Results tagged “thefiredepartment”

The Fire Department revealed statistics showing that response times have decreased for the third year in a row. The 2007 average response time, based on 490,767 calls, was 4 minutes and 49 seconds (for FDNY & EMS services). In 2006, the average response time was 4 minutes, 54 seconds and in 2005 it was 5 minutes, 9 seconds. Response time is a general term for any sort of vehicle to come on the scene, not necessarily a fire truck, and could be for a water main break.

Yesterday morning's rain caused a recently installed sewer main to burst, flooding the basement and parking garage of a Battery Park City luxury apartment building. Water levels reached up to 20 feet. Not only were car owners greeted with news that their vehicles were either submerged or floating on top of sewer water, hundreds of tenants at 90 West Street were evacuated. Fire officials explained that, per WNBC, "rain flooded a re-routed sewer pipe,...

We love timely tips from the FDNY! The Fire Department is reminding New Yorkers that deep-frying turkeys is very, very dangerous. Why? Well, the fryers easily tip over and many fryers don't have automatic temperature control. Also, "oil may spill from the fryer onto the burner causing a fire." Underwriters Laboratories has a video of what can go wrong during turkey deep-frying and it is insane. It does seem like there's at least one deep-fried...

The Fire Department believes a bad connection from the gas line to the stove, not a gas leak, caused the explosion that caused a flash fire at 10 West 119th Street in Harlem on Saturday. Several people were injured, including four children and their mother who lived in the apartment.

A family is mourning the death of a 7-month-old boy who died during an electrical fire on East 3rd Street yesterday morning. The Fire Department believes that the fire was caused by a "faulty timer that was rigged to an air conditioner in the baby's third-floor room."

Yet another depressing fact revealed about the Deutsche Bank demolition in the wake of two firefighters' deaths. The NY Times reports that contractors had created an emergency exit plan through sealed stairwells, but the firefighters didn't know about the plan. Fire department spokesman Francis X. Gribbon told the Times, “The Fire Department was not involved in creating this plan, specifically — and most importantly — with regard to the sealed staircases. We were not notified about it. We were not consulted about it.”

The Fire Department is investigating whether standpipes failed to bring firefighters water to help fight a seven-alarm fire that broke out on the 17th floor of the Deutsche Bank building on Saturday. The cause of the fire, which spread between the 14th and 26th floors of the lower Manhattan building, is also unclear, though the FDNY suspects it may have been caused by a cigarette or a faulty electrical panel.

A 46-year-old Brooklyn man shot his 21-year-old son and then turned the gun on himself in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Lebrun Dossous, who the Post and Daily News describe as being depressed (the News suggests that he was "despondent that his son was moving out"), shot his son five times while he was taking a shower. Then Dossous shot himself in his bedroom.

The Fire Department has revealed the cause of yesterday's fire on the roof of 515 West 34th Street: Careless smoking. There are no further details, but we imagine careless smoking means a smoker on the rooftop didn't properly extinguish a butt.

Families, neighbors, and others mourned Wednesday night's fire that gutted a 4-story Bronx home and claimed the lives of nine people, including eight children. Fire officials investigated the Highbridge section structure, which was home to twenty-two Malian immigrants and believed that a space heater on the garden floor bedroom overheated and caused the fire, which spread uncontrollably due to what the NY Times calls "the most basic of human oversights and seemingly innocuous events." The space heater apparently ignited clothes and mattresses.

The Fire Department has been working with the US Naval Research Laboratory to develop transmitting chips for firefighter's gear that will allow electronic tracking of firefighters on the scene of a blaze. The chip would have to withstand the heat, smoke and water found while fighting a fire. It would be activated when a firefighter boards a truck to respond to a call.

Yesterday afternoon, six adults and five children were stuck in an elevator for over three hours. The Fire Department was called to the Polo Grounds housing project in West Harlem when someone reported the elevator was stuck between the 15th and 16th floors.

The city's Department of Investigation revealed that 14 current city firefighters have used fake college diplomas bought online to get ahead in the FDNY. And for three of them, it worked, making their way to positions like Deputy Chief and Battalion Chief! In the FDNY, you need at least 15 college credits to be hired and more to be promoted (ten of the other eleven fake-diploma-holders eventually got enough credit later on to be legitimately hired or promoted).

It was a normal Friday morning commute on the L train for many - until some substance caused the entire line to be shut down in both directions due to what the MTA's website calls a "police investigation."

A three story building at 34 East 62nd Street, between Madison and Park Avenues, has collapsed. Reports say that there was an explosion and fire. It's unclear if there are any people inside. Fire Department staging is at East 65th Street; expect lots of traffic diversions in that area.

The Fire Department unveiled its memorial to the firefighters who "fell" and "who carry on" yesterday afternoon. The 56-foot long bas-relief is on the side of Engine Company 10 and Ladder Company 10 at 124 LIberty Street. The NY Times described it as a "full panorama, centered on the flaming towers, with heroic and humbled firefighters on either side." Almost immediately after the unveiling, family members were rubbing paper against the memorial's names. Fire Chief Peter Hayden made this pointed remark about the memorial: "We've had empty promises from empty suits, but the Fire Department has fulfilled its promise."

Gothamist now officially cannot wait for 2007: The Fire Department has released its new New York City Firefighters Calendar! Yes, it's another new edition of firefighters posing shirtless in neighborhoods and in front of landmarks, with proceeds going to the The Children's Storefront, a tuition-free school in Harlem, and the Thomas R. Elsasser Fund, which raises money for firefighters' families. You can buy the calendar online from the NYFirestore ($14.99), but we recommend heading to the Firestore's new 17 Greenwich Avenue location on Thursday, where the FDNY hunks will be signing calendars at 5-8PM.

Yesterday afternoon, a pizzeria on Avenue U in Brooklyn got an unexpected delivery - through its front facade. Linda Danielson had backed her SUV into Trio Pizzeria; she had been trying to back into a parking space, but her sandal got caught in the gas pedal! And what's more, she doesn't even have a driver's license! Holy moly, what the hell are people thinking. Danielson's accident not only caused a senior citizen to have a heart attack (her Land Rover brushed him when it was on the sidewalk), it also pinned pizza delivery man Antonio Garcia into the counter. The Fire Department had to use the jaws of life (aka the Hurst tool) and airbags (to lift the car) to get Garcia out; he has severe leg injuries.

There are a few pieces of ground zero news today, so we're just going to resort to that old school blog fallback, the roundup:

The Fire Department's arson investigators will be looking for traces of accelerants left at the Greenpoint Terminal Market site, though it's possible much evidence has been destroyed from the 10 alarm fire that lasted almost two days. The real estate dealings behind the warehouse are of natural interest in the investigation, though sources say that the land's owner, Joshua Guttman, is not a suspect. Guttman, who bought the buildings for $25 million in 2001, had sold the property for $420 million last year to Baruch Singer, but the deal is at the heart of a lawsuit. The NY Sun explains that Singer lost his financing before closing, so "Guttman then voided the deal, and seized Mr. Singer's $42 million deposit." Now Singer is suing for his deposit, claiming there was an oral agreement to close six months later, and says that Guttman changed his mind about selling. The NY Times notes that Singers' buildings in the city have been issued "thousands of citations" (we feel like we've seen the word "slumlord" used to describe him).

Firefighters are still working to put out the huge ten-alarm Brooklyn warehouse fire that started yesterday at 5:30AM. Fifteen buildings the Greenpoint Terminal Market were hit by the fire. The Fire Department used eight to nine million gallons of water during their work, and since there was no "immediate threat to life," the fire became a sort of clinic for the department to "plan strategy," according to the NY Times; the FDNY also used the "surround and down" tactic, with tower ladders on the streets and fireboats in the water. Of course, the fire's scale drew comparisons to September 11, especially with the burnt, acrid smell creeping across the Brooklyn and the rest of the city. Fourteen firefighters suffered minor injuries, with no civilians injured.

- Gas and oil heating prices are going to go up 50% this winter - start saving up, all of you who have to pay the oil and gas!

Check out what you can do on a Circle Line cruise, but Gothamist is a fan of the Staten Island Ferry. And the Real Gilligan's Island - are they kidding us?

Gothamist previously on Zelda and on Giuliani, the Riverside Park turkey. And even though it's in poor taste to bring up eating turkey, we love the idea of Turducken.

Lower Manhattan was stalled, shut down, and frightened as both anthrax white powdery substances at the Canal Street 1 train and a mysterious vehicle on the Brooklyn Bridge were seen. The white substance was in a manila envelope, with the words "Go to hell" written on it. The Fire Department quickly dispatched their Hazmat team to deal with the situation, which hasn't led to any firm findings yet. (The white substance incident reminds Gothamist of the "fear" student art project that snarled life at Union Square last year.) The Brooklyn Bridge incident was also, thankfully, eventless - a man claimed a Middle Eastern man offered to pay him to drive his car across the Bridge. It turned out the car belonged to a Daily News reporter and police think the man was making up the story.