I have been watching the news and I've spoken to a few close friends who've already deployed with the urban search and rescue teams to Texas and Louisiana in anticipation of hurricane Gustav. It will be interesting to see the difference in response levels from Katrina three years ago to Gustav today. If the amount of resources being pre-deployed is any indication and the amount of evacuation already accomplished as effective as it appears then this is going to be a starkly different response.
It's good to see that the fire service unlike several other agencies seems to learn well from its experiences. I've spoken to several friends who have deployed with their urban search and rescue teams to the area. They say it's not unlike the first deployment so far in as much as they haven't done any serious work yet and they are hoping that they will not have to. Right now the hurricane is a level IV and the weather forecast shows the hurricane now moving slightly west.
Evacuations in Houston also seem to be well underway. If any of you are being deployed please feel free to continue along in this blog. We would like to hear where you are, what you are doing and how things are gone. There's a ton of good news coverage so we won't bother to link you to all that you can see online and on TV. Let's hope this one is nothing like Katrina. All indications at this point are that FEMA and the local governments are working well together seem to be well prepared and doing all the right things.
Read more...
posted by Bobby Halton
8/31/2008 07:02:00 PM
Last night America was shown what the real firemen of FDNY look like.
I want to ask you to follow the link below and watch ABC World News/Bob Woodruff:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/WN/WoodruffReports/story?id=5618732&page=1, I want you to recognize what these men are doing. There is only one real gift which matters in life and that is time. The reason is our time is limited you use it and its gone forever. You can't make more you can only use it. Some folks use it for themselves, make themselves happy enjoying their time enjoying themselves which is fine in moderation. But how we spend our time in service to others is what matters. I am humbled to know these guys I am not even close to being in their league or in Sgt. Ryan's but I am glad they are still rescuing folks even in retirement. If you want to say something to the FDNY SE-RATS or learn how you can help a hero in your area go to Joe Morstatt's page in the Fire Engineering Community at
http://community.fireengineering.com/profile/JoeMorstattThank you Joe and all the FDNY SE-RATS
posted by Bobby Halton
8/22/2008 12:52:00 PM
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT with Charlie Gibson will air a Bob
Woodruff segment on Sgt Eddie Ryan and the
FDNY SE-RATS (
SgtEddie-
RyanAssistanceTeam) tonight August 21
st. at 6:30 EST.
Eddie Ryan is an American hero, he is a part of the NEXT Greatest Generation of American who are manning our firehouses and our military. Eddie is the son of a marine who in June 2002, after graduating high school immediately enlisted in the Marines for a four-year hitch. One month later, he hit boot camp. In September that year, he left for Iraq, manning a machine gun. He fought in
Nasariya and
Ramadi, 70 miles northwest of
Bagdhad. On April 13, Eddie was shot twice in his head, once in his lower jaw and once above his eye. Eddie was severely wounded and suffered a brain injury. Now, because prayer is going strong for our American hero, Eddie is recovering and doing well.
Watch what the brothers in
FDNY are doing to help Eddie, the real heroes recognize other real heroes, not because they are different because in their world they are not.
Read more...
posted by Bobby Halton
8/20/2008 01:24:00 PM
Workers left hanging from the side of a 31-story building in Indianapolis, Indiana, were rescued by Indianapolis firefighters. Read more about the rescue and view photos by
CLICKING HERE.
And
Fire Engineering Technical Editor Glenn Corbett talks to a Cincinnati news outlet about reopening the investigation into the 1977 Beverly Hills Supper Club fire. Read the story
HERE and visit
Glenn's new group on the Fire Engineering Training Community.
Labels: Current Events
Read more...
posted by Peter Prochilo
8/15/2008 11:26:00 AM
I apologize for the late posting, but this letter came in after Chief Halton posted the
Andy Fredericks article on the Father's Day Fire. The sentiments in it, though, can apply just as easily to our recent spate of fatal incidents:
I just got done reading your reprint on the Fire Engineering Web site of Andy Fredericks column on the Fathers Day Fire. Thanks for posting that piece. It is a great reminder to the fire service of how easily events and circumstances can cascade into a tragedy. A lot of very experienced fire officers and firefighters were on the scene that day and the situation still occurred. One of my guys in 176 truck whose brother was killed on the job used to say that the fire department was a very humbling job. He meant that no matter how good you were things can happen that are totally out of your control. That is what happened on June 17, 2001 in Astoria, Queens. Everybody there knew that this was a bad building and that things were not going well. Did we foresee what was about to happen? No. Were we surprised when it did happen? No. These buildings are everywhere in the U.S. We all have a hardware store in town.
I visited Brian Fahey's grave this morning and spoke to his wife Mary a little while ago. I know this is a tough time of year for her and the boys. Thanks again for remembering those who gave so much that day. God Bless Harry Ford, Brian Fahey, John Downing, and Andy Fredericks.
Sincerely Yours,
Denis M. Murphy
Assistant Chief Instructor
Nassau County Fire Service Academy
Labels: Letters to the Editor
Read more...
posted by Peter Prochilo
8/11/2008 04:39:00 PM
The Indianapolis Fire Department notified its members yesterday that (IFD) Captain Gary Henry was killed in a road side bomb while serving with the national guard in Iraq. Captain Henry was a 12 year veteran of the IFD and most recently served as the Special Operations Rescue Coordinator before being deployed to Iraq. Captain Henry served the citizen of Indianapolis with pride and dignity he died serving and protecting his country with honor.
Everyone at Fire Engineering and FDIC wishes to express our deepest sympathies to Captain Gary Henry's family and all of our friends in the IFD. We will post the funeral details here as they become available.
Please join with us in expressing our profound gratitude to Gary for his service to both his city and country. We wish also to extend our most sincere regrets to his friends and family who are suffering the loss of a true American hero. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all now. God bless Gray and all he loved and protected.
Read more...
posted by Bobby Halton
8/05/2008 07:03:00 AM
Hackensack FIRE / EMS Goes Back to the Past
It takes a incredible amount of patience to try to understand New Jersey politics, and unless you live there you just can't imagine the circus the great citizens of this incredibly beautiful state have to deal with. This is just unbelievable to read, and hopefully somehow enough attention can be focused on this to get this tragic miss-step corrected. The IAFF is working closely with local 2081. I will keep posting on this as long as it takes to get this injustice and public safety foul up corrected. What follows was provided by the local 2081.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2008
In the wake of Hackensack Fire Department EMTs receiving pink slips in the mail this week, City residents and a union official had harsh words for City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono and Mayor Michael Melfi. They vowed to stop City Hall from replacing fire department EMTs with a private ambulance company already hired by Hackensack University Medical Center. They also questioned HUMCs wisdom in hiring Vanguard Ambulance Services, a company that was tossed from other hospitals due to poor time performance and patient complaints.
Although the City's party line for issuing the walking papers has been budget constraints, opponents say politics, not money, was the driving force. The proof, they say, is in Lo Iaconos own words, and in an impartial analysis of the City's budget.
John Linquito, president of Hackensack Professional Firefighters and EMTs, I.A.F.F., Local 2081, disclosed that the union has offered the City an impartial financial expert a former fiscal officer with many years of experience in municipal budgets to show Lo Iacono and Melfi how the City can save money without eliminating an appropriation as important to residents as EMTs.
In an analysis of various City financial documents, the expert found the City of Hackensack to be in excellent financial condition, and not in any serious economic stress, according to Linquito which he said is consistent with Lo Iaconos own assessment of City finances, as Lo Iacono writes in the City's spring 2008 newsletter: I am happy to report that the City is fiscally sound… Moodys Investors Services noted the 'substantial addition to reserves' in 2007
Linquito and Charles Grieco, president of the Hackensack Uniformed Fire Officers Association, I.A.F.F., Local 3172, have offered the fiscal expert to meet with Lo Iacono and Melfi, who have yet to respond with a date even after months of attempts by the union to schedule such a meeting.
The former municipal financial officer provided the union with an informal report stating that the City appears to be having some problems with the CAP expenditure limit a problem that he said could easily be addressed globally within the municipal budget, rather than single out any one specific appropriation to stay within the CAP limit.
The former municipal financial officer also said the City has an escape route, in that it could request a CAP exception from the Division of Local Government as a way of keeping fire department based EMS.
Perhaps Lo Iacono and Melfi already know this and that's why they are in no hurry to meet with someone experienced in municipal budgets. It's clear that eliminating EMTs is politically, not budget, driven. They made their backroom deal with HUMC and they're sticking with it even if it places the emergency medical care of 42,000 residents at risk, Linquito said.
Lo Iacono says the City is financially sound then says it can't afford EMTs then goes out and signs a four year deal with a new schools superintendent at $190,000 per, and 4% pay hikes each year. A schools superintendent is as important to our children's education, as EMTs are to their health and well being, Linquito said. And we have Melfi anointing himself the Mayor of quality of life issues, then he throws one of the most important issues EMS under the bus.
Residents are willing to give the City the benefit of the doubt. If the City is truly in a fiscal crunch, Hackensack taxpayers are willing to foot the bill to maintain municipally provided emergency medical services. If this change is being driven by budget issues, we are willing to pay the price, said Carlos Guerra, a co chairman of the Hackensack Residents & Businesses Coalition to Save HFD EMS. Divide the 16,000 Hackensack households into $600,000 the amount the City claims it will save by eliminating fire department EMTs and bill each household an additional $37.50 a year, which is $3.12 a month. When can we mail our checks? Guerra added.
The unions today also submitted an amendment to the original unfair labor practice charge it had filed June 9th with the State's Public Employment Relations Commission. The amendment charges that City negotiators did not negotiate the current contract in good faith because they had been negotiating a deal with Hackensack University Medical Center to take over the City's EMS, with plans to eliminate the EMT positions during the contract.
PRESS CONTACT:Steve Mangione914-403-4072 (cellular)
Next Council Meeting will be August 5th at 7pm at City Hall.
Roberto Burgos - SecretaryHackensack Professional Firefighters - Local 2081INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIRE FIGHTERS, AFL-CIO-CLCCell : 201- 481-2382P.O. Box 117Hackensack, New Jersey 07602-0117
http://www.iaff2081.com/
Read more...
posted by Bobby Halton
8/02/2008 02:02:00 PM
1 Comments:
Monday morning Labor Day and the hurricane is currently ashore. Video and TV footage showing that the levees at this point are holding that's the good news. The bad news is that the tidal surge is still rising and that flooding is expected. We hope everyone is out of that area and we hope that our friends, Larry Collins, Bill Brown, John O'Connell and the rest of our urban search and rescue brother and sisters are safe. We'll be keeping our eye on the storm, we hope it will continue to weaken as it moves on.
There are some reports currently on the news regarding a barge which apparently has come free in the industrial Canal. One sometimes forgets the bravery and courage that our folks in the Coast Guard and in the Army Corps of Engineers routinely display in protecting America.
It is refreshing to see that our federal government, the state governments and the local governments are working together to ensure that the citizens of the Gulf Coast are as well protected as possible.
Post a Comment
<< Home