Councilman Gentile Calls for Establishment of

Fire Emergency Number

CITY HALL?After errors related to the emergency 911 dispatch system of reporting fires ballooned last month, Councilman Vincent Gentile has requested that a bill be drafted to establish a separate number to facilitate the reporting of those incidents and expedite the FDNY’s response time.

Councilman Gentile called for a bill to be drafted in order to “establish a new 711 phone number for all calls related to fire emergencies that shall be answered and staffed by FDNY dispatchers.”

His request comes on the heels of a November 18 fire in Brooklyn. A father and two sons died in the blaze after the first two 911 calls from neighbors reporting the fire led firefighters to the wrong address, delaying their response time by more than a minute. That was the second incident that day in which firefighters were dispatched to an incorrect address.

In the original emergency dispatch system, discontinued in May 2009, the system was divided into three different agencies: FDNY, EMS and NYPD. The FDNY had five dispatch offices citywide – one in each borough. Now, they’re consolidated within a downtown Brooklyn location, and New York Police Department operators both receive and process information from callers reporting fires and other emergencies to the FDNY. The plan was modified two days after the fatal November 18 fire so that an FDNY dispatcher can be “conferenced” into a 911 conversation so that pertinent information won’t be overlooked.

“When it comes to fires in New York City, we’ve got to do everything we can to have fire companies on the scene as quickly as possible and not a minute later,” Councilman Gentile said. “We need that direct line from callers to FDNY dispatchers so that the right information gets to the right people not a moment too late.

“Fire dispatchers had an intimate knowledge of each borough’s streets and of what sort of equipment was needed for certain fire-related emergencies,” Councilman Gentile added. “Overlooking them as the valuable resource they are is a public safety risk.”

In testimony before the Council’s Fire and Criminal Justice Committee hearing Thursday afternoon, Uniformed Fire Officers Association President Captain Alexander Hagan endorsed the 711 proposal as a “long range solution” to the problems associated with the new Unified Call Taking system (UCT).

“We already have the 911 system for police calls, and during the eight years of the Bloomberg Administration, we have seen a 311 system successfully implemented, and now a 511 call number for transportation questions and answers,” Cpt. Hagan testified. “Frankly, the UFOA, although it sees the value of a call system that gives the caller the timetable for the next train out of town, feels a much higher priority should be placed on the safety of the people who live, work and visit our beautiful city.”

Dena Libner

Communications Director

Office of Councilman Vincent J. Gentile

District Office: 718-748-5200

Legislative Office: 212-788-7363

It’s nice to see the union officials backing the plan.

(btw, apologies for formatting problems on this page… the bayridgistan web-elf has struck again)