I guess I am first

[BAtrucknCo]

However,I have nothing to say.

[hwoods]

Somebody from Harford County with nothing to say???? Wow!

[CJMinick390]

Especially from B'lair!:D

[mdffemt]

You mean that 3 guys from the other side of the state have nothing to talk about geez cmon. Leave it to a guy from the eastern shore todo all the talking. :D

I would like to see a snow but doesn happen to much here with accumulation worth it.

[CJMinick390]

mdffemt,

If you want snow, you gotta move to the western part of the state. I grew up in Allegany County. Talked to my parents last night, and they were expecting 3 to 5 inches of snow. This will be their second accumulating snow already this year. My kids want to go visit so they can actually play in some snow.

Considering how little it snows around the Baltimore area, I found it a little amusing that Baltimore City just took delivery of 34 new ALS ambulances, apparently all of which have 4 wheel drive. Wonder how many times they'll actually use it before they're worn out?

[BAtrucknCo]

CJMinick:

What did B'lair ever do to Cockeeeeesville?

[McpFFemt]

CJ,

34 ambo's. That might be the total # that they bought from PL Custom since they switched to them. But only the recent deliveries have 4WD. Amusing, yes. But why not have the option in case you do need it. Things get worn out pretty fast in the city considering the amount of runs that they run. Not to mention some of the lousy drivers too, lol. The medics get new units about every two years I believe.

[hwoods]

Anne Arundel County bought a few some years back, but they didn't last long, and none have been bought since(that I know of). Maybe Helen Chappel could use one in Oysterback???? Stay Safe....

[CJMinick390]

BAtrucknCo,

B'lair didn't do anything to Cock"eyes"ville.:D I just figured that since you guys are the largest (and probably the best run) fire company in Harford County, you would have a few thoughts to kick in. There are a couple of guys that were members of Cockeysville a few years ago (gee, about 10 now, how time does fly) that moved over to your fair town and joined your fire company.

Baltimore County has at least one 4 wheel drive ambulance (reserve) that served the northern part of the county up by the PA line. Don't know if their current front line rig is 4 wheel drive or not. In the past around here on the very rare occasions that we got what would be considered a paralyzing snowfall, they've used national guard humvees to get through the snow.

[ffWeber]

Bel Air Fire Department-- run WELL? HAHAHAHA. BEL AIR-- FAIR TOWN?!?!? heh.

;-)

just kidding...I guess I don't have much room to talk...

[hwoods]

Ok. It's been 10 days since the last post and none of the approximately 41,000 Fire/Rescue/EMS people in the state of Maryland (Murlin, if you are in Balmer) Have bothered to say ANYTHING! WOW. Speechless in Murlin. Sounds like a title for a book (and a movie). How 'bout someone picking up the ball and running er....saying something here. To borrow from the Beall family, "Most of this is said with tongue planted firmly in cheek". Best wishes for the Holidays and Stay Safe....

[TillerMan25]

Well, Hello all from Clinton Maryland! Home of the Chrome and the foam!

[hwoods]

Don't say anything that would let anyone think that the word "foam" is anything but the firefighting kind. :p :p :p

[CJMinick390]

I guess we just aren't that mouthy here in Maryland!:D Other than the stuff that' on MFN, there really isn't anything much to talk about. Since the debacle in Frederick County, things are pretty quiet as far as I've heard.

[shintu]

Originally posted by CJMinick390

Considering how little it snows around the Baltimore area, I found it a little amusing that Baltimore City just took delivery of 34 new ALS ambulances, apparently all of which have 4 wheel drive. Wonder how many times they'll actually use it before they're worn out?
Probably not too many times. I lived in Baltimore City for ten years and can count on one hand the number of times I had to kick my vehicle into 4 wheel drive.

And I also remember the blizzard of 96 when they had MD Nat. Guard using their humvee's to get emergency services to calls.

[CJMinick390]

Glad to hear that no one at Kentland was seriously injured in the rollover of Tower 33. Unfortunatly, it sounds like the damage was pretty major to the rig. I guess the value of the Code 3 model of that piece just went up a bit.

[pgvfd1]

CASINO GAMBLING

Word around town is that casino gambling may be returning for another run thanks to our new guv. I think it’s great if it does but I also think that it needs to be done in a way that everyone that wants to can benefit from it.

When it was here before not everyone benefited from it, the number of licenses was limited and on a first come first serve basis. So if you didn’t hear or know about it you were SOL. So what we ended up with was a handful of stations that were doing the Vegas nights and making all the money while the rest still had to struggle with what they got on their donation drives and the little pittance received from the government.

These handful of stations started purchasing new top of the line fire apparatus and giving there members nice perks. This, I think, started to siphon off members from the less fortunate stations to the ones doing the Vegas nights because they could afford to offer the perks and nice apparatus to their members.

I don’t know how it can be done but as I said, if it comes back I hope everyone has a chance to benefit from it. Anyone out there that had casino nights before hear anything about it coming back? And if so, how do you think it can be done to benefit everyone?

Peace and stay safe!

[TillerMan25]

John, being at 2 different stations that benefited from Vegas nights, I can definately understand everyones excitement at the possibility of them making a comeback. I hope we can get back into the casino. With the way the county has treated the issue of our ladder truck, we are gonna have to find some way to raise funds quickly.

Also, if every station had a casino, no one would be successful. When I was at Kentland, I would venture to say most of the people that came to our casino were from out of the first-due area. If not from out of the county. But they came to our Casino because there was no others closer to their communities. If there was a casino in Marlboro or Forestville, they would have no reason to have some to Kentlands and we wouldve lost out on the customers.

[pgvfd1]

I agree that if every individual station had casino nights they wouldn’t be as profitable but how much is enough? People say they were making $20,000.00 a week. That comes out to just over 1 million dollars a year. How much do you need to run a volunteer fire station?
If there was a casino in Marlboro or Forestville, they would have no reason to have some to Kentlands and we wouldve lost out on the customers.
Marlboro did have casino nights, and so did Bladensburg. Both ends of 202 with Kentland in the middle and it must not have hurt Kentland’s to much.

I still think that if it comes back, everyone who wants to should be able to participate in it. And let’s face it, not every station wants to participate in it. And some don’t even have the people to do it.

I also heard that the ones who had the licenses the last time still hold those licenses if they did not turn them in. So if it comes back, those stations that had it before will already have the license which now shuts out anyone else that wants to do it.

This may all be for not though, I have been keeping up with the news and the only thing coming out in the news is about slot machines. And they are only going to the race tracks, or at least that’s what’s been in the news.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable New Years celebration, now its time to get down to work and see if we can fix some of the problems that face the fire department, especially here in PG.

Peace and stay safe!

[CJMinick390]

We received an ALF Eagle in September. The crew area of the cab is very roomy and quiet and it rides well. However, the engine has been out of service for repairs twice. The first problem involved a seperation of the inner and outer panels of one of the cab doors. The second problem occured when a metal shaving blocked one of the fluid ports in the automatic transmission preventing it from shifting properly. Both problems were fixed promptly under warranty.

All new apparatus goes through a "shake down" period. I wouldn't discount any bidder when you are looking at the purchase of a major piece of apparatus. Finally, it is important to remember that what you get, no matter who builds it, is only as good as the set of specifications you put together. Good luck with your quest for apparatus.

You also might get more responses if you post this in the general firefighters forum or the engineers forum on the main site.

[CJMinick390]

Just read on WBAL.com that Frederick County is discontinuing their Fire Academy. They sited the costs as the determining factor in their decision, although I'm guessing that the incident from this summer probably made that decision a little easier to make.:rolleyes:

[TillerMan25]

Totally forgot about this post John.

Kentland Held their Vegas Casino in Forestville at the Knights of Columbus. So Bladensburg and Marlboro didn't really have much affect on the operations. I would love to see it come back to the point where mosre stations could benefit......Hmm, maybe a Joint CVFD/MRVFD Vegas Night?....LOL Anything can happen.....

[pgvfd1]

You missed one - CVFD/MRVFD/BVFD, don't want to forget Bwood!

Peace and stay safe!

[DualReverse]

LONG LIVE HILLSIDE!

[TillerMan25]

LOL> John, I was referring to Clinton and Mt. Ranier.....not the whole Bunker Hill thing.:D

[TillerMan25]

Oh yeah, and LONG LIVE THE SHAKER!!!!!!

And LONG LIVE THE GREEN ROCKET! (AACo. Truck 14-ex Green Haven VFD)

[hwoods]

There will soon be four more empty Fire stations in PG County... With 2,3,&4 moving into Bunker Hill, and the 7-13 love affair (shotgun wedding?) what an opportunity.... With a little remodeling.... Presto! Instant Casinos..:D :D Stay Safe....

[CJMinick390]

Don't count those casino chickens just yet. Seems like the anti gambling forces are mobilizing once again. I wonder why these folks are so anxious for our money to go to Delaware and West Virginia? I would also like to see their suggestions for balancing the state budget. Oh yeah, I know, lets tax us some more!:rolleyes:

[pgvfd1]

It seems there's a new twist to the casino night saga; the local union prez (L-1619) and their paid lobbyist have been to Annapolis to badmouth the volunteers concerning the casino nights. Yes they have, they've been lobbying against giving casino nights back to the, as they put it, the crooks and the thieves. Talk about crooks and thieves; this guy is a piece of work.

Harve, already thought about it but it wont work. There's no parking to hold these events! But the new digs will have plenty of parking and a 300-seat hall to accommodate it.

Peace and stay safe!