Picking Up by Robin Lang all about Department of Sanitation New York City

Occasionally our trucks get contaminated so we have to dump in Jersey, hence the number. Our regular offload pit is right across from Action in the south Bronx, but if it's closed we aren't allowed to dump Westchester debris at the Queens location, it has to go to NJ since a small provision in the law labels Westchester waste from manholes different than the Bronx, when it's all the same lead contaminated stuff anyway.

 

And yes lots of cabinets. We have to haul alot of gear to make a safety/work setup when we roll into location. Cones/stations/man working sign, chocks, all of our gear, hose/gun, hydraulic 2" pump and 100ft of hose to evacuate manholes/vaults, shovels/picks/hooks, spill kit. And short tubes incase we need them.

I'll prolly do one pic/story a day, time to get some rest and watch the little one.

 

This one is the later 2013 model that we received three of. 61196, 97, and 99. These had more issues with the emissions systems than the one I showed previously, but as of late all were running fine once a NOX sensor or two were replaced. The shop does a DPF cleaning on them (manual override or not) once they are ready to be picked up by their respective departments. We use a majority of Freightliner M2 chassis, whether it be our bucket trucks, Vactors, Cable Reel trucks, Cranes and Rigging (used to haul transformers or other equipment, most have a PalFinger on them), but the other day when I was with Transportation Group looking at a new F550 chassis they bought for us (making it into another support vehicle), they had a new Rodder Truck (looks like a big circular drum on the back, Verizon has them, the feed a steel wire into the cable ducts and spin the cable to clean out the dirt and debris, much like a roto-rooter), and it was based on the new Kenworth. Quite the surprise for me. I was also surprised that the rumors I heard were true, that we are no longer having step-vans made for us (think of the Grumman style bread-vans, we have the latest and greatest with LED everything and Cummins power) and are switching over to the new Ford Transits (I think thats what they are, they look like the big Sprinter vans), in either the gas or the mini Powerstroke models. I think they haul quite a bit less in tools and materials compared to the older step-vans, but they are much easier to maneuver around in the five boroughs. Time will tell.

Anyways back to the subject. These three trucks have the heated cabinet, the tall upright one and the long one across the bottom, where the rodder pump sits. Both are fed with fan heat exchangers with engine coolant, as well as the tanks on each side. They also have a much better static heat pump which can be used when the truck is off, it wont heat the water but it will keep it circulating for as long as possible. These trucks also make more power, have a heavier front axle (they run the big super sized steers on them, the 325 width tires so Im guessing a 14k front axle?). The downside? Their turning radius is worse on all of them but 99, you can wrench the crap out of the steering wheel and get a few more degrees out of it....cant be good for the pump in the long run.

That and the jake/exhaust brake is weak as heck on it, when on, either high or low, the trans stays in its current gear, and barely any slowdown. The older trucks in high, would jake a little and downshift the trans/close the vanes on the turbo and slow the truck down a bit. Switch it to low, the real jake would engage, truck would shudder and the trans would get real aggressive on downshifts and practically bring me to a stop without using the brakes, even on a steep decline loaded.

 

Well it depends I guess...my company has hundreds of other positions and I just waited until a posting came out for that department and I applied for it. Had to pray my seniority would get me a slot (if they want 3 or 4 people, I have to hope that more people with more seniority aren't applying as well), then go for the interview, pass that, then take a physical aptitude test, which I've done twice already.

I was in our Transformer Shop when I first started and transferred about 4 years in. I did Environmental Operations for 15 months, got into some heated arguments with a supervisor who was way out of line and decided it was better for me to go back to the shop now that I had a wife and kid.

There are several other companies like US Ecology, Badger, Trumpvirate, Clean Harbors, that all have specific Vactor jobs you can apply for. For some reason most of the reviews are meh trending towards 'I hate this place', so do your research before thinking about signing up. Other companies also travel away from home, sometimes up to a week or more, whereas my place was completely local and we stayed within the Bronx.

 

Not every job is routine...we'll get odd calls such as this one. During the widening of the Sheridan Expressway in the Bronx, like a good portion of the construction crews city wide, these guys neglected to dial 811 before digging. The genius in the excavator dug up a live feeder cable (13,000V) which promptly went bang and opened the switch back at the substation. I neglected to take a pic of the old cable, but it had been dug up along with its concrete duct work and was laid out like spaghetti atop the dirt. The Underground Supervisor who accompanied us to the site with his own crew gave the construction guys a good lecture about the damage they had caused. Since this was all in a construction site, we had to travel a 1/4 mile up the side street to the entrance and come down the dirt road to be able to swing out with the boom far enough.

 

Ill see if I can dig up the other accompanying photos for this one, but my partner and I were doing a hot job down on Fordham Road and Webster ave. We were packing up and saw a white Ford van go speeding by eastbound, with an unmarked silver Taurus chasing it. We looked at each other, figured it was undercover heading to a scene somewhere in both cars.

Halfway back to the yard we come to a complete stop and can see a burning car in the distance, which turned out to be said van. It was stolen, cops gave chase and the two guys wrecked it into the fence of the Bronx Zoo, which promptly caught fire. They managed to escape on foot, not sure if they were caught later. So NYPD asked us to block the road and divert traffic back up to the side streets. We got a few hours overtime for this one, the supervisor had a hard time believing us lol.