Will We Ever Learn?

[Guest guest]

This has been going on in NYC for 20 years with policy after policy, order

after order, turf war after turf war. The current mayoral

order essentially reverses Guliani's pre-9/11 order that supposedly ended

(yeah, right) the disputes over incident response and command and control

issues? When does it end? Is it really so difficult to figure this out?

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http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/brooklyn/nyc-resp0423,0,6020236.story?coll=n\

yc-manheadlines-brooklyn

Fire Union Blasts Emergency Plan

BY DAN JANISON AND WILLIAM MURPHY

STAFF WRITERS

April 22, 2005, 7:05 PM EDT

If the World Trade Center attack occurred today, the city would be no

better prepared to respond to the emergency, the two main firefighting

unions said Friday.

Their comments came as Mayor Bloomberg confirmed that he signed an

executive order on April 11 giving police control over most emergencies

except fires and structural collapses. Police would be in charge of any

incident that involved the possible presence of chemical, biological,

radiological or nuclear materials.

The protocol makes New York the only major American city that puts police

rather than firefighters in charge of incidents where such hazardous

materials might be involved.

The highest-ranking uniformed member of the Fire Department, Chief of

Department Hayden, said the mayor's decision " jeopardizes public safety. "

Hayden made his comments in a story in Friday's New York Times, and it was

unclear why he waited to make any public comment until well after a mayoral

decision had been made.

The Fire Department declined to comment on Hayden's statement.

Police Commissioner Ray pressed for police control, arguing that New

York was the only American city hit by terrorism twice and had a large

department equipped to handle such incidents.

The executive order puts the city in compliance with federal regulations

and makes it eligible for federal funding from the Department of Homeland

Security. The compliance is self-certifying this year, but Homeland

Security must certify localities next year, said Bernstein, a

spokesman for the Office of Emergency Management.

" We will be the only Fire Department in America not in charge of

large-scale incidents like the World Trade Center, " said Cassidy,

president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association. " For us to report to

Police Department to do our job is outrageous. "

Gorman, the president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association,

said the protocols still do not address problems identified by the national

9/11 commission last year.

" When terrorists strike, a fire is usually included, " Gorman said. " The

NYPD is not the agency to mitigate this. " Bloomberg cited terrorism as his

motivation in giving police command.

" The Fire Department comes in and does the life-saving. That's what they're

trained to do. They then stand aside and the police are in charge during

the investigation of whether or not it's terrorist or criminal, " the mayor

said on his weekly radio show on WABC/770 AM.

" When they finish their investigation and say they have no further need to

collect data or whatever, then the Fire Department comes in and does the

cleanup, " he said.

The new rules will be the subject of a City Council committee hearing on May 2.