Less than one month into the New Year the New Rochelle Fire Department is finding itself stretched thin.
On January 5 over 20 people were forced to evacuate an apartment building at 342 North Avenue. Residents poured into the street while screaming for their children, three of whom were unaccounted for. A NRFD ladder company wound up rescuing the children, who were unharmed from 2 separate apartments.
This fire was caused by propane tanks next to garbage within the building’s main egress. It took 19 firefighters, or 70 percent of the city’s on duty firefighting contingent to battle the blaze.
On January 12, there was a 2 alarm fire at 44 Poplar Place. A number of residents, including an 88 year old woman escaped unharmed. That fire required the entire 27 person on duty contingent plus mutual aid from White Plains.
“While the fire department budget wasn’t cut for 2012, we are still severely understaffed,” said Byron Gray, president of the New Rochelle Uniformed Fire Fighters Association. “Ladder 12, which is based at the Webster Avenue Fire Station, played an important role in successfully combatting both those fires and it had been frequently out of service during the last month of 2011 due to budget cuts. That meant that there was only one ladder truck remaining for the entire city.”
Since 2008 the New Rochelle Fire Department has had its manpower cut by 15 percent. The department has gone from 168 firefighters to 140. This has led to the department regularly using 3 firefighter engine crews, which is below the minimum standard set by the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA). In fact, federal Occupation Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) law requires that there be four firefighters on scene before first responders can legally enter a burning building.
On an engine staffed by three firefighters, which is frequently the case in New Rochelle, firefighters need to wait for a second engine to arrive before commencing operations. In addition to the federal regulations, various scientific studies including a recent one conducted by the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST), an arm of the Department of Commerce showed that 4 firefighter crews can perform lifesaving tasks, including getting water on a fire significantly faster than 3 or 2 person crews.
The NRFD’s capacity to cover its own borders are short- handed when responding to mutual aid calls into neighboring communities. When 3 firefighters and an officer respond out of town, it leaves New Rochelle short staffed by almost 15 percent. That fire engine and its crew can be tied up out of town for hours.
“The risk of fire was graphically demonstrated in the two fires that we recently experienced,” said Byron Gary. “A fire grows exponentially, a single flame can engulf an entire room with heat exceeding 2000 degrees in only 2 ½ minutes. Due to all the synthetics used in products in modern home furnishings and home construction fires burn faster, hotter and more toxic than just 20 years ago. In fire safety, every second really does count.”
