On January 12, 2010, at approximately 1653 hours EST, Haiti’s ground shook for the first time in more than 240 years with a magnitude 7.0 earthquake. What followed during the next hours, days and weeks, can only be described as both predictable and miraculous. Shortly after the earthquake, NY-TF1’s Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) team […]
This article focuses on some of the search operations and tactics employed by New York Task Force 1 (NY-TF1) during the Haiti earthquake deployment. Search operations are the foundation of a US&R Task Force mission. In the simplest terms, if victims can’t be located, they can’t be rescued. US&R Task Forces must be able to […]
If you are a baseball fan, you will never forget the 1989 World Series in San Francisco, California. The Loma Prieta earthquake occurred during the warm-up for the third game of the World Series, featuring the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants. Images of collapsed buildings and highways, along with uncontrolled fires throughout the […]
The City of New York has numerous bodies of water–rivers, lakes and the Atlantic Ocean–that present the potential for water emergencies, including drowning. Water recreation–including boating, jet skiing and kayaking–passenger ships, cargo ships, planes, helicopters and suicidal emotionally depressed persons (EDPs) dictate the need for FDNY rescue divers. Before the SCUBA program was initiated, water […]
This past year, the FDNY responded to two major water incidents. (See “Airbus in the Hudson Results in a Happy Ending,” by Deputy Chief James D. Daly, Jr., and Battalion Chief Michael Buckheit, on page 4, and “Air Tragedy Above the Hudson River,” by Deputy Assistant Chief Ronald R. Spadafora and Deputy Chief Daniel Donoghue, […]
A tranquil, sunny, summer Saturday was marred shortly before noontime on August 8, 2009. A fixed-wing private aircraft–leaving Teterboro Airport and headed for Ocean City, New Jersey–with three members of a Pennsylvania family collided over the Hudson River with a Liberty Tours helicopter– carrying a pilot and five Italian tourists, including a family celebrating a […]
U.S. military personnel have been heavily engaged in counter-insurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. The improvised explosive device (IED) has served as one of the enemy’s most reliable and deadly weapons against both military personnel and innocent civilians. The IED threat includes the employment of secondary and multiple devices. This article, written by […]
On March 22, 2009, at 0600 hours, units received a telephone alarm reporting a fire in a tavern located at East Tremont Avenue and Westchester Square. Usually, alarms received early on Sunday morning for fires in commercial occupancies after stores have been closed for some time end up being multiple-alarm fires. This was no exception. […]
On January 12, 2010, at approximately 1653 hours EST, Haiti’s ground shook for the first time in more than 240 years with a magnitude 7.0 earthquake. What followed during the next hours, days and weeks, can only be described as both predictable and miraculous. Shortly after the earthquake, NY-TF1’s Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) team […]
This article focuses on some of the search operations and tactics employed by New York Task Force 1 (NY-TF1) during the Haiti earthquake deployment. Search operations are the foundation of a US&R Task Force mission. In the simplest terms, if victims can’t be located, they can’t be rescued. US&R Task Forces must be able to […]
If you are a baseball fan, you will never forget the 1989 World Series in San Francisco, California. The Loma Prieta earthquake occurred during the warm-up for the third game of the World Series, featuring the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants. Images of collapsed buildings and highways, along with uncontrolled fires throughout the […]
The City of New York has numerous bodies of water–rivers, lakes and the Atlantic Ocean–that present the potential for water emergencies, including drowning. Water recreation–including boating, jet skiing and kayaking–passenger ships, cargo ships, planes, helicopters and suicidal emotionally depressed persons (EDPs) dictate the need for FDNY rescue divers. Before the SCUBA program was initiated, water […]
This past year, the FDNY responded to two major water incidents. (See “Airbus in the Hudson Results in a Happy Ending,” by Deputy Chief James D. Daly, Jr., and Battalion Chief Michael Buckheit, on page 4, and “Air Tragedy Above the Hudson River,” by Deputy Assistant Chief Ronald R. Spadafora and Deputy Chief Daniel Donoghue, […]
A tranquil, sunny, summer Saturday was marred shortly before noontime on August 8, 2009. A fixed-wing private aircraft–leaving Teterboro Airport and headed for Ocean City, New Jersey–with three members of a Pennsylvania family collided over the Hudson River with a Liberty Tours helicopter– carrying a pilot and five Italian tourists, including a family celebrating a […]
U.S. military personnel have been heavily engaged in counter-insurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. The improvised explosive device (IED) has served as one of the enemy’s most reliable and deadly weapons against both military personnel and innocent civilians. The IED threat includes the employment of secondary and multiple devices. This article, written by […]
On March 22, 2009, at 0600 hours, units received a telephone alarm reporting a fire in a tavern located at East Tremont Avenue and Westchester Square. Usually, alarms received early on Sunday morning for fires in commercial occupancies after stores have been closed for some time end up being multiple-alarm fires. This was no exception. […]
