New York snow coverage from FireTruckBlogs.com, here, and Firegeezer, here and here
From Ben Johnson at SILive.com:
Sources said the demotion of Chief John Peruggia relates directly to the department’s problems in responding to the storm.
His replacement, Abdo Nahmod, captained the first combined Fire-EMS station, in Rossville, in 2003-04. Most recently, Nahmod has been deputy assistant chief overseeing the department’s Emergency Medical Dispatch.
“Despite Chief Peruggia’s dedicated service to this department, I felt new leadership was needed at this time,” said Cassano, a resident of Huguenot. “Last week’s blizzard presented tremendous challenges for the department that are currently being addressed with an eye toward improving performance.”
A source told the Advance that a rumored 70 percent of FDNY ambulances working in the storm got stuck in the snow, while private ambulance companies fared far better. At one point, there was a backlog of more than 1,300 emergency calls for assistance. In the case of a woman with a broken ankle, the wait stretched to 30 hours, and a child born unconscious at home was declared dead later at the hospital.
“We didn’t do the job we had wanted to do, that I wanted to do and everybody else wanted to do,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said.
From Anahad O’Connor at The New York Times:
Mr. Peruggia did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment Wednesday. But Patrick Bahnken, president of the Uniformed E.M.T.’s, Paramedics and Fire Inspectors F.D.N.Y., said Mr. Peruggia was being blamed for mistakes that were not in his control.
“I believe that there were some system failures that were certainly beyond his pay grade, and that he simply did not have the authority to make decisions or not make decisions,” he said. “Ultimately I am sure that the commissioner is going to continue to do a thorough review, and we anxiously await the final report when the commissioner is prepared to issue it. Certainly we will be looking at it very carefully.”
The breakdown came as the city is in the midst of overhauling its fragile 911 system — which is still using outdated radio and dispatch equipment — a project years in the making that is behind schedule and that city officials have said would provide dispatchers with better technology.
Federal prosecutors have also opened an investigation into the response by the Sanitation Department amid allegations of a work slowdown. But Mayor Bloomberg — despite his strong criticism of the E.M.S. response — has defended the Sanitation Department, denying that any intentional slowdown occurred. The sanitation commissioner, John J. Doherty, and the heads of the sanitation unions have also disputed allegations that workers deliberately botched the cleanup.
From Michael Howard Saul at The Wall Street Journal:
A person familiar with the matter said Mr. Peruggia also has been the subject of a Conflicts of Interest Board probe in connection with allegations he took a free trip from a vendor that does business with the FDNY. Mr. Peruggia is accepting the board’s findings and is expected to be fined, the person said.
Last week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg voiced enormous dismay with the performance of the 911 system during the storm. “We take our emergency life-saving responsibilities very seriously and I’m extremely dissatisfied with the way our emergency-response systems performed,” he said a week ago Wednesday.The mayor said the city’s 911 system became overwhelmed by the deluge of calls. On Monday, the city received more than 49,400 calls to 911, the sixth-largest volume in history, resulting that night in a backlog of roughly 1,700 calls to the NYPD and FDNY. He ordered a comprehensive review of the 911 call-taking and dispatch functions, as some of the loved ones of those who died have taken to the airwaves to express their grief and anger at the city’s sluggish response to the storm.
The administration is examining, among other things, whether ambulances should have taken different routes, and whether emergency personnel should have parked farther away from scenes and walked.
Also on STATter911 …
- Lt. Richard Nappi, FDNY Engine 237, dies at three-alarm Brooklyn warehouse fire. Mayor says ‘Lt. Nappi overheated, suffered exhaustion and collapsed.’ – April 16, 2012
- Crane collapse goes to fourth-alarm in Manhattan. Buildings evacuated. – October 29, 2012
- TV news report says DC ambulance crew drove past house to nearby fire station to get crew there to take call. Report of 15 minute delay. – August 17, 2012
- UPDATE: Read DC report. Deputy Mayor Quander cites 4 civilian medics & 3 firefighters for discipline in delayed help for police officer. Also, demoted lieutenant & 2 other firefighters want Chief Ellerbe fired. – March 21, 2013
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Its sad that people blame the fire chief for the sixth busiest call volume day in FDNY history. How about people take personal responsibility for themselves, learn to change the smoke detector battery, take some cough and cold medicine and go back to bed. I would like to see the stats on how many of these calls were actual ALS emergencies or working fires. Sometimes the system will be overwhelmed because the system is designed to handle a little more than average call loads. If heads are going to roll, than the coffers need to be opened to give Emergency Services the money it needs to provide service on the worst possible days. Pony up Bloomberg and pay to get the service you want. Don’t ask them to do the impossible with less.
Does FDNY have any 4X4 ambulances in the fleet? I have seen them used extensively in mountanious regions that receive lots of snow and they seem to work well. When you don’t need the 4X4 simply shift it out of gear. A few engine companies with all wheel drive probably would not hurt either. Just a thought.
but NYC is not a mountainous region… nor is snow a rare occurence. this snow storm was not a particularly devastating one in of itself. the systems in place are more than adequate to deal with he situation, the city has no problems with its operational strength, however when you factor things in like politics into the equation, things start to fall appart. like how about that sanitation commissioner giving his department an a+?
i never thought as a nyc resident that something like this would happen. i dont live on a particularly busy street, and i was SHOCKED to find that my street wasnt plowed until wednesday.
What a bunch of BS!
The fragmented 911 system is a mess and the garbage men who attach plows to their trucks didn’t clear the streets, so…fire the FDNY EMS Chief. Brillant!
I find this issue of the US’s largest Fire-Ems system trying to continue doing business as usual when faced with extra-ordinary challenges amazing. I am sure the Mayor of Winnipeg would be quite happy to illustrate how we in the north cope with blizzard like conditions with his New York counterpart.
Having been front and center through 3 defined blizzards the latest one occurring in 1997, and folks south, at minus 35 to 40 below I can speak with some authority on responses to such weather.Storms such as these are regular occurrences in the north country, we get a lot of snow. It needs effective pre-planning, not taking the attitude oh, it caught us by surprise again!.
I know that the fire service will never give up nor the men/women firefighter/paramedics will endeavor to do the most amazing things when faced with adversity, that is never in doubt.
First, when this became an issue there should have been truckplows, if that’s what they use/front end loaders sent to each hall to escort apparatus to calls or at least try to clear paths to same, not continue to try and keep streets open to traffic. Second, all non essential traffic ordered off the street, that was not done early on if ever in this case. There is no mention of snowmobiles or atv’s being utilized to get to non emergency/non essential calls.
Change-up in the order of business needs to be addressed once dynamics change. Resources should be held to respond to Priority calls only, ie: while the broken ankle was no doubt painful for the party it would rarely be life threatening, why would you even try to beat on a vehicle attempting to get thru the mess they were dealing with. Anyone heard the word adaptability, how about toboggans, sleds,splint and carry out to any vehicle, could be a emt/paramedic in a citizens 4X4.
I am sure the wear and tear on pumpers/aerials and ambulances, burned transmissions etc. far exceeds the norm, and will be buried costs at the end of the day. All season tires versus proper grip tires on the rear duals of the ambulances would have made some difference.
At the end of the day the biggest word is Common Sense. The fact the Chief of EMS is now the fall guy is a result of we in management are always the fall guys, something the rank and file do not need worry about. Whether we are responsible for the blame or not, someone always has to take the heat off misinformed and misguided politicians and their political decisions,by virtue of our the jobs, we have to carry out.
We in North America are at war in Afghanistan and Iraq against terrorism, the fact that New York can once more expose its basic flaws by its inability to cope with a serious storm, not even a blizzard worries me a lot. If this is the best that can be done, how would they view the opportunity? Food for thought.
Stay Safe, were all in this together.
Radio system identified as antiquated on 9-11 still not fixed. Manpower taking a hit due to budget cuts, stations closed and and call volume through the roof. Politicians keep their jobs and public servants loose em.
If you want the service, ya gotta pay the bucks. It’s that effen simple. If you don’t want to pay, quit bitchin’ Mr. Mayor. As chief 62 said, a simple weather event certainly exposed the weakness in the 911 system, unless everything is beefed up to handle increased call volume, you’ll get the same piss poor response in a man-made event also. Not a knock on the brothers in the trenches doing the herculean and outstanding work, but the politicians and joe citizens need to learn it takes MONEY to properly run and maintain emergency services under normal and especially adverse work conditions!
Tire Chains!!! If singles for the outside duals are not enough…probably not in this Blizzard, they could use “dual-triples”. That’s one set of chains for both dual tires. The center side-chain rail supports both the outside & inside tires. The cross-chains are off set (staggered from the inside & outside tires so there is greater almost constant road/snow contact). One central CT city has used them for years during extreme conditions on their fire apparatus.
I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that nobody outside of the fire service can or will ever understand what it takes to run the fire service. Here the FDNY EMS Chief gets blamed for a sub par response during a major snow event. And to the other extreme the DCFD Fire Chief gets blamed for working too many men overtime in order to gear up and prepare for a “once in a hundred year” storm in Washington DC last winter. Seems like a lose lose situation for the fire service. No matter how hard you try, the public is just not going to understand.
In the trenches,
That’s exactly why it is important for fire chiefs and commissioners to have good relationships with the council members. Even when there is stong disagreement on the issues or they are considered political opponents. Whether you like them or not, they are important stakeholders who should be kept in the loop and given honest and straightforward explanations about what it takes to run a fire department.
There is no doubt that the DC snowstorms of last year were situations where the department needed to beef up, and yes, have a heavy duty crane operator on around the clock, as the chief indicated.
But what if there had been a different relationship between the council member and the chief? What if the chief would have let the important stakeholders in on the details of his plan as it was being implemented rather than wait to be asked about in a public hearing?
The way I see it, it is part of the chief’s job to communicate, educate and justify the needs of the department to those who hold the purse strings.
In DC, it appeared the administration was interested in the chief having a different role and relationship with the council. I am not sure if they found it effective, but it is not what I would advise (then again I am just a washed up reporter with an opinion, and have never been a fire chief or mayor).
Statter