|
|
 |
 |
by JONATHAN LEMIRE
Members of an elite Brooklyn firehouse were stunned last week at the new vehicle they received to help handle building collapses.
It wasn't red and white. It was just white. And while it was labeled FDNY, it also bore big signs for the Ryder truck rental company.
"The new vehicle is simply a regular Ryder truck with FDNY decals slapped to its sides," Steven Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, said yesterday. "This is completely unacceptable, and people's lives could be put at risk."
The FDNY strongly disagreed, saying the Ryder rental is simply a temporary replacement until a brand-new truck arrives.
The FDNY's two official rescue support collapse vehicles carry lumber, hydraulic equipment, ropes and other supplies to stabilize buildings that are damaged because of a fire or explosion.
One, based in the Bronx, covers that borough, Manhattan and the northern half of Queens.
The other, run by Rescue 2 and Ladder 132 in Brooklyn, is responsible for the other half of the city. That truck was shifted to Manhattan on Thursday night and replaced the following day with the Ryder truck.
"This truck is not equipped with lights or sirens," Cassidy said. "How can it be expected to rush to a building that needs support?"
Cassidy also expressed fears that a speeding white box truck would create suspicion if spotted by law enforcement.
The truck was pulled over by a cop Friday night as it was being delivered to the Brooklyn firehouse, Cassidy said.
"This makes no sense," Cassidy said, "and this is what happens when the mayor slashes the Fire Department's budget."
But FDNY chief spokesman Frank Gribbon said yesterday the department was actually increasing the number of rescue support collapse trucks.
"We're ordering two more vehicles that should be ready in a few months," Gribbon said. "We're doubling our capacity to handle any situation that emerges."
He declined to say how much the new trucks cost.
Gribbon also said that the NYPD has been instructed not to stop the replacement truck, and he strongly disputed that the vehicle would be any less effective than the original.
"The collapse trucks are support vehicles that travel with other rigs so they don't need lights and sirens," Gribbon said said. "It'll never be by itself, and its purpose will always be obvious."
"These trucks will only help," he said.
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
