Residents Say FD was Delayed at Town of Mamaroneck Blaze

[Remember585 815]

from Lohud.com

MAMARONECK — Residents of the Larchmont Acres West cooperative are fuming over what they describe as a slow response by firefighters on Sunday, when 48 families were burned out of the leafy apartment complex.

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All I know is this - that was a dual response from the TMFD and LFD. We were in our firehouse after a call listening, and I distinctly remember hearing the Town & Larchmont get dispatched together. So the issue everyone has with the address and which FD is going to respond is fairly irrelevant, in my opinion.

According to the IA from Truck 4 (HERE)

The first Chief was on scene within a minute, followed by Larchmont TL7 another two minutes later.

I say this to people all of the time, when you are panicked, time stands still, and it seems like forever until help arrives. I've been the first on scene of plenty of emergencies, and even I have felt like it is taking forever for the calvary to arrive.

From what I listened to - firefighters were on scene and doing their jobs swiftly and efficiently. Seems like the issue here is a lack of a fire alarm system working on this morning. That fire seemed to be well advanced by the time people called it in.

[JohnnyOV 2]

The comment section of that article sounds like hyenas fighting over a kill....

We will just have to wait and see IF, and that's a big if, there was a delay, what caused it.

- cell phone bouncing off the wrong tower causing the caller to have to be transferred from location to location

- not transferring the actual caller to 60-Control

- dropped 911 calls

- any slew of things

Again, we all know from being in this business, that a 3 minute response time (not including the chief) from dispatch is a hell of an accomplishment. Kudos to all the agencies, both PD, FD and EMS, involved in suppression and rescue; you all did one hell of a job to ensure no one was injured or killed in what could have been a devastating fire.

[wraftery 1,275]

The comment section of that article sounds like hyenas fighting over a kill....

We will just have to wait and see IF, and that's a big if, there was a delay, what caused it.

- cell phone bouncing off the wrong tower causing the caller to have to be transferred from location to location

- not transferring the actual caller to 60-Control

- dropped 911 calls

- any slew of things

Again, we all know from being in this business, that a 3 minute response time (not including the chief) from dispatch is a hell of an accomplishment. Kudos to all the agencies, both PD, FD and EMS, involved in suppression and rescue; you all did one hell of a job to ensure no one was injured or killed in what could have been a devastating fire.

In most comp;aints of this nature. the time line at the Comm center will show no delay. It's important to keep good records. When you are waiting for help, a minute seems like an hour.

[islander 27]

There was no delay. This is a combination of residents affected by the fire, where time of a three minutes can seem like a hour, being exploited by the media and the band of people who are hell bent on consolidation and reorganization. Another aspect not mentioned is that sheer amount of calls received from the incident by the jurisdictions and 60 control had to have had a negative effect on phone lines, software, radio transmissions, and personnel. Although this impact was negligible, tons of calls within seconds of each other will tax any system, and all the consolidation in the world can't help that.

Yes, the area does have a lot of first response emergency agencies for its size, but this job showed that all three agencies, the two villages and the town, can effectively work together. Politicians say "Never let a crisis go to waste", and it seems like some are going to try and stretch a great job (no injuries, fire limited) into a crisis.

[PEMO3 523]

We have all heard the term before: Let No Good Deed Go Unpunished. This is a group of people that suddenly woke up "homeless" and need to direct their anger at someone and the men with the nice red trucks are the biggest target. In their eyes, whatever happened is all their fault, truth or fiction, they need to blame someone to cope. Not that it makes it right.

Edited October 12, 2010 by PEMO3

[Guest Devon Foulke]

..

Edited October 13, 2010 by Devon Foulke

[Bnechis 3,961]

I noticed a few of those complaining were on the fire escape in the rear (exposure #3?). The IC requested VMFD Ladder to the rear to assist those people. While they got there fast, they were the 3rd due truck and were not dispatched until the IC was on scene. These victims could not see the TMFD was already onscene attacking the fire. They might not have been happy or comfortable but they were relativly safe. I'd strongly question 20 minutes, but wouldnot be surprised if it was more than 10 from the time they realized that their was a fire and the time that VMFDs ladder was at exposure #3.

The issue of "where do we live" plages many communities. There are sections of New Rochelle that swear they are in Scarsdale, same for parts of Greenburgh. Crestwood & Bronxville P.O. in Yonkers the same and this is true for many other areas. I've been at calls where home owners yell at us: "where is Scarsdale FD"? We tell them in Scarsdale, this property is a 1/2 mile from the border and they refuse to believe it. Even after they admit to paying taxes to NR and sending their kids to NR schools.

This fire had the potential for a major loss of life. TMFD and the MA depts. did a great job.

[mikeinet 37]

Most of the "citizens" of LOHUD just baffle me with their ignorance...

Comments that "the building would have been saved if the FD was REALLY on scene in 3min" is nuts.

I must have been mis-trained... I wans't aware that as a FF you can jump off a truck, walk into a burning building the second you get there and Taadaaaa.... the fire is out and the world is back to normal!

Who cares about things like primary searches... or even those things that carry water and need to be hooked up and brought to the location of the fire... oh yeah, those hoses things!

[wraftery 1,275]

Note to IC's: The first thing you should do the morning after you have been interviewed is read the paper. It's important to know what you didn't say.

[SRS131EMTFF 471]

Mamaroneck town fire chief defends response time to blaze

http://www.lohud.com/article/20101013/NEWS02/10130382/Mamaroneck-town-fire-chief-defends-response-time-to-blaze