Recent Blog Posts

As this blog has explained many times before, there are special laws in New York to protect cops and firefighters injured in the line of duty. Principally, that protection comes from General Municipal Law 205-a for firefighters and GML 205-e for cops. The two statutes are almost identical. With some refinements, they provide cops and […]

Today, August 18, 2017, marks the 10th Anniversary of the Deutsche Bank fire that tragically took the lives of our client, firefighter Bobby Beddia and also firefighter Joseph Graffagnino. We take this time to remember both heroes, along with the hundred other members of the FDNY who were injured in this blaze that started when […]

Recently the FDNY World Trade Center Health Program, which provides critical medical monitoring and treatment for firefighters who responded to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, issued a report on health impacts on FDNY rescue and recovery workers over the last 15 years, from 2001 to 2016. The report “confirms that the WTC exposure was unique, its […]

The New York State Legislature and in particular Todd Kaminsky should be commended for their efforts to strengthen protections for first responders who fall ill from exposure to toxins at Ground Zero. Almost 16 years after the 9/11 attacks, we have a fuller picture of the nature of the sacrifices these heroic individuals made for […]

The New York Post recently reported that two state lawmakers, Senator Marty Golden of Queens and Assemblyman Peter Abbate, Jr. of Brooklyn, are sponsoring legislation that would offer the families of EMTs killed in the line of duty the same death benefits as cops and firefighters. The goal is to address the disparity in posthumous […]

A recent article on the Business Insurance site detailed how many states are considering reforms to their workers’ compensation laws to cover mental stress injuries to first responders. The states contemplating or taking action include: Colorado — The State Senate passed a bill that would clarify the definition of “mental impairment” and expand it to […]

Post-traumatic stress disorder among surviving firefighters was a much publicized topic in the months and years after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Many FDNY firefighters, who felt the shock, grief, and emotional devastation of losing 343 of their own to a single event, developed acute and persistent symptoms of PTSD. Now, more than 15 years […]

On January 9, 2017, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro announced a historic achievement for the Fire Department of New York: the 48 deaths by fire in New York City for 2016 was the lowest annual total recorded since 1916. The department also saw the largest annual decrease in the number […]

We applaud the New York State Senate for unanimously passing a long-overdue bill aimed at protecting firefighters who perform emergency medical services. The bill, which has been sent to the Assembly and is expected to become law, makes it a misdemeanor crime if a person intentionally interferes with a firefighter performing care on a sick […]

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 […]