Question about Workers and OSW

[FDNYSTATENISLAND]

So I was looking at the Runs & Workers section on FDNewYork.com, (ran by Frank D, a member of this site I believe) and I saw that there were categories named "Workers and "OSW". I know that OSW means occupied structural worker. Can anyone please explain what exactly a Worker is and OSW for that matter? I like how the site also has an All-Hands category too, that gives more of an idea on how many AH's the company operated at.

Thanks, - Nick

* Also cool to see the Top 10 in the city for runs and workers as well, interesting to see how the companies change through the years. Looks like there were companies up there back in the day of late 70s and 80s that you wouldn't see in the Top 10 today like L109, T114 and L148. I know these companies are still fairly busy companies today, safe to say they were always busy. Just recently learned of the arson that occurred in the Borough Park, Sunset Park, and Bay Ridge areas during that time period.*

 

[firstdue]

As far as i know the OSW stands for occupied structure workers which means fires, the all hands section means anything that all hands were used (obviously) but that could mean a car accident or even a gas leak which i believed happened last week in Queens. So the section that really matters would be OSW lol at least to me.

 

[FDNYSTATENISLAND]

Thank you for clearing things up, firstdue.

 

[MP1234]

OSW's also include 10-26's.

 

[SI1075]

i believe a worker is any time a company was utilized for any emergency etc,
osw can include anything from 10-26, 10-32 or any time there is a "fire"  fire being trash basket, papers, mattress smoldering etc,  anytime you hear a report and they use the word "fire" even if a 10-18 was used its an osw, that explains the big difference in OSW's and 10-75's which is a new category in all the runs and worker reports, 

 

[fdhistorian]

[size=10pt]
eng1ine  Guest
Re: Definition of a Worker.
? Reply #1 on: October 22, 2007, 03:24:04 PM ?

    Quote

A "worker" is any response where the members get off the apparatus and do any "work", whether it be firefighting, investigation, or EMS... they're all workers.

To preclude the obvious follow-up question, an "OSW" is an "Occupied Structural Worker", which means the company responded to an incident where there was any smoke or fire in a non-vacant residential building... anything from food on the stove or bad light ballast through 10th alarm qualifies.

The fire companies don't keep stats on responses to or work in vacant or commercial buildings, however the battalion chiefs do, and these numbers are released annually along with the Runs/Workers/OSW's rundown by company[/size]

Found this explanation posted in 2007.  When you look at the R&W stats from the War Years, companies would have 8,000+ runs and 5,000+ workers.  Clearly the definition of worker was not simply 'working fires.'  A company that responded on a 10-92, made a search, used their keys to rewind the box, and wrote a report, would have had a worker.  'First Due' might be most descriptive of a 'Worker.'

 

[Ghetto Gladiator]

Historian, right on da money.  Some co's and some bosses (not all) would take a mark for work at a Micky if they made a search.  The truth during 60s and 70s was structural fires, not many were occupied so osw didn't Come into play.  Co would have 9000 runs but only 2500 structural fires....did I say only?didnt count dumpsters or cars

 

[mack]

Squad companies in the late 1960s were good examples of companies who had a lot of runs with a relatively low percentage of workers.  These were early war years manpower units in busy fire areas who had 8000-10000 runs a year with maybe 1500 workers.  They responded from box to box and usually went right back into service w/o being used.  They were disbanded as the war years progressed into the 1970s and very busy companies had 2nd sections organized to help with the workload.

As L-103 said, I think most busy companies wanted structural fires and did not care about run totals.  Who cared if you had 20 or 30 runs a tour?  It was all about the fires that you caught.  There were no computer tickets assigning units to incidents.  Companies picked up trash fires, car accidents, minor emergencies frequently without taking credit or going out of service.  If a busy company had 20 runs on a night tour, they could have taken credit for another 5 or 6 if the officer wanted to fill out paperwork.

     

 

[68jk09]

SQs in the '60s did a lot of running but also did a lot of work...they may not have taken credit for all of it on paper but they got some good pieces of many Jobs.

 

[fdny1075k]

I might be wrong here, but during the War Years, with busy companies getting relocated to slower areas of the city after a certain number of runs per tour to give the company some rest, I heard somewhere that some busy companies wouldn't record runs they got after a certain number so that they wouldn't be relocated.

 

[Ghetto Gladiator]

The boss would always ask the 3 or 4 guys coming back for thier  2nd nite if they wanted to interchange.  I'm sure he's still got some runs under his tie clasp....I think it was 20 runs or 6hours fire duty you could interchange

 

[mack]

R&W 1964-1975 - As war years activity increased, squads initially had a lot of runs with low percentage of them workers.  They were very busy companies and saw a lot of fires, but they responded in vans with masks and a few tools for manpower so their use was limited except at large fires. By the mid-1970s, this changed.  They responded with pumpers and could operate independently as an engine company. 





Squads with 7000 non-working runs:

 

[68jk09]

I might be wrong here, but during the War Years, with busy companies getting relocated to slower areas of the city after a certain number of runs per tour to give the company some rest, I heard somewhere that some busy companies wouldn't record runs they got after a certain number so that they wouldn't be relocated.

Yes... back then many things were "omitted" to avoid the interchange.