FDNY TIRE TRUCK OPERATING

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Nov 1, 2016
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A FDNY TIRE TRUCK CREW MEMBER CHANGING A TIRE ON THE FDNY DIVISION 3 MESSENGER UNIT ON AMSTERDAM AVENUE ON THE UPPER WEST SIDE AREA OF MANHATTAN IN NEW YORK CITY. THESE FDNY FLEET SERVICES MEMBERS ARE A INTEGRAL PART OF THE FDNY AND CONDUCT THIS OPERATION MULTIPLE TIMES A DAY ALL ACROSS THE ENTIRE CITY.
 
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Nov 2, 2020
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Years ago when EMS was under the auspices of the Health & Hospitals Corp. if an ambulance had a front flat the patrol Lt. had to go back to the station, load the floor jack, lug wrench and spare tire into his vehicle and bring it to the unit to change. If it was a flat on one of the rear duals the crew could nurse it back to the station to change. Tire changing on a NYC ambulance was taught as part of the EVOC course back then.
 
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Jun 22, 2007
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Years ago when EMS was under the auspices of the Health & Hospitals Corp. if an ambulance had a front flat the patrol Lt. had to go back to the station, load the floor jack, lug wrench and spare tire into his vehicle and bring it to the unit to change. If it was a flat on one of the rear duals the crew could nurse it back to the station to change. Tire changing on a NYC ambulance was taught as part of the EVOC course back then.

"memorymaster", Charlie T.,

Wow the stories I have heard of the days of NYC-EMS prior to the merging of the FDNY has been unbelievable.

Just on this site alone, you; "johnnygage" and "69mets" who all worked back there in those days and your stories tell of almost prehistoric times within the EMS by today's standards.

How you guys did it is totally Unbelievable. "BUT YOU DID" and in doing so, how many people did you help and even save their lives. Basically all by yourselves.

These days we know that things have certainly changed. We have guys like "lebby", Phillip D, on this site who keeps us all up to date and is helping people and saving lives just like you did, but under much better conditions.

For those who may not know, this sites owner, FDNY Lt Tommy Bendick also worked for the NYC-EMS prior to the FDNY merging and his FDNY career today.

Also as pointed out here, the FDNY Tire Truck crew care for the year round tire maintenance of on going business of responding to the huge number of emergencies and fires throughout the largest city in this Country. They are a vital service to the city, it's people and it's visitors.

"THANK YOU and Hat's off guys for the Great Job YOU Do".
 
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Jan 11, 2016
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2,230


A FDNY TIRE TRUCK CREW MEMBER CHANGING A TIRE ON THE FDNY DIVISION 3 MESSENGER UNIT ON AMSTERDAM AVENUE ON THE UPPER WEST SIDE AREA OF MANHATTAN IN NEW YORK CITY. THESE FDNY FLEET SERVICES MEMBERS ARE A INTEGRAL PART OF THE FDNY AND CONDUCT THIS OPERATION MULTIPLE TIMES A DAY ALL ACROSS THE ENTIRE CITY.
very true, very important and bunch of good guys
 
Joined
Jul 25, 2018
Messages
437
"memorymaster", Charlie T.,

Wow the stories I have heard of the days of NYC-EMS prior to the merging of the FDNY has been unbelievable.

Just on this site alone, you; "johnnygage" and "69mets" who all worked back there in those days and your stories tell of almost prehistoric times within the EMS by today's standards.

How you guys did it is totally Unbelievable. "BUT YOU DID" and in doing so, how many people did you help and even save their lives. Basically all by yourselves.

These days we know that things have certainly changed. We have guys like "lebby", Phillip D, on this site who keeps us all up to date and is helping people and saving lives just like you did, but under much better conditions.

For those who may not know, this sites owner, FDNY Lt Tommy Bendick also worked for the NYC-EMS prior to the FDNY merging and his FDNY career today.

Also as pointed out here, the FDNY Tire Truck crew care for the year round tire maintenance of on going business of responding to the huge number of emergencies and fires throughout the largest city in this Country. They are a vital service to the city, it's people and it's visitors.

"THANK YOU and Hat's off guys for the Great Job YOU Do".
Hey us ‘prehistoric‘ guys you mentioned had to do the jobs required. The worst was the quarterly oil change. Yes we changed the oil on the rig, each of the regular chauffeurs were scheduled to for an oil change. The procedure was to call the dispatcher and adjoining companies to ‘let them know you will be delayed’ on responses.
The best story I remember was a neighboring company had a junior chauffeur doing the oil change and he opened the tank for the tower ladder and not the oil. He had the floor covered with hydraulic fluid all over the floor! We sent over all the Baker hydraulic fluid we had to fill they’re tank and the Sanitation Dept sent over a sand truck to absorb the oil. I guess he never had to do another oil change again.
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2009
Messages
424
Most pictures of old apparatus show a spare tire on the side running board. The members would change the tire. I don't remember that but I remember the job of the MPO included tightening the lug nuts weekly. (On Sundays, if I remember correctly)
 
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May 6, 2010
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I never worked in an E or T that had a spare tire on board....however more than once on Siegel St the Great LT John W. RIP (who later became our CPT) would if we had a flat on a Front or Tiller tire have us take one of the inside dual tires off & put it on in place of the wheel that had the flat tire ......we would then respond with only one tire on one of the dual axles ....& if no ETA from the Shops we would take the flat to a local tire repair if open who would do us a solid & fix the flat......years later it became mandated that no Unit would remain In Service with a flat even if it was on a dual .....that is for safety as the Rig is designed to have two inflated tires present on the duals.....one time i was on Light Duty at the Shops due to an injury & i was delivering Tools around BKLYN .....it was a good Light Duty assignment (if you had to have one) ........riding from FH to FH in an old Chiefs Station Wagon talking to FFs you had not seen in awhile & Buffing a job here & there.....one day i was delivering to Coney Island & i got a flat on the vehicle ....i thought about calling BKLYN on the radio & asking for help but i thought "its only a flat"......i was stopped on a deserted street & i unloaded the tools i was delivering /picked up which was time consuming in itself then i lifted the rear floor panel that covered the inside well holding the spare ...the spare which laid flat bolted to the bottom of the well was completely submerged in transmission fluid !.....at some point someone must have been delivering one of the 5 gallon tin cans of tranny fluid & it must have spilled or leaked out .....what a mess....i should have gave up & called for help but i did not want to stand there like a cripple while a special called Company showed up to do it .....i got the large submerged wing nut off the spare then got the soaked spare out & replaced the flat....i took the lug wrench & punched out the rubber drain plug in the bottom of the well .....it was good that i was on a deserted street rather than draining it in front of someones house.....when i was done i was pretty much covered with tranny fluid.
 
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