The Truth About Spring Valley’s Fires

[FF402 133]

Some of you may remember Dennis Smiths’ book, “Report From Engine Company 82″, about the “bad old days” when the “Fort Apache” area had the busiest firehouse in the world. Firefighter Smith detailed the horrific fire rate; the displaced immigrants; the grinding poverty- the overall destruction of the South Bronx.

Well, the Bronx isn’t burning any longer, but Spring Valley is. The fire rate in Spring Valley exceeds that of all the fire departments in Rockland County added together. For the past few years, Spring Valley’s volunteer fire departments have answered an average of one thousand calls a year.

Article: http://www.rocklandtimes.com/2015/01/29/the-truth-about-spring-valleys-fires/

[Dinosaur 844]

1000 calls but what's the number of actual structure fires? There are a lot of busy FD's doing way more than 1000 calls per year but the number of actual fires is not that high.

Just wondering if SV's are really that disparate?

[bigrig77 95]

More like 750 ems runs and the rest is structural.

[Bnechis 3,961]

More like 750 ems runs and the rest is structural.

If this is accurate, then the remaining 300 or so calls per year including automatic alarms, co calls gas calls, MVA's, fluid spills, cats iin trees etc.

So if 5% of the non EMS calls are actual structure fires, that's 15 fires or a little more than 1 per month. Do they have more or less than that?

Now lets compare them to Engine Co 82's district in the 1960's/70's If memory services they were doing around 6,000 calls a year with more than 1/2 working fires.

[STAT213 332]

Unless something has changed in past few years, very few rockland FDs do EMS. Vol/paid BLS, Career ALS and PD handle the EMS calls.

[Viper 139]

More like 750 ems runs and the rest is structural.

I don't think Spring Valley does EMS.

[17-100 4]

no we do just fire calls!

[Bnechis 3,961]

no we do just fire calls!

Thank you. And how many are actual fires?

[AFS1970 504]

Even if the department is increasing it's runs every year, I am not sure that you can make the anaolgy to E82 that this writer makes. I am sure that if Spring Valley were burning the way the Bronx once was we would have heard about it by now.

That being said, lots of runs, especially non-fire runs, can burn out a volunteer fire department maybe more so than lots of fires would. Ever hear the phrase "everybody comes out of the woodwork for fires" or something similar? That is because firefighters sort of like going to fires.

That being said, the writer does bring up some good points, about landlords, code enforcement and public education. I think the last one can be solved internally. My old department did just over 1,000 runs for most of the last few years I was there and we were one of the most active in public education. We even went and helped out with public education in other districts when we could.

Now as for what runs were actually necessary, we almost cut our runs in half by reducing Automatic Aid on fire alarms and adopting a more sensible EMS response policy. That took the burnout rate pretty much away for the last couple of years I was there.

When I was an officer I found an old annual report from the 1950's that listed us as have 52 runs that year (yes only one a week) but 26 of them were classified as structure fires. Since it was a summary I don't have fire details. But think about it, you only go once a week, but half the time the horn blows you are going to work. Compare that to going out 1,000 times (almost 3 times per day) but only 15 of those are fires. Like it or not the fire service has changed.

Edited February 6, 2015 by AFS1970

[JSchloss84 9]

If SVFD covered EMS their call volume would be more like 3000-4000 calls, thats what Spring Hill EMS does in the valley avg year.

[ltx17 19]

spring hill runs those numbers for their whole coverage area and mutual aid to neighboring corps

the call volume in reality has not changed much,what we lost in ems and one co running the larger number of calls,is made up by more nuisance calls that all three companies go to

barry,the article only mentions the incorporated village,our actual coverage area is 3.5 sq mi including 4 paid districts we cover--actual fires are way down since i joined 33 years ago

[TimesUp 148]

How many structure fires did Spring Valley have last year? In Spring Valley?

[JSchloss84 9]

The number of calls SVFD responds to is that for only their first due territory or + AMA?,

It wouldn't surprise me either way just wondering, because SV goes MA to several other territories on a somewhat regular basis.

The reality is SV is a nightmare with code issues, politicians looking the other way or trying to all out thwart the FD completely (see news articles from when the new mayor came into office). It's a tough nut, we go on scenes for FD Structures, FD make entry into a house and find walls that nobody knew were there. It's rampant in SV and the town of Ramapo. The danger it poses for all responders is scary.

[AFS1970 504]

I have a feeling that many communities have these issues.

I remember going on a medical call where we walked up the driveway to find the house extended way into the back, had a second porch with two more entrances on the side and a large room with what was formerly an indoor pool. The door I went into for the medical call lead to a staircase that lead to the attic which was divided into a few rooms with a common bathroom at the end and no second exit. From the front the house looked like a small house, even thee picture the tax office had did not show the truth. I sat down with the housing code enforcement boss at the Health Department who started an investigation.

A second house in the district was the subject of a landlord tenant complaint, I took at work. It just happened that it was in the fire district that I was an office in at the time. I knew that it should be a single family house so I asked the tenant complaining about his landlord how many units there were and he said FIVE. This included the landlord who lived there also. Thankfully for one of the rare small town moments we still get occasionally the police officer was a veteran member of the fire company and understood the implications, so I was able to make sure he forwarded copies of his report to the fire marshal, health department and zoning enforcement.

I am guessing that those two were not the only ones, just the two I found. As our district is a small part of the city, this has to be a bigger problem. Now reading about Spring Valley, this is probably an issue in most communities. Construction issues like these have lead to LODD's. We need to be aware of them, train for them but also not be afraid to call for enforcement when needed.

[TimesUp 148]

It sounds like there are a lot of building code violations in spring valley. This could lead to many dangers for firefighters in spring valley. How many structure fires did spring valley have last year? In spring valley?

Edited February 5, 2015 by ltrob

[ltx17 19]

ballpark number appx 50 structures between first due and mutual aid

[Newburgher 241]

How many fire departments serve Spring Valley?

Would all of their first due fires be just in Spring Valley?

How about the ones they respond mutual aid to?

How many structure fire (fires involving a building) were there in 2014 in Spring Valley?

How many structure fires, not including relocations or standbys, did Spring Valley respond to under mutual aid?

It's 2015...there should be a better number for 2014 by now, not just "ballpark".

[velcroMedic1987 330]

One fire a week is nothing like E82 in the hey-day when the "Bronx was burning".

[TimesUp 148]

Whats the ballpark number not including mutual aid? Stay safe!!

[Avon Rob 40]

The problem of illegal housing is not new, and is not restricted to any one area. As to finding new walls, your training should have taught you to expect the unexpected. Many years ago in Sleepy Hollow, there was a tragic loss of life at a building fire. Investigation found that the building was listed as a 4 family, not 20+ single room occupancies. There was no fire/life safety code compliance. The paneling on the halls was non-rated. The victims family actually won a wrongful death suit in court. I actually reported landlords with illegal income to the IRS. They loved getting that type of case. Hard evidence of non-reported income & false tax returns.

All this being said, as long as politicians take "donations', they will not back either code enforcement or the emergency services. The campaign in Rockland County has exposed many violations, but has it made a major difference in compliance. Just remember to be careful & watch out for your partners at any alarm.

[FirNaTine 370]

Believe I saw somewhere Spring Valley only had roughly 6 decent Jobs all together.

[TimesUp 148]

It was a stretch comparing E82 to spring valley and 6 fires a year. As Far as the building code violations? It sounds pretty bad in spring valley but this sort of thing happens everywhere.

[FF402 133]

As Far as the building code violations? It sounds pretty bad in spring valley but this sort of thing happens everywhere.

Apparently it's gotten so bad the state has gotten involved

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2015/02/15/state-cites-lax-code-enforcement-spring-valley-ramapo/23457821/

[JM15 386]

Wait so there were 6 fires in Spring Valley last year? Am I missing something?

[BFD389RET 112]

Article: http://www.rocklandtimes.com/2015/01/29/the-truth-about-spring-valleys-fires/

Yesterday 02-15 -2015- By noon-ish, FDNY had responded to 11 all hands fires. Add 2 more around 1315ish and

Per NYCFIREWIRE, as of 1500, 15 All Hands, 3 2nd alarms. just saying

and I admit I am from Elsewhere... I am not really trying to start anything, I am just trying to figure out what your trying to say , Engine 82's Big year was nearly 9,000 over the course of Many years an Average of 6,000 is pretty realistic