Firefighters Rescue Workers Stuck in Elevator with Water Up to Their Necks

Amazing rescue scenario, as recounted by the New York TImes:

In his 34 years with the New York Fire Department, Capt. James Melvin has seen his share of stuck elevators. But he had never witnessed anything quite like what happened Sunday on Staten Island.

Two construction workers were stuck in an elevator that was filling with water, Captain Melvin explained, with a hint of amazement in his voice. By the time firefighters arrived, the water level had risen as high as the two trapped men’s necks.

“We’ve had plenty of elevator emergencies, but never one that’s down sinking in water,” said Captain Melvin, of Ladder Company 86 on Richmond Avenue. As for the two men, he added, “They were happy to see us.”

The men were working in the former Staten Island Hotel in Graniteville, which is being renovated into an assisted-living residence for older people.

About 9 a.m., the two workers were riding in the elevator and discovered that the door did not open. The men, identified as Edward Tyler and Windell Admaker, began to hit the buttons for various floors in the hope that the doors on one of them would work.

“They figured they’d try the basement level,” Captain Melvin said.

On another day, that would probably have been fine, but the rainfall on Sunday had led to severe flooding in the basement. And when the elevator neared the basement level, “it hit water and started sinking slowly, until it sank to the bottom of the shaft,” Captain Melvin said.

The two men were alone in the building, he added. There was no one inside to hear their shouts, and a security guard outside was unaware of the disaster unfolding inside, Captain Melvin said.

With a cellphone the men reached the Fire Department. While neither knew the precise address of the building, they said it was near the intersection of Richmond Avenue and Christopher Lane.

When firefighters finally found them, about an hour after their initial call, the two men were standing atop the plastic cart they had been using to transport supplies between floors. Even with the cart’s added height, the water was up to their necks, and about three feet from the elevator’s ceiling, Captain Melvin said.

Read it all HERE.

FDNY Cut Bias Unit While Being Sued for Bias

From the New York Times:

The New York Fire Department office that handles discrimination complaints shrank during a period when the federal government was suing the agency on the grounds that its hiring tests were biased, an assistant fire commissioner testified in United States District Court on Monday.

Over the objections of the city, the assistant commissioner, Lyndelle Phillips, who leads the Equal Employment Opportunity Office in the department, was called to testify by Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis in Brooklyn. During more than two hours on the witness stand, she described how resources in her office had dwindled since 2006.

Read more HERE.

Firefighters Rescue Couple from Brooklyn (NY) Apartment Fire

From the NY Post:

Firefighters rescued two elderly people from a Brooklyn fire early this morning, including an unconscious 200-pound man.

The 71-year-old man was in critical condition from burns and smoke inhalation, and a 69-year-old woman was discovered in cardiac arrest from smoke inhalation.

Firetruck chauffeur Francis Valerio, 40, climbed up a ladder to the fifth-floor apartment where he broke open the bedroom window and discovered the victims inside by crawling on the floor through the black smoke. Another firefighter climbed in through the fire escape to assist in the search.

Several firefighters struggled to pull the unconscious man out, who sources said weighed about 200 pounds, and managed to get both victims out while other firefighters coming up from downstairs extinguished the flames. The woman was unconscious but firefighters were also able to pull her out alive.

Read it all HERE.

Deal Spares 20 FDNY Companies

A budget deal in NYC saved 20 fire companies that were on the chopping block, as well as thousands of teacher positions.

From the NY Post:

The 4,100 teacher layoffs Mayor Bloomberg has been threatening for months were scrapped last night in a budget deal with the City Council that also saved 20 fire companies.

But more than 1,000 other less fortunate city workers still faced pink slips as the $66 billion budget battle ended in a handshake deal before the July 1 deadline.

Read more HERE.

Deustche Bank Trial: Prosecutors Begin Summing Up

From the AP via The Washington Post:

Prosecutors are telling jurors that although there were regulatory shortcomings, three construction company supervisors’ actions are to blame for two firefighters’ deaths at a condemned ground zero building.

Prosecutors began their summation Wednesday in the manslaughter trial stemming from the August 2007 fire at the former Deutsche (DOY-cha) Bank building in New York. The building was contaminated with toxic debris in the Sept. 11 attacks. It was being torn down when a fire ripped through nine stories in August 2007.

Read it all HERE.

FDNY Firefighters From Soon-to-be-Closed Station Rescue Man

From the Daily News:

Firefighters from a Brooklyn ladder company slated to close due to budget cuts rescued a man from his burning home Wednesday, officials said.

The 23-year-old man was trapped in a back room of the Bayview Ave. building in Coney Island when firefighters from Ladder 161 arrived about 6:30 a.m., officials said.

Lt. Edward Gonzalez and Firefighter Sean Connolly crawled through the flames to get to the 6-foot-2, 260-pound man.

Read the rest HERE.

Brooklyn (NY) Fire Kills Two Men

Two men were killed in a four-alarm Brooklyn fire that spread throughout four row houses on Sunday. More than 170 firefighters responded to the incident which killed one victim inside the building and another who dropped from a window to his death, according to reports from Mail Online.

New York City fire department officials gave details of the incident during the report:

"New York City fire department spokesperson Mike Parrella told MailOnline.com the department received a 911 call about the fire at 9:13 pm last night. Mr Parrella said 170 personnel from 39 fire department units responded within minutes to the blaze, which is thought to have started around 9 p.m., possibly on the three-story building's top floor."

Mr Parrella said in the report:

"It went under control at 11:15. 'It was pretty bad. There was heavy fire on the first and second floors."

Read the entire story HERE

Deutsche Bank Trial: Firefighter Tells of Colleague's Last Desperate Moments

From the AP via the Wall Street Journal:

James Martin and two fellow firefighters were backing their hose down a stairwell in rolling smoke too thick to see, the sounds and heat of fire coming at them from the floor above, when he heard the man behind him gasp, "I need air. I'm out of air!"

Over the frantic next moments, Martin tried first to give stricken colleague Joseph P. Graffagnino his own oxygen and then to lead him to safety, Martin told jurors Thursday in the manslaughter trial stemming from the deadly August 2007 blaze at a toxic ground zero tower.

But after Graffagnino flailed, fell and didn't answer his entreaties to follow, Martin realized, "I had to go get help.

"So I made the decision," he said, his voice cracking, "to leave him and go get help."

Read it all HERE.

Bronx (NY) Fire Kills 3

From the New York Daily News:

A fast-moving fire ripped through a Bronx brownstone early Monday, killing three people and injuring six, officials said.

The two-alarm fire erupted on the second floor of 2321 Prospect Ave. in Belmont about 3:30 a.m. and quickly spread to the floor above.

"There were heavy fire conditions on both the second and third floors of a three-story brownstone. When we arrived, numerous people on the street were screaming," FDNY Assistant Deputy Chief James Leonard said.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Read more HERE.

At Deutsche Bank Fire Trial, FDNY Captain Tells of Finding Unconscious Firefighter

From the New York Daily News:

An FDNY captain testified Thursday his chilling discovery of an unconscious firefighter who had gone missing in the blinding smoke of the fatal Deutsche Bank fire.

Capt. Matthew Moog described following a limp hose on his hands and knees as his oxygen tank ran low in the desperate search for two missing firefighters.

"I couldn't see much. I was going by feel," said the 25-year FDNY vet.

He then encountered one of the men, firefighter Robert Beddia, lying between two stairwells on the 14th floor of the burning building.

Read it all HERE.

Video: Firefighters Respond to NYC Elevator Failure

A report from CBS New York discusses a YouTube video of a firefighter responding to an elevator full of trapped folks at a New York City subway stop from Friday.

A dread fear for most New Yorkers apparently came true for 28 people in Washington Heights Friday.

A video posted on YouTube shows what happened when the elevator commuters use to get to the #1 train at 181st street failed. It was packed with passengers at the time.

Read more about the incident HERE.

Deutsche Bank Fire Trial Begins

The trial of several contractors accused in connection with the 2007 Deutsche Bank fire at Ground Zero that killed two FDNY firefighters, Joseph Graffagnino and Robert Beddia, got under way Monday.

The AP, via The Washington Post, reports on opening statements:

Defense lawyers have begun presenting their case in the manslaughter trial of three construction company supervisors accused of fueling a fire that killed two firefighters in a contaminated ground zero skyscraper.


The defense opening statements got under way Tuesday.

On Monday, prosecutors said Mitchel Alvo, Salvatore DePaola and Jeffrey Melofchik had a piece of a critical firefighting water pipe removed from the building, knew what it was and did nothing to fix it.

Read MORE, and stay tuned to www.fireengineering.com for more updates on the trial as it progresses.

Report: FDNY Engine Involved in Crash Ran a Red Light

According to a recent report on CBS news, a fire apparatus involved in a fatal collision on Staten Island ran a red light:

A fire engine involved in a fatal collision with a van ran a red light, violating state law while on an emergency run, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The accident happened at around noon Wednesday at the intersection of Richmond Road and Burgher Avenue in Dongan Hills.

The FDNY truck from Ladder 81 was heading to a car fire on the Staten Island Expressway, with its siren on moments before the crash.

The van then made a left from Burgher onto Richmond, witness Ali Alsaede said. The fire truck then crashed into the van’s rear driver door.

Read more HERE.