Firefighters

A 62-year-old decommissioned FDNY fireboat will get a new life as a museum just north of the Tarrytown Lighthouse, thanks to restaurateur Edward Taylor, who purchased the 129-foot vessel and is refurbishing it to serve as an attraction near his new Sleepy Hollow eatery. The fireboat John D. McKean is named for an FDNY marine […]

  Mike Barasch, managing partner of the firefighter law firm Barasch & McGarry, applauded the NYS Senate for passing a volunteer firefighter presumptive cancer coverage bill. He urged legislators in the NYS Assembly to do the same. “Volunteer firefighters are exposed to the same toxins as professional firefighters. Not surprisingly, they are diagnosed with the […]

The FDNY is mourning the loss of Battalion Chief Michael Fahy, a 17-year veteran and father of three, killed when an explosion at a Bronx house rained debris down upon him. According to metro.us, “Fahy is the FDNY’s highest ranking member to die in the line of duty since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and […]

For the FDNY, the ability to process information can be the difference between life and death. However, urban firefighting is inherently chaotic, and what firefighters need to know – floorplans, exit routes, materials on site, and the positions of building occupants – is often hidden from view. That’s why harnessing technology to serve at the […]

From June 20 to 23, Marines, sailors and FDNY firefighters trained side by side and shared search and rescue tactics in four days of training exercises at the FDNY Fire Academy on Randall’s Island, culminating in a simulation drill at Grand Central Station. The joint venture allowed the men and women of the nation’s largest […]

Mike Barash, managing attorney of the law firm  Barash and McGarry, commented that “this bill is a no-brainer”.  He continued “if a volunteer firefighter is fighting the same fire as a professional firefighter –  which happens many times in small towns– and they are both hurt, it would be unconscionable to treat one different than the […]

Michael Barasch, managing partner of the NYC law firm Barasch & McGarry, applauded NY Senator Chuck Schumer’s call for a special registry to track cancers among firefighters. “This is long over due”, said Barasch,  whose firm represents thousands of cancer victims who were exposed to the toxic dust at the World Trade Center. “Thanks to […]

In a cool demonstration of grace surrounded by fire, Christopher Reilly, a 13-year veteran of FDNY, defied flames climbing the wall of a burning Bronx apartment to find and rescue its trapped occupant, an elderly paraplegic whose two legs had been partially amputated. The man was taken to Jacobi Medical Center where he was reported […]

The Suffolk Times recently reported that retired FDNY firefighter Bill Esposito suffered serious injuries on March 9 when a Ford sedan, driven by an unlicensed and uninsured driver, cut across the path of his motorcycle, causing a collision that launched the 60-year-old rider 30 feet through the air and onto the pavement of Route 58 […]

In February, a Bronx jury awarded $183 million in damages to the families of five of the six FDNY firefighters who died or were critically injured in an infamous 2005 fire. According to the New York Daily News, the jury assigned 80 percent of the blame to the City for the fire department’s failure to […]