeasible for the area you are serving? 16 minutes for a volunteer department in a rural setting isn't that bad, in a suburban/urban area it would be a nightmare. I would love to see what some of the times in Westchester/Putnam look like.

Here is a link to a diagram and timeline of the fire. Take note of the times and how quick it happened. My linkhttp://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-1223-firefighters-dead-buildin20101222,0,5017573.graphic

Its about time.

block charger?

Prayers to the families and for quick recoveries to those injured.never a good time for this, but I think being close to the holidays make it worse

Thanks for the tip.

I agree completely. Stupid rules rules (especially if a grant was used to purchase a new apparatus) dictate that it can no longer be used for firefighting in the US. A lot of these smaller less fortunate departments can't even apply for these grants if it requires spending money they don't have.

Passing through Bedford Hills this morning I was finally able to get a half way decent photo of the Ex-New Paltz, NY E-One marked E 43-16. Their website has a photo of it, but no info. Assuming it is also part of the Mutual-Aid Americas program (http://www.mutual-aid.org/)

I sent E-mails sent to every Republican senator regarding passing this bill. As for Senator Collins, in the words of Elvis Duran's Morning show. "I wish Diarrhea upon you" Maybe it will help get your head out of your a**.

Both parties involved suck. One only cares about big business, and the other wants to tax me to death to pay for people sitting on their ¤\€es. I lost faith in the government after they told us the air was safe in the days after the attacks. Vote them all out. Absolutely disgusting that we are coming up on ten years and still fighting for something that they all give lip service to.

Did they ever? never did one in all my time there. Patterson does them. we send our brush truck with a trash pump. We have three decent pumps available if needed one is stored on the brush truck, other two in the house (plus some dinosaurs in the basment if it gets REAL BAD).

Even when times were good, the politicians were crying they had no money for FD/PD/EMS. There maybe more people than in 1950, but more are on welfare today, and You don't pay taxes on welfare. For years NYC spent money like a drunken sailor on tons of projects, the High Line, pedestrian plazas in Times Square, Tweed Hall renovations,etc, and now that money really is an issue, the first place they look is emergency services. One plan I heard for FD was a similar to a brown out policy, but based on sick leaves (companies short members), companies that would be out for training, etc.

69 years, and most people today probably cant even tell you where Pearl Harbor is. I was lucky enough to visit in 2008, and it is a very moving experience seeing the USS Arizona Memorial. I heard more than one person remark about the oil that continues to seep out of the Arizona, like tear drops coming to the surface. As someone who took part in the rescue and recovery operations after 9/11, it gave me a better perspective of what those young sailors went through that morning. Actually hearing a Pearl Harbor survivor speak about events during the attack, really made it hit home. He had made his peace with everything that had happened, but the memories were still with him, like it was yesterday. Thankfully there are some of us today who understand the sacrifices made that day, and will continue to honor their memories today.

While it sucks 167 police officers are laid off, the union is there to protect its members the best it can. Look at some of the concessions...a limit on overtime pay in the budget (after budget is exhausted you get comp time....ok now what do you do if comp time is denied which happens all the time), work 5 unpaid days (is the mayor, the chief, city council taking 5 unpaid days, I don't think so), no night differnential for those that were going to be laid off(let guess they would all be transferred to midnights, a tour that takes it toll on your body). When times were good the city was not bending over to take care of the police. It misspent federal anti-terror funds to purchase garbage trucks. It used the arguement that the trucks would be used to clean up after a terror attack. Never reopen a contract, you never get back what you give up, and only opens the door to the city crying 'we have no money' and asking for givebacks whenever it wants to. If you recall shortly after 9/11 the City of New York cried it had no money for pay raises for the NYPD, which at the time was the lowest paid police agency in thirteen counties. It went to arbitration where the city lost its arguement, and the NYPD got 5% and 5%. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704638304575636653817597286.html

All city agencies are like this. If it was NYPD he would still have to face a department trial as well. Possible punishments..dismissal from the department, loss of vacation days, probation or a combination of the last two...the so called thirty and a year. thirty day suspension without pay or benefits and a year of dismisssl probation. For the alcohol related offenses the can 'ask' (basically you can't deny it) to sign an agreement where the department can randomly give you a breathalyzer test at any time..on duty or off.

The ones shown here during the drill were all close in size, IIRC the smallest was 2000 gallons, the largest 3000. The come in all sizes. Patterson's engine/tanker, 22-2-3 shown below is 1500 gallons (but was not at the drill), 22-4-2 (Patterson tanker has 3000, and 22-4-1 has 2300 gallons) . In the South Salem New Tanker thread, the tanker just replaced had 3250 gallons. 22-2-3 1500 GPM/1500 gallons 22-4-1 250/2300 22-4-2 1500/3000

According to this article the Journal News http://www.lohud.com/article/20101114/NEWS02/11140368/Yorktown-budget-ends-K9-unit-PBA-warns-residents- Maybe only replace one car and hold off on computer upgrades. One patrol car alone would fund the K9 unit for several years.

Looks to be the newest Kochek floating strainer My linkhttp://www.kochek.com/products/productList.aspx?uid=381-155-436

For the Chevy Caprice PPV, orders may begin to be placed in January 2011. http://www.chevroletcapriceppv.com/?seo=goo_|_2010_Police_|_Fleet_Caprice_PPV_|_New_Launch_|_chevy_caprice#home The new Ford seems interesting. As for the front wheel drive, only time will tell. The current Impalas are front wheel drive, and the ones in the city (NYPD) always seem to be making some type of noise or pull. Anything will be better than the Ford Fusion Hybrids they have been giving out lately(just way to small)

The NYPD Aviation Unit operates 4 of the A119 helicopters My linkhttp://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1141221818221&set=o.116126445080980

Here are some photos of Patterson's Spartan/SVI rescue truck, 22-6-1 placed into service earlier this year. I took these photos shortly after it was placed into service, so some equipment currently carried is not shown here.For the the specs, 515 HP Detroit Diesel, Allison EVS 4000 transmission, 6 man cab, 250 gpm PTO pump with 230 gallons, AMKUS Ultimate system (4 tools preconnected), 25 light tower, 25kw Harrison PTO generator. It also carries trench rescue panels, various power and air tools, an air cart, ice rescue, low angle rope rescue, Paratech struts, Resque Jacks, petrogen torch, front bumper winch, 250+ speedy dry in hopper with chute, and lots of cribbing Driver side compartments Officer side compartments

Thanks, while I was not on the truck committee, it took almost three years of work.

1)How many tankers 9 tankers were used. most carried 3000 gallons. IIRC two only had 2000 gallons 2) what was the distance from the fill site(s) to the dump site(s)? The furthest fill site was approximately two miles one way from the dump site (4 miles round trip). The other fill site was just across railroad tracks and Route 22, in the former Harlem Valley Pysch Hospital.(less than 1/4 mile one way). Here is a photo I took while being filled to show how close the dump site was. Just follow road straight ahead to the two apparatus in the road to see the dump site. The ladders are just visible above the building: