aacofd40

We border Baltimore City to the south, and we have a county FD(Anne Arundel) and a city FD (Annapolis). The county is combination and the city is all paid. We share dispatch, radios, and the training academy, but Annapolis maintains its own equipment, its own personnel systems, and structure. The running assignments are automatic aid based, so depending on where the call is or avaliability of units you may get city units or county units. Be safe, JR

A view from south of Westchester. We assign RIT (our FAST) to one of the initial assigned companies. Often times it is the 3rd due engine or 2nd due truck/special service. Our staffing is inconsistent, so the RIT team could be as few as 2 people, mostly likely 3, and sometimes 4. We have RIT bags on the trucks and squads. They have some rope, extra bottle, mask, and a quick-fill line. As for training. We have no RIT qualification. If you can ride, you can be on the RIT team. We also don’t have interior/exterior qualifications. You are a FFI, FFII (EMT), FFIII (Pump Operator) FFIV (EMT-I) or FFV (PM). Interestingly, we just did RIT training for our fall skills development. We reviewed the RIT bag, did some mayday training, and did a RIT evolution in our burn building. The evolution had us rescue a down FF. We had to find him, get him some air, and get him out. The building was dark and smoked up. And, we had to crawl through a small opening, over a knee wall, and down a tunnel to find him. We broke into teams of 4 using an acronym I had never heard TEAR (Team lead, Extrication, Air, and Rope) and we were timed and our air level was noted. It was a great drill. My takeaways from the drill: 1. 4 people is not enough. We were all hustling to get to the down victim, get him air, and get him packaged to move, and then had to move him. It would have been nice to have had 1 or 2 folks there who were fresh to drag him out. 2. It takes a lot longer than I thought. We did the evolution in about 13 minutes, and while I knew it was slower than we wanted, I did not think it was that slow. As I watched the next group, I thought they were in there longer than we were. Turns out they did it in about 10 mins. Sitting outside waiting made that wait seem really long. Be safe, JR

That was a really interesting post. One of the parts of this system I enjoy is hearing about other departments, and yours is pretty unique. Thanks, and be safe, JR

Great pics. Thanks. Can anyone shed some light on the apparatus placement? I was wondering why there were 2 engines in the driveway. Thanks and be safe, JR

For us: 1. It is an ALS call 2. Barbs stay in and are bandaged accordingly 3. Transport units choice if they want cops in the back or following Be safe,

Having never been on the Oasis of the Seas, I will not say for sure where there firefighting water comes from. But, in general, shipboard firefighting water is just sea water. The standpipes are connected to a fire main(s) that loops around the ship and has multiple valves and fire pumps that allow for isolation of parts of the system in case of damage. The ship can make its own fresh water with the desalinators, but that water is reserved for potable (cooking, drinking, bathing) and cooling (gear and spaces). Or, at least that is what Uncle Sam taught me. Be Safe, JR

Down here - to paraphrase (and with apologies) Dennis Smith - The only sure thing in this town is that if you call 911 and it is not a law enforcement issue, the fireman will come. We (a combined Fire and EMS service) call these medical service calls and the standard dispatch is a single engine. It is a "cold" response (no lights or sirens).

We have AED's on all of our apparatus. All of the career staff are EMT's. All the volunteers are EMT's, with the exception of our newest volunteers. If the volunteer has chosen to get FF1 first, than they have 1 year from that completion to finish EMT. On a side note, all the cops in our county also carry AED's. They are dispatched with us for many cardiac calls. Be safe, JR

We are ALL going to pay for this with increased rates, similar to health insurance, where the premiums from healthy people subsidize the sick. If the insurance companies are going to pay out more money, then they are going to need to bring in more money, and they can't wait to raise the rates on the drivers after an accident, so they will raise everyone's rates to meet that additional $6,000,0000 cost. Be safe, JR

We have been running a hot (all with RLS) warm (first due engine RLS), cold (No RLS) response framework for a few years. We have experienced all the problems expected; a cold response for an alarm that turns out to be a working fire, the sick person who is complaining of leg pain that turns out to be have a cardiac issues, and the outside gas leak that has settled in neighbors basements. My problem with this policy (ours, not FDNY's), is that it takes away responsibility and accountability from the officers. Regardless of the call, it is the officers responsibility to ensure the safe departure, travel, and arrival for the apparatus and the crew. Based on the nature, location, time of day, etc.. and the officers experience and training, he/she should be providing the direction and guidance for the type of response to ensure a safe and timely arrival. Response is a tactical decision - like deploying a handline, or setting up a collapse zone - so we should allow officers to be responsible for their units response and then to be accountable for those decisions. By having more policies that take away the decision-making and responsibility from our line officers, we are not creating the strong leaders we need in the service. Be safe, JR

We carry 1000 ft. That is the easy part. The hard part is all the appliances to link with our automatic aid partners that use 3inch supply lines as well as other units in the county that have moved from 5inch to 4inch. Be safe, JR

I think that is exactly right. The issue is not as much that the questions or content of the exams are discriminatory, it is the fact that the test itself is no indication of how well someone does in the academy or on the job. The test -in the judge's mind - is not an indicator of success at the academy or on the job, so there is no reason that it should be used in the determination of who gets the job. I think back in the day (during the Koch administration) there was a similar issue that the physical fitness test discriminated against women. The city fought it (I think Koch said something to the effect of he did not care whether it was a male or female fireman, as long as they could carry a 160lb mayor out of a burning building), and won. So, the ball is really in the city's court to prove that the test is an indicator of success at the academy and on the job. Be safe, JR

Wishing for a speedy and complete recovery for Officer Osso. And for IPD, IFD, and IVAC be strong. JR

This is a great topic, both for the can and general tactics (control of stairwell). Last week we did a pub ed event for the press on christmas tree fires, and once the press was gone, we did some additional burning at our training facility. One of the evolutions we did was keeping a room and contents fire in check with a can. It was great to see not only how much fire can but put out with a can, but also watching the effect on the fire with the can and controlling the door. The idea of putting foam in the can is a great idea too. Thanks for sharing. Be safe. JR

Betty was the best! When I look back on all the influential people in my life, she is at the top of the list. The lessons that I learned from her as high school student - the EMS lessons and most importantly the lessons about life and serving your community- have served me very well in the past 20+ years.