steve shryock

Liability should not be a concern of the photographer unless you are in the way. I can't agree more with Andy about learning. We all can look at the same object but each will have a different opinion based on our different angles and focus points. However with photos we are able to see the same item from the same angle and have intelligent debriefing. This was one of the best mediums we had in the safety officer course that Firecapt32 taught some time in 2005. Another point for the photographers. If you put the photos online and I as an insurance adjuster am able to locate them with a search engine, I will contact you and will request copies of certain photos if it pertains to the claim I am handling. As the adjusted, my carrier will pay the costs for these photos and the expenses to enlarge them. The only thing you might have to do is come to court and authenticate that the photo was the one you took and it was not altered. These requests will mostly come when there is a liability issue such as personal injuries or an exposure seeking costs for damages.

My end goal is to hope that everyone thinks and acts professional, gets the job done safely and stays out of trouble. I do not set policies for my department, i was only adding my 2 cents to this thread. There probably will not be any air tight policy because the judges and juries can be persuaded by arguements so the decisions will differ. I am speaking from my experience as an insurance adjuster handling liability claims and specifically handling ambulance liability claims for a few years. I am not an attorney so I cannot consult my department about legal liability but I can tell them of my experiences from prior cases I handled as an adjuster and what the outcomes were along with the recommendations of various defense attorneys in efforts of risk management. It all comes down to risk management, which is a major component of my profession. If we slow down and think, using simple guidelines based on case law then we can not do any harm to us. If you are in an accident it may go to a jury and the plaintiff will always argue that due regard was not used because if it was then the accident would not have occured and the civilians on the jury may buy it. I would like to see the members of this board, especially the ones newer to emergency services, to learn that driving emergency apparatus is a skill. The emergency will still be there but for us to do anything we have to get there. This skill must be practiced regularly and all operators should be kept up to date on court decisions that may change how we operate.

We're on the same page. I agree 100% that there are lawyers on both sides of the arguement. However in one EVOC course I took from VFIS about 6 years ago, the instructor did have a specific case in point from the Buffalo/Rochester region where the Appealate division held the ambulance at fault. As for the brain that is an issue with lots of people. Just slow down a notch and think, take a breath and get away from tunnel vision.

Thanks to alsfirefighter for clearing up a lot of what I intended to write tonight. Not only should we know the NFPA recommendations, which will be held in the courts as a guideline, and the NYS VTL but we should know case law. I contacted a few attorneys that I work with who have access to westlaw and other sources of case law information. Short & sweet they told me was that if the operator of an emergency vehicle is operating with lights & sirens they are held to a higher duty of care as we are considered professionals and therefore we owe the public a higher duty of care. As for crossing the double yellow line I was advised by these attorneys, one of which who does a lot of defense work for ambulance companies (I am insurance adjuster) said that there was case law in NYS from sometime in the 1980s where the courts determined that there is no reason, based on the law that the public must pull to the right & yield to the emergency vehicle, for any emergency vehicle to cross the double yellow line. He also added that the way the court decisions have gone over the past 20 years or so that driving on the wrong side of the double yellow line is being placed in the same category as passing a school bus with flashing red lights. He is doing some research for me on this topic because he is a member of a tri state department and wants all emergency vehicle operators to understand what is now being accepted as the standards for operation. He hopes to have the citations for me in a few weeks, after the holidays pass. Remember your EVOC course and the examples they showed you with actual newspaper clippings of tragedies. It can happen anywhere at any time so be careful. He closed by admitting that crossing the double yellow line is a common practice but when an accident occurs and the emergency vehicle is on the wrong side of the road, you'd better be parked, otherwise if you are moving the courts will hang you out to dry.

I remember reading the NYS VTL sections involving driving on the right side of the road and it mentioning crossing the Double yellow lines. The section you are reffering involves 1 way streets. When I get home I will look it up as I have a copy of the VTL and how it pertains to emergency services. This is a commercial publication, of which i cannot remember the name but I have a copy at home, granted it is about 5 years old, it may be out of date.

Similar in my dept. however in NYS you are NEVER allowed to drive on the wrong side of the road! If you do and get into the accident you will have problems. Additionally in emergency mode it is lights AND sirens. Using due care and you should stop at red lights before proceeding, once it is safe to do so.

Look what happened a few years ago in Glen Cove with the crash of Avianca Airlines plane. It does not matter if an airport is in your district or you are part of an airport response plan. The thing is that there are a few major airports in our metropolitan area and the hanging patterns of LaGuardia bring those planes over westchester so we have to be concerned to some extent of a major airline crash here. doo doo happens and we need to be prepared for it. What will be needed right away is great IC. If something goes down there will be a lot of resources going in such as FEDS, police, fire, ems, media, nosy public, etc. Also remember that it will be considered a crime scene

I had met Don in the past and heard nothing bad about him. Even though I was born & raised in Hastings, my father's family is all from the Gettysburg area and are still there. I grew up going there adn when I was young my Grandfather was a social member of the department A lot of my family are members in Emmitsburg Md. who often work M/A with Gettysburg. RIP and condolences from the Shryock family.

100% accurate. Not only can you review the Town budget but you can probably review the village budgets to see what is allocated where.

The affordable housing is administered by a local affordable housing committee. The applicants must provide personal financial data for the past few years and the financial guidelines are set bu HUD as is the overall qualifying criteria. It is not a pick & choose deal but one that has the same rules across the board from community to community with variable multipliers for the actual minimum and maximum incomes, depending on the size of the family. A single person is not eligable for a house but an accessory apartment in a house that is part of the program. As for the Greenburgh Town pool, it is not free. I as a volly in one of the villages may purchase a membership at regular rate, the only incentive is that they are allowing us to join their pool and to pay them. I do not see any negativity from this topic. It is a wonderful debate and hopefully it may open the eyes of some people who do not have all the facts or who are against CHANGE!. The US Fire service, over 200 years of tradition uninterupted by progress.

The reporting at the Journal News is very questionable. Last sunday morning (11/19) on Lohud.com there was an article about an auto accident on the Saw Mill River Parkway in Eastchester. They appear to be having some serious issues about the correctness of their facts so I feel for you Seth. They most likely did snub you based on their history and the author of their article should be questioned for their ethics and morals.

While in the office I keep the site open on my desktop and refresh every 20 minutes so do the math. At nights & weekends usually 3 to 4 times

disregarding political views, the voting is done and the election is over. The people have spoken. The campaign promises were made. Make them live up to their campaign promises. KEEP THE PRESSURE ON THE ELECTED ONES TO FULFILL THOSE PROMISES

No I don't have that $$. If I did i wouldn't be on this board because I would be somewhere else. I agree that Con Ed has downsized and that manpower is a major issue, as in a lot of other fields/services. I am no expert but I understand that Con Ed has a state of the art training facility somewhere in the 5 Boroughs that teaches the employees how to do necessary work. I was only agreeing with 5slow's comment that maybe the big boys could get together and do something since they have a lot of cash. Look at Cablevision and how they are backdating options to dead employees to make their estates more valuable. They should take that $$ and apply it to research for energy/utility delivery. Actually the idea of burying the utility lines, in my community, has been discussed a few times in the past 25 years but it has gone with the waterfront redevelopement, something that has been discussed for the past 30 years with little progress

If all the utilities got together and shared the expense it would be great. Yes we already pay enough for utilities, taxes, more taxes and then gas. However, in my community, there is little maintenance on the overhead lines and very little preventative tree trimming. Personally, I would not mind paying a little more (surcharge) over time to have the lines moved underground. I reside in a 3 story H style complex on a major road. There is tons of room in front however the utility lines are right in front of my building and are a major obstacle should there be a fire. Just the life safety factor alone makes this important. I'm not a truckie but these lines are a major consideration in the pre plan of a 6 story building immediatly to the north of mine. The truck placement is so crucial that they actually painted off an area in the side parking lot for the truck should there be any fire there. If the utility lines were removed then the truck would have all the space it wanted in front of the building and be useful for roof ops, at any position in front of the building. BTW this is one of the EXTREMELY few times I would agree to pay anything extra over the already high cost of liviing.

A major advantage to moving the utility lines underground is that it will greatly improve truck access to a majority of structures.

It's called a brow light.

Looks like someone else has been reading the Uncle John's series.

He not only provided valuable insight into everything he was involved in, he was a mentor, story teller, intelligent leader, selfless human being and most importantly a great friend. He would almost always smile and change the atmosphere, anywhere, to a positive one. Words cannot express how I feel for his family and I am sure the rest of this comminty feels the same about him. He was a legend for being known almost everywhere besides the Hudson Valley area. A few years back I was in a bar, in Maryland, wearing my Hastings shirt and was asked if I knew him. Bob, thank you for being part of our lives & Kyle thanks you for the pickle.

each time you play they change the number combo on the first section. Then the numbers are the same (it's like the number game in the paper), the pattern to unlock the key is the same, but at the end they change the correct color of the wire.

Don't miss the chance to go to the Ott House Pub in the middle of Emmitsburg, I am a little biased here since that was started by my great aunt & is now owned & operated by my cousins

Engine 46 is 1984. Currently we are doing the rig committee thing for replacement. Still pumps great but electrical is going and it sucks going up hills.

Can you post directions, specifically from southern part of the county?

Is the stipend something recent (past decade) or has there been a stipend prior to that?

What is the stipend for and how long has the village given the cheif a stipend, ie was that for use of a personal vehicle instead of a village owned vehicle?