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Faulty Dispatch Tragedy

To the Editor:

As a dedicated member of the New York City Fire Department, I took an oath to protect lives and property, an oath that I and every other firefighter in the FDNY uphold each and every day. A reliable dispatching system is a vital link in ensuring that we are able to accomplish these goals. In May of this year, Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Scoppetta announced the “UCT” dispatch system and touted it would save precious time off of our responses and “save lives.” The rank and file of the department have been noting the deficiencies since its inception, often warning that it was only a matter of time before someone lost their life due to this chaotic and inept dispatch system.

Several weeks ago, our fears were almost validated at a fire in City Island where we were dispatched to the wrong location, while a fire grew and precious time was lost, almost resulting in a tragedy. Sunday morning the inevitable did occur. Precious minutes were lost for Bianca Wisniewski and three other people while members were dispatched to a wrong location searching for this ever-intensifying fire. By the time firefighters were given the proper location and the location of the fire was properly identified, it was too late for Ms. Wisniewski and almost too late for three others. The FDNY issued the following statement in response to this deadly fire, “Firefighters were briefly slowed in their response to the blaze after a 911 dispatcher gave them an incorrect address, just around the corner,” FDNY sources said. The mixup is under investigation.

“Firefighters were briefly slowed. . . ” said an FDNY spokesperson. Well, in order to sustain Commissioner Scoppetta’s statement on Sept. 19, 2009 that correctly identifies the crucial time constraints that exist when a person is trapped in a fire, (said Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta, “Anyone who’s ever lived through a fire knows seconds can mean lost lives”), a close examination of the response times at this deadly blaze needs to be accomplished so that we may properly identify what the FDNY considers “briefly slowed.” An investigation would surely identify that the actual response time to the correct location of this fire was well above the 4:03:13 that the FDNY touts as the average response time to a structural fire.

Members of this proud department faithfully serve the citizens of the City of New York day in and day out with the tools that the city provides us and most often, the innovations that the members must develop for the tools that the city does not provide. A reliable dispatch system is one of those tools that we don’t have the luxury of having at this time, as the “UCT” is failing miserably on a daily basis. The protection of lives and property are first and foremost to the brave men and women who respond to the calls for help every day, as citizens you deserve and should demand the same priorities from Mayor Bloomberg, Commissioner Scoppetta and Chief of Department Cassano.
JIM SKALKOWSKI
Captain, FDNY