Village Of Port Chester Disbands Career FD

[Viper 139]

Rumor going around Facebook that Port Chester Village Board just disbanded the career FD?

[Morningjoe 162]

100%. Surprise vote by the board. Rye Brook currently without fire protection, sent the PC career firefighter home.

 

Cops at every PC fire house

[PCFD ENG58 1,085]

Not a rumor , shut down already and sent the guys home , by vote of the Board of trustees of the village  

[JM15 386]

Why? Didn't they just hire? 

[Hfd767 9]

This is a shame!  My heart goes out to the the the guys and their families 

[moggie6 54]

Well that's a kick in the nuts.

[COH Bulldog 82]

How many were let go?

[somebuffyguy 190]

Is there any sort of a policy in Westchester that would allow other departments to hire these guys even if they're not on the current list? If they're able to I'd hope other departments do the right thing and pick these guys up. I know Hartsdale picked up a few laid off firemen from Long Island not too long ago .

[SECTMB 612]

How does this affect Rye Brook?  Port Chester still maintains protection through the volunteers, do they also now protect Rye Brook?

[alextom 18]

Now we're gonna see if the Port Chester Volunteers are truely Brothers. They should all resign immediatly. All of the westchester fire depts should remove themselves from Port Chester mutual aide response until the Board reverses the descision. 

[GR442 18]

What good would that serve? 

 

Why did the border come to this decision? 

[PeterK 14]

The village board of trustees are playing games with the residents lives. The career dept has been horribly understaffed for years and under threat of disbanding.  They should be ashamed of themselves and should be held responsible for their actions which are both unethical if not illegal

[SECTMB 612]

Just now, alextom said:

Now we're gonna see if the Port Chester Volunteers are truely Brothers. They should all resign immediatly. All of the westchester fire depts should remove themselves from Port Chester mutual aide response until the Board reverses the descision. 

 

The life or property you save may be your own.  I have needed the services of my own member departments several times.  I would hate to call and have no one answer.  How about you?  If you want to effect change, the fire department membership, directly and by extension through family and friends, can be a powerful voting block.  Used effectively it can bring about changes both in policy and politicians. 

[FDNY 10-75 640]

This is despicable and disgusting. They should be ashamed of themselves for penny pinching at the risk of the resident's lives. Unbelievable. 

 

Brothers in Local 1971 Stay Strong! 

[GR442 18]

Can anyone provide information (facts) as to why  the board made this decision, and what, if any, plan they have for fire coverage moving forward. 

[dwcfireman 656]

Are we sure this isn't a rumor?  This will have an adverse effect on a lot of things....Rye Brook would lose their night engine, the Village of Port Chester loses on the spot fire demand, never mind where else this will affect the county.  If this is true, my heart goes out to the residents of Port Chester and Rye Brook.  For Port Chester to disband their paid sector is only bad for the community and it's neighbors.  Where I really feel bad is for our brothers and sisters that just lost their jobs; they just lost their livelihoods!

[bigrig77 95]

Any official info been released to the public yet? News 12 on the scene? Seems like something that they should be covering. Shutting down a career department seems like a very drastic step to take. Were the vols spared? If your gonna do something dumb and get rid of firemen then shouldn't they have cut everyone, career and vol?

[soccers22 11]

Isn't it a federal law to have fire protection for the community? So if the volunteers were to not volunteer wouldn't they be forced to hire firefighter's ???

Edited May 3, 2016 by soccers22

[alextom 18]

I agree with a voting block but action also needs to be taken now. I have no idea when these board members terms are up. At best its probably Jan 2017 . 8 months is a long time to be out of a job. These members have mortages and families to support. Very sad. 

[Morningjoe 162]

12 minutes ago, soccers22 said:

Isn't it a federal law to have fire protection for the community? So if the volunteers were to not volunteer wouldn't they be forced to hire firefighter's ???

What? There's no such federal law.

 

each state sets its fire laws up, and in NY a village is required to provide (either by direct supervision, Croton-onhudson, or contract, Mt. kisco) fire protection. Cities, and villages are required, towns are not allowed to set up fire protection. 

 

Port Chester is a village that directly oversees their fire department (it's a department of the village), so they have absolute rule over budgeting and such and staffing.

Edited May 3, 2016 by Morningjoe

[soccers22 11]

8 minutes ago, Morningjoe said:

What? There's no such federal law.

 

each state sets its fire laws up, and in NY a village is required to provide (either by direct supervision, Croton-onhudson, or contract, Mt. kisco) fire protection. Cities, and villages are required, towns are not allowed to set up fire protection. 

 

Port Chester is a village that directly oversees their fire department (it's a department of the village), so they have absolute rule over budgeting and such and staffing.

I Guess I'm wrong I was under the impression that is federal law to provide Police and Fire Service. EMS is optional 

[Bnechis 3,961]

6 hours ago, soccers22 said:

I Guess I'm wrong I was under the impression that is federal law to provide Police and Fire Service. EMS is optional 

There are NYS laws that require Police and Fire. But they do not define it. So if you have 2 volunteers and an Indian tank you can call it fire protection and you are covered.

[ex-commish 490]

I sincerely hope this is not true I hate to see people lose their jobs 

[PCFD ENG58 1,085]

It is true and has been coming about for some time . Do any of you guys remember the time when North White Plains had there trouble  with there chief , well guess who's chief in Port Chester . Said day for my brothers in local 1971. We are a busy dept with no room for this and if anyone has driven in Port Chester lately you can see the village is booming with new housing

[Mdseemann 10]

It is not a rumor. It is very true. 

[alertjoe 23]

Wow, I'm totally disgusted by this very sad news. In my 48 years with the Department I have always been proud of our reputation as one of the best Fire Departments in Westchester County. That reputation was earned by the dedicated service and hard work performed by the Career and Volunteer staffs working together. Sure we had our differences at times (some not so pleasant) but we worked them out for the betterment of the service. The Village of Port Chester has been very fortunate to have a Fire Department that has saved many lives and millions of dollars in fire losses over the years. The quick response of the Career Staff with Engines 58 & 59 and the superb firefighting tactics of it's dedicated Volunteers have prevented many small fires from becoming major conflagrations. Anyone in the Fire Service knows how fast uncontrolled fires multiply by the minute and therefore the importance of the quick initial response. In most cases that is what the Career staff provided. To the Mayor and Members of the Village Board, as a former Chief of this Department I'm appalled by this decision. You should be ashamed of yourselves for taking this horrendous action and placing the lives and property of the citizens in jeopardy. I hope your actions don't cause any hardship or sorrow to anyone involved. To the Career staff I wish you Godspeed in finding new suitable employment in your chosen profession. To the Volunteers watch your backs, you never know who's next on the hit list.. In closing I feel a list of how the Village Board Voted should be posted so the residents know who is responsible for this unfortunate decision.....

[LineCapt 134]

Rally to support Port Chester Career Firefighters, 1PM, IFO Port Chester Village Hall. Wear red.

 

 

 

[beavis 11]

Its a F!&@ing disgrace what happened, and that huge mega mall/hotel that they are going to build at the old United Hospital site underway,good luck being able to properly cover that, morons. 

[Dinosaur 844]

11 hours ago, somebuffyguy said:

Is there any sort of a policy in Westchester that would allow other departments to hire these guys even if they're not on the current list? If they're able to I'd hope other departments do the right thing and pick these guys up. I know Hartsdale picked up a few laid off firemen from Long Island not too long ago .

Not a policy.  Civil service law covers this.  Don't know the particulars anymore though. 

 

[PCFD ENG58 1,085]

As a member of local 1971 [ retired ]   and a 44 year member of the PCFD . It's not about the firefighters it's about the community we live in and the safety of the residents  that now  are at risk . Most of you guys know me and know that during my career I had my share of fires over the years many and I mean many that I pulled up to by myself.  Many voll pulled lines off my rig and started to attack the fire before the rest of the rigs got there . Now that element is lost  We worked together well and that my fellow firefighters is what made our dept work .