NYC Can't Remove Fire Alarm Boxes, Judge Rules

From the Associated Press, via the Wall Street Journal:

A federal judge has ruled against a New York City plan to deactivate 15,000 fire alarm boxes, saying it would discriminate against the deaf and hearing-impaired.

The fire department last year said the move would save the city $6 million in the first fiscal year. It also said cell phones had substantially reduced the use of alarm boxes and claimed that 85 percent of box calls were false alarms.

The city had proposed an alternate plan using public pay phones combined with a tapping system that would allow deaf callers to signal whether they needed emergency services.

In his ruling on Monday, Judge Robert Sweet said public pay phones were unreliable.

Read MORE.

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.

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.

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.