Midtown traffic had a serious rush hour hiccup yesterday when a speeding SUV struck, and seriously injured, a 20-year-old woman before hitting a taxi cab and a private sanitation truck. "I saw her kind of flying in the air," Mohammed Gherabawy, whose cab was hit by the SUV told NBC. "And the guy, he was coming towards me, and I was trying to get out his way, he didn't give me no chance. He just struck me from behind." more ›

Following years of accusations of racism and lawsuits alleging discrimination, the FDNY accepted 19,260 applications from non-whites, out of the 42,161 total applicants this year. 1,952 of the applicants were women. “This is a huge step forward,” the department's assistant commissioner for recruitment Michele J. Maglione tells the Times. Michele J. Maglione. “We just opened the door to thousands of New Yorkers." more ›

Emergency services in Manhattan responded to three different "jumper down" calls this morning—one at a very tony address. Police are now investigating all three cases. more ›

Yesterday we were sent this photo of a flyer displaying a lost kitten named Carlo, a 5-month-old tabby that the firefighters on East 85th Street had taken in. It's believed the kitten ran off when the firefighters got an emergency call on Saturday night, after which time they put up flyers around the neighborhood (with the assistance of Anjellicle Cats) asking for their new feline friend to be returned. And their plan worked: Carlo is back in the firehouse! more ›

The firefighter who died fighting a Bushwick warehouse inferno yesterday was a 9/11 responder who leaves behind a wife and two children. Lt. Richard Nappi, a 17-year veteran of the department, is survived by his wife Mary Anne, his 12-year-old daughter, Catherine and his 11-year-old son, Nicholas. Mayor Bloomberg did his best to offer his condolences to Nappi's family last night, and told reporters, "It's very tragic. There's nothing we can ever say. They were in love, lived together, had kids. All of a sudden, he's gone." more ›

This sign was spotted by one of our readers on the Upper East Side this morning, put there by the firefighters at East 85th Street who have lost their kitten. It reads: "Please help find Carlo. He is a 5 month old unneutered kitten. He is missing from his post at the firehouse at 159 East 85th Street (between Lexington and 3rd Avenue). Carlo is white and orange with amber eyes. If you have seen or found Carlo please call 212-249-2762 or 646-245-2289 or bring him back to his firehouse. Thank you." more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] One firefighter died this afternoon trying to extinguish a fire at 930 Flushing Avenue, where a two story commercial building went up in flames. The firefighter has been identified as Lieutenant Rich Nappi of Engine 237. Five other firefighters were injured—four with minor injuries, and one with serious injuries—that seriously injured FDNY member is now listed in stable condition at Kings County Hospital. more ›

Over 200 firefighters responded to a four-alarm fire that broke out in a multi-family home in the Van Nest section of the Bronx yesterday. Eighteen firefighters were injured, including two who were inside the building when it partially collapsed. One resident said, "The fire was so huge. It was spreading. I was crying, screaming." more ›

On Friday, the FDNY and NYPD pulled off a dramatic rescue after three window washers were suddenly clinging to life on scaffolding that broke outside a building, 15 stories above 65th Street street. Except it turns out that the 10 minute rescue wasn't exactly pulled off in simpatico: police and firefighters launched separate rescue efforts concurrently, and have been trading barbs about it ever since. more ›

Sure, people complained when St. Vincent's Hospital closed. But now that the Fire Department wants to keep ambulances on a lot at 512 West 23rd Street, residents of fancy High Line condos are upset. One fumed at a community board meeting, "We have nieces and nephews that come to visit, and it was a nice day and they had problems going outside on the terrace because of the fumes." more ›

The Bloomberg administration has one week to release a report conducted by an outside consulting firm that reportedly shows that the city's 911 system has gotten slower to respond to emergencies and become less efficient. A spokesperson for the mayor, Marc LaVorgna, told us last week that the report was a draft: "We don't release incomplete materials or analysis." But according to the Post, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron didn't buy that argument in court today. "I trust the city is not going to obfuscate," Judge Engoron said, before derisively using the city attorney's argument in releasing his own ruling: "This is just a draft, I can't reveal it." more ›

A firefighter involved in a fatal hit-and-run in 2010 has received a plea deal that will force him to complete community service, but serve no jail time. According to Streetsblog, Pat Quagliariello, who was charged with criminally negligent homicide for fleeing the scene after his BMW SUV struck and killed Manuel Tzaj Guachiac in Bensonhurst, must give a speech at 35 high schools about "the perils of reckless and drunk driving." more ›

A report prepared by an outside consulting firm on the city's revamped 911 system claims the project—which is over budget by $1 billion and is scheduled to be implemented in 2015—has actually made emergency response time slower. "The system is as inefficient and ineffective an operation as you could get," a source told the Post. "Seconds count in emergencies. People are going to die." more ›

This photo was taken just three years after the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, on October 9th, 1914—aka Fire Prevention Day, aka Clean Up Day! According to a New York Times article published a few days before this photo was taken, "Fire Commissioner Adamson has prepared a programme, including a parade, special fire drills, moving pictures and other features. In the morning sixteen pieces of apparatus will proceed from Bowling Green for some distance up Broadway, the parade breaking up into smaller divisions when it reaches congested centres." more ›

A man was struck and killed by a Rockaway Park bound L train at the Morgan Avenue stop last night as he attempted to cross the tracks. According to the NYPD, an MTA motorman said Brooklyn resident Grzegoiz Bartosiewicz, 42, was crossing from the northbound tracks to the southbound tracks at 9:50 p.m., and was trying to climb onto the southbound platform when he was hit. Both trains in the station stopped, and the power to the tracks was shut off. The MTA confirmed that Bartosiewicz died at the scene. more ›

The Post reported on an interesting statistic: "The FDNY is writing off $120 million in EMS ambulance services provided each year to uninsured patients, a top official yesterday told the City Council." Assistant FDNY Commissioner Steve Rush explained, "If a person doesn’t have insurance, in most cases they do not pay." more ›

A federal judge has ordered the city to pay an estimated $128 million in back wages to minorities who applied to be firefighters with the FDNY, which is still 97 percent white and allegedly racist. Black and Hispanic applicants who took the department’s screening test in 1999 or 2002 and were not selected will be contacted about the settlement, which is intended to "recreate the conditions and relationships that would have been had there been no unlawful discrimination." more ›

As with every year, the FDNY has sent out a friendly public service announcement, reminding folks that this weekend is Daylight Savings Time—specifically it starts at Sunday, March 11, 2012, 2:00am (you LOSE an hour, so you move your clocks ahead an hour, e.g. 1 a.m. is 2.a.m.)— and that everyone should change their smoke detector batteries. They will be setting up 20 different locations across the five boroughs to get free smoke detector batteries, listed here. more ›

Police have been called to the Guggenheim and P.S. 290 on the Upper East Side today after reports of "suspicious powder" at both locations. The NYPD press office tells us that in both instances, the powder was enclosed in letters mailed to the addresses, and its makeup is "undetermined." more ›

A fire in a residential building near the intersection of Bedford Avenue and North 7th Street in Williamsburg was brought under control a few minutes before noon. Despite reports of the fire starting in the basement of the structure, an FDNY spokesman said it originated on the second floor, and didn't believe that Fornino Pizza, located on the ground floor of 187 Bedford Ave, had anything to do with the blaze. more ›

You may have read a "terrifying account" on the internet about a woman being arrested for carrying a dead baby on the L train last night. BuzzFeed lifts Redditor hollyholidayz's tale, which includes the detail from a man in the car with the woman and the dead baby who "said the car smelled of decomposing flesh, not the usual subway stench." We contacted the NYPD, who said they had no account of the arrest, likely because it was a false alarm. "We responded, but there was no patient," an FDNY rep tells us. "It was an EDP holding a doll." He added, "It appeared to be a Cabbage Patch doll." more ›