EVER HAD A JOB MAKE THE NEWS?

[Richard B the EMT]

I wonder (out loud/in text) if anyone is aware that there is a/an association of Public Information Officers? I lost contact with an associate, who was the Secretary for the New York State Chapter.

[WANTYNU]

[/font:9aaa0ad5dd] Our service has been in the press but not for good reasons. There were recent allegations of scene misconduct and now that is all we are remembered for. But other wise we get a mention on the paper if we transport on a vehicle accident.

An excellent reminder that how we act as individuals affects the reputation of us all, if we want to be treated and paid as professionals, we must act accordingly.

I was the Director at the time in a service vastly smaller than NYC EMS. In any event, there is no professional organization that permits rank in file employees to speak to the media at will. The very basis of ICS requires an organized flow of information that has at least been approved by by the IC. …

Before you infer that those on the ground should be allowed to speak without the benefit of knowledge consider the impact when things are poorly received or the news isn't good. It seems everyone wants the spotlight when they can assume the role of hero but only the administrators are worthy of the spotlight when things are bad.

You cannot possibly hope to engage in recklessly releasing information without the associated responsibility. Fortunately it wasn't a democratic process and voting on adhering to the policies wasn't an option.

I understand you were the “big fish in a small pond”, so your responsibilities while not being on the same scale as a large municipality, covered as broad a reach. Speaking to the media is never easy, large or small, as they are looking “for the scoop of the day” and will hang you on the inflection of a word much less the word itself.

Keep in mind though, you are not the only one on this board that carried (or carries) the mantle of responsibility for others.

This thread is intended to be a fun means of swapping stories and experiences with jobs that made the media. It covers all ground from well known jobs and misquotations, to just getting the whole story upside-down.

As Always,

Be Safe

WANTYNU

[unknown]

As Always,

Be Safe

WANTYNU

Please Allow me-- SEMPER SALUS! (always safe)

[captainstandup]

I reviewed all of the earlier posts again and must admit I was a few miles over the top on my last post, sorry about that. I still have flashbacks to a time when a few really bad employees caused me and our service a great deal of embarrassment and as you can see even now perhaps I'm still a bit too sensitive regarding these issues. I certainly didn't mean to throw cold water on the fun.

One of the most embarrassing things I ever did occurred during a massive forest fire. I had been up for almost 48 hours and was the IC for night shift when the ops chief called me on the radio. He inquired as to what I was doing? Like an idiot I picked up the mic and simply stated "I'm in the command post CP,ing" This was interpreted as CPEEEING by everyone that heard the transmission.

It’s been over 15 years since this happened and I still occasionally get crap from some of the folks that heard me back then. Thankfully it was around 2AM and the media never picked up on it.

Since then I've been to Paramedic School and College and hopefully am at least a little more skilled than I was back then, but I sure was tired and we have enjoyed a great deal of fun over the years, related to my slip of the lip .

[WelshMedic]

To paraphrase the great Dust:

That's +10 points for having the self-introspection to review earlier posts and subsequently having the humility to admit your mistake. :thumbleft:

WM

[copamedic1]

made front page of local paper,with some of incognitogirl's workmates. it's a small town, so a helo sitting down in town, is big news.

[ninjaemtff]

A lot of our wrecks make the news. However the call that most sticks out in my mind to making the news is we had a MCI drill, we had a firefighter collapse go into cardiac arrest, and we brought him back. That made front page.

[Richard B the EMT]

Just thought of a few more. I was also on the scenes, and if I was actually seen by the press, nobody has mentioned it to me.

Eastern Airlines Flight 66, in June of 1975, crashed on Rockaway Blvd near Brookville Blvd, Jamaica/Rosedale area, Queens County, NY, with 113 dead. Only first 20 feet of the 727 made it into the outer perimeter fence at J F Kennedy International Airport. Aircraft caught in what would be the first documented "Wind Shear" event. Pilot caught an updraft, put the "stick" forward to correct for it, and caught the downdraft on the other side. Hit the landing lights towers and crashed before the pilot could react, and attempt to pull up for a "go-around". Responded as a part of Peninsula Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

US Air Flight 1010, crashed on a failed takeoff attempt at La Guardia International Airport (somewhere 1985 to 1995). Wrongly set control wing surface caused too much drag, the aircraft never achieved flight air speed, also didn't attempt to stop until too late. Rolled off the end of the runway into the waters of the Bowery Bay, Flushing, Queens County, NY. One person on the aircraft killed, by a piling in the bay came up through the floor on impact, crushing him into the ceiling. Responded with the PVAC, but all except the deceased had already been evacuated from the plane, and the scene.

A small news reporter (height, not importance) was doing a "stand-up" live-remote from the scene, and an imposingly large member of the Peninsula Volunteer Ambulance Corps, in "Team" Jacket, was standing just behind her. Someone else from PVAC told him to turn around, away from the camera, and all replays of the report showed our Corps' logo.

November 12, 2001. American Airlines Flight 587, moments after takeoff, reportedly ran into turbulence from another jet. Allegedly, the pilot over-corrected for the turbulence with such excessive force on the control surfaces, that the composit material tail fin and both engines of the Airbus 300 type aircraft broke off. The plane crashed in the Belle Harbor section of the Rockaways Peninsula, Queens County, NY, killing all 260 on board, and 5 more, in their houses, on the ground.

This incident happened a half mile from my residence. I responded, off duty, from my house, and was on scene for about 7 and a half hours, as a member of the FDNY EMS Command.

(FYI: the National Transportation Safety Board blames the pilot's actions. My locals blame the composit material used in the Airbus 300 series of jets, as this stuff has failed, but not as spectacularly, on other Airbus 300 series jets. The Canadian equivalent of the NTSB, using the same data as the NTSB, seems to be in some agreement with my locals, that it was aircraft structural failure, and not pilot error, but the NTSB still wants to keep the blame on the pilot.

Keep selling defective aircraft, guys, tomorrow the airplane will fall on your house)

Summer, 2005. Multiple drowning in "Rip" currents in the waters off the Rockaways, with NYPD and FDNY regular and specialty units, as well as the US Coast Guard, assisting each other in the rescue/recovery operation.

Channel 2 WCBS/TV news crew interviewed me, off duty, no uniform, wearing an imitation Aussie "Slouch" hat, commenting on the fact that the rip currents of the water are difficult for the locals who know of them, and potentially even more dangerous for the "day trippers" who ventured into these waters after the lifeguards had gone home for the day (Summer coverage only, 10 AM to 6 PM. Local issue of trying to extend the hours for the water, the beach itself, and the boardwalk, then as now, continue between us Rockawayites and the New York City Parks Department).

The news report had me by name, and identifying me as a spokesman for the FDNY. Not usually a problem, but I was on an extended leave at the time! I called up my captain to let him know, just in case there was a problem. There wasn't.

[Richard B the EMT]

Just thought of a few more. I was also on the scenes, and if I was actually seen by the press, nobody has mentioned it to me.

Eastern Airlines Flight 66, in June of 1975, crashed on Rockaway Blvd near Brookville Blvd, Jamaica/Rosedale area, Queens County, NY, with 113 dead. Only first 20 feet of the 727 made it into the outer perimeter fence at J F Kennedy International Airport. Aircraft caught in what would be the first documented "Wind Shear" event. Pilot caught an updraft, put the "stick" forward to correct for it, and caught the downdraft on the other side. Hit the landing lights towers and crashed before the pilot could react, and attempt to pull up for a "go-around". Responded as a part of Peninsula Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

US Air Flight 1010, crashed on a failed takeoff attempt at La Guardia International Airport (somewhere 1985 to 1995). Wrongly set control wing surface caused too much drag, the aircraft never achieved flight air speed, also didn't attempt to stop until too late. Rolled off the end of the runway into the waters of the Bowery Bay, Flushing, Queens County, NY. One person on the aircraft killed, by a piling in the bay came up through the floor on impact, crushing him into the ceiling. Responded with the PVAC, but all except the deceased had already been evacuated from the plane, and the scene.

A small news reporter (height, not importance) was doing a "stand-up" live-remote from the scene, and an imposingly large member of the Peninsula Volunteer Ambulance Corps, in "Team" Jacket, was standing just behind her. Someone else from PVAC told him to turn around, away from the camera, and all replays of the report showed our Corps' logo.

November 12, 2001. American Airlines Flight 587, moments after takeoff, reportedly ran into turbulence from another jet. Allegedly, the pilot over-corrected for the turbulence with such excessive force on the control surfaces, that the composit material tail fin and both engines of the Airbus 300 type aircraft broke off. The plane crashed in the Belle Harbor section of the Rockaways Peninsula, Queens County, NY, killing all 260 on board, and 5 more, in their houses, on the ground.

This incident happened a half mile from my residence. I responded, off duty, from my house, and was on scene for about 7 and a half hours, as a member of the FDNY EMS Command.

(FYI: the National Transportation Safety Board blames the pilot's actions. My locals blame the composit material used in the Airbus 300 series of jets, as this stuff has failed, but not as spectacularly, on other Airbus 300 series jets. The Canadian equivalent of the NTSB, using the same data as the NTSB, seems to be in some agreement with my locals, that it was aircraft structural failure, and not pilot error, but the NTSB still wants to keep the blame on the pilot.

Keep selling defective aircraft, guys, tomorrow the airplane will fall on your house)

Summer, 2005. Multiple drowning in "Rip" currents in the waters off the Rockaways, with NYPD and FDNY regular and specialty units, as well as the US Coast Guard, assisting each other in the rescue/recovery operation.

Channel 2 WCBS/TV news crew interviewed me, off duty, no uniform, wearing an imitation Aussie "Slouch" hat, commenting on the fact that the rip currents of the water are difficult for the locals who know of them, and potentially even more dangerous for the "day trippers" who ventured into these waters after the lifeguards had gone home for the day (Summer coverage only, 10 AM to 6 PM. Local issue of trying to extend the hours for the water, the beach itself, and the boardwalk, then as now, continue between us Rockawayites and the New York City Parks Department).

The news report had me by name, and identifying me as a spokesman for the FDNY. Not usually a problem, but I was on an extended leave at the time! I called up my captain to let him know, just in case there was a problem. There wasn't.

[Richard B the EMT]

Sorry about the double, the system crashed just as I sent the post.

And yet another one, but this time, not a plane crash.

June 2/June 3, 1993. A rusty, old "tramp" cargo ship, named the "Golden Venture", ran aground on the ocean side of the Fort Tilden section of the Gateway National Recreational Area, in the Roxbury section of the Rockaway Peninsula, Queens County, New York.

That a small cargo ship ran aground was, in itself, a newsworthy item. The real reason it got national, probably international, coverage, was the cargo it carried: 310 would-be illegal immigrants, mostly from the Fijian (spelling?) Provence of mainland China! The "cargo" had revolted, taken over the vessel, and had run it aground with intent to enter the United States, one way or another.

Ten drowned while trying to escape the ship, at least one of them died of Cardiac Arrest.

While this area is dually covered by the National Park Police New York Field Office, and the NYPD 100th Precinct in Queens, the NYPD brought down almost the entire compliment of the 6th Precinct, from Manhattan.

The 6th covers Chinatown, and we needed translators.

I still have no idea, all this time later, how many fire fighters, NYPD Officers, National Parks Police, US Coast Guard, gynormis numbers of federal "initial" agencies (INS, FBI), and their assorted vehicles, boats and helicopters, were on this.

As for ambulances? Easily 100+ of them. I still wonder how fast that one with Pennsylvania plates got there, crossing New Jersey, and Staten Island, NY, with a run through Brooklyn, to get there.

A plan was made, to transport them to 2 buildings in the fort. They'd enter from one door, be contained, and, if necessary, be taken to get medical attention via the other. This was quickly stopped by the INS, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (I did say the "initial" agencies, didn't I?), who wanted to move EVERYBODY to the local hospital (Peninsula Hospital Center) to be checked, and then transported BACK to the 2 buildings at Fort Tilden!

With obvious language barriers, after the survivors were moved from the beach front to the buildings, by NYC MTA buses (Metropolitan Transportation Authority, so more initials) brought in from a Brooklyn depot, and we started to process them: Triage tags, BPs, pulse rates, respirations. "Miming" going to the bathroom got laughs in several languages, but got bathroom breaks for those who needed to go.

I responded in my POV, off duty, after hearing a lot of sirens heading in, and hearing a report on NYPD Citywide radio. I stayed there until released, roughly 16 hours later, after already having pulled my usual 8 hours at my regular assignment. I was awake for something over 36 hours, ultimately. I also had to explain to my regular supervisors why I wasn't coming in that day, who didn't want to accept it, until I told them, as per the Queens Division Chief in charge, that he had authorized it.

A quick mention. Roxbury is a private "gated" community. Amongst the alarms being transmitted, like "Ship aground," and "Someone on the boat is shooting at us!" the locals were calling in to their security and the 100th precinct, that there were Chinese people, soaking wet, randomly knocking on doors, pantomiming for "Telephone", and waving around hundred dollar bills, at midnight.

Surprisingly, with all of these rescuers stumbling around in the sand, in the dark, one Paramedic became the only injured rescuer, a twisted ankle suffered when someone gave either an order, or gave permission, for that patient that had the cardiac arrest, to be airlifted out, by NYPD helicopter. Due to the excitement, she didn't feel it until her partner picked her up again, at the NYPD Aviation Base, across Jamaica Bay, in Brooklyn, at the Floyd Bennett Field section of Gateway National Recreation Area.

As for me, while I never got closer than 3/4 mile from the ship, it was very "Apocalypse Now", with the silhouette of the ship seen in the floodlights from the orbiting helicopters.

Side note: 2 years or so later, another illegal immigrant boat was captured off, I think, Boston, Massachusetts, and one of the passengers was identified as having been on the Golden Venture, and had been sent back to China. This time, the INS let him stay.