state recommends more county control over vol fds

[suddenlyseemore]

New York State Recommends Changes to Fire System
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May 2--ALBANY -- For the first time, a state commission has recommended taking a hard look at New York's volunteer-led system of fire protection and requiring counties to at least consider assuming more control of their local fire services.

It's such a touchy subject that five of the 15 members of the Commission on Local Government Efficiency -- including Long Island's two members -- voted against even studying the idea.

But commissioners said they'd heard too many "horror stories" on Long Island and statewide about multiplying Taj Mahal fire stations stuffed with brand new equipment, at a time when volunteer numbers are rapidly dropping.

"Our taxes are far too high, and we can't continue to embrace the status quo and expect things to get any better," said Assemb. Sam Hoyt (D-Buffalo), chairman of the local governments committee and a member of the commission, which presented its recommendations to Gov. David A. Paterson on Wednesday. "I guess they [volunteers] are a powerful constituency, but at some point we have got to learn to say no."

The commission, which drew in part on findings from Newsday's 2005 Fire Alarm series, emphasized that voters would have to approve, through referendum, any move to give their county broader power to coordinate fire services and review equipment and coverage decisions.

Its report proposed a range of other changes to the fire system:

Requiring all E-911 calls and police, fire and emergency medical dispatch to be handled by counties;

Empowering towns to create their own fire departments;

Holding all fire district elections on Election Day or on the same day in spring, run by the county board of elections, and notifying voters by mail of their fire polling place;

Making it easier to dissolve fire districts -- a measure inspired by the predicament of angry homeowners in the high-tax Gordon Heights Fire District;

Requiring a detailed study of the state's fragmented fire system, and more reporting on fire spending and budgets;

Devising new incentives tailored to younger volunteers.

Fire officials were unenthusiastic about most of the proposals. Bill Young, counsel for the state fire districts association, said putting towns or counties in charge of fire protection would be "extremely difficult" both logistically and because volunteers sign up only to serve their hometowns. Kirby Hannan, spokesman for the state firemen's association representing the volunteers, agreed. He argued for a more tailored solution to Gordon Heights' budget problems but favored the idea of county dispatch and new incentives.

Young also argued that reforms passed by the state in the wake of Newsday's 2005 series should be given more time to work.

Nassau Comptroller Howard Weitzman, who along with Sen. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington) opposed studying county management of fire services, said county control would disrupt the sense of community that makes the volunteer system work.

But Weitzman said he will ask the Long Island Regional Planning Board to study countywide dispatching. "There's a lot of solid research that went into those recommendations, and whether you agree with them or disagree they are clearly worthy of discussion," he said.

[chunkylover53]

Requiring all E-911 calls and police, fire and emergency medical dispatch to be handled by counties;

Just speculating- but would that mean that on the west end Babylon Central and Smithtown Fire would no longer be able to have 911 calls transfered to them- everything through FRES?
On the East End, Riverhead, Southhold, South Hampton town PD's wouldn't be able to answer their own 911 calls and instead everything would be routed to the county 911 center for the police and then to FRES for the fire/rescue portion?

[bloomtruck42]

thats what it sounds like....... but from the article it looks like they only voted to begin researching those ideas, not implement them

[suddenlyseemore]

i think it would be reasonable to have township dispatch centers (similar to 1-0-0 and 4-2-0), with a central county call-taker

with a unified CAD system, the calls could be electronically transfered directly to the dispatcher's console. no phone time tie ups.

this is similar to how SCPD does things now (turret operators take the calls and then the dispatcher for that precinct dispatches it)

it also provides some measure of redundancy. smithtown blows up or has a power outage, perhaps huntington could pick up their work

[bfd732]

I have some recommenadtions for Albany - Governors should keep it in their pants, Albany should return the same amount of tax dolars to LI that they collect from LI, balance the budget and deliver it on time, and stop listening to Liz Moore blow her own horn. Why should state, county or town dictate what we do in a small Village dept. for example? I'm sure they'll fund their mandates just like they do with our schools right? Give me a break.

[smokeystover]

Fire Departments are easy targets for the empty silk suits in Albany to pounce on. These jerks can't even get their own act together, much less stick their nose into something they know nothing about. They read a mud slinging, one sided report from a questionable reporter for a rag of a newspaper, who might have her own axe to grind. Then they lump all fire departments into one pile. Are there questionable practices done in some FD's?? When ever money is involved, you can figure there is hanky panky going on. Not by all, but just a few slugs. But before they try to clean house in Fire Departments across the State, Albany should clean their own house first. Then attack the School Systems that are really out of control.
I'm sure the the Unions that have larger City municipalities across the State, could be pushing this, they would LOVE to see the Volunteer system dissolved. They have had their money eyes on making paid departments across the State, eliminate the vollys and get dues , so those fat cats can drive even bigger cars then what they have now.

[cfd446]

Instead of attacking the State Govt in a knee jerk reaction of our own, why don't we read and evaluate ALL of the recommendations made by the committee individually. Some may make sense, some may not. They have recommendations for schools, village, water districts, garbage districts, town govt, etc. It is not just an "attack" on the FD's.
Does it make financial sense to pay for the same 911 equipment to be installed in the 5 East End PD's, a few village PD's on the West End, Smithtown FD, Babylon Central, and the County Police and FRES? Backup centers and redundancy make sense, but having 11 or more centers doing the same thing is a bit of overkill.

[suddenlyseemore]

Not just at the PSAP level, but also at the local FD level. Theres FDs running less than 500 calls/year who have their own high-band setup and their own dispatchers... ridiculous.

I think there should be a county/fire rescue call receiving facility... and then break each township up (similar to how PD does things, each precinct has their own dispatcher at their communication center) and each township has a dispatch center who will tone out and do the actual dispatching. find and utilize a good CAD so the call taking facility can directly "send" the call to the consoles at the township centers, no time wasted on the telephone.

also breaking it up by township will create redundancy. if someone drives a truck bomb in to 1-0-0 or if theres a power outage/communication failure, perhaps huntington and islip can pick up the slack.

[wqce207a]

Requiring all E-911 calls and police, fire and emergency medical dispatch to be handled by counties;

county had the opportunity to do this years ago, county dragged ass, everyone got tired of waiting and started hiring their own dispatchers & UHF

Empowering towns to create their own fire departments;

would just become another cash cow for the politicians

Holding all fire district elections on Election Day or on the same day in spring, run by the county board of elections, and notifying voters by mail of their fire polling place;

people don't show up to vote for the United States President, do you really think they give a shit about mutts running for commissioner?

Making it easier to dissolve fire districts -- a measure inspired by the predicament of angry homeowners in the high-tax Gordon Heights Fire District;

Requiring a detailed study of the state's fragmented fire system, and more reporting on fire spending and budgets;

Devising new incentives tailored to younger volunteers.

how about a free SUNY education? since the politicians cut back the scholarships to barely cover books!!!!