Gotham Gazette Articles9/11 Money Troubles (02/03/03) Housing Downtown (10/06/02) Transcript of Live Chat About Housing (10/06/02) Transcript of Online Debate About Economic Rebuilding After 9/11 (09/30/02) City Budgeting After September 11 (09/10/02) What's the Formula for Prosperity? (08/12/02) The Impact of Terrorism on New York City Finances - October 2001 |
||
>
Latest News
As Charitable Funds Expire, Questions About Long-Term Needs Remain - Sep 9, 2004
An astonishing $3 billion was raised to help the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and nearly all that money has been spent, the bulk of it handed over in cash grants, some without regard to financial need. Three years later, some are wondering whether this was the best way to make use of this unprecedented charitable windfall. (New York Times )
Trade Center Veterans Plan Cooperative Restaurant - Sep 7, 2004
Memory can make a bitter dish, but a group of 50 waiters, cooks and busboys who once worked at the Windows on the World restaurant are intent on honoring 73 colleagues who died when the twin towers collapsed by opening what may be New York's first cooperatively owned restaurant. (New York Times )
Cantor Fitzgerald Sues Saudi Arabia Over 9/11 - Sep 4, 2004
Cantor Fitzgerald, the brokerage firm that lost 658 employees in the Sept. 11 attack, has sued Saudi Arabia, charging that the kingdom "provided funding and material support and substantial assistance" to Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. (New York Times )
September 11 Fund Prepares to Close - Aug 31, 2004
The September 11th Fund will close in December, having awarded more than $500 million in grants to 100,000 people affected by the 2001 terrorist attacks. (Associated Press)
9/11 Aid for Small Businesses Going Unused - Aug 30, 2004
With four months remaining in a 9/11 program intended to pour $155 million into small businesses that move to or stay in Lower Manhattan, a third of the money remains to be awarded or pledged. (New York Times )
Religious Group Call for More Aid to 9/11 Victims, Families - Aug 30, 2004
A local religious organization says it wants more help for victims and families of 9/11. (NY1)
Comptroller Warns of Shortfall in Federal 9/11 Aid - Aug 25, 2004
Comptroller William Thompson asserted Tuesday that the city may not receive as much as $5.2 billion in World Trade Center aid. In a report issued days before the start of the Republican National Convention here, Thompson says the funding is in jeopardy because of long-term delays and a "failure to monitor the progress" of parts of the aid package. (Newsday)
September 11, 2001 made it clear that steps should be taken to help New York City firefighters do their jobs more safely and effectively. After spending 42 years of service with the Fire Department of New York, I have twelve specific recommendations.
1. Without radio communication, officers cannot command and control firefighters' response to a fire or an emergency. New York City firefighters need antennas installed in high rise buildings to enhance the signal of their portable radios. Fire officers in New York City need portable radios that transmit messages from the lobby to the roof, and from the lobby to the lowest cellar of a high-rise building.
2. The department needs a firefighter tracking system so officers can better supervise and control the movements of firefighters during smoky building fires. The current protective alarm signaling system (called "PASS" alarm) only reacts when a firefighter is trapped or unconscious. The fire service needs a tracking system that can keep firefighters from being trapped in the first place and would allow the officer in command to know the locations of every firefighter in a smoke-filled high-rise building.
3. To improve and coordinate officer command at fires, New York City fire officers should attend incident commander training at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland. New York City fire chiefs and company officers rarely attend the school, which is the nation's top training academy.
4. To help them analyze a fire in a high-rise building after they arrive on the scene, firefighters need helicopters. From a helicopter, firefighters can size up fire and smoke on the upper floors of a burning high-rise building, rescue people trapped on the roof and spray a thousand gallons of water into the building's upper floors. The Los Angeles Fire Department has six helicopters and dispatches two to every high-rise fire.
5. New York City firefighters need new fireboats to help them respond to fires in buildings near the waterfront. After the World Trade Center collapsed, the water main and hydrants were buried and broken. One of the fireboats that supplied water to the fire department on September 11, 2001 was the John J. Harvey, a boat that was sold for scrap metal several years ago. The fire department used to have nine large fireboats protecting the waterways. Today they have two.
6. Firefighters in New York City also need new self-contained "rebreathing" masks. The fire service has used the same 35-pound mask since the 1950s, a mask that, according to the New York City medical division only supplies air for eight to 15 minutes. Firefighters need a lightweight mask that weighs 10 or 15 pounds and can provide two hours of breathable air.
7. The fire department needs an officer and five firefighters on every engine company responding to a high-rise fire. Today engine companies in New York City with only four firefighters must wait for another company to arrive before they can position the four lengths of hose that is necessary to extinguish a high-rise fire in a large open floor.
8. To improve training, New York firefighters need a computerized virtual simulator to make training more realistic. Virtual simulators are used to train people to bring ships into the port of New York and for landing planes at New York airports.
9. The fire department also needs robots. Robots could be used to attack fires in superheated atmospheres and search for hazardous material. The eighth annual firefighting robot competition was recently held in Hartford, Connecticut.
10. The department should have a computerized dispatch system that can warn the first firefighters to respond about hazardous building construction and materials. For example, the World Trade Center had a lightweight, steel bar floor construction with truss joints that collapsed. Those who first responded to the scene were not warned about this construction. Many hazards are discovered by firefighters during fire-prevention inspections, and firefighters should know about them before they arrive at a fire.
11. To improve rescues at fires in high-rise buildings, the fire department should have high-rise tower ladders. The maximum reach of a tower ladder in New York City is 75 feet, a height that does not extend to the roofs of many Manhattan apartment houses, let alone a high-rise building. The New York City fire department used to have 100-foot towers, but they were eliminated in the 1990s.
12. Finally, there is also a specific way to improve the command structure for firefighters in one area of the city: central Harlem. The New York fire department should return Harlem's Fifth Division headquarters back to service. Since the division was eliminated in the 1990s, the community of upper Manhattan from 110 Street to 207 Street has had no centralized command.
Vincent Dunn a retired New York deputy fire chief, teaches about fire protection and firefighting strategy at Manhattan College, John Jay College and the National Fire Academy.
|
Latest News
Fundraising For Memorial Has Yet to Begin - Sep 11, 2004
Eight months after the World Trade Center memorial design was unveiled, Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg have yet to find a prominent person willing to lead the foundation that's raising the money to build it. (New York Daily News)
Bush Now Supports Larger Role for New Intelligence Post - Sep 9, 2004
President Bush said on Wednesday that he wanted to give a new national intelligence director "full budgetary authority,'' a sharp shift from an earlier position and an acquiescence to a major recommendation of the Sept. 11 commission. (New York Times )
New York Officials Reject New Homeland Security Funding Plan - Sep 8, 2004
A Republican plan to give New York more anti-terror funding in time to mark Saturday's 9/11 anniversary hit a wall yesterday after Mayor Bloomberg and other lawmakers said the proposal is useless. (New York Post )
Trade Center Veterans Plan Cooperative Restaurant - Sep 7, 2004
Memory can make a bitter dish, but a group of 50 waiters, cooks and busboys who once worked at the Windows on the World restaurant are intent on honoring 73 colleagues who died when the twin towers collapsed by opening what may be New York's first cooperatively owned restaurant. (New York Times )
Despite Terror Concerns, New York Builds Glass Skyscrapers - Sep 6, 2004
Defying concerns after the attack on New York three years ago that post-9/11 construction would be dominated by brute concrete bunkers, the designers of significant new public and private buildings in the city are turning again and again to glass facades. (New York Times )
Bloomberg, Thanking Bush for Help After 9/11, Gets Mixed Reception at Convention - Aug 31, 2004
Former Democrat Mayor Bloomberg yesterday welcomed Republicans to their convention, removing any doubt about where his political allegiances lie. He threw his support behind President Bush and thanked the GOP for aiding New York in the wake of 9/11. (New York Post )
City Security is Ready for Convention, Says Homeland Security Chief - Aug 26, 2004
"The city is secure." That was the message from Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge during a Republican National Convention security briefing at NYPD Headquarters yesterday. (New York Post )