Manhattan Fire Communications

[JBE 328]

It had to happen sometime. Due to the age and condition of the building, tomorrow will be the last day tour at Manhattan Fire Communications in Central Park. Monday night into Tuesday Morning, there will be a cutover to PSAC 1 at 11 Metrotech Center in Brooklyn. I will have the unfortunate honor of being the last tour supervisor to run a day tour in that office. There will be a skeleton crew left over for a few days to ensure continuity in the event of failure.

Now here is my rant..Once again the Mayor of the City of New York puts peoples lives in danger. The lives of the FDNY, FDNY EMS, and NYPD dispatchers, by putting three boroughs of Fire in Metrotech, on the same floor as NYPD and EMS. Money over blood. Never mind the fact that there is a fully functional set up for Manhattan in the Bronx CO which has remained VACANT and UNUSED since the Bronx CO renovations ended last year. Never mind the fact that 11 Metrotech is only protected by some corral fences, jersey barriers, and a couple of cops in an RMP. Never mind it is a traffic choked area with two major bridges within spitting distance. IT IS NOT A SAFE BUILDING!!!! The mayor feels that it's cheaper to protect one building than it is 5 or 6. THey have learned NOTHING from Sept. 11th. OEM, anyone?? About the only good thing to come out of this, is I finally get a uniform after 12 years. About time I don't have to put on a buffed out ensemble from the Quartermaster, or just go to work in street clothes. It's official.

It's a little embarrassing when you go to other places and they have uniforms. And they get jealous when you tell them what you're wearing is how you go to work.

Edited August 10, 2009 by JBE

[snkbitn 2]

Good Luck with your last tour in that building. Whats going to happen to to everything? Are you allowed to post pictures of everything once the building is closed? That would be neat.

Edited August 10, 2009 by snkbitn

[nfd2004 750]

It had to happen sometime. Due to the age and condition of the building, tomorrow will be the last day tour at Manhattan Fire Communications in Central Park. Monday night into Tuesday Morning, there will be a cutover to PSAC 1 at 11 Metrotech Center in Brooklyn. I will have the unfortunate honor of being the last tour supervisor to run a day tour in that office. There will be a skeleton crew left over for a few days to ensure continuity in the event of failure.

Now here is my rant..Once again the Mayor of the City of New York puts peoples lives in danger. The lives of the FDNY, FDNY EMS, and NYPD dispatchers, by putting three boroughs of Fire in Metrotech, on the same floor as NYPD and EMS. Money over blood. Never mind the fact that there is a fully functional set up for Manhattan in the Bronx CO which has remained VACANT and UNUSED since the Bronx CO renovations ended last year. Never mind the fact that 11 Metrotech is only protected by some corral fences, jersey barriers, and a couple of cops in an RMP. Never mind it is a traffic choked area with two major bridges within spitting distance. IT IS NOT A SAFE BUILDING!!!! The mayor feels that it's cheaper to protect one building than it is 5 or 6. THey have learned NOTHING from Sept. 11th. OEM, anyone?? About the only good thing to come out of this, is I finally get a uniform after 12 years. About time I don't have to put on a buffed out ensemble from the Quartermaster, or just go to work in street clothes. It's official.

It's a little embarrassing when you go to other places and they have uniforms. And they get jealous when you tell them what you're wearing is how you go to work.

JBE, this is kind of a shock to me. I had heard the Manhatten C.O. was closing at some point, but not this fast. I"m also under the impression that The Bronx C.O. is operating at its former Office after the renovations were done. And there was talk that maybe Manhatten would move there. My brother and I were just talking about our visit there back in the early 80s or so. we were treated Great. I remember guys from Ladder 26 had stopped by.

So you (Manhatten) will operate out of 11 Metrotech, along with P.D. and EMS. Brooklyn now operates with Queens in their C.O. I"m guessing the Bronx C.O. is still on 180 St ? ? It is very sad to hear that. All I can say is, "I"m glad he"s not my Mayor".

[JBE 328]

WHAT A MESS!!! The biggest pile of steaming poop I have ever seen. I could go on for a while, but I will reserve my anger for the Unified Call Taker thread.

[IzzyEng4 427]

WHAT A MESS!!! The biggest pile of steaming poop I have ever seen. I could go on for a while, but I will reserve my anger for the Unified Call Taker thread.

You are such a tease!!!!!

RANT AWAY MAN!!!!!!

[JBE 328]

OK, no kitchen, dirty looks from the PD folks, no parking, DOITT breathing down our necks about everything. Unsafe building. It's not too loud in here now, but wait till SI and Bklyn move in. Then, wait till EMD and 911 move in...Holy crap it'll be on and poppin!!!!

[spin_the_wheel 460]

It's sad that is a nice little gig you have, and the city is gonna F it up, what's the old saying..if it is'nt broke don't fix it, why does'nt the FDNY brass get involved here and put a stop to some of this nonsense. I know you lost a good man in M.James recently coming out to the Island, if this continues you are going to loose more talent. Hang in there Brothers.

[JBE 328]

M.James got SCREWED royally. Our loss is LIDsville's gain. The Brass, meaning the Chief of Communications, and my upper management DON'T CARE!!!! They run the show And they can all retire tomorrow. That leaves the young guys and slightly senior folks holding the bag.

Edited August 26, 2009 by JBE

[efdcapt115 1,511]

OK, no kitchen, dirty looks from the PD folks, no parking, DOITT breathing down our necks about everything. Unsafe building. It's not too loud in here now, but wait till SI and Bklyn move in. Then, wait till EMD and 911 move in...Holy crap it'll be on and poppin!!!!

JBE it sounds like the mayor is trying to make emergency dispatch look more like his Bloomberg newsroom than anything Emergency Services related. It might be great for all the newspeople to run around a big room and create great business news frenzy; it sounds like a terrible idea to me to try it for the FDNY and all the other agencies you described.

Aren't you folks going to need new "sound reducing headsets" to shut out the other boroughs, and agencies from bleeding over onto your transmissions?

One of the greatest aspects of the FDNY is the professionalism and calmness of dispatch. There are very few if any that do it as well. With all of this "newsroom chaos", God forbid NY gets another bad attack, that room is going to be a screaming nightmare.

I really wish you the best with the transition (if it has to be), and can only hope they can make improvements as YOU need and describe them for ALL of you as quickly as possible.

How about a little compartmentalization of boroughs, or agencies with at least cubicles, or did they already do that?

You also elluded to OEM at one point. What is their take on this whole thing? Are they pro-brain or pro-kissin' it?

[x635 4,066]

So, what is the long-term "vision" for FDNY communications?

Is the FDNY firefighters and officers unions vocal about this issue? Has it been publicized in the media?

[spin_the_wheel 460]

M.James got SCREWED royally. Our loss is LIDsville's gain. The Brass, meaning the Chief of Communications, and my upper management DON'T CARE!!!! They run the show And they can all retire tomorrow. That leaves the young guys and slightly senior folks holding the bag.

Easy on the LIDsville, no need to go there.

[JBE 328]

Oh, it's all meant in kindness. Especially since I broke in at least two guys from your neck of the woods, one of them from Truck 2, or 7ZERO 8.

To answer Seths question, there hasn't been boo said by the UFA, or the UFOA. I have no idea why. Although, I did see something put out by the UFA concering the UCT mess.

Edited August 26, 2009 by JBE

[spin_the_wheel 460]

Oh, it's all meant in kindness. Especially since I broke in at least two guys from your neck of the woods, one of them from Truck 2, or 7ZERO 8.

To answer Seths question, there hasn't been boo said by the UFA, or the UFOA. I have no idea why. Although, I did see something put out by the UFA concering the UCT mess.

No problem. Yes my department actually has 3 FDNY dispatchers.

[nfd2004 750]

One of the greatest aspects of the FDNY is the professionalism and calmness of dispatch. There are very few if any that do it as well. With all of this "newsroom chaos", God forbid NY gets another bad attack, that room is going to be a screaming nightmare.

So True, Nobody does it Better. And you are right there 'efdcapt115" the room going into a screaming nightmare if another attack comes. And what if it comes to "THAT" room or "THAT" building. Then, Who dispatches EMS, Fire, Police and answers the "911 calls" ?