Couldn't Reach Roof: Fire Co. Grounded By 'Lemon' Ladder

Couldn't Reach Roof

Fire Co. Grounded By 'Lemon' Ladder

The Uniformed Firefighters' Association April 14 said a fire rig with a history of mechanical problems experienced another equipment malfunction that left firefighters from Ladder Co. 19 in The Bronx unable to properly ventilate the roof of a burning tenement building.

FRANK GRIBBON: Union exaggerates problem. UFA Bronx trustee Eddie Brown said he received calls from a union delegate late in the evening April 13 reporting a jam in the aerial mechanism of Ladder 19. The union said that the ladder has failed to properly extend on at least four other occasions.

FDNY spokesman Frank Gribbon confirmed April 14 that Ladder 19 was back in the mechanics' shop.

Needed Man on Roof

Firefighters at Engine Company 50 and Ladder 19 were battling a blaze in a vacant building across the street from their firehouse on Washington Ave.

As part of routine procedures, Mr. Brown said, the team tried to use the aerial ladder on the back of a rig to deposit a firefighter on the building's roof.

"It's Firefighting 101 - get to the roof, check to see if any civilians fled up there trying to escape, and then start ventilating so the firefighters below can get a line in," he stated.

But the truck's aerial ladder jammed, and with no immediate back-up at hand to provide a second ladder, the firefighters did without, said Mr. Brown.

He confirmed that the machine had in the past been taken out of service, inspected by FDNY mechanics and returned in good working order.

'It's a Lemon'

"But it's just a lemon, it keeps malfunctioning. This is a recurring problem - they fix it, but it comes back," he said.

The union has been harshly critical of the FDNY's exclusive contract with fire truck manufacturer Seagrave. It's also faulted the department for using decades-old rigs as spares.

UFA President Stephen Cassidy last month sent a letter to Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta demanding that Ladder 19 be removed from service. He cited an incident in February when a firefighter was reportedly at a window waiting for Ladder 19 to offer him an escape route when the truck's ladder jammed. The firefighter was eventually lowered to the ground by another company's ladder truck.

Mr. Gribbon said he was looking into the latest incident in The Bronx.

Says No One in Danger

But he dismissed Mr. Cassidy's claims that a firefighter had been endangered during the February fire.

Quoting from the investigative report researched and written by the Captains and Deputy Chiefs in charge the night of the February fire, Mr. Gribbon confirmed that a firefighter was lowered from a sixth-story window to the ground by Ladder 49.

"The firefighter was not lowered by Ladder 19 because that truck was never in a position to lower him," he explained. "Ladder 19 was on the other side of the building. The ladder might have malfunctioned at some point, although there are pictures of it extended, but the purpose of this report was to check on the union's allegation that [Ladder 19] failed to rescue [the firefighter]. No Mayday was ever issued by the firefighter, he was in contact with his Chief via handie-talkie and, as the report says, 'he was never in imminent danger.'''