Friday, March 27, 2009
Damned if you do, damned if you don't: Surplus DC Fire & EMS equipment under scrutiny again as it heads for Dominican Republic resort.
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The Sosúa Fire Department at Los Charamicos from Sosúa-News.You may recall our story on March 3, and the DC City Council hearing a day later, about what the District of Columbia does with its surplus uniforms, gear, and other equipment from its public safety departments. The city has had a long-standing regulation that surplus government material is to be auctioned.
It became an issue when we discovered that fully marked and functional uniforms and PPE were auctioned to the public at the same time there is concern terrorists will imitate first responders.
We found that some other departments faced with the same problem donate the surplus material to needy fire departments in this country and around the world. There are similar suggestions in the comments section by a number of STATter911.com readers.
Now comes today's story in the Washington Examiner where the city made such a donation to what was described as a department in need in the Dominican Republic. But that move isn't going so well either.
Michael Neibauer's article points out the donation of the rigs, worth an estimated $340,000, is being done through Peaceoholics, a city anti-youth violence organization. Sosúa is a beach resort community in North Coast of the Dominican Republic, which is a top tourist destination for Europeans.
According to Neibauer, the ball started rolling on this when the organizations co-founder contacted an assistant fire chief.
Neibaurer reports it took some new rule making by the city's contracting office which allowed donations specifically to Peaceoholics. The whole process now has a council member asking if this fiscally prudent in these tough economic times. DC Attorney General Peter Nickles is also taking a look at the the propriety of this deal.
One thing we haven't figured out is the timing of all of this. The Examiner reports the rule making change was last week and that the donation "will" occur. An article at Sosúa-News has a different timetable. In a February 12th article it says:
On Thursday 29 January a delegation from the Washington DC arrived in Sosúa to officially hand over an ambulance and fire truck to the town's Mayor.
It goes on to say:
The ambulance and fire truck will be transported by ship, and should arrive in Puerto Plata around mid-February. The Americans will also send instructors to train paramedics and personnel from the fire department on how to use such modern equipment.
We have put in request with city officials for some answers about the articles, where the equipment is currently located, and more details about who, if anyone, from the DC Fire & EMS Department will be taking the trip to a beach resort in the Dominican Republic.
Hey, it's only taxpayer monies...
: March 27, 2009 6:36 PM : March 27, 2009 10:01 PM Oops, did I say DC Volunteer Firefighter? My fault. I sometimes slip up when I think of the fact that we have 1,000 gun carrying, volunteers on the 4,000 paid member Metropolitan Police Department (along with the other thirty police agencies in DC).
There are 1,500 members of the DC Fire Department, but no volunteers. So guess what, if the DC Fire Department ever needs help guess where it comes from? Maryland and Virginia. (Just remember that every minute a fire burns it doubles.)
Most of the DC Firefighters are still volunteers in the cities that they leave to come and get paid for fighting fires and EMS calls (lol) in the District. (Consider that you can live (rent free!) in a volunteer firehouse in Maryland and come into DC and get paid for firefighting from the DCFD. Sweet deal!)
Back to the point. DC is one of the few major cities where there are no volunteers. Why? Could it be that if you train the people how to save lives maybe so many won't be taken?
Oh that's right, if you teach the people who live in DC to become volunteer firefighters, then the people who live in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and even as far away as New York City!; would not be able to have as many job opportunities to come to work for the DCFD twice a week. (DC Firefighters works 24 hours on, 72 hours off.)
So its good to hear that firetrucks and ambulances are being given to DC Community organizations, maybe this will allow the people who live in DC to gain life saving skills that they can take anywhere on the planet to get a job. I like the idea of on the first of the month, instead of an ambulance taking 45 minutes to arrive, one can already be on the scene where we know, statistically, there are more ambulances and firetrucks needed.
Wait a minute. You said the firetruck and ambulance are going where??
: March 27, 2009 11:13 PM Really? Then list for us all of these major cities which have volunteer firefighters. I can't think of one 'major' city off hand that has volunteer firefighters. So, please shed some light on where all of these cities are.
: March 28, 2009 12:46 AM Really? Where did you get this info? Wow, you are really misinformed. First you mention that most major cities have volunteer firefighters...NOT!...and now you are claiming that DC's ambulances are taking 45 minutes to arrive...NOT!
Over 10 years ago DC had problems with ambulance response times, and a 45 minute wait was not unheard of. But this is 2009 if you haven't noticed, and things are much different now in regards to the response times of DC's ambulances.
: March 28, 2009 12:49 AM One went down in DC on the 14th St. Bridge, the other was at the Pentagon...that is in Virginia. Close, but no cigar Mr. Misinformed.
: March 28, 2009 12:52 AM Really? MPD has 1000 gun toting volunteer police officers? Hmm...that sounds like some more inaccurate facts that you are posting...
Though, please correct me if I'm wrong on this...though I have a feeling that I'm not.
: March 28, 2009 12:54 AM If they could train the DC residents to stop shooting each other and have a working smoke detector in their house, that would do the most to save lives from being taken.
: March 28, 2009 12:57 AM : March 28, 2009 6:46 AM Is New York City, New York a major enough city for you. They still have active volunteers who are dispatched by and operate within the FDNY.
Hmmmm guess you're not very informed either.
: March 28, 2009 10:20 PM And the FDNY has only a few of them, and this person's first post about them made it sound like they had a large influence on these departments.
: March 28, 2009 11:40 PM And if any Va department is covering a DC firehouse you bet that one they wont know where the heck they are going and once they do get there and operate in normal fashion, it will be to the ground by the time there done. So not only do you make irrational points, but its obvious your elevator is going to the top floor.
: March 29, 2009 5:20 AM No ambulances or other large pieces of equipment changed hands though.
You better believe that somebody got something for this deal. No one in the current administration would give anything away unless they got some sort of benefit.
: March 29, 2009 10:20 AM : March 29, 2009 9:25 PM : March 30, 2009 10:55 AM Perhaps you should heed your own advice and seek help yourself. You may want to do it before your insurance runs out when you are out of a job.
Are YOU man enough to tell your kid why you'll soon be bagging groceries for a living?
: March 30, 2009 12:50 PM I think you are incorrect the 14th St Bridge is in DC Since the water of the potomac is within the confines of the District since the state line is the High Water mark on the Potomac which also would include the Pentagon since it is built on "swamp land". This makes National Airport and the Pentagon DC LAND but operationally makes sense for VA to provide Fire/EMS coverage. I will give that to you. Lets add the small Cesna plane that struck the White House about 10 years ago. That makes 3 planes ohhhh 2 planes!!!
Also look at the mailing address for National Airport and the Pentagon. They both carry DC - City, State and Zip Codes.
Thank you VERY MUCH!!!!!!
: March 30, 2009 10:17 PM Again, close but no cigar. They are both in Virginia. That territory many years ago was a part of DC, but it was given to (or back to) VA. The mailing addresses have to do with which post office serves them not where they are actually located.
Good recall though on the Cessna accident at the White House.
: March 31, 2009 8:21 PM Links to this post:
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