New York Water--still precious in an Emergency

The great news that New York is getting two state of the art "Super" Fire Boats is a reminder of how deeply dependant we are on reliable water in the event of an emergency.

It seems ridiculous to state that water is a problem on an island surrounded by it, but the fact of the matter is that water has always been a problem in New York.

New York's current water system is designed to bring drinking water from The Catskills to the millions of people inhabiting the densely populated Island of Manhattan and the Boroughs. That part of it works fine. The system also works fine for fighting fires if they occur one at a time and don't get too big or last too long. In more than one possible scenario the system can be overwhelmed and the water pressure could drop below critical levels. Water would then need to be pumped from the rivers, pumped to the location and then pumped up, in the case of a high rise, to the fire.


That's where New York's future "Super-Boats" would come into play. They can pump as much as 50,000 gallons per minute over a distance as great as five miles. The only question remaining is; Are two of these "Super Boats" enough?

Fifth Annual Father's Day Race--A Tribute to Downey

The Fifth Annual Father's Day Race in Deere Park, Long Island is a tribute to Deputy Chief Ray Downey, who died on the job at the World Trade Center.

Newsday Article

NY Fire Department To Get "Super Boats"

Two new "Super" Fireboats are to be added to the New York City Fire Department's equipment list by 2008.

Designs and testing has been completed and approved for two, 140 foot long ships. Each will have a top speed of 20 mph and will be able to pump 50,000 gallons of water a minute up to five miles inland. The largest fire monitor on the ships (17,000 gpm) has a throw of 700 feet.
Thirty million dollars in Homeland Security funding will be used for the purchase.

The two firefighting ships will be the largest in North America and possibly the world and will have the greatest fire fighting capacity of any ships yet made.

More Details

NYC to test Emergency Response Wireless System

Two competing wireless technologies will be tested in Lower Manhattan: One by Motorola and one by the Northrop Grumman Corporation. If the tests are successful the City may chose to extend it throughout the five boroughs, creating a (CMWN) Citywide Mobile Wireless Network that would give emergency responders such as NYPD and FDNY quick access to city maps and building plans. It would also link to federal and state counter-terrorism and crime databases, and allow the download of information to police, fire and EMS vehicles. The construction of the CMNW and its maintenance for a five year period would cost an estimated $500,000,000. For more info click below:

Emergency Mobile Wireless Network To Be Tested

Medals, Bravery, Hayden

"The Chief Leader" is the NY Civil Service Employees Weekly Newspaper. These three FDNY oriented selections come from the June 13th edition via the UFA website. If you are more broadly interested in NY Civil Service we urge you to subscribe directly to The Chief Leader.

FDNY in "The Chief Leader" via the UFA

FDNY TRUCK FOOLISHNESS

This one comes out of the NY Post... reproduced from the New York Uniformed Firefighter Association website.

FDNY Truk Foolishness

FDNY WTC MEMORIAL UNVEILED

An important moment...a powerful reminder of FDNY bravery and sacrifice. This is the only article I've read that comes anywhere near the power of the memorial itself. The NY Times by way of San Francisco.

The New Memorial

The NY Times also has an interactive feature that narrates a bit of the thinking behind the creation of the new FDNY WTC Memorial and includes some dramatic views of the Memorial by day and by night. This Memorial Wall is a must stop visit for anyone connected to the Firefighting Service who visits New York.

Memorial History and images

2007 FDNY Hunks Calendar

Lots of excitement at "The Original Firestore." Just about every month represented by the FDNY Hunks of the 2007 NYC Firefighters Calendar was at the store for a Calendar signing. It was the first public event held to promote the sale of the 2007 Calendar and both the store and the firefighters were mobbed. A portion of the sales of the Calendar benefit firefighter connected charities. The store made an additional donation. The Calendar is well established and has an eager following. The store, which was established in 1991 is trying to get word out that it has moved to a new location at 17 Greenwich Avenue (Just West of 6th Avenue at 8th Street)
For the full story on the calendar --with pictures--follow the link below:

Calendar News and Story

FDNY's 137th Medals Day

Forty three FDNY Firefighters were honored yesterday, June 7th at FDNY's 137th Medals Day on June 7, 2006. As part of the ceremonies FDNY issues a soft-covered Medal Day book which lists the honorees and describes the action. To me it has always been one of the best "reads" of the year.

I particularly respect the mixture of pride and embarassment of FDNY Medal winners that I have noticed when talking to them about the honor. There is pride at receiving the recognition and embarassment at being singled out for an action many of them see as part of The Job.

Here is the list of medal winners and a group picture. If I can locate the actual text of the book I will post a link to that too.

Medal Ceremony

Memories of a FDNY Dad

This letter to the editor appeared in the Times-Herald. It's well written and the sentiments are right on target.

http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2006/06/07/opinion-7views-06-07.html

Would Masks Have Made a Difference?

How important would masks have been to the health of those workers and volunteers who put in days of labor at the WTC site? Probably the best article we have seen yet was in today's NY Times Regional Edition. A class action suit is raising some tough questions...not the least of which compares the control of the WTC site with the control of the Pentagon site in DC. In DC people without masks were "escorted" off the site. The masks are at issue in a federal lawsuit covering 8,000 firefighters, police and other workers who say they were exposed to toxins that made them sick or may do so in the future. Forty thousand people worked on the site. A good number of them family and friends of those who perished.

We'll be adding a sidebar of our own memories of those days shortly. I strongly recommend the article below. The NY Times requires registration, painless and free; and after a while the article is archived and you have to pay a small sum to read it; but, if this is a subject that is important to you, it will be well worth the few dollars.


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/05/nyregion/05masks.html?

Becoming a FDNY Firefighter

Retired FDNY Captain Mike Stephano has a great website and offers free advice about how to become a FDNY Firefighter.

Capt Mike's Web Site

A Good Article with a Stupid Headline-- FDNY EMS

Not everybody realizes that in newspapers the guy who writes the story is usually not the same one who writes the headlines of that story. So sometimes you get some headlines that read well ( from the newspaper point of view) but misrepresent the content of the story.

That's what I thought when I read this one in the The Daily News about the EMT's of today.

"More Calls than The Fire Department" as a sub head distorts the intent of the article. But that's just my opinion. There's no need to compare EMT's to FDNY or visa versa. They each make an important contribution to our city's well being.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/423495p-357350c.html

State Judge Blasts City for "Frivolous": Delay of Justice

Why does this story sound so familiar?

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/417786p-352918c.html

FDNY "Blitz" to recruit women and minorities.

According to the NY Daily News the city is about to launch another ad campaign --"a blitz": To recruit women and minorities. Full text at the Daily News

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/415747p-351312c.html

St John's Women and FDNY Tie in Soccer for Charity

Women's World Cup Champions and Olympic Gold Medalists joined the St John's Women's Soccer Alumni to play the FDNY Soccer Team in a charity match on May 20th in Queens, NY. The game ended in a 3-3 tie. More at Redstormsports.com