Suffolk  Fools      

                                      Est. February  2003  , Suffolk County, New York                                   

 2008 Meeting Dates:

Next Meeting   June 6th, 2008- OPEN (T.B.D.)

September 5th, 2008- East Quogue F.D. (confirmed)

December 5th, 2008-Meeting & Holiday Gathering  Hooters, Islandia

Anyone wishing to step up to host a 2008 or 2009 meeting, contact the President or Vice President.

RECENT NEWS & UPDATES

Next meeting: T.B.D 6/6/08 Anyone interested in hosting please contact the President or Vice President

5/8/08- Suffolk FOOLS was informed today that Nassau FOOLS Trustee Peter Scarinzi of the Rockville Centre FD has taken ill. Peter is in N.U.M.C. and is not accepting visitors at this time. There are no other details at the moment but we ask that all Suffolk members join our Nassau brothers in keep Peter in your thoughts and prayers.

5/6/08 We would like to welcome our newest member: Mark Gregory of East Quogue to the fold. East Quogue has also stepped up to host the September meeting for us. Thanks boys.

5/5/08 Happy Cinco De Mayo to everyone. the site will be updated soon- any F.D. or fools news, training or info please email to the President to have it put up on the site

2/29/08- A little video sent to us from out Brothers at Palm Beach County FOOLS. Enjoy it and share if you want.

2/29/08 - Several FOOLS members from around the country are participating in St. Baldricks for childhood cancer research. Find one and support him/her. http://www.stbaldricks.org/# 

2/26/08 -HELP REQUESTED: The peoples Burn Center is looking for members to go to a web site and to review and input information on the upcoming "To Hell an Back 3" scheduled to be debuted at the FDIC in April at Indianapolis. Click on the title to go to the International site and sign up to participate.

2/25/08- Your President has submitted an article that has been placed in the Training Section of the International's site. Click HERE to read it. If anyone has any ideas for articles, feel free to either submit them the international or to us.

2/24/08 - L.O.D.D. list updated - 22 members lost as of 2/23.

2/1/08: At the end of January we have lost 11 Brother/Sister Firefighters, let's hope it slows down as the year progresses.

5/08- Less than half way through the first month of the year and we already have 6 LODD in the U.S. Let's all hope the pace slows down for the brothers & sisters. Best wishes to all of you and your families.

1/5/08- It's the 5th day of the month and we have 3 LODD's to put down in the section. Let's hope this is an    

               aberration. We send our wishes to the families of the departed.

A Happy & safe 2008 to all our members and their families!!!

1/1/2008: The update for those who haven't heard- the Asst. Chief from the news blurb dated 8/18/07 went to court & had his hearing and  was found not guilty after a one day trial. While I'm glad it worked out several people did have to take time off from work to answer this charge in court. It truly is a shame that it needed to come to that....

8/20/07- Many of Suffolk's FOOLS were seen with their Departments at the State parade hosted by Selden. A nice job was done and a good time was had by all.

     8/18/07   - It can happen here!  Earlier this week during an evening rush hour, a FD was dispatched for an MVA/Overturn with entrapment on eastbound Sunrise Highway. A 1^st Chief (Assistant) arrived on scene within 5 minutes. During his response he overheard PD units on scene requesting Emergency Services for a victim trapped within the overturned vehicle. Upon arrival the Chief observed a vehicle overturned in the right lane of a two lane highway partially obstructing the left lane of traffic and leaking fluids into the left lane. The Chief positioned his vehicle in the left lane to diverting traffic to the left shoulder of the median. EMS was set up on the right shoulder and a rescue truck was set up in front of the Chiefs vehicle to further protect members operating in both lanes. Prior to the Chiefs arrival, PD units on scene had only the right lane closed and traffic was allowed to proceed in the left lane. The Chief of Department arrived on scene, positioned to the S/E side of the incident, and assumed Command. The Asst.Chief became Operations Chief.

            During the operation, he was approached by a SCPD Highway Patrol Sgt who requested that he have apparatus moved to reopen the left lane to traffic. The Chief explained that traffic was free to move on the left hand shoulder at a reduced rate of speed but he felt that opening the left lane would present a safety hazard. The Sgt persisted his priority was to keep traffic flowing. The Asst. Chief again refused stating that his priority was the safety of personnel. At this point the Sgt returned to his vehicle only to once again approach the Asst. Chief requesting his name, rank and date of birth. The Chief provided the requested information and the Sgt returned again to his patrol car.

             After operations were terminated, about 18 minutes after the first fire vehicle arrived; Asst. Chief left the scene in route back to the fire station to complete the necessary reports. While eastbound on Sunrise Highway a police vehicle rapidly approaching from behind with its emergency warning lights on and sounding its siren. He pulled to the side of the road with the police vehicle behind him. The Highway Patrol Sgt from the previous incident walked up to his vehicle and requested his driver’s license to which he complied. The officer went to his patrol car and after a few minutes returned with a summons for violating section 1102 of the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law, “Failure to comply with the lawful order of a police officer”.

                It is not our plan to condemn the SCPD. 99%of the officers give us a great deal of support. We feel this incident was caused by one Sgt making a bad decision. We want this message to get out to the fire service community so that we can ensure that in the future fire officers can do what’s right to protect their people without outside interference.  Our concern is the disregard for the safety of personnel operating at the incident scene in order to 'keep traffic moving'. Too many Police officers and firefighters have been injured and killed too many times while operating on roadways. We need to protect each other in these situations.

            Hopefully, this matter can be resolved if not, this volunteer fire chief will now have to take time from his job to go to court and fight this ticket. Let's clear this up so the next time one of us is looking out for his guys (& the police) we don't have an incident like this again. 

 Further updates as the become available, please check back and be careful.

8/10/07- Watch this Video containing the radio transmissions of a Houston F.D. Captain transmitting a mayday. (Click on the video at the web page, it's approx. 20 minutes)

7/25/07: Kudos to Los Angeles & Windsor Ct. Firefighters for doing right by out own: See these articles: Connecticut Firefighters Rescue One of Their Own  and  Los Angeles Firefighter Saved  two nice articles from firehouse.com

7/6/07: FEMA offering new free online training,  here:  http://www.nfaonline.dhs.gov click on 'New Student'.

6/30/07 Anyone with an announcement or training article/topic please send it in to the president so they can be put up on or linked to the training page.

6/30/07: The Annual Convention was a rousing success and several items of interest were covered, they will be discussed at the next meeting in September at Farmingville's main firehouse. Kudos to the Jersey FOOLS on a spectacular convention- one that will be the standard for a long time to come.

 The educational seminar was outstanding and parts may be posted to our training pages if we receive permission.

5/20/07: As forwarded to us by "the secret list" a slideshow of the Waterbury Ct. accident between two rigs responding.

5/19/07:  A letter from  Brian Farrell, brother of Terry:

4/11/07: Here's a game to keep you occupied at work when the boss isn't looking:

Dräger Safety - FIREFIGHTER GAME Try it but I warn you, it's addicting.

4/10/07: Watch THIS video hope the brother is O.K.

4  Older News will be archived on  our News Page, hit the "NEWS" button up the page.

NEXT MEETING:  Friday 9/7/07 7:30 P.M.

 at Farmingville F.D. Headquarters 8:00P.M. (Confirmed)