grumpyff

Stay safe, and come home soon. Thank you.

What if I just refill the can/bottle the drink came in? Is that still free?

I know some of the best training I received on the Hurst Tool was back in 1992. Training was given by PO Dennis Suarino, of the Westchester County PD, who IIRC was a Hurst authorized trainer. Spent a long 8 hour day at the Training Center in Valhalla cutting cars all day long. When I had to the chance to go again about a year later I jumped on it. One thing I remember was his photo album of jobs the he went to. Lots of photos. With a long day like that, one thing you learned quickly was hydrate yourself, and more importantly let the tool do the work, do not try to fight it.

Rest in Peace brother. What a horrible way to go. I hope this mutt is tortured by the results of his decision to drink and drive for the rest of his life.

Lastly ( and just making this category ) is the 1980 Hahn, first Patrol 7, then redesignated Rescue 47. 1000 gpm with 500 gallon tank, and two separate pumps, a high pressure PTO driven pump for the two booster reels, allowing for pump and roll, as well as operating at 300 psi. The main pump supplied the 1000 gpms. It was retired in 2006, and was sold to Brookfield Auto Wreckers in Elmsford. This was my favorite truck, the first I learned to drive and pump. I made several attempts to purchase out of Brookfield, but was turned down with every offer, including one of $5,000 cash. It had a screaming 6v71 Detroit Diesel you could hear all through town every time it went out. The one time we maxed out the pump during a pump test, we got roughly 1900gpms.

Here is a better shot of E-90 taken in 2004. Both 90 and 91 went through some type of rehab in the 1980s, adding new lightbars, and replacing the original Continental gas engines with Detroit Diesels. The old timers used to tell me the 90 and 91 were the last two American Lafrance 900 series to roll off the asssembly line with officer side pump panels and the Continental gas engines. Unfortunatley, I never recorded serial numbers back to then to verify.

And the last photo I have, is of Thornwood. In front, the dark red blob is a MAck C model (I believe from 1963), followed by a MAck CF ( possibly engine 88) and the the original TL1. The red mack was retired shortly after I joined PLeasantville so it must have been 1989/90 time frame. E88, a 1973 lasted until 2005, and TL 1 a 1972 Sutphen stayed in service until 1998.

Tl-5 in 1990.

PLeasantville 1896 (?) Howe hand pumper on a trailer pulled by MA-5 ( I have other photos or info on that unit, followed closely closely by the 1948 American LAfrance 700 series Engine 259. 259 remained in service until 1984 when the current E-259 (Pierce Dash) was placed into service.

PLeasantville Tower Ladder 5, a 1974 75' Mack/Baker scope in service until 1995-6 when replced by the current TL-5 that has spent the last two years (roughly out of service)

Ok, ready to go way back. Here are some scans of photos my parents took back in the late 1970s, most likely 1977 or 1978 after they moved to Pleasantville, of the fire department parade. I was only 5 or 6, but I remember most of these apparatus, some where still in service when I joined Pleasantville in 1988. The quality is real crappy, but what can you expect from an old 110 film point and shoot. First up, all photos were taken on Manville Road near Farrows Mobil Station (still there today). Here is Engines 90 and 91, twin 1969 American Lafrance 900 Series 1500/300. 91 was in service up till 2004, and now resides in the wharehouse in Circleville. 90 lasted until 2006, and was sold to a private collector, rumor has it that is now with Red Rocks Fire up in Columbia County. They are followed by Ladder 39, a 1949 65' American Lafrance midmount that remained in service until 1992. Last I heard this rig is in Agawam, MA in original condition (fiberglass roof that was added in 80s has been removed).

The '41 Seagrave is lookin good. Last time I saw it back in May 2007 the body was up on pallets.

Great photos. I heard this job come over the scanner on my way in to work. I was going to buff it , but did not have enough time to stop.

On Sunday, Feb 15, 2009 our Chief had us test a dry hydrant within the Patterson Fire District. The hydrant looked like it had shifted from the last time we had tested it approximately 7 months ago. Our concern was making sure the hydrant worked. We did not have a flow meter with us, but were able to supply our prepiped deluge gun with a fog nozzle at 100 psi for 20 to 25 minutes. At first we pulled at lot of mud and silt, so we shut the pump down, and back flushed the pump and hydrant with about half of our tank water (1000 gallons on board). After that we had no problem pulling a draft or maintaining water flow. First up is 22-2-1 backed into the access road, which is very tight.

I learned real quick after getting a first degree burn along the top of my ears to wear the hood. I don't know what was worse, the pain of the burn, or hearing about it from my wife, since I became her first patient as an EMT.

If you look closely at the second photo, you will notice the set of wheels furthest from the building are dual wheels. Spartan Chassis is based out of Charlotte, MI and is part of Crimson Fire and Road Rescue Ambulances, as well as providing Chassis for RVs. http://www.spartanmotors.com/ I saw it once before while visiting family out in Michigan, but unfortunatley did not have the camera readily availible. I've heard requesting apparatus for more manpower, but that is rediculous

I can hear it now, "DId you see that guy on the ladder, He was only using one foot on the running board., " and " the guy on the nozzle had his helmet on backwards" Seriously that is a great find. In the second part around the five minute mark is an interesting way to come down the ladder, perhaps a foreruner to todays bailout. Two things haven't changed, Briarcliff still has white trucks, and you still call Briarcliff PD to report fires. I ddi find it interesting the Police Chief was directing traffic, while the patrolman had the desk.

Look at the last photo, the bottom and top tray are both empty. It starts on the bottom and is curved at the rear up to the top tray. Here is a photo I have 22-2-1 showing the hard suctions.

Showing how tight the road is. The road ends just under the pile of snow, on the driver's side is a rock outcropping, and the officer's side, the drop off to the lake.

As can be seen we used one 20 foot length of hard suction.

The height of the road above the lake is about 15 to 20 feet. And a shot of the leaning dry hydrant.

If current projections of retirements and cancelled academy classes are correct NYPD will be down to roughly 33,400 police officers (includes all ranks, and most likely school safety and traffic agents in that number) in 2010. the last time the headcount was that low was 1991. Most precincts are already short handed, and its only going to get worse. During 9/11 we had 41,000.

Yes, I know PD had layoffs, not sure about FD back then. It took a long time to recover from that EDIT: after some research, in 1975, the NYPD laid off 5000 Police Officers, and the FDNY laid off 1100 firefighters.

Wow, prayers for all those involved. The Buffalo News already has an article up. Apparently one of their photographers lives close by. Here is a link to the article and photos. http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/577959.html Crews were faced with an aircraft into a house with large amounts of fire. At this time 49 people are reported dead 44 passengers, 4 crew, and one in the home. The flight originated in Newark.

The death toll has been raised to 50, there was an off-duty pilot on board the flight.