Fire-Police: The Unsung Hero's Of The Fire Service

Years ago when I first joined the fire service as a "knob" as we were known back then, I was going on one of my first calls as a very young firefighter. As we got close to the scene I noticed that traffic was being directed by what seemed to me to be a very old man with a vest on. I was always used to the police directing traffic at all emergencies. I asked who he was and was told fire-police; when I asked more about this I was told that when firefighters got too old to fight fires, they were relegated to directing traffic at fire scenes. I could never envision myself doing anything but fighting fires (we all know how it is when we are very young--we are never going to grow old) so I put it out of my mind. Spin ahead 39 years later; my days of going into burning buildings are over; I'm more of a liability inside a burning building as opposed to being outside staring in as the young knobs go running into a building. In the career service, most men or women my age would be retired in most cases, but for me it's too tough to let go of something I love doing. After a few months of standing around being frustrated because there wasn't anything useful I could do on the fire ground I seriously contemplated leaving the fire service for good. As I was telling another fire fighter at the fire station of my intentions, a fire Police officer who was there overheard me and approached me and explained that while I might not be able to fight fires anymore, there was always something you could do that would be very useful to the fire department and that was to join the Fire Police. I thought about it and figured I'd give it a chance; hell, if i didn't like it I could always resign and leave the fire service. After joining I quickly found out that fire police officers did a lot more then directing traffic; in addition to their traffic control duties, they crowd control duties, prevented looting on the fire scene, assisted the local and state police agencies as directed, kept the fire ground safe for the firefighters/EMT's, protecting evidence at potential crime scenes and other duties assigned to them. What an eye opener for me! Additionally, in New York State, all Fire-Police officers are sworn Peace Officers, which means they have full powers of arrest when on duty, which makes us a part of the Law Enforcement community. Many, but not all, Fire-Police officers take additional training aside from the state mandated 21 hour Fire-Police training course, to help them enhance their skills on the street. When you think about it, they really perform a very valuable service not only to the fire service but to the law enforcement community as well since it frees up police officers to do other things that are important as opposed to standing directing traffic. The Fire-Police motto is "first to arrive, last to leave"; I think in many cases, fire-police officers are under appreciated not only by civilians (only because many of them don't realize what they actually do) but also by the fire departments in which they serve. Next time you see a fire-police officer directing traffic, remember the contributions he/she makes to keeping things safe for you and your family.

Wisconsin Votes to Strip Workers Of Collective Bargaining Rights

Now that the republican senators have used the so-called nuclear option, unless it is overturned in court, once signed it'll become law in Wisconsin. And it'll stay that way unless in the next election cycle, the people vote out the republicans who supported this bill and repeal it.

I think it will happen.

According to polls, the people of Wisconsin strongly oppose certain parts of the bill which they feel are an encroachment on civil rights of workers in the state.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepo...117472988.html

While the public workers may be down, they are definitely not out. I suspect it'll become the 1930's again in Wisconsin; in some aspects I think it'll be good since many unionists know very little or nothing about unions in general and the sacrifices made back in the day when they fought street battles with management and company hired security hacks and this is a wake up call to not only public employees but also those in the private sector who think they are immune from what took place in Wisconsin.

Make no bones about it, the private sector unions are next on the republican's hit list. After all, the Republican Party owes its soul to the US Chamber of Commerce so hopefully it'll galvanize everyone from both the private and public sectors to band together as brothers and sisters with a common bond to work to vote out the governor and every republican of either house who supported this bill.

On March 10th, after it was announced that the republican senate in Wisconsin had passed the bill by 18-1, five of my co-workers, all staunch republicans revealed to us that they are so embarrassed by what their party did in Wisconsin, they plan on leaving the party and registering as independents.

I look forward with extreme enthusiasm to the next two years. I honestly believe that the Republicans have awakened a sleeping bear.

The Stamford Fire & Rescue Debacle

Over the past year I've been following the issues between the City of Stamford, CT fire department and the so-called "Five Volunteer Fire Departments that surround the city. From my perspective, it appears to be a volunteer vs. union thing. The paid guys are looking to expand their "turf"; the volunteers are struggling to maintain some vestige of the volunteer fire service for the residents that they have been doing for the last 100 plus years.

The long and the short of it is that Stamford is going to create a new "Stamford Volunteer Fire Department". If I understand it correctly, the current volunteer fire departments, which supplement their volunteers with paid staff, will most likely lay off the career staff and force them to re-apply for their jobs. However, this time around, the current volunteer fire fighters are also enabled to apply as well, and apparently the new fire department is not going to use the civil service list as they are not required to do so. Hence the name calling and "scab" calling that is now taking place.

Its how gotten to the point where paid firefighters are accusing anyone who take any of the new jobs as being "Scabs". Hell, I'm beginning to think that most of them who post in EMTBravo.net have no clue what a scab is.

The AFL-CIO teaches its members (or is supposed to anyhow) that a "Scab" is a person who crosses a picket line and performs or supports struck work.

The last time I checked, the fire fighters of the Stamford Fire & Rescue Department(SFRD)are not on a legally sanctioned strike. In fact they are manning their apparatus in accordance with their labor contract that is in effect.

So what's with this term "scab" they throw around so lightly??? I think the main issue here is that they don't really understand what a "scab" is.

Unionized fire fighters amuse me; when its contract time, they suddenly become hard-core unionists (in their minds anyhow) and everyone in the labor circles become "brothers" or "sisters" and demand steadfast fealty to their code of Brotherhood.

Keep in mind that many of these so-called "Brothers" & "Sisters" are the same people who patronize stores like Costco, BJ's, Hanafords, Walmart (which is vehemently anti-union), Ikea; they are the same people who purchase their cars and pickup trucks from auto manufacturers who use non-union labor to make them; they buy their sneakers from Nike (who moved to Mexico and enjoy paying their employees $1.25 per hour while still charging the same for sneakers as they were when manufactured in the USA); they buy Perdue and Tyson Chicken (both anti-union); buy their underclothes from Hanes (another viciously anti-union company); they buy and eat Blue Diamond Walnuts (which is on the AFL-CIO hit list for illegally firing striking workers); etc.

The main point being that I sure don't have a lot of respect for many of the fire union members, who claim to be unionists, particularly when its contract time. Don't get me wrong; not all career fire fighters are like that; some of them practice what they preach not only at contract time but year-round. It's the fair-weather union members who put a huge blemish on the Fire Service labor movement.

I think they need to learn to be true unionists before they start to put on the facade that they are. Hipocracy has no place in the Labor Movement, especially in the fire service.

Captain Vince Iaccino

While at the fire station on this past Monday, we had just concluded our monthly business meeting when one of our District Fire Safety Officers called all of us back into the meeting room whereupon he notified us of the death of Fire Captain Vince Iaccino, of the Roosevelt Fire Department.

Apparently while participating in a drill at the Dutchess County Fire Training Center in Poughkeepsie, NY that Monday night, the 65 year old Capt. Iaccino began to suffer chest pains and was rushed to the hospital where he passed away. The news of his passing was met with stunned silence by those present, with several pausing to offer their own muted prayers.

Hearing of his sudden passing reminded me of our own mortality and how precious life is; having been through 2 LODD's (Line Of Duty Death), one in each of the 2 departments that i've been a member of since my entry into the firefighting service in 1975, you never get used to having to deal with a LODD. You roll out on a call sometimes with the Brother or Sister fire fighter or respond from your home to the scene and when the call is done, you always expect everyone to go back to the firehouse, put the trucks back in service, kick back, chat for a bit, only to find out that one of you didn't make it back and won't be coming home to their families or loved ones. Words alone cannot express the loss we suffer when one of the members of our fire fighting family die in the line of duty. Most often, the loss is carried with us throughout our entire lives, etched in the memory of time, never to leave us.

In the meantime, resiliency being a common denominator, the department will do what they have to do to bury their Brother and help as best as they can with Vince's family in dealing with his sudden passing. The CERT Team will be in the background in case their help is needed. Other departments from around the county will likewise assist as needed, whether it be staffing the station to respond to alarms that come in during the coming week, or to help clean Roosevelt's Apparatus to get it ready for the upcoming funeral or whatever else is requested of them. After all, we are one big family and its times like this where we all pull together for the common good of the fire service, especially when it involves one of our own.

I personally did not know Captain Vince Iaccino, but upon hearing of his age (65) and his years of service to the Roosevelt Fire Department (22) and positions held (Captain, President) it struck me that here was a man who obviously gave his all for something he believed in and it was reflected on his family who, as I've come to learn, have 2 son's serving in the same fire department as their father. It is the perfect example of a tradition of families serving their town/city/hamlet; doing what must be done to protect life and property which stand out as traditional American values.

Rest In Peace Vince, may the good Lord welcome you into his Kingdom and grant you eternal peace and happiness.

How Times Change

When I first joined the fire service back in 1975, I joined a Hose Company (another name for engine company) excited with the thought of being able to assist my community in their time of need. I found myself with 29 or 30 equally excited members, many of whom had been in the fire service since the 1930's.

When the fire horn would blow for a fire call, you'd have volunteers rushing from every part of town towards our fire station; we were lucky in that we had our own station for our company; other companies were all squeezed in together at Fire Headquarters and all of them had to share the limited facilitates that were then in existence.

The apparatus always got out; we had a rule in those days that the trucks could not leave until they had a full crew; ie; a driver, an officer and three firefighters; most then often the truck was completely overloaded by the time it pulled off the ramp (remember in those days you could ride the back step, the side steps and ride in the hose bed if necessary).

After every fire, the trucks were wiped down and left spotless; after all we wanted to show the public that we were taking care of their tax dollars purchased equipment. We stood ready to serve the public at a moments notice.

To be selected to be an officer, whether it be business or line was considered a huge compliment and those of us elected took our positions very seriously.

For around 20 years I was a member of the company and then a move upstate NY caused my resignation as an active member to be offered and alas, I became an Associate Member of the Fire Department and moved on with my life.

Just this past week, I spoke over the phone with one of the more senior members of the company and inquired how things were. I was told that elections had just been concluded and that we had a new Captain; but that was it; no other line officers were elected and the excuse was given that no one wanted to serve in those positions, which now puts the Captain in the untenable position of having to do everything himself.

Now I realize that over time things change along with values, but this really caught me off guard once I heard what had happened. Is it because of the new requirements that many fire districts have imposed on those seeking to be an officer? Or is it because people are lazy or have no interest in assisting in the operation of the company?

I'll be attending the Annual Benevolent Association Meeting in a couple of weeks and hopefully I'll get a clearer insight as to whats going on down there in my beloved fire company.

My how times change.

Spring Is Upon Us

It looks like spring is set to come to fruition. With the advent of spring means the beginning of Parade season for most volunteer/combo departments.

Now I've been attending parades ever since 1976 and I've worn everything from tee shirts to full dress Class-A uniforms but I've found over the past few years, that my body doesn't tolerate full dress uniforms in 90 degree/95% humidity as well as I used to back in the day.

So when the suggestion was made to wear non-regulation uniforms, of course my hand was the first to go up in support of the proposal. It was argued that wearing full dress uniforms were necessary if you wanted to win the "Best Overall" trophy, which to me didn't have much significance since I only attend parades for the enjoyment, not competition. Well, needless to say, the proposal was crushed and its still full dress class A uniforms to this day; which is a reason why I no longer attend parades and march in them. I'm much more comfortable in my Fire-Police short sleeved shirt directing traffic instead at parades.

To each their own I suppose.

New By-Laws Wreak Havoc With Some Members

Well I knew It wouldn't be long before one of the members complained about the recently passed re-worked/re-written By-laws. One of our members who remained quiet during the entire process of creating the new by-laws we now have and suddenly he decides that the newly adopted by-laws are unfair and how could we pass sometime so draconian? Funny that he sat mute during the whole process of drafting new by-laws; then at the meeting to vote on them he became angry and walked out and as such didn't stay long enough to cast his vote. Now he's threatening to terminate his membership if we don't reinstate the old by-laws which we changed because they were hold overs from the early days and were severely outdated.

The reaction of the base membership to his antics are less then ecstatic; most of them we've talked to say good riddance and don't let the door hit you on the ass leaving.

Some members question why even have by-laws in the first place; the answer is simple, without by-laws you'd have complete anarchy and there'd be no guidance for the members, so some type of organizational guidance is necessary.

Either way the by-laws are what they are and there's not much to be done about it as of this point other then go by what we all voted on. People need to accept what others have voted to do in a democratic system and learn to embrace change as most of the time its for the betterment of the organization. Otherwise your beating a dead horse. Just my two cents.