Toyota dealer gives emergency responders hybrid lesson

By CATHERINE L. FOLEY
THE JOURNAL NEWS

Original publication: March 31, 2006

POMONA ? Toyota's hybrid vehicles were demystified last night for about 150 emergency responders from Rockland, Westchester, Orange and Bergen counties.

Paul Miller Toyota of Monsey hosted the seminar at the county Fire Training Center, highlighting the major differences between Toyota's hybrid Prius and Hylander and conventional cars in emergency situations.

"It's a system that's fantastic for the public. It just adds a new twist to what we need to do," county Training Officer Peter Byrne said. "There were a lot of myths, half-truths out there." John Durso, a Toyota Motor Corp. service training specialist, showed responders how to identify a Toyota hybrid and determine if it is running, and where the various power components are located, including high-voltage cables run underneath.

"What I wanted them to get tonight is how easy it is to power it off, and don't be afraid of the car," Durso said after the presentation. "They should not be scary cars."

He said Toyota hybrids' high-voltage battery packs shut off immediately when the vehicles' computer sensors detect an accident, making them safe for extrication and other emergency maneuvers as responders help victims.

Durso also explained how emergency responders can determine if the high-voltage system does not power down and the various ways responders can disable it, and also how to disable power to the air bag system if the air bags don't deploy.

"It's new technology that really needs to get out to these guys," Jonathan Brett, Paul Miller Toyota's general manager, said. "We think it's important and we like to support the community."

Ted Ruehl, a Tallman volunteer firefighter, worked with the dealership to organize the seminar. It initially was going to be for Tallman firefighters, but Ruehl said he got the county involved because the information needed to get out to more responders. He was impressed with the turnout. "We should do it again," he said.

The Monsey dealership on Route 59 brought several hybrids to the seminar, which responders looked at after the presentation as Toyota technicians showed them the unique features. Congers Fire Chief Tom Shields said the seminar was interesting. "I never realized how to power it down. I thought there was one battery pack, but there's actually two. It's nice to show us these cars. Now I'll have a better idea of how to do it," he said. "I think other manufacturers should step in like Toyota did and come around and do the same thing."

Pearl River Fire Chief Bill Harris said the seminar was helpful. "It's more education that our guys need," he said. "We need to know in a split second what to do. These people are taking steps to help us know what's going on."

Whether it was to enjoy the rides or pay tribute to Congers resident and volunteer firefighter George Wohl, people enjoyed having the volunteer Fire Department's carnival brought back to the hamlet this weekend.

"It's good for the people of the town," said Congers volunteer firefighter Phil Leto. The department's first carnival since 1985 was a "huge success," he said.

The carnival was hosted by the Fire Department and held in the memory of Wohl, who had suggested for the past several years the department bring back its annual carnival.

Wohl had remembered the carnival from when he was growing up in Congers, Leto has said. Wohl wanted to revive the tradition for the hamlet's children.

But Wohl, 59, died in December after he fell from a ladder putting up Christmas decorations outside his Lenox Avenue home. The department's fire alarm sounded and he apparently slipped off the ladder and struck his head in trying to respond to the call.

He died from his injuries later that day at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla. He was the third member of his department to die in the line of duty.

Lifelong Congers resident Mary Livsey, who was Wohl's neighbor, came to the carnival all four nights. The carnival, she said, was a "great idea."

"I saw a lot of old familiar faces I haven't seen in a long time. I think it brings the town back together," said Livsey, who attended yesterday with her 11-year-old daughter, Cassandra, and said she brought her 5-year-old son, Jonathan, to Friday's fireworks display. The carnival began Thursday night.

New City resident Patricia McMahon came yesterday with her daughter, Kathleen, and 8-year-old granddaughter, Brianna.

"I think they should have it more often," McMahon said as she watched her granddaughter ride down a long bumpy slide on a burlap sack. "It's good for the kids."

The money raised will go toward the Congers Fire Department's 110th anniversary celebration in September 2005, when it will host the Rockland County Volunteer Fire Department Association's parade.

"Every day since Thursday there has been a steady crowd of people," said Leto, adding that "Friday night was exceptional" because of the fireworks. It was the first time in the hamlet's history that fireworks were held held in Congers, and the attraction drew 5,000 to 6,000 people.

At almost every monthly meeting for the past several years, Congers volunteer firefighter George Wohl would suggest that the department bring back its annual carnival.

"It brought back childhood memories of when he was a kid," said Phil Leto, also a Congers volunteer firefighter. "He grew up in Congers, and every year there was always a little carnival for a couple of days. He missed that part. I guess he wanted to carry on that tradition."

When Wohl, a 34-year member of the department, brought up the carnival idea again last June, Leto, who was then the Congers fire chief, told Wohl that he would help him organize one. Soon afterward the men booked a carnival, which begins tonight and lasts until Sunday. The last Congers carnival was in 1985.

While the carnival is expected to bring out most of Congers, Wohl will not be there.

Wohl, 59, died in December. He had been on a ladder putting up Christmas decorations outside his Lenox Avenue home when the department's fire alarm sounded. He apparently slipped off the ladder and struck his head as he responded to the call.

Wohl was airlifted to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla and died later that day from head injuries. He was the third member of his department to die in the line of duty.

"Like I said, it's just a terrible thing that happened," Leto said. "Finally after all these years of mentioning (the carnival), it comes together and he suddenly passes away."

Leto said this year's carnival will honor Wohl. "It saddens me that he can't be here, but I am happy it's in his name."

Kathryn Wohl, the late firefighter's wife of almost 31 years, said she was surprised when she found out that the department was dedicating the carnival to her husband.

"I fell to pieces" when she first saw the carnival signs posted in her neighborhood, she said.

"I know he drove them nuts (about the carnival)," she said. "He literally drove them nuts. For years, I kept saying, 'Let it go, let it go, let it go.' "

"He always wanted to get something like this going for the Fire Department," John Wohl said. "Hopefully it will do well and everybody will have a good time."

Leto said there are going to be more than a dozen rides, including, a merry-go-round, a Ferris wheel and a "Super Slide." There will also be food, from hamburgers and hot dogs to zeppole.

The Fire Department will also have a booth where it will be selling navy blue T-shirts that read "Congers Fire Department."

Proceeds from the carnival will be used to help pay for the department's 110th anniversary in September 2005 and the Rockland County Volunteer Firemen's Association parade, which the department is hosting.

Kathryn Wohl said she planned to attend the department's fireworks display tomorrow night.

"One thing George always loved was fireworks," she said. "Wherever there were fireworks, he was there."

MONTEBELLO � After a weekend as cold as this past one, it's probably good to put the plumber's telephone number on speed dial.

Chris Raffa spent a few hours at Pam Weinstein's yesterday, thawing frozen pipes that had shut down the heating system for the downstairs, relegating family life to the upstairs for two days.

"I have a 4-month-old," Weinstein said yesterday as Raffa used a thawing machine on the house's pipes to get water circulating. "I've been keeping her upstairs. We moved all her toys up there."

The mild snow that came yesterday after the cold snap added to problems. Some schools opened late, and highway crews watched for slippery roads. Companies like Raffa's have been working more overtime than usual, even for this time of year.

"It's unbelievable," said Linda Raffa, one of the owners of Pat Raffa Plumbing, Heating and Air-Conditioning Inc. in Haverstraw. "On Friday we probably did 50 percent more business than usual and Saturday we did twice as much as we usually do."

Forecasts call for temperatures pushing toward zero for the rest of the week and the early part of the weekend, with estimates of 2 to 4 inches of snow overnight tomorrow into Thursday.

"That's our next shot of arctic air," said Nelson Vaz of the National Weather Service. "With the winds picking up to 15 to 20 mph, The wind chill's going to feel like 10 below Tuesday into Wednesday. And that's pretty much going to stay with us into the weekend."

By Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, temperatures will be back to more seasonable levels, near freezing, Vaz said.

Over the weekend, Congers Fire Chief Ken Kunz said his company was called out a couple of times for frozen pipes, which trip automatic alarms in empty commercial buildings when the heating systems shut down.

Another incident involved a resident who left the spigot open at one end of his frozen pipes as he thawed the pipes. The man unplugged the iced pipes, Kunz said, but left his house before the water was running, so he wasn't there when it spilled over and ran under one of the outside doors.

Raffa said it takes a few hours to thaw a heating system's pipes and up to an hour to thaw water pipes.

The Weinsteins made a mistake that many homeowners make when the weather gets below 25 degrees, Raffa said. They had a fire in the fireplace. It warmed the living room enough that the downstairs thermostat shut down the basement furnace for that area.

Without the furnace running at least a little on the ground floor, the heating pipes froze.

Weinstein said she made it through Saturday without heat downstairs, but her maternal instincts brought her to her mother's house in Pearl River. That and a hankering for some of her mom's home cooking.

On weekday nights, volunteer firefighters sit in a smoke-filled metal box designed to train them to recognize the signs of a flash-over, a fire that explodes from hot gases, then races across a room faster than a human can move.

Two dozen members of the Alert Hook, Ladder and Engine Company No. 1 in Congers withstood the smoke and 800-degree heat inside the can on a recent night at the Rockland County Fire Training Center in Ramapo. Among them were new members of the Congers Fire Department, where people wanting to join may soon find themselves on a waiting list.

When many volunteer fire departments across the state and nation are watching their memberships stagnate or decline, some in Rockland are seeing theirs rise.

Since 1997, Congers' volunteer ranks have gone from 64 to 85 members. Most joined in the past three years.

Just one new member joined the Sparkill department in 1995. Last year, 11 joined that Fire Department, just four short of the total who signed up in the preceding five years.

Tappan firefighters took in 17 new volunteers last year, while the average had been four in the previous six years. The Spring Valley Fire Department, which had averaged three new members annually, grew by 15 in the year 2001.

Firefighters didn't see a connection between their rising ranks and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

"In the beginning, we had a lot of requests for applications," said former Congers Fire Chief Frank Heinemann. "But that seemed to dwindle very quickly. I think we got three people, if that."

Instead, firefighters credited many efforts, including a countywide recruitment campaign, with bolstering their ranks. They also said departments reached beyond customary sources for recruits and showed them that duty can be fun.

Christina Maffeo, 19, and Randi Dolan, 18, are among the newest of Congers' volunteers, having taken their oaths in July. They also are among nearly 100 women firefighters in Rockland.

Both acknowledged the fright they felt as they sat in the smoke and heat of the can. Learning the basics of their duties requires 39 hours of classes over 13 weeks.

"I didn't know what was going to happen," said Maffeo, a student at Rockland Community College. "It's scary to think of flash fires going over your head."

She and Dolan said they felt better for the experience. They faced a challenge and were prepared for the real thing.

"It's the most hazardous situation you'll face in the fire service," Dan Perrella, training officer for the Congers department, said of flashovers as a group prepared to enter the can, a room fabricated from two shipping containers.

The fire would pass over them on this night, but the training exercise would allow them to see how the smoky gases could build up and lead to a dangerous flash.

"When the fire comes at you, it comes at you from floor to ceiling. There's nowhere to go except where you came from," Perrella said of the real thing.

A week earlier, Dolan and Maffeo had relaxed at a picnic after a Fire Department golf outing. There were hot dogs and hamburgers, cold drinks and raffles.

Congers' Assistant Chief Kenneth Kunz said volunteers couldn't be made to feel that firefighting was a second job.

"You have to make it fun, too," Kunz said. "It has to be something that people want to do."

"It had just become work," he recalled. "You'd clean the firehouse, clean the trucks, get things done. It became like another job."

So a family picnic was resurrected after a 15-year hiatus. A bowling team was organized. The golf outing was reactivated.

"It's not just a golf outing," Chief Philip Leto said as firefighters returned from the links while others played boccie. "It's a fund-raiser, too. This is one of the things that makes it good."

He said half the membership came to the firehouse Sundays for equipment inspections.

"You have to be ready for any incident at any time," said Leto, a New York City firefighter.

He and other volunteers talked about contributing to their community, and the camaraderie from working with neighbors.

Charles Caselli, a Congers firefighter for 27 years and a Clarkstown Highway Department worker, had childhood memories.

"I'd watch the trucks going by with the lights flashing and the siren going, and I'd say that when I got older, I was going to do that," Caselli said. "Then the more you're into it, you don't want to be out of the loop. You find out what's going on in the county in general, not just Congers. You meet a lot of people from departments all over the county, even in the state. It's a big brotherhood, and you don't want to lose that bond."

All of Rockland and Putnam counties depend on volunteer firefighters. Westchester's largest communities have paid fire departments; others have combined paid and volunteer units. Nearly 75 percent of the nation's 1 million firefighters are volunteers.

The number of volunteers in the state and in the nation has declined by as much as 10 percent since the mid-1980s, according to the National Volunteer Fire Council and the state Office of Fire Prevention and Control. Reasons cited included the increase of two-income families, more rigorous training standards and competing demands on time.

"We're bucking a trend here in Rockland County," said Gordon Wren Jr., the county's fire coordinator, "and the reason is that we started a recruitment and retention committee three years ago."

Firefighters visit schools and launched an advertising campaign paid for by Orange and Rockland Utilities. They speak to civic groups to inspire prospective members and dispel notions that firehouses are all-male, all-white domains.

"It feels like a high school, because there are so many young people," Wren said of evenings at the Fire Training Center. "Some get dropped off by their parents because they can't drive at night."

Yet, there's still a lot to do, he acknowledged, noting that of Rockland's 3,000 volunteers, nearly two-thirds were senior citizens or were not actively fighting fires. Such volunteers may direct traffic, assist the chief, communicate with other departments on radio and oversee first-aid operations.

Departments still are looking to increase their memberships. One plan calls for departments successful in recruiting to share their experiences with others.

Wren also thinks rules should not be so strict that volunteers face automatic termination for not responding to a set number of alarms. Work and family situations have to be considered.

"It has to be enjoyable," Wren said. "You don't want to be yelled at by a drill sergeant."

The Congers Volunteer Fire Department raised more than $5,000 yesterday at its golf outing at the Rockland Lake Championship Golf Course.

Kevin McGrade and Keith Brennan, co-chairmen of the event, said the proceeds would go toward the celebration of the department's 110th anniversary in 2005, when the department is expected to host the annual Rockland County Volunteer Firemen's Association convention and parade.

There were 121 golfers participating in yesterday's event. In addition to Congers firefighters, volunteers from Valley Cottage, New City, Nanuet, West Haverstraw, Nyack and other departments were represented.

Participants also came from from the Rockland County Sheriff's Department and the Clarkstown Patrolmen's Benevolent Association.

LIFE may have been going on around them, but it seemed that for the two dozen volunteer firefighters, yesterday morning stood still.

Automobiles buzzed past Alert Hook, Ladder and Engine Co. No. 1 on Lake Road in Congers, and just down the block, a harsh whistle announced the passage of a CSX freight train through the hamlet.

The line of firefighters in their dress blues extended across the driveway as Kevin Reynolds, a volunteer for 33 years, pulled a yellow rope that elicited five evenly spaced gongs from the firehouse bell.

It was the traditional way of announcing the death of a firefighter on a day when he and his comrades were remembering 343 firefighters whose lives were lost at the Twin Towers.

"The waste of all those lives," Reynolds, 64, said later of his thoughts while ringing the bell. "I had worked there when they built the World Trade Center. I was a cable splicer for Con Ed, and I did a lot of work around there. Week by week, I saw it going up. It was a sight to see. It wasn't a good sight to see it come down."

A recording of "God Bless America" was followed by another of Alan Jackson singing: "Where were you when the world stopped turning. ... Did you weep for the children who lost their dear loved ones? Did you bust out and cry for the red, white and blue?"

Firefighters took turns at a microphone reading the names of other firefighters who had answered their last alarm a year ago. The Rev. Arthur Mastrolia of St. Paul's Church said the Firefight-

"It got tougher as the names went on," said Christie Capello of the department's auxiliary. "You hear the first five, then the first 10, then it's 30. Reality sets in. As it went on, it got harder and harder to hear each name."

"We graduated together from Clarkstown North High School," Congers fire Chief Kenneth Kunz said of Marshall. "You lose one, it hurts. You lose 343, it hurts more. Standing here a year later, it's tough."

Congers firefighters were among those from 10 Rockland departments dispatched to Westchester a year ago after the terrorist attack.

"We thought we were going down there," Kunz recalled. "It was total shock. We were concerned about our loved ones. We didn't know if there would be other attacks. We were in Westchester for 16 hours."

The observance began with silence at 8:46 a.m., the time the first plane hit, and ended at 10:30 a.m. with a recording of bagpipes playing "Amazing Grace."

"There are tears for the families," said farmer Niles Davies Jr., a volunteer for 46 years. "I think of Danny Marshall all the time. I didn't know him, but his sister, Doreen, was a baby sitter for us and worked at our farm stand."