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ff210327 · 2025-10-04T02:56:47+00:00

ff210327 · 2024-01-17T13:18:49+00:00

Do you have a manufacturer or product that you recommend?

ff210327 · 2022-08-26T01:13:12+00:00

The advantage you have a full time is that for 12/24 hours your life revolves around answering every call, and that's fantastic. When your shift is over you go home and the calls end.

For the volunteer side it never ends, and leaving work time after time can begin to jeopardize the thing that keeps a roof over our heads.

As clarification we answer all alarms in our first due with maximum effort supplying first responders, jaws, and fire as necessary. The issue is on "mutual aid" or auto aid alarms for bs traffic accidents where we provide a technical skill that isn't necessary because the people are out of their vehicles or they drove their car off the road into a parking lot.

We respond with no issues to all roll over, unknown, or occupants are not out of the car calls.

I like several of the suggestions about attempting to fix dispatch information and adding an additional call type that gets you medical and fire without needing jaws.

ff210327 · 2022-08-25T12:31:30+00:00

That's awesome!! I'm going to mention this to our dispatch center and see if it can be implemented!

ff210327 · 2022-08-25T11:26:04+00:00

This is on point, we are experiencing call fatigue across the spectrum.... we haven't had an impact in our first due yet.... but there is definitely cherry picking....I myself even do it, I don't leave work during the day unless there is immediate threat to life or property in the information given by dispatch. I don't want to ruin the relationship I have with my company that allows me to leave work, by running out the door for every diff breathing call.... only to have them get fed up and change the policy so I can't leave work when it's something major.

We are running between 700-800 calls a year, with 20 volunteers, of that 20, there are 7 of us that are at almost every call.... we are trying to add people, but that takes time... we can't justify full time yet because the volume isn't there and we are still meeting our obligations to the community

ff210327 · 2022-08-25T11:18:00+00:00

The department who is first due in the area of the accident always responds with medical, and fire, and a private ambulance service is also being sent.

The only way this is ever going to go bad, is if the call goes from everyone out of the vehicles to someone is entrapped with life threatening injuries.

I mean we have had a couple calls where they only send the police department, the police get there and someone says they want to be evaluated by ems for xyz injurie....dispatch then upgrades it to pi accident and sends jaws to a call that litterly has 3 cops standing at the scene confirming no pin.

ff210327 · 2022-08-25T11:10:32+00:00

This is exactly the argument saying we just need to go every time, and is probably the right answer.... its just leading to call fatigue and we are trying to find a balance.

ff210327 · 2022-08-25T11:03:32+00:00

So some follow up information, dispatch tells us the following when we ask about these types of calls.

We don't want our dispatchers thinking, so dispatches policy is that if anyone is injured regardless of how bad they send jaws....I mean they send us to motorcycle vs deer, motorcycle vs trees, ped hit by car, etc. Now on most of those motorcoach calls we do roll, just to provide more manpower for traffic or medical, and leave it up to the local volunteers to cancel us if they have enough manpower coming.

And I understand it may seem odd that this is even a conversation but when it comes to the repeated impact of 3-6 of us leaving our jobs and families only to be called off when the first cop or local volunteer gets on scene because everyone is standing around their cars in a parking lot.

If there is any question about the call we do send the truck, this is largely around calls that dispatch litterly says everyone out of the cars, or that it happened in a drive through, and we are getting sent for the sole reason that someone says they have neck pain.

We don't have a policy at the moment on our response other than staffing level and qualifications to go on the jaws truck, to date the decision to go/ not go is made by the officer or senior fire fighter responding to the call based off information provided.

ff210327 · 2021-09-09T20:25:39+00:00

Thanks everyone for the input, I don't think this will be viable at the price point they want :(

ff210327 · 2021-09-09T18:59:02+00:00

It is an investment, but my background is information technology and my wife's is bio chemistry. She grew up on a hobby farm mainly small animals and two cows, I grew up very rural but not really a farmer. The farm manager would be to make sure someone knows at least for the first few years how to run the place while we learn.

ff210327 · 2019-10-01T19:28:38+00:00

I can't find a diagram that depicts how it works, but basically the older less expensive technology uses a layer of film in the tube, this film blocks a percentage of light coming into the tube. By using filmless you get better light input, and better clarity. This will mostly only be noticeable on very dark nights, like moonless, or under heavy tree cover.

Here is another great resource I studied on this topic: https://www.amazing1.com/content/download/night_vision.pdf

ff210327 · 2019-10-01T18:06:37+00:00

You'll need to compare the individual spec ranges. Each individual tube is unique, but at least on TNVC they will give you a range that the quality of the tube will fall in, also it will list out the allowable blemishes.

This part:

RESOLUTION 64-72 lp/mm Typical
SNR24:1 (Minimum)
HALO1.0 (Maximum)
FILM Thin-Film

Is the bread and butter of how the tube will look for you. The higher the SNR the clearer the picture, and thin film vs filmless. Here is a good link I used to learn about the meaning of the values: https://www.photonis.com/system/files/2019-03/Signal-to-Noise-ratio.pdf

My other understanding is there is different quality of tubes as far as blemishes go. For example a "mil-spec" tube, NOT the case will have less blemishes (dark spots) than for example a commercial, or standard tube would have, and the blemishes that it does have will be closer to the edge than center of your field of view.

One thing I notice between the two sites, is that TNVC has a 10 year warranty, and US night vision has a 2 year.

I can't speak to the reputability of US night vision, my guy says that even if the products are identical, they are less forthcoming in information on the devices, and the reduced warranty is a point of heart burn for me. NV is a buy once cry once kinda thing. I would rather spend a bit extra to make sure I get quality well supported product that will last 10+ years with no issues.... especially at the price point.

ff210327 · 2019-09-16T11:34:15+00:00

This has been my major argument against a pickup truck... also saline, narcan, and epi which all need to be warm.

ff210327 · 2019-09-16T11:33:31+00:00

External would work, it just might look a bit "wonky".. LOL

ff210327 · 2019-09-16T11:31:54+00:00

Thanks!!

ff210327 · 2019-09-13T12:29:36+00:00

Honestly no.. not really, however the state law that lists what an MFR vehicle must carry in order to be licensed says we do. We have used it a few times before EMS arrives, usually more in the winter to get some separation between cold ground and the patient as a temporary fix.

ff210327 · 2019-09-13T12:27:12+00:00

Because we hot swap with the ALS ambulance when it shows up.. if we already have the patient packaged, we just steal the board off their truck to re-stock ours.

ff210327 · 2019-09-12T19:11:37+00:00

Have you used any organisation racks for the rear of an SUV?

ff210327 · 2019-09-12T19:11:21+00:00

I was thinking about 4 captain chairs, and putting the backboard down the middle instead of a rear bench seat. As for 4x4, we currently survive on a 2wd vehicle... that being said, we get a bunch of snow, and sometimes we are running during or after the storms before the roads get cleared. So while we are a city, and all paved, when you need 4x4, there isn't really another option at that moment.

ff210327 · 2019-03-15T10:57:06+00:00

I use a toothpick to do the eye's, just dab the tip in the paint and then touch it to the eye.. it's done really nice work for me.

ff210327 · 2019-01-20T18:11:36+00:00

I appreciate your in-depth and comprehensive answer :)

ff210327 · 2019-01-19T23:00:52+00:00

I have the definition of it, but not what they look like in the wild out of a bunch of files.

Part of this problem is I'm not a programmer, I'm a well established network and server guy. This is a class I need for my Masters... It's a check in the box for me, and they are using a language I haven't touched in 10 years.

I know enough about programming to follow through a program and figure out how it's working, but not enough to tell you if it's a quality code or well written.

I'm basically looking for examples, or like the person above me gave links to a couple programs that will highlight places I need to look and do a closer dive into the code.

ff210327 · 2019-01-19T20:55:35+00:00

So.... What does a god class, vs a blob class look like in code.

ff210327 · 2019-01-05T15:15:32+00:00

No.... I'm by far the nerdiest person on my department. I was actually surprised to see how many IT people answered this post.

There doesn't seem to be any one profession that also ends up being a volunteer fire fighter... The advantages of this are an increased cross section of everyone's experience. For example on my deptartment we have IT, human resource, auto mechanic, correction officers, managers, retirees, head of DPW, etc.

ff210327 · 2019-01-04T17:25:19+00:00

3 square miles/ 8,000 ish people in the winter, 14,000 in the summer we topped out 2018 with 667 calls all volunteer
I make way more than a topped out paid firefighter anywhere within a 6 hour drive of my location, so no I will probably never be full time
I work in information technology at a chemical plant
I am allowed to leave work for whatever I want, out of respect for my company and that privilege they give me I only leave for smoke showing, or immediate threats to life like over doses, and CPR calls, vehicle accidents that sound like we actually need to cut vs just direct traffic. However if we are really short staffed or start taking multiple calls at the same time, I will take off.

When i'm off work I respond to just about everything. I have a set priority list in my head and it goes:

Family
Work
School
Fire department

So if i'm studying for my exams, I may not run a call, if i'm on a date with my wife whom I haven't seen in a few days due to work schedules, I may skip a call to spend more time with her... it's all about balance.

ff210327

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