MCERT1

I'll give it a shot for you, if you'd like. I also have some recordings on my old computer of LAFD dispatches and radio traffic, if you know what you need.

It's one of two I know are used in Maryland. The second one belongs to Federalsburg VFD and is white with a pink stripe... I just never have a camera around when it drives by.

Wednesday was the Maryland State Fireman's Association Parade. There were over 200 pieces of apparatus in the parade. The full album can be found here. [ ] There are 200 photos of different apparatus in the full album, and you can find it here.

Unfortunately very common. When we have water recoveries, we often have to shoo people away because they want to catch a look when we bring int he body. I tell it it's to put it mildly, it's gruesome, especially if we've had to use a drag. They do the same thing here at MVCs, luckily most the worst ones happen on major highways with no spots for rubber neckers. Before I was certified for fire ops, we had a lot of issues when i was handling photography for our website. People would see me inside the yellow tape, and assume they could just come through. I had to switch to full turnout gear, just to keep them away.

How much foam does your department carry? What types? and do you think it's used when it should be? In our agency we carry a pretty decent amount. Engine 1: CAFS with 25 gallons of A and B plus an additional canister of both tucked away up top Engine 2: CAFS with 25 gallons of A and B plus an additional canister of both tucked away up top Brush : CAFS 25 gallon A tank Hazmat: carries eductor nozzles and large number of cansiters of A and B foam. -We also have an additional stockpile of around 50 mixed canisters laying around. I find we don't necessarily utilize it as much as we could and should. Outside using A on brush fires, we rarely pump from these tanks unless we're doing training.

The worst part of it all around here, is just our response area. We have the potential for some incredibly volatile and dangerous situations and the local departments are forced to be independent for the first several hours of many technical incidents. My agency is luckily able to support the necessary equipment, but it's a hard job to keep volunteer personnel prepared for those levels of standards. Even paid departments struggle to afford it, and meet appropriate standards. It's unfortunate that grant money to sustain what at the time they approached us and identified as a critical need has fallen by the way side. Here's a picture of that beast's crane extended

That's the argument, our unit was the direct result of Homeland Security grants, which paid for the unit and supplies not the long term upkeep. We are reimbursed a modest amount for responses by the government. The problem is the initial training for a technican costs around $1,000-$2,000 , $800 per person for a yearly physical, about $2,000 for a single certified level A suit that only lasts a few incidents and must be maintained at around another $500 dollars a year, specialized radios are about another $800 a piece, and tons of other special equipment that costs several thousand dollars more.... It's just a very expensive proposition, our truck cost around $1 milllion before even adding in the equipment and training costs. That's why very,very few independent volunteer agencies in the US will ever have a full hazmat team. So you'll see them either being a joint effort among multiple agencies, owned by large professional departments, and even some states have their own funded response teams to support what smaller agencies have.

No problem, Hazmat stuff gets very technical, requires a ton of resources, and a ton of money.... That's why most agencies simply don't do it because of the cost and rarity of calls. My department often talks about reducing our hazmat capabilities and placing our speical rescue tools; SCUBA, confined space, and high angle rescue equipment on the semi, just because of how hard it is to maintain the training and equipment for only a handful of incidents a year.

Suits of different classes are designed for different hazards. Class or level A suits are vapor protective, it's a fully encapsulated suit like the ones you see in the game, and can protect you against essentially everything, but they're hot, stuffy, very expensive, and require a high level of training to wear. Class or level B are not fully enclosed, have scba, but protect you from liquid spills and splashes. They are slightly cheaper, easier to move in, and require less training to use. Beyond that there are also different materials used in different A and B suits to protect against certain chemicals. There's a lot of personal protection equipment, and the goal is to wear what will protect you, but also be the easiest to use. The guy in yellow is in a Level A, and the other two are in Level B suits.

I've seen one of these used exclusively as a heavy rescue in Ashland, KY it was very nice. You can carry quite a large amount of equipment, plus they usually have a small command post in the back of the trailer. Here's Ours: Our has a full compressor to fill SCBA bottles which is a big deal on any major scene, plus the bulkier containment barrels, pump-off equipment, Class A and B suits, and a ton of absorbent material. It still can't carry everything though, and we have a second smaller trailer that carries all the decontamination equipment. I like Portland's idea because it seems like a great way to have heavy duty rescue crane, and all the necessary accessories that you need at any incident you'd utilize it at.

I like the concept and the challenge your laying out bama. Living in an "urban" area surrounded by some very remote communities I can relate. A single piece does seem a little difficult, but interesting. Here our most remote agencies maintain 2 units, but there biggest issue is often manpower. Only a handful of members have the advanced levels of training necessary to operate interior or on specialized scenes. It would be hard to integrate that into the game without tweaking a lot of the fire system. So I think the single unit is kind of a nice trade off to get that feel. It's always a very interesting experience to ride 40 minutes to a fire call, and be the second unit on scene. I will say that many of these smaller communities have unfortunately lost much of their EMS capabilities as well. They've gone to more of a first responder type unit with no transport capabilities.

December 2012, I was working night shift in the communications center. We we're working a 3 person shift (1 police dispatcher, 1 fire dispatcher, and 1 floating dispatcher-ME). It had been a quiet Sunday night, and we were just abut to put in a movie and make some popcorn... The fire dispatcher takes a call, the guy on the line says he's on his roof. It sounds interesting so I jump on the line, assuming it's an attempt. When I click on I can hear a beeping in the background, and he repeats he's on the roof and the building is on fire. He can't get out the door, the hallway and the stairs are on fire.The building was a mixed use ,a store front with apartments above. Suddenly every line lights up in the center, and there all people stating they're trapped by the fire. The 3 of us start grabbing them while we started the dispatch. One of our county sheriff officers is just down the street. He gets on scene and advised multiple subjects jumping, and the building was well involved with fire blowing out alpha and the roof. second unit on scene was our full time EMS unit. A film crew that was down the street had pulled a van in front of the building to help people out of the windows. The EMT driving gets out and catches a baby thrown from the second story. They then pushed the van aside and used the larger box on the ambulance to get people out of the second story. They scream out on the radio declaring an MCI. The volunteer department just a few blocks away ran the tower out the door first to help effect rescue. Every LEO in the area responded to help assist with the rescues. In less than 15 minutes we had stuck the box for a 5th alarm plus the MCI incident, with fire and ems crews from 3 counties. We had over 20 fire trucks and 23 ambulances on scene, treating about the same number of patients. The bulk of the incident took place over 4 hours, but still feels like it took 25 minutes. Despite some serious injuries, no one was killed in the incident. The arsonist, who lit the fire in the buildings only hall and stairwell, has yet to be caught. That will remain one of the finest and most terrifying nights of my life.

Tear drops won't be going anywhere soon. The ability to put the light right where you want it is a tremendously valuable asset.

Some departments will assign you seat position so you will always know your duties on scene. I belong to an all volunteer fire company in Cambridge, MD, and work for the county as a dispatcher.

In Maryland you don't receive any official training on extrication tools until you enter either Firefighter II or a Rescue Technician: Vehicle Machinery Extrication. Firefighter II provides you general concepts and the basics. VMRT as they call it the in depth training following ifsta training standards.That course also requires you take a prior course on site operations (ropes, and rigging systems). After that it up to the agency and the member to maintain their craft. You do however have to annual prove your equipment meets the standards for the services you claim they provide and their unit classification. Most agencies will also ensure some sort of a yearly refresher. we make sure we cut up a few cars during training every year. We usually do between 1-3 actual extrication's a month, in our busier summer months we can run that many in a day. In Pennsylvania there was some sort of official accreditation system and a required course set. There were also requirements on your equipment carried. I don't know much of the details on it though.

if you can find some sort of surplus auction, you could probably get a set for cheap, and would suit your needs. I'd also recommend just getting something along the lines of a weighted vest instead. It would be much cheaper, and still provide you the feel of carrying around the extra weight. I'd go for a 30 lbs (13.6 kg) vest.

I'll check with an uncle that used to work at the OCME, but he may have been retired by the time that unit was placed in service .

There have been more jokes as time has passed. When it first happened I think I scared the daylights out of everyone too bad.

I'll give a short one with a moral: My last day of FF 1 training we did a series of full evolutions, the last being a basement fire. We entered the burn building through the second floor doorway in attack tams of 3. My group pulled to the door clean and got inside with plenty of hose (probably too much in hindsight). I was nozzleman and started the push down the stairs. When I reached a landing, which I assumed was the basement floor, I had to stand up to help feed the line down the center of the staircase. Once I finished I went to get back on my knees and start the crawl to the fire, and I started to feel forward, right off the edge of the landing...It was a slow motion somersault down the flight of stairs. When I hit the floor I had to take stock, and determined I was only slightly bruised, my mask seal was still good, and the hoseline had gotten away in the fall. I was able to re-combobulate and make a pretty quick knock on the fire. The Moral of the story: Because my gear was on securely and fit properly I was able to continue my job safely.

I'll echo most of the same in this thread. RIT teams are a minimum of 2, but it usually takes quite a bit more. Preferably we keep it at a minimum of 5 . They are usually our rescue, or third due engine. The team stands by with a set of emergency equipment for extrication (axes, saws, halligans) and rescue ( extra scba, stokes basket).

You can replace the air tanker with a helicopter, It's just a matter of swapping prototypes and changing around some sound files so it doesn't sound like a jet when it flys over. You can do other things to to mess with the timing and even add a second one as it's own separate unit... but it makes it game super glitchy. I'd give you more instructions, but my personal version is stuck on a currently dead computer that I haven't touched in about 4 years.

Thanks

I've started playing around with one of my pet projects. The freeplay map has several areas which have sliding gates for access. To make those gates only open for Emergency vehicles, will it require a script and necessary VO's or is there a quicker way to do it?. I just don't like the effect of trucks driving through the closed gate. Also if some one can point me in the direction of similar script, it would be appreciated.

In my immediate area I dispatch for them, and they all know me. Elsewhere, if it's something where I have a chance to walk up to the officer, and ask permission I will. A little respect will go a long way with most law enforcement, and other first responders.

F is definitely felony. If I read the police report correctly, I think [df] stands for d-class felony. It's definitely not the agency reporting identifier as it's not on all Evansville PD reports. The agency identifiers are usually capital letters like erfd posted.