EFFDCO4

Scene illumination advancements (tower and portable) Mobile Cascade Systems Prepiped Foam Extrication equipment advancements Bailout Systems Mandatory Physicals and FIT Tests

Since St. Francis and Vassar are both located in PK, I would assume they are being flown there; unless Westchester Medical Center is a more viable option. I know in East Fishkill it takes the bus a good 20 minutes to get to PK on a good day.

Maybe in an ideal world this will work - but we all know that the fire service is hardly ideal; in fact it's completely random when it comes to who shows up when. You cannot afford to 'set aside' able interior firefighters from your department as the FAST or RIT team. It must be separate. We operate in Dutchess on automatic mutual aid for the neighboring FAST team to all structure fire assignments. If they're not needed they go home with our thanks. We supply the same for them at their structure fires. As for Tankers in our case, our 3 tankers will get us about 9,000 gallons of water plus the 2,000 gallons on the first arriving engines. Probably sufficient until the IC arrives on scene and determines the severity of the incident.

Fantastic photos guys - great job NRFD. An enormous amount of equipment properly stored and accessible; making utilization straightforward and sensible. One comment on foam utilization - we have prepiped Class A foam on most of our first line pumpers and, to be honest, using it all depends on who is on the rig. I can vouch for my station by saying we use it for most everything with the exception of extinguishing flammable liquids and other exceptions (we also have the AFFF on board with an eductor just in case). It's a great control agent if used properly and in the correct proportion. For room and contents fires and vehicle fires you end up using a lot less water which is very important in areas such as ours where we rely on tankers and draft sites to supply the H2O. Just my 2 cents.

Although the Imaging Camera was my first choice (already taken); I must add that there is more focus now than every before on utilization of the TIC - making certain all interior crews are equipped with one (if available). Not too long ago, my district only had 1 TIC and due to the overwhelming advantage the firefighter has (if used properly of course), we now have someting like a dozen - one on each first due engine, the ladder, fast and squad units. Some may call it overkill - I call it SMART and READY.

To all those who dedicated so much time and effort to create this memorial - great job! If I were still in Peekskill - there is no doubt I would be right there with you. Can't wait to see it in person.

That would all depend on the distance between the hydrants. Bear in mind that a different water source really needs to be on a different main. If you just tap into the next available hydrant you will reduce the available water at the original engine's hydrant or will risk losing water altogether if something were to happen to the water main itself. If you know the water system and have preplans that tell you which hydrants are on which mains then I would agree to pull water in from both sources - if you have enough supply line to reach. That is the ideal scenario - which probably wouldn’t be acted on until enough support arrives. The same thing goes for draft sites (if you are from an area with little or no hydrants - like us). Be conscious of small streams that connect to each other and avoid double dipping, especially if you have a large scale incident. In our department earlier in the year we had an enormous fire at a local farm that required a well coordinated water shuttle operation from different sources feeding into 6 porta tanks. It is not an easy system to set up but once water begins to arrive, the pieces do fall into place. If one source happens to dry up, you always have the secondary - which is better than nothing at all. Same for hydrants I guess.

How sad. So many lives lost for no reason. I'm surprised that the call we had up in East Fishkill 12 hours earlier didn't have any fatalities. Again, vehicle going the wrong way - this time northbound in the southbound lanes - hit head on just south of Miller Hill. One serious injury and several other minor injuries. Could have been alot worse. State Police confirming that they would be personally transporting the driver of the pickup going the wrong way. I wonder why.

The Poughkeepskie Journal seems to never have coverage for anything that happens in our area - wierd. Unless it is a significant event like the Fishkill Farms fire.

June 03, 2009 Thomas J. Connell, Sr. of Larchmont, NY died peacefully on June 2, 2009. Born in New Rochelle, NY on May 21, 1937, Thomas graduated from Iona College and was a Vice President of the Chase Manhattan Bank for most of his career. Thomas was the loving husband of Alice Dematte Connell. He was predeceased by his wife of 41 years, Jeanette Mastocciolo Connell. He is survived by his four devoted children, Thomas, Jr. (Joanne), Margaret Pappalardo (Stephen), Jeanne Pacewicz (Michael), and Barbara Perrault (Robert); as well as 12 grandchildren, Timothy, Andrew, Kelsey, Danielle, Robert, Lauren, Kevin, Kara, James, Christopher, Bryan & Nicole. Tom is also survived by four stepchildren, Joyce Scala (Peter), Jane D'Amico (Kevin), Jill D'Alessandro (Michael), and William Dematte (Deb), 11 stepgrandchildren, a brother James and his wife Joan, and numerous nieces and nephews; all of whom looked up to him and loved him dearly. Thomas served as Chief of the Larchmont Volunteer Fire Department, was an active member of the Mamaroneck/Larchmont Old Timers, and past President of the New Rochelle Irish Benevolent Society. Services for Tom will be held at Fox Funeral Home in Larchmont, NY on Wednesday and Thursday from 2-4 and 7-9, followed by a 10:00 a.m. funeral Mass at St. Augustine's Church in Larchmont on Friday. In lieu of flowers, donations to The Larchmont Volunteer Fire Department. JOHN J. FOX FUNERAL HOME, INC. 2080 Boston Post Road Larchmont, NY 10538 (914) 834-0144 www.jjffh.com

Ladders from East Fishkill, Village of Fishkill, Rombout and Wappingers.

Great Topic. All too often complacency sets in which can be dangerous. Never wait to call for mutual aid. It's easier to send the equipment home than have a full blown catastrophe on your hands. My district dispatches all district tankers to the scene and a 2nd alarm notification is immediately given by the first arriving officer (or firefighter w/ radio), if smoke is showing. And don't play politics by giving the dispatcher your choice of mutual aid - let dispatch decide what is best. If you need more water, just call for more tankers, period. If you need an additonal FAST, just ask for one. As for coverage, they do that too. The IC has enough to worry about. Porta Tanks - drop two side by side as soon as the first two tankers arrive - period. Foam - use it if you have it. As for the amount of water needed, that all depends on how agressive the crew is in attacking the fire. We recently had a bedroom fire that was successfully extinguished with only 250 gallons of water w/ foam applied from the first arriving engine. Great stop. But it doesn't always work out that way so you have to be prepared, have predetermined 2nd and 3rd alarm definitions in the system and make the decision rather than regret it later on. If you haven't made that decision to call a 2nd alarm within the first few minutes on scene - it's probably too late, especially if you are a tanker district.

Great stop Peekskill FD.

Thanks for the EFFD kudos. The truck was laying on its side blocking both travel lanes in the eastbound direction along with a section of the median. Westbound was unaffected as the median in that area is about 100' wide. Upon arrival, we were immediately notified by Thruway DOT that the patient was pinned beneath the steering wheel and that an undetermined amount of explosives were on the bill of lading. My IC immediately ordered 84 Eastbound shut down completely (on our arrival, traffic was inching past the scene on the shoulder). Patient was extricated and transported via medivac which also landed in the eastbound lanes. We were eventually able to partially reopen the road after verifying the actual contents and ensuring it was safe to do so.

RIP Rich; you will be missed. All too often it goes unnoticed when a good samaratin or off duty emergency worker stops to help. Unfortunately not in this case.