City Of Rochester, NY Fire Apparatus

[ex98thdrill]

Yes, that's why I stated it the way I did, which was that assessment of the success or failure of any particular tactic has to INCLUDE whether it continues to be used. It isn't the only criteria, but neither can it be disregarded. Words are important, and need to be read and understood in their context and entirety.


It should also be noted that conditions change, and tactics typically must change with them. A system of company deployments that worked well in 1950 would, in all likelihood, be less than efficient or optimal in 2014. Cities that do at least periodic top-to-bottom reviews of how they do things stand a better chance of meaningful progress than cities that do things the same way they did them 100 years ago . . . All the time saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". I submit that they have no clue whether it's "broke" or not, and odds are they don't want to know. We hate change, and change is expensive. So cities that have explored other ways to do things are at least giving it their best effort. We have tried a few things over the years here in Syracuse, and while many of them have been (and continue to be) successful, others were not. We need to be honest about what works and what doesn't, and move on. It's certainly correct that administrations, both within the department and at City Hall, can and do drastically affect what happens. Been there, done that . . . But even the most inept administrators would be hard-pressed to discontinue a system if it saved money, improved fire protection, or both. Performance and results count, even if they aren't the only criteria.

You're right.  I'm not taking shots against who's calling the shots or who's in charge, but I am still a believer in the Quint/Midi concept that Lennie Huether developed. 

 

Granted, Sam Mitrano was appointed Chief last year and the first thing the new mayor did this year was let him go.  One of the biggest problems I saw occurred when our now Lt Governor was Mayor.  I'm a firm believer that the Quint Midi concept was Huether's way of keeping firehouses open.

 

As for the advantages of Quints versus TDA's, I can honestly say that I don't know the advantages and disadvantages and never will based on the fact that I come from a rural department.  As for the Midi's versus Engines??  We don't use Midi's, but when I was a line officer, I was responsible of ordering a new Mini pumper with a large pump on it, so I can see the value of Midi's in an urban setting.

 

The bottom line is we all come from different areas, and we all have different jobs.  In Philadelphia it's all about the TDA's.  When you go into the Adirondack area of NY you have departments that operate with mini pumpers and tankers, while the rest of us work with anything and everything in between.  The bottom line is that we all have to work within the personnel, facilities and budgets that we have to work with. 

 

Sometimes we can't comprehend what the resources and needs for their communities are.  Other times you have a Chief who may be a total idiot, another Chief comes in and has to clean up a mess and get things on the right track.  In other cases you might have a good chief get replaced due to politics and replaced by someone who tried to re-invent the wheel and try to fix something that isn't broken.

 

As for Rochester's Quint/Midi concept, time will tell and the numbers will speak for themselves.  The only problem is if the change was wrong, it's going to cost a lot of time and money to fix it.

 

I think the one problem we all have is that it has taken many years to reap the benefits of fire codes and fire prevention to do what they were intended to do.  The problem now is that after all of those years, our local government leadership has become complacent and decided to make cuts in the fire service.  The problem is once these cuts occur, it's going to come at a high price, and it's going to take a long time to correct it.