BAMSAR MINUTES
Minutes of the January, 2008, BAMSAR meeting, held at Mastic Beach. Thanks to Bill Biondi and Mastic Beach FD Dive Team for their hospitality.
Present: Bayport, Hagerman, Bellport, Brookhaven, Mastic Beach, Mastic and Center Moriches.
Excused: South Country, Ed Michels (EHTMP), Jim Bowra (SCSD) and Coast Guard.
Old Business:
Coast Guard boat operator class: John was in contact with Sector Long Island Sound, and it was explained to him that the Coast Guard did not anticipate issuing certificates for this class. The county Voc. Board also refuses to issue certificates for something that they didn’t teach, so, we could make something up, if necessary. The Coast Guard expects to hold a refresher for this class again, this year.
Additional boat ops course: Mastic also asked if we could get Ed Michels (East Hampton Marine Patrol) to come to BAMSAR and give us a boat ops course, as well. John will contact Ed and give a report at the March meeting.
Dive Rescue Course: If any Department has any personnel wishing to be certified to Public Safety Rescue Diver, we need the names of those personnel, no later than 15 February, in order to determine whether we will run the course again this year. The cost is $150 and is usually run on Thursday and Friday night, and all day Saturday and Sunday, for a total of four days. Send the names to either Tim Dahlen, e-mail: TSDahlen@optonline.net, or John Foley, e-mail: o_foghladha@yahoo.com.
New Business:
The first part of the meeting was a very informative talk, given by Captain Bill Hannan, pilot of Marine Company 6, of the FDNY. Bill touched on maritime incident safety, both afloat and ashore, the FDNY marine fleet, FDNY dive teams and their procedures, and tips on how to conduct successful marine rescue and firefighting operations. He also shared some of his experiences as a diver, firefighter and harbor pilot. “Thank you” to Bill for an enjoyable program.
Mastic has set up a pool dive on Sunday, the 21st of January, at the Lab. Anyone wishing to be included in this dive must submit their names to Craig Diaz (diazc@bnl.gov) or John Foley (o_foghladha@yahoo.com) by no later than 15 January, in order to be placed on the access list.
The website has been experiencing some problems, which the Bill Biondi, Tim Dahlen and the Webmaster have been working with the web host to resolve.
The incident on the bay, back in November, where the Police helo was used to airlift two boaters to shore, was discussed. Shallow draft fire units were not dispatched. Problem was not with the PD units, or the Coast Guard, but with the communications end of things. FRES and PD higher-ups are working to resolve this.
Bill Biondi is working on trying to straighten out our access to the Mastic YMCA pool. More about this at a later meeting.
There will be a grant-writing seminar at the end of this month. Further details will be sent by the Chief’s Council to each fire house.
The calendar was drawn up for the year. It is as follows:
March 13th Center Moriches
May 8th Hagerman
July 10th Bellport
September 11th Open (Need sponsor)
November 13th Mastic
All meetings start at 1930.
Annual dues notices will be going out with the hardcopy of the minutes. The dues are $100, and will be due no later than the March meeting.
Elections were held, and Tim Dahlen was reelected President; Bill Biondi, reelected Vice President; and John Foley, reelected Secretary.
Training:
Bayport: February, 9th & 10th, 2008; Annual ice rescue course. All welcome. Contact Barry Lipsky (e-mail: Barry@Lipskyenterprises.com) for more info.
If anyone has, or knows of, any training going on that may be of interest to the membership, please feel free to send notice of the training to either the BAMSAR webmaster at mailto:webmaster@bamsar.org, or to the Secretary, at o_foghladha@yahoo.com.
Next meeting: Thursday, 13 March, 2008, at 1930, at Center Moriches FD. Charlie Abbene, SCPD Marine Bureau, will be our guest speaker. Anyone needing directions, or organizations that cannot hold their scheduled meeting, please contact the Secretary.
Any corrections, additions, or questions; please contact the Secretary.
Respectfully,
John Foley