Hamburg Water Rescue Unit adds a new boat to the fleet

The Hamburg Water Rescue Unit has officially added a new boat to the fleet. Marine 1 was dedicated and wet down for the first time on Sunday morning. The community has been working for 10 years to replace the town's 35-year-old rescue boat, and now it finally has. The 28-foot metal shark courageous boat is now officially in service for water rescue operations across New York State and southern Ontario. "Over the last 36 years, boats have changed, weather patterns have changed, the calls we go out on are getting worse and worse conditions, and stuff like that, so the boat, number one, is for the safety of my crews," said Ron Klimowicz, the chief of operations for Hamburg Water Rescue. The volunteers say the new rescue boat has state of the art technology and equipment that will serve the Town of Hamburg and the surrounding communities for years to come.
WGRZ-TV NBC 2 Buffalo

Sickness, death still follow FDNY veterans who fought massive East Village phone exchange fire nearly 50 years ago

Sickness and death stalk firefighters who put out a massive blaze in 1975 that destroyed the New York Telephone Exchange in the East Village. “I have leukemia. Everybody got something,” said retired FDNY Firefighter Danny Noonan. “We lost about 18 guys in the first 10 to 12 years,” Noonan said. “For years, every time the phone rang, all you would hear was, ‘Hey Danny, guess who died?’ ” Veterans of the five-alarm blaze are being honored by a pair of plaques unveiled over the weekend at the FDNY’s academy on Randalls Island. About 700 firefighters fought the blaze, and an additional 4,000 telephone company employees were brought in to fix up the building and repair the damaged cables. No one died fighting the fire itself — but the Fire Department believes many people died from its after-effects.
New York Daily News - Metered Site

Rochester firefighters respond to house fire

The Rochester Fire Department responded to a house fire on Smith Street Sunday. Officials said firefighters arrived at 867 Smith St. and found smoke coming from the single-family residence, along with reports of a person trapped inside. Officials also said that as crews were quickly extinguishing the fire, firefighters searched the house and located nobody inside. The missing person was later located down the street. Officials report the fire caused significant damage to the first floor, causing the house to be unlivable. The residents of the house — three adults and three children — were displaced by the fire and were assisted by Red Cross. No injuries were sustained by civilians or firefighters and investigators said the cause of the fire is still unknown at this time.
WROC-TV 8 CBS Rochester

2 dogs lost in Cedarville fully-involved fire

A fully-involved structure fire claimed the lives of two dogs and displaced five adults and two children. Cedarville Fire Department was called to a single-family home on Cullen Road around 10:25 p.m. Saturday for a fully-involved structure fire. People inside the home were able to evacuate before crews arrived on the scene. Cedarville Fire Chief Dan Coffin tells NEWSChannel 2 that 10 fire departments were called in for mutual aid. Three dogs were inside the home at the time of the fire, crews were able to rescue one. Coffin says it took two hours to get the fire under control. The American Red Cross is assisting the family. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
WKTV NBC/CBS/CW+ 2 Utica

Officials: Firefighters douse fire at Bowline Power Plant in Haverstraw caused by steam pipe

A fire started at a North Rockland power plant Saturday in Haverstraw Fire officials say the roof of the Bowline Power Plant caught fire due to heat from a steam pipe. They say more than 75 firefighters from several departments helped in the sweltering temperatures. Many firefighters had to climb 14 stories in full gear to reach the roof. Fire Chief Daniel Coughlin says this fire could've been worse, but this wasn’t the case thanks to the quick actions of his crew. No injuries or power outages were reported.
News 12 Westchester

Fire destroys Pamelia trailer home

VIDEO: Firefighters were at the scene of a trailer home fire in the town of Pamelia early Friday morning. The home at 24143 County Route 32 -- also known as Bush Road -- is a total loss. The family who lived there and two dogs were able to get out safely. A shed behind the trailer also caught fire. Fire crews were called there at 4:40 a.m. The fire was mostly out by around 5: 20 a.m. Northpole, Pamelia, and Glen Park fire departments were at the scene. There’s no word yet on what caused the fire.
WWNY-TV CBS 7 Carthage

Two Black women make history as first promoted to division chief in FDNY EMS

Tonya Boyd, the FDNY’s first Black female deputy chief, likes to regale young emergency medical technicians with stories about what the job was like when she started 25 years ago. There were no motorized stretchers to absorb the weight of heavy patients. There was no equipment to protect EMTs if they were caught in a fire. There were also no Black women with the title of deputy chief. Boyd, 53, changed all that in 2017 when she became the first African-American woman in the FDNY to achieve the rank. She will make New York City history again on Friday when she and another deputy chief become the first Black women to become division chiefs within the EMS command. “It’s something I look forward to,” Boyd said. “The best part of the job is just motivating and inspiring members.”
New York Daily News - Metered Site

New program improves communication between alarm companies and Oneida County 911 center

The Oneida County Department of Emergency Services is the seventh emergency center in New York to implement a new program to improve communications between alarm systems and 911. Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente says the new Automated Secure Alarm Protocol program went live on May 16. “The installation of the Automated Secure Alarm Protocol program into our system, will improve 911 response time for Oneida County residents and businesses who have alarm systems,” Picente said. “Prior to this, alarm companies would call using our non-emergency numbers to report a burglary, fire or medical alarm, requiring our dispatch to receive and manually enter that information. With this new addition, we will get the alarm notification electronically, which will automatically populate the data into our system.”
WKTV NBC/CBS/CW+ 2 Utica

Update: Staten Island EMT shot on the job released from hospital; assaults on first responders on the rise

VIDEO: Emergency Medical Technician Richard McMahon left Richmond University Medical Center in a wheelchair, and with a bagpiper playing on Thursday, as a crowd of other EMTs and well wishers cheered him on. It was the latest chapter in a remarkable 20-hour stretch that saw him going from being a first responder to needing medical aid himself, after a patient allegedly shot McMahon while the EMT was helping the patient out, according to police. McMahon, 25, was in the back of an ambulance transporting patient Thomas McCauley, 37, to the hospital, when McCauley allegedly pulled out a gun and shot McMahon in the shoulder around 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday. Now, McCauley is a criminal defendant, according to the Staten Island district attorney, and McMahon is recovering from the gunshot.
WPIX-TV CW 11 New York

Heavy black smoke seen during fire in Syracuse, residents escape

Heavy black smoke was seen coming from a home on Syracuse’s South Side early Friday morning, fire officials said. Around 4:50 a.m., a fire was reported in the bedroom of the home in the 200 block of Primrose Avenue off Midland Avenue, according to Onondaga County 911 Center dispatches. All of the residents were able to escape before firefighters arrived, according to dispatches. The fire broke out in the two-story, wood-framed house, according to a news release from the Syracuse Fire Department. Heavy black smoke was coming from a second-floor window when firefighters arrived, fire officials said. Firefighters were able to knock out the fire in around 20 minutes and contain the extent of the damage, fire officials said. By 6 a.m., there was no fire damage visible.
Syracuse.com

Follow up: Medical examiner says 2 bodies found in burning car in the Bronx were shot

The two bodies found in a burning car in the Bronx Monday were shot to death, according to city officials and a police source. The male victim died of gunshot wounds to the head and chest and the woman was fatally struck in the head and neck, said the city medical examiner. Authorities responded to the car fire on Shore Road near the Pelham Split Rock Course at around 4:19 a.m., police said. After firefighters put out the flames, two severely burned bodies were found inside the Honda Accord, police said. They were pronounced dead at the scene. Their identities have not yet been released. The vehicle was not involved in an accident that could’ve caused the fire, officials said on Monday.
WPIX-TV CW 11 New York