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When Engine 4 left the firehouse on a call Wednesday, firefighters wondered whether it would be among their last in the dense Wall Street area near ground zero.
Kramer asked fire union official Edward Boles to explain, for example, what closing Engine 4 would mean for fire safety.
?Engine 4 is the first engine to respond if there was any tragedy at Wall Street,? Boles said. ?Wall Street is the economic capital of the world. They?re also a mass de-con unit, so if there was a major terrorist attack they would be the first ones to help out.?
People who live and work in the area are terrified.
?It?s such a compact neighborhood that you need someone here to respond quickly to any type of fire because it would spread like wildfire,? said Tom Rooney, who works in the area.
?Its scary, it?s absolutely scary. I don?t know what else to say,? Lower Manhattan resident Toni Sosinsky said.
Currently, calls for water leaks, downed trees, and pulled alarm boxes in the overnight hours with no secondary source of information currently receive a single unit response in emergency mode. Under Modified Response, such calls in Brooklyn and Staten Island will still receive a single unit response, but, as in Queens, that unit will now respond at a reduced speed and obey all traffic regulations, without the use of lights and sirens.
Calls for odors other than smoke (such as gas or fumes), sprinkler and automatic alarms, electrical emergencies, manhole emergencies and other fire alarm systems currently bring up to five units (three Engine companies and two Ladder companies) in emergency mode. Under Modified Response, those calls in Brooklyn and Staten Island, as in Queens, will still receive up to five units, but only the first-due units (one Engine and one Ladder) will respond in emergency mode. The additional units will respond at a reduced speed and obey all traffic regulations, without the use of lights and sirens. Upon arrival, the fire officers from the first due units will evaluate the incident and determine whether the additional units are needed or if they should return to quarters.
At any time, a fire officer responding to one of the above-mentioned call types can instruct all units to immediately respond in emergency mode based on additional information from dispatchers or by the officer's evaluation on scene.
For me, this poses a problem particularly in Manhattan, not saying its any better a Borough than any other in any way, however the traffic congestion in Man far outweighs that in other boroughs during the day and evening. So if a rig is stuck in traffic, on a one way cross street, with knowhere to go because they are responding without lights or sirens as thay are second due engine or truck to a box, and the first arriving companies or chief transmits a 10-75... what are the companies stuck in the cross streets supposed to do, cos they aint going knowhere!!!
Another way to put firefighters lives at risk, and boxes that should be held at all hands or 10-75s will probably now be going to second alarms or greater due to these ludicrous policies!!
Just my thoughts as a none NYC firefighter.
JT