Rye Brook FD?

[babhits16 28]

I've ready about the Rye Brook FD, they operate from 7 AM to 7 PM daily, and run in coordination with Port Chester? How does this work and why don't they totally separate?

[FD828 77]

You are correct, the Rye Brook FD ff's work 7a-7p 7 days a week. They have no officers and they have no chiefs of their own. The Port Chester FD is always dispatched along with Rye Brook to all of their calls. (The Port Chester chiefs are in charge of the RBFD) They have a 2 man minumum for staffing, with I believe 4 men assigned to each (2) group. They have tried to get the Village of Rye Brook to hire more ff's so they may staff their station 24/7 without success. At 7pm 1 of the career Port Chester ff's drives his engine (59) and stays at the RBFD till the Rye Brook ff's return in the morning. Makes absolutely no sense, Rye Brook is mostly a bedroom community. Why would you want to reduce the amount of firefighters in your town during the hours when the most harm can come to the most people? Politicians can screw up anything.

Edited October 25, 2011 by FD828

[x635 4,066]

Better then Rural Metro, whosever idea that was?

Rye Brook FD and PD don't need to exist. Port Chester FD, EMS, and PD can and do cover this area.

[firedude 985]

Better then Rural Metro, whosever idea that was?

It still made national headlines!

NY Times: Experiment in Private Fire Protection Fails for a Westchester Village

Edited October 25, 2011 by firedude

[JBE 328]

As far as I know, they are still trying to get that additional staffing for a 24/7 department.

[FD828 77]

Better then Rural Metro, whosever idea that was?

Rye Brook FD and PD don't need to exist. Port Chester FD, EMS, and PD can and do cover this area.

I have to respectfully disagree with you on this one. Perhaps the way it is run now, it is a disaster. But what they need is to make it a real department and staff it properly including officers/chiefs, and make a true M.A. agreement with Port Chester. I can't speak much about the PD, but I imagine they would need to hire more officers if they were to take over Rye Brook's district. As for EMS, we already cover Rye Brook as well as Port Chester and Rye so there would be no change there. But there needs to be a fire department in Rye Brook. The district is too big to rely on the FD responding from downtown Port Chester. If way back when, when Rye Brook was asking/demanding(depending on who you ask) that Port Chester locate an engine into the village of RB (being that they were paying for a huge portion of the fire protection) and Port Chester did just that, maybe Rual Metro would never have come to town and maybe there would be no RBFD. But as we all know that is not what happened.

[StOpGoBlUE 11]

alot of talking going on here........ seth you are absolutley right, lets not forget port chester had been coveing that area since rye brook was founded in the 1980's and prior too and never had ANY problems what so ever........

Edited October 25, 2011 by StOpGoBlUE

[Guest alsfirefighter]

I have to respectfully disagree with you on this one. Perhaps the way it is run now, it is a disaster. But what they need is to make it a real department and staff it properly including officers/chiefs, and make a true M.A. agreement with Port Chester. I can't speak much about the PD, but I imagine they would need to hire more officers if they were to take over Rye Brook's district. As for EMS, we already cover Rye Brook as well as Port Chester and Rye so there would be no change there. But there needs to be a fire department in Rye Brook. The district is too big to rely on the FD responding from downtown Port Chester. If way back when, when Rye Brook was asking/demanding(depending on who you ask) that Port Chester locate an engine into the village of RB (being that they were paying for a huge portion of the fire protection) and Port Chester did just that, maybe Rual Metro would never have come to town and maybe there would be no RBFD. But as we all know that is not what happened.

Well put and couldn't agree with you more brother. The guys at RBFD are some the greatest colleagues and guys I know. Portchester has their own issues within the FD they need to get sorted out and improved upon...take care of home first...that's what I say.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

alot of talking going on here........ seth you are absolutley right, lets not forget port chester had been coveing that area since rye brook was founded in the 1980's and prior too and never had ANY problems what so ever........

Your my boy blue...but that statement could be a matter of opinion.

[FD828 77]

Well put and couldn't agree with you more brother. The guys at RBFD are some the greatest colleagues and guys I know. Portchester has their own issues within the FD they need to get sorted out and improved upon...take care of home first...that's what I say.

Well said yourself!

[tglass59 27]

COUNTY WIDE FIRE/RESCUE/EMS DEPARTMENT................except for the cities

[FD828 77]

COUNTY WIDE FIRE/RESCUE/EMS DEPARTMENT................except for the cities

That would take an act of God for that to happen! I am all for it, but it will never happen.

[x129K 1,393]

PCFD guys get screwed six ways to Sunday by the looks of the threads here....

[61MACKBR1 222]

County Wide Fire/Rescue/EMS 'INCLUDING" all cities (Time for the Home Rule, Egos and Politics to end)

COUNTY WIDE FIRE/RESCUE/EMS DEPARTMENT................except for the cities

[firedude 985]

COUNTY WIDE FIRE/RESCUE/EMS DEPARTMENT................except for the cities

read these first...

County of Westchester - Shared Services Expo 2011

Consolidation in Westchester

Merger of Westchester police, emergency services put in doubt

Consolidation in the Fire Service

Edited October 26, 2011 by firedude

[MELILLO719 30]

Better then Rural Metro, whosever idea that was?

Rye Brook FD and PD don't need to exist. Port Chester FD, EMS, and PD can and do cover this area.

Dont agree at all... Sorry but Rye brook FD is a great accet to the Village Of Rye Brook residents and very helpful when thier is a fire call in rye brook and rigs are coming from downtown pc. Just think if thier is a fire in mid afternoon and rigs have to come from downtown pc with all the schools getting out and traffic on the road its safer and better that rye brook has a fd........ Also i would be careful what u say thier are rye brook fd personell on here just sayin.

[FD828 77]

Dont agree at all... Sorry but Rye brook FD is a great accet to the Village Of Rye Brook residents and very helpful when thier is a fire call in rye brook and rigs are coming from downtown pc. Just think if thier is a fire in mid afternoon and rigs have to come from downtown pc with all the schools getting out and traffic on the road its safer and better that rye brook has a fd........ Also i would be careful what u say thier are rye brook fd personell on here just sayin.

If only more people thought the way you did! If I lived in Rye Brook, I know I would want a closer engine coming to my rescue with a staffed crew instead of waiting for one to show up from downtowm PC. And just as a side note, most of the Rye Brook guys have pretty thick skin!

[M' Ave 1,466]

Dont agree at all... Sorry but Rye brook FD is a great accet to the Village Of Rye Brook residents and very helpful when thier is a fire call in rye brook and rigs are coming from downtown pc. Just think if thier is a fire in mid afternoon and rigs have to come from downtown pc with all the schools getting out and traffic on the road its safer and better that rye brook has a fd........ Also i would be careful what u say thier are rye brook fd personell on here just sayin.

I've never seen so much written in, what, 4 sentences? I agree with you that the elimination of the RBFD , allowing for PCFD to cover is not a good idea. However, bulking up the staffing of the dept. might not be the answer either. It's a community that is remotely located, as far as fire coverage goes, but it's in a tough area to justify the costs associated with all that's necessary to run a fire department properly. All this comes full circle to the consolidation issue. There are so many possibilities when we get into that sandbox. Perhaps RBFD would come to house a fully staffed engine and wait for one of the ladders from what is currently a PCFD firehouse, ect (because it wouldn't be RBFD or PCFD in that case)

As for your last comment, sir, I don't understand. We should not address an issue or offer ideas because someone from that agency is reading this thread? That's silly. I hope that someone from the RBFD is here to offer the inside scoop and some additional perspective. Not all opinions are going to be liked or popular, but we can't make nice all the time. As long as it's constructive and respectful, we can lay it out there honestly and continue the discussion.

Edited October 26, 2011 by M' Ave

[MELILLO719 30]

I've never seen so much written in, what, 4 sentences? I agree with you that the elimination of the RBFD , allowing for PCFD to cover is not a good idea. However, bulking up the staffing of the dept. might not be the answer either. It's a community that is remotely located, as far as fire coverage goes, but it's in a tough area to justify the costs associated with all that's necessary to run a fire department properly. All this comes full circle to the consolidation issue. There are so many possibilities when we get into that sandbox. Perhaps RBFD would come to house a fully staffed engine and wait for one of the ladders from what is currently a PCFD firehouse, ect (because it wouldn't be RBFD or PCFD in that case)

As for your last comment, sir, I don't understand. We should not address an issue or offer ideas because someone from that agency is reading this thread? That's silly. I hope that someone from the RBFD is here to offer the inside scoop and some additional perspective. Not all opinions are going to be liked or popular, but we can't make nice all the time. As long as it's constructive and respectful, we can lay it out there honestly and continue the discussion.

Stop worrying about how I write and no one is saying you can't talk about it all I was saying was I don't agree with his opinion. By saying Rye brook fd and pd don't need to exist is that respectable..... I think not if you think it is then somethings wrong

[Guest alsfirefighter]

I It's a community that is remotely located, as far as fire coverage goes, but it's in a tough area to justify the costs associated with all that's necessary to run a fire department properly. All this comes full circle to the consolidation issue.

Hard to justify how? Public safety is public safety...up the ante on services provided to get the best bang for you buck...and I hope that that "justification" doesn't come at the cost of a civilian death or significant injury...which is far to often the most common justification for such coverage. Which isn't all that great if your the one affected. Not to mention I doubt Rye Brook residents are hurting for the tax dollars that would equate to them not eating out for one night a year...which if done right most of that money would come back in savings on premiums.

[M' Ave 1,466]

Stop worrying about how I write and no one is saying you can't talk about it all I was saying was I don't agree with his opinion. By saying Rye brook fd and pd don't need to exist is that respectable..... I think not if you think it is then somethings wrong

Worried? No, not at all. However, if you'd like to make a credible argument, spelling and grammar are great building blocks.

Disrespectful would be saying, "Rye Brook FD and PD should be dissolved and all their members should be fired". I don't believe I saw anyone approaching that level of crass suggestion. The root of what is being discussed here is fire department operations of the RBFD. What the politicians have created here is the illusion of fire protection. Residents call 911 and big red trucks show up and no one knows that there are only two firemen who are going to have to put themselves through the ringer to accomplish a fraction of what needs to be done at a fire. First and foremost, this is detrimental to the safety of the members while working, as well as to any other emergency personal who may be called to work at the same scene. I mean, seriously, how much burden can you lay on the shoulders of two guys?! It's crazy! No, actually it's criminal.

Hard to justify how? Public safety is public safety...up the ante on services provided to get the best bang for you buck...and I hope that that "justification" doesn't come at the cost of a civilian death or significant injury...which is far to often the most common justification for such coverage. Which isn't all that great if your the one affected. Not to mention I doubt Rye Brook residents are hurting for the tax dollars that would equate to them not eating out for one night a year...which if done right most of that money would come back in savings on premiums.

Public safety isn't hard to justify. We know it and we all know that no one, not one single department, has the staffing that we should always have. The issue here is not what all of US think, but what can be accomplished in reality. All of us, along with the people we serve, deserve top quality emergency services provided by properly structured agencies. That means commanders (chiefs and line officers), support staff and last, but of greatest importance, the number of firefighters to get the job done. The sad reality is that RBFD probably won't suddenly hire a chief, enough officers and firemen to properly staff (at least) 1 engine and 1 truck, 24 hours a day. Could they afford it? Probably. Is that a wealthy community who's residents can take a tax hike? Yup! But, as the saying goes, "the rich don't get rich by giving their money away". They're wrong and they think that they'll never need the fire department, but things get awful ugly when you start looking at numbers.

The bottom line is this, that firehouse is very necessary, so lets talk about how to get those guys the proper tools (i.e. manpower) to do the job they're forced to do without proper manning. I believe, IMHO, that the only way for this to occur is (get ready, here's the buzzword again) CONSOLIDATION!!

Edited October 28, 2011 by M' Ave

[StOpGoBlUE 11]

Well here is how we can resolve the issue.. YOu dont belong to rye brook or PCFD , this topic has been around for YEARS pcfd and rbfd get along great ,PCFD has been around for 175+ years and whas been and always will be providing coverage to rye brook and was even before rye brook was thought of in the 1980's......... port chester 10573 , rye brook 10573, DONT critize if you dont know the facts.. worry about your deptartments problems not ours!!!!!!!!!!!

charlie melillo

[FD828 77]

Well here is how we can resolve the issue.. YOu dont belong to rye brook or PCFD , this topic has been around for YEARS pcfd and rbfd get along great ,PCFD has been around for 175+ years and whas been and always will be providing coverage to rye brook and was even before rye brook was thought of in the 1980's......... port chester 10573 , rye brook 10573, DONT critize if you dont know the facts.. worry about your deptartments problems not ours!!!!!!!!!!!

charlie melillo

Charlie, then how come before Rual Metro came along, when the Village of Rye Brook asked to have an engine placed into the village of Rye Brook the Port Chester FD/village refused even though Rye Brook was paying for a HUGE portion of the fire protection costs? And seeing how PC operates first hand with my own eyes there are several "problems" that are very evident at EVERY fire. And nobody was trying to bash any department, it was a discussion about how things could/should be IMPROVED. Just because "We have been doing things this way for 100 years kid" doesn't mean it is still the best way to do things. Sometimes you need to change with the times.

[MELILLO719 30]

Charlie, then how come before Rual Metro came along, when the Village of Rye Brook asked to have an engine placed into the village of Rye Brook the Port Chester FD/village refused even though Rye Brook was paying for a HUGE portion of the fire protection costs? And seeing how PC operates first hand with my own eyes there are several "problems" that are very evident at EVERY fire. And nobody was trying to bash any department, it was a discussion about how things could/should be IMPROVED. Just because "We have been doing things this way for 100 years kid" doesn't mean it is still the best way to do things. Sometimes you need to change with the times.

Really so how do we operate that thier our several problems. Because I havent noticed any and I'm from this department. See what it comes down to is that people love to start s*** when it's not neccesary this topic was originally started asking about operations so how did it come to RBFD dosent need to exist is that neccesary to say..... Matter of fact does that have anything to do with operations no it dosent. And to M ave if you dont have anything but negative things to say to people or insult them cause of thier writing keep it to yourself. Everyone else enjoy your weekend and stay safe

[E58RET 24]

The whole Rye Brook/PortChester situation needs an outside evaluation.The present FD coverage in Rye Brook is shaky at best!as an example when RBFD responds to an alarm PCFD sends a firefighter manned engine and a volunteer engine as 1st due. The problem arises after RBFD goes off duty at 7 pm and a PCFD career firefighter relocates to the Rye Brook station for the night tour and needs backup to come from down town PC. To all of yopu out there hown would you like to respond to a working fire by your self and know backup was a while away???

[FD828 77]

Really so how do we operate that thier our several problems. Because I havent noticed any and I'm from this department. See what it comes down to is that people love to start s*** when it's not neccesary this topic was originally started asking about operations so how did it come to RBFD dosent need to exist is that neccesary to say..... Matter of fact does that have anything to do with operations no it dosent. And to M ave if you dont have anything but negative things to say to people or insult them cause of thier writing keep it to yourself. Everyone else enjoy your weekend and stay safe

I wasn't trying to start a battle over your department, I was responding to Stopgoblue's comments that nobody knows the facts and should stay out of it. The fact is PC does cover Rye Brook, but is it run the way it should be? Operations issues are what is being discussed. If you can't take critisism about your department that you and others can learn from and maybe take some positive things away from a constructive and adult conversation then you are in the wrong field. I have been to many fires in Port Chester, if you truely don't think that there is room for improvement in your department (just like any other), then I am sorry. That is niaive at best.

And for the record I feel Rye Brook should exist, needs more fire fighters, officers and a chief of their own.

[ems-buff 81]

Memebers,

While this topic was orignally started with questions about the opperations of the ryebrook fire department, it has evolved into a heated discussion about the need of the department. This is fine as long as a line the respect is not crossed between eachother. With that said, keep it going, but keep it respectful. Any member found being disrespectful to eachother, or going around the filter, after my post will be handled with accordingly..

ems-buff

moderator

[M' Ave 1,466]

Really so how do we operate that thier our several problems. Because I havent noticed any and I'm from this department. See what it comes down to is that people love to start s*** when it's not neccesary this topic was originally started asking about operations so how did it come to RBFD dosent need to exist is that neccesary to say..... Matter of fact does that have anything to do with operations no it dosent. And to M ave if you dont have anything but negative things to say to people or insult them cause of thier writing keep it to yourself. Everyone else enjoy your weekend and stay safe

Read, digest, comprehend and then respond. If you do these things you'll realize that I have a lot more than negativity to bring to this topic. It's called constructive commentary. As for your writing; I'm not trying to insult you. I'm simply pointing out that if you want your point to be taken seriously, you should be able to string a properly constructed sentence together. No one is looking for perfection, but I have to read your post about 4 times to make sense of it. Part of a respectful argument is to address everyone here like well read adults.

As for PCFD/RBFD operation; why should be not discuss that here? Isn't that the point of this forum? What should be do, buff out to apparatus and incident photos all day? Or perhaps we should only give big pats on the back for a job well done after every incident. No, that's not what this is for. We have this forum and it allows us to do many things. We get to share photos, report incidents and most importantly, discuss operations in the hopes of improving them. If all of those things can't be done, than why are Seth and the rest of the staff killing themselves and spending money keeping this site open?

As for the RBFD issue, lets cut to the chase. Everything is not fine. Those guys are in a position of having to do too much with not enough. Sorry, but waiting for PCFD to show up is also not appropriate as a first due means of providing emergency service. How about night time? Do you REALLY think that the lone chauffeur of engine 59 thinks showing up in front of a building fire at 2 A.M. is fine? I DOUBT it. What do you think residents see? They see a big red truck and a guy killing himself to hook up to a hydrant or whatever, but then they have to wait a few LONG minutes waiting for people to arrive to actually fight the fire. That's B.S. for that fireman to be in that position and B.S. for the residents.

There are many ways to skin this cat, but the system as it exists now is in fact NOT working. It is not sufficient and it puts a lot of firemen and civilians in danger, let along property. This is not about the dedication of those who work or volunteer in this two department system. This is about not being provided with the tools or manpower to do the job. Why are you defending this system? Is it because, "this is the way we've been doing it for 175 years", as someone said? Well, I guess we should dust off the hold hand drawn pumpers because they worked fine a century ago, right? Why examine a system to look to improve it?

If this doesn't get through....nothing will. I'm going to put the soap box away for now....

Edited October 29, 2011 by M' Ave

[Dinosaur 844]

Well here is how we can resolve the issue.. YOu dont belong to rye brook or PCFD , this topic has been around for YEARS pcfd and rbfd get along great ,PCFD has been around for 175+ years and whas been and always will be providing coverage to rye brook and was even before rye brook was thought of in the 1980's......... port chester 10573 , rye brook 10573, DONT critize if you dont know the facts.. worry about your deptartments problems not ours!!!!!!!!!!!

charlie melillo

Charlie, this isn't just your problem. The problems plaguing the fire service (and the other emergency services) are all of our problems and are not unique to Port Chester or Rye Brook. In fact, the best solution lies in everyone looking at a regional solution rather than trying to put bandaids on all these little problems.

[Dinosaur 844]

I have to respectfully disagree with you on this one. Perhaps the way it is run now, it is a disaster. But what they need is to make it a real department and staff it properly including officers/chiefs, and make a true M.A. agreement with Port Chester. I can't speak much about the PD, but I imagine they would need to hire more officers if they were to take over Rye Brook's district. As for EMS, we already cover Rye Brook as well as Port Chester and Rye so there would be no change there. But there needs to be a fire department in Rye Brook. The district is too big to rely on the FD responding from downtown Port Chester. If way back when, when Rye Brook was asking/demanding(depending on who you ask) that Port Chester locate an engine into the village of RB (being that they were paying for a huge portion of the fire protection) and Port Chester did just that, maybe Rual Metro would never have come to town and maybe there would be no RBFD. But as we all know that is not what happened.

A disaster is right but we don't need to make Rye Brook a "real department", because the Village Board never will. They'll continue with inadequate staffing, inadequate coverage, reliance on mutual aid, and we'll be right back here talking about the same nonsense year after year.

We need to start consolidating all these little companies/departments/districts and focus on regional approaches with properly trained personnel responding in accordance with NFPA and OSHA standards instead of departments like mine that think sending one career guy on an engine or ladder is a response. Maybe there will be 10 fully trained volunteers right behind him but maybe there won't. That's no system.

Training also needs to get standardized so you can't call yourself a firefighter if you can't do the job and haven't completed the training standard. The single standard for FF whether you are paid or volunteer. Imagine that.

Its time to stop the nonsense and move on so we are cost effective and efficient at doing our job for our customers, the taxpayers.