PEMO3

My heart felt condolences go out to the members of Worcester MA FD and the family and friends of their member who answer his last alarm on 12/8/11. A loss is very difficult at any age, at any time and under any circumstances. Remember, he will always be with you, no matter what. My family will keep all of you in our thoughts and prayers during this most difficult time. The last alarm My father was a fireman. He drove a big red truck and when he'd go to work each day he'd say "Mother wish me luck". Then Dad would not come home again 'til some time the next day. But the thing that bothered me the most was the thing's some folks would say, "A fireman's life is easy, he eats and sleeps and plays, and sometime's he won't fight a fire for days and days and day's". When I first heard these words I was to young to understand but I knew when people had trouble Dad was there to lend a hand. Then my father went to work one day and he kissed us all goodbye but little did we realize that night we all would cry. My father lost his life that night when the floor gave way below and I'd wondered why he'd risked his life for someone he didn't know. But now I truly realize the greatest gift a man can give is to lay his life upon the line so that someone else might live. So as we go from day to day and we pray to God above say a prayer for your local Firemen. He may save the one's you love. Carved in stone at the National Monument for Fallen Firefighters Colorado Springs, Co.

My heart felt condolences go out to the members of FDMV and the family and friends of FF Kevin Townes. A loss is very difficult at any age, at any time and under any circumstances. Remember, he will always be with you, no matter what. My family will keep all of you in our thoughts and prayers during this most difficult time. The last alarm My father was a fireman. He drove a big red truck and when he'd go to work each day he'd say "Mother wish me luck". Then Dad would not come home again 'til some time the next day. But the thing that bothered me the most was the thing's some folks would say, "A fireman's life is easy, he eats and sleeps and plays, and sometime's he won't fight a fire for days and days and day's". When I first heard these words I was to young to understand but I knew when people had trouble Dad was there to lend a hand. Then my father went to work one day and he kissed us all goodbye but little did we realize that night we all would cry. My father lost his life that night when the floor gave way below and I'd wondered why he'd risked his life for someone he didn't know. But now I truly realize the greatest gift a man can give is to lay his life upon the line so that someone else might live. So as we go from day to day and we pray to God above say a prayer for your local Firemen. He may save the one's you love. Carved in stone at the National Monument for Fallen Firefighters Colorado Springs, Co.

Seth I can tell you that the rotating 5-2-5-3 schedule with 8 hour tours was much needed. The call volume in the 80's and 90's, it was not unreasonable for a unit to bang out 8 to 10 jobs in a tour, 12 if the coffee sensor next to the radio was working. Based on the call volume there was no way a crew could pull a 24 hour tour and be effective at the end of their shift never mind safe enough to drive home.

The comments by these thugs on the news stated to range from 13 to 31 where comical. Their lawyer was upset they got hit with water for "pointing a BB Gun at the cops" maybe it should have been bullets instead. Then they cried that the water was too hot, too cold, too wet -- I was waiting for Goldie Locks to appear next. They uses water cannons in Europe all the time very effectively and they are a much less lethal route than bullets and pepper spray. Maybe they will think twice next time before they decide to riot. Kudos for Engine 158 for having the pair to act when needed.

The voluntary EMS system in NYC has always been flawed. Voluntary units were know to perform wallet biopsies prior to transport. If the patient test positive for insurance they returned to base like homing pigeons, if the patient test negative then it was off the an HHC receiving facility. I can not speak for how it is today but I suspect things have not changed that much. While the crews are great the administrations see these units as cash flow systems. So they have to pony up to join the city's 911 system and play by the rules. I see nothing wrong with a pay to play policy. Only question I have is does OLM, St Barnies, etc have their own certificate of need or do they operate under the NYC EMS/FDNY certificate of need? If they have their own then it seems the charge would be similar to a fee for dispatching them, allowing for use of their radio freqs, and record keeping. These voluntary hospitals operate in the black and cry poverty with a loaf of bread under each arm. Seems interesting that they pull these things every year around the holidays. Ebenezer is alive and well!!

Thank you for this information. I learn something new everyday.

Robert I agree with your points 100%. This seems like a can of worms that was opened as the law written. They would have been better served to have taken an all or nothing approach than to put their first responders in the tough spot while the politicians are safe at home. Imagine the feeling of a line officer who gives the order to pull back for a bill not paid and watches as a father, mother and their small kids pleads to save their home as it burns to the ground. Even worse imagine if there was a clerical or accounting error and the bill was in fact paid. While I realize what you are saying is totally on point and this issue like so many others have been beaten to death, we must also remember that at the end of the day when that uniform comes off we are also human and have to deal with the toll that the decisions we make have on us. It is the reason that first responders have such a high substance/alcohol abuse rate, divorce rate and suicide rate. It is not as high for the law makers.

Ok I'll get the ball rolling. I would say that agencies not only have a right but are justified at some point to request reimbursement for mobilized responses especially if the initial jurisdiction is requesting reimbursement for their response. Another aspect that needs to be looked at with these long term (and short term) mutual aid responses is the impact they have on the responding agencies primary area of responsibility. Do they strip needed, non-duplicatable resources from their primary area? Are enough personnel, officers and equipment left behind to adequately cover their primary area? Is there a personnel relief plan for your members?

I would love to know on a separate but related aspect where the insurance companies stand. Can someone insure a home and not pay for fire protection knowing they will protected if the need arose? Will a mortgage company allow a homeowner to opt out of fire protection to save $75 a year? Sort of like bungee jumping without measuring the rope and just hoping it is not a few inches too long. At the same time you also have to question the moral character of a group of men who can willingly just stand by and watch a family entire life go up in smoke without ever lifting a finger after responding, $75 or not. I understand the excuse is they respond to ensure that there is no risk to life at which time they would act but how do you assess that without a primary search? With that said how do you do a primary search without a initial attack to protect your personnel? I realize this is a political issue in another state has been hashed out before.

The sad part is almost 10 years later no real progress has been made on "inter-operability". There are many agencies with their own inter-operability plans but there is not one true plan of inter-operability. We are no closer now than we were 10 years ago and in many cases with all the additions of new P25 radio systems, MotoTurbos, trunking systems, scrambling, digital encryption, etc, we are further than we ever were.

Kudos for a class act guys. You are to be commended for going above a beyond but I am sure the smile on the little guys face was payment enough. Sometimes its the littlest things like sounding that air horn or just giving that wave from the window of the rig as you drive past that will be remembered for days on end in the life of a child.

Went to the police station to report the incident. Could not have been too late for work huh?

Interesting story on CBS 880 stated in New Jersey police say it is a common courtesy and the law to pull over for flashing blue lights. Failure to yield could lead to a fine or points on your license. Seems confusing, which is it "common courtesy" or "the law". It can't be both.

Does the "ESU-850" have any special significance? I know back when NYC*EMS dedicated the large state of the art Field Comm that is now part of NYC OEM it was numbered "266" in memory of Lt Kirby McElhearn.

From the looks of the photos, was that hydrant in the middle of the driveway?

Great looking vehicle. Clean installation. Interesting concept of departing from placing the label of "Chief" anywhere on the vehicle.

Many issues that come up with the latest round of storms are patients with life sustaining equipment (LSE) and utility companies response and priorities. The response that many customers received from their utility company when their portable oxygen supplies started to run low was to dial 911 and go to the emergency room. While it is understandable that large scale outages taxes resources one does wonder why utilities lull customers into that false sense of security telling them to advise them if they are a "special needs" customer with LSEs so that they can "be there for them" then listing them with everyone else on the long list of restorations. Dragging these customers to local EDs and overcrowding and taxing their resources does not help the situation either. Frequently these facilities are already working short staffed due to the storms/event with staff that is already on overtime. Compounding that with grandma that needs an outlet for her oxygen and forgot her meds at home on her dresser, and junior in tow who wants to charge his cellphone and both looking for food and a blanket is not going to help the situation. Shelters themselves do not solve the problem unless the facility has a existing generator and then the question of capacity comes into play. We all remember New Orleans and Katrina. Even the Superdome was no answer. The best answer for many may be self sufficiency. Small portable generators or battery backups to run the LSE equipment for a period of time when the need arises. While the Halloween storm was hopefully an exception to the rule most power outages are restored in a 24 to 36 hour period.

To be honest if you have an Android phone you should just consider getting a free gmail account. The free sync doubles as a backup assistant for your calendar and address book and can be set to update as often as you wish.

The only true push email you will get from an Android is either gmail or an exchange server. I can tell you I was stuck on Blackberry until I switched over and saw the advantages that an Android had over my old Blackberry. There was a learning curve. As you get older the curve gets bigger, my kids said mine was like a hairpin turn along a cliff without a gaurdrail. I originally had an Epic 4G which had a slide out keyboard and found myself using the on screen keyboard so much I switched to the EVO 4G. If you had asked me 18 months ago if I would switch from my Blackberry with a full keyboard to a touch screen phone with no keypad I would have said you were crazy. Best I can say is most carriers have a try it period. Sprint just reduced theirs from 30 to 14 days but it is a way to test a phone and see if it works for you. Biggest drawback on Androids - poor battery life.

You can delegate the task downward but you can delegate the responsibility that goes with that task.

My biggest question was why was a dash cam video released to the media and allowed to go viral in a incident like this. It was surely a controversial topic as soon as it happened and FHP releasing the dash cam video to the media only stirs the pot. Personally I believe in the use of dash cam videos but some discretion needs to be made on leaking the footage to the press. Someone beside the Miami officer clearly was not thinking. (I am talking about the video release).

ny10570 I understand where you are coming from but if we keep putting a band-aid on the response issue with sending ALS on low priority BLS calls then we give no push for these problem agencies to address the problem head on. To strain you ALS resources with back to back jobs because your BLS resources can not meet the goals set forth under their individual certificates of need is not a solution. It is the equivalent of turning a blind eye to the problem. You are correct that in NYC ALS units are assigned to high priority BLS jobs but two issues exist here: 1) we are comparing apples to oranges and 2) they are assigned to just that "high priority" BLS jobs not the "I've fallen and I can't get up" calls. The second is the real issue that can tax your ALS resources and burn out a good medic fast.

EMD algorithms should not be that complicated. Simple flow sheet - If yes to "a" then "b" and if no then "c". Initial dispatch should be based on algorithms not the particulars of a individual VACs staffing unless they are out of service. Dispatch BLS if algorithm says BLS and ALS if it says ALS regardless of if there is a crew in house, on roster or on pager. Criteria would have to be tight as far as how long before mutual aid is assigned following the first tones. To build into the plan that a call will go ALS regardless of EMD triage after x minutes sort of defeats the purpose. In order to work effectively 3 things would have to happen: 1) EMD would have to be well executed with algorithms everytime, 2) BLS would need to understand that if they get a BLS job it is theirs and they will not have ALS running to help with response time, if they fail to respond they are the ones accountable, no ALS on site waiting for the initial bus then the mutual aid bus, and 3) quarterly if not monthly reviews would be needed to look at response time, EMD rating vs true call type, and percentage of jobs up-triaged to ALS after initial EMD triage. It can be done but as with everything requires a change in mindset and would meet resistance.

Looking at it from the outside it appears that the system has become it's own worst enemy not just with the 45 medic area but in Westchester in general. Allow me to explain. Every job gets a medic and a BLS transport unit, be it a stubbed toe or a cardiac arrest. This type of response has allowed the BLS units to comfortably slow their response, lets call it the "already a medic enroute syndrome". The clock stops on response when that medic arrives on scene, so a medic in 3 minutes and a transport bus in 20 still shows help arrived in 3 minutes regardless of how long the "help" sat on scene waiting for a transport unit. True EMD that labels and dispatches calls as ALS or BLS would push these issues to light and force a true change. Additionally, medics would be available for ALS calls and not tied up babysitting a true BLS job while waiting for transport. The argument that there is no response time issues will quickly evaporate once the true BLS call sits waiting 20 to 30 minutes for a bus with no backlog to justify the delay, e.g. multiple calls active at the same time, MCI, etc. Just my personal opinion.

A DEVELOPING COASTAL STORM WILL BRING THE FIRST SNOWFALL OF THE SEASON TO THE REGION ON SATURDAY. SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW ARE POSSIBLE FOR THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS IN THE AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING. WHILE ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED MAINLY ON THE GRASSY SURFACES...SOME ACCUMULATION OF SNOW IS LIKELY FOR AREA ROADWAYS AFTER SUNSET. THERE REMAINS A CHANCE THAT SOME AREAS COULD SEEN AS MUCH AS 6 INCHES OF SNOWFALL...BUT THE MORE LIKELY SCENARIO IS FOR 1 TO 3 INCHES OF WET SNOW.