In the department’s first line-of-duty death in more than two years, the FDNY lost a 17-year veteran to what appeared to be a heart attack at the scene of a warehouse fire in Brooklyn.
Civilians appear to have been the victims of today’s tragedy in Harlem. But building collapses also pose a grave threat to firefighters and other responders.
The settlement of the long-standing legal fight over discrimination by the FDNY is at least the fifth time the de Blasio administration has broken off Bloomberg-era legal fights.
It likely won’t be until the period of public mourning is over that we’ll learn what caused the demise of Lt. Gordon Ambelas.
A decrease in blazes and the decision two decades ago to respond to medical emergencies have dramatically changed the FDNY workload.
For a long time, the city and the fire union have disagreed over how many people should staff a fire engine. The union would prefer five people, the city four.
A fire engine with sirens blaring is much more likely to be headed to a medical emergency than a fire these days.
As some parts of the FDNY’s portfolio, like structural fires, diminish in number, the frequency of other jobs like responding to gas leaks—which come with their own risks—are growing.