Created on January 1, 2007, this site was established to facilitate communication between firefighters and first responders in Centre County with the surrounding agencies and responders in neighboring Clearfield, Clinton, Blair, Huntingdon, Mifflin, and Union Counties. Everyone is welcome to join and participate in the CentreCountyFire.com Community. Joining the community is free and registered members may post and reply to messages in the forum, upload and display pictures in the gallery, or just shoot the breeze in the chat room.

| 1.03.2009 | CCF Administrator

From October through December of 2007, Kimball & Associates conducted a thorough review of the County’s existing voice and data systems, including the 800 MHz trunked radio system owned jointly by the Pennsylvania State University and the Borough of State College. A strategic radio plan was submitted to the Centre County Commissioners and presented to the public on April 18, 2008. The 141-page report includes the major findings and recommendations of the future communications system for Centre County. The report includes details on existing coverage inadequacies, lack of interoperability with surrounding counties and other agencies, additions of desired features such as digital quality audio, location tracking and mapping, mobile data, over-the-air encryption re-keying, over-the-air subscriber reprogramming, and effective voice encryption. To join the discussion about the future radio system, click here, to discuss the past failures of the existing radio system, click here, to view the 141-page Strategic Radio Plan, click here.

A friend of mine sent me this link it shows some new additions to the FDNY fleet

just messing around on youtube and came across this video

UPDATE: WILDLAND FIREFIGHTERS AND CYANIDE POISONING  
 
http://www.firefighterclosecalls.com/fullstory.php?103272

Monday, March 8, 2010 - A female wild land firefighter was involved in fighting the STATION wild fire in California on September 1, 2009. During the cleanup phase of the fire she was over an area of a hidden defunct mining operation. While extinguishing the residual flames of a tree trunk, the roots collapsed into a hole and a strange blue flame emanated. She backed away and retreated from the site. Minutes later she suffered symptoms of tremors, nausea, and dyspnea. She had what was described as a respiratory arrest and was resuscitated. She was taken to a local emergency department where she was hospitalized for two weeks. A Sherriff’s hazardous materials team investigated the incident three days after exposure that documented an airborne cyanide concentration of 45 ppm near the area in which she was working. An airborne level of 50 ppm of cyanide is immediately dangerous to life and health. I evaluated her on October 19, 2009 in my Toxic Exposures Clinic. I performed an MRI and MRS of her brain as well as a neurological workup. At that time she was confined to a wheelchair because of difficulty walking and neurocognitive deficits (abnormal thinking). I reviewed her brain MRI/MRS with a neuroradiologist. She had non-specific encephalomalacia (brain swelling) within the parietal and occipital lobes, she also had an abnormal choline peak on MRS. The medical literature reports cases of elevated choline with encephalomalacia (brain swelling) involving carbon monoxide and cyanide exposure. She has been in physical therapy with some improvement, however cognitive (the process of thought) skills are worsening. My diagnosis is exposure to cyanide which caused brain injury.

There are no known pre-existing conditions that are related to this injury. The conditions I have described were reached after careful examination and standard testing, and are not mentally imagined or induced by the patient. Wild land firefighters face a number of hazards in the course of their duties. The affects of cyanide inhalation are just beginning to be understood at the wild land level. Suspected cyanide exposure can more effectively be dealt with if proper diagnosis and treatment is given in a timely manner. Proper treatment is available, especially at Level 1 trauma centers. Regional poison control centers can provide medical toxicology consultation and antidote recommendations for the patient. Proper treatment for suspected cyanide inhalation needs to become standard protocol for wild land firefighters.

By John B. Sullivan, Jr., M.D. February 16, 2010

This has been around for a while, but the actual court douments filed have not been availavlable untill recently.



Dispatcher's Lawsuit Documents Profane Outbursts  
Monday, February 8 2010  
A former Blair County (Penn.) public safety dispatcher has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the county, alleging sexual harassment, gender discrimination and retaliation. Kelli Sawyers claims that when arriving at work during training in 2006, she, "always waved and smiled and said good morning to the dispatchers and to the supervisor." But after she passed by, "The dispatchers said horrible, foul, and nasty things about Plaintiff and other trainees." A veteran dispatcher called a trainee who had a knee injury a "fat f--- with a cane" and other veterans called the trainees "morons," the lawsuit states. The motive for the trainee comments was apparently resentment that the new employees would be taking overtime hours away from the veterans, the lawsuit sets out. Sawyers says she also witnessed violations of privacy laws when dispatchers would disclose medical patient information to outsiders, make rude comments to callers, and make profane remarks about firefighters who called on the radio. The lawsuit also claims that a female dispatcher brought  pornographic videos into the comm center to watch,
along with many other profane outbursts by dispatchers

http://www.911dispatch.com/db/content/view/2830/1/


Download (pdf) the full lawsuit, below.  If you are offended by "Foul Language" do not view!
http://pdf.911dispatch.com.s3.amazonaws.com/sawyers_lawsuit.pdf

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3-09-2010 - UPDATE: WILDLAND FIREFIGHTERS AND CYANIDE POISONIN by: war16wagon