General

FDNY Pilot program aids notification

July 14, 2011 Heather Chin

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Now, when your local firehouse is out of service due to repairsor already being on a call, you’ll know.

Unveiled on June 20 by the Uniformed Firefighters Association(UFA), FireSafeNY is a pilot program that can send instant emailand text notifications to residents when any of 220 communityEngine Companies and Ladder Companies is closed. Firehouses send atext alert to the UFA when they are taken out of service; thatalert then gets broadcast via phone and posted online, atwww.firesafeny.org.

So far, participating firehouses in southern Brooklyn include BayRidge’s Engine 242, Sunset Park’s Ladder 109, Dyker Heights’ Engine284/Ladder 149, Bensonhurst’s Engine 247, Engine 253/Ladder 168,Engine 253 and Ladder 172, and Coney Island’s Engine 245/Ladder161. All city firehouses will be included as the programexpands.

New Yorkers can opt-in to receive the notifications by registeringfor free at www.FireSafeNY.org, where a map shows which companiesare operating or closed at the moment.

Reasons that a firehouse might be out of service include being on acall, taking part in training classes, undergoing repairs, hostinga public event and participating in random drug testing or othermedical exams.