NY Daily News – November 04, 2014
by Todd Maisel, Joseph Stepansky, Tina Moore, Ginger Adams Otis
New York City’s troubled, computerized 911 system crashed on Monday, forcing EMS operators to assign ambulances via radio. The 911 computer system, which automatically dispatches available ambulances to respond to medical calls across the five boroughs, stopped working about 2:15 p.m., the FDNY confirmed. Service was not restored until about 4:05 p.m., the FDNY said.
During the outage, EMS dispatchers had to note 911 calls on paper and relay messages on old-fashioned radios.
The glitch caused some difficulties at the 911 system’s command center at MetroTech in Brooklyn, sources said. Not all operators had the experience to handle the stressful situation, said one source, who described their training as “poor.” Calls piled up and operators struggled to keep up with demand, sources said.
Without the computerized tracking system, the 911 dispatchers had no way of knowing at a glance where all available units were or what calls they were handling, sources said.
But FDNY spokesman Jim Long rebutted those descriptions, saying there were no problems fielding calls. “This outage had nothing to do with being able to receive 911 calls. We were in constant contact with the NYPD,” Long said. “We had no problem getting in touch.” He said extra staff was brought in.
In at least one case documented by a Daily News photgrapher, emergency responders appear to have been forced to improvise: police used an NYPD van to transport a man who had suffered a head wound to Brookdale University Hospital.
The man’s friend, Damian Williams, 26, told The News by telephone that he was there when the victim was attacked by two men, at least one of whom was wielding a metal object, on Georgia Ave. in East New York.
Williams said an ambulance never arrived at the scene, but subsequent interviews with officials could not shed light on whether that was because of an oversight or because a decision had been made to use a police van for expediency.
Williams said housing cops were nearby at the time of the assault and were quickly on scene, prompting the two assailants to flee.
“I called 911, because I didn’t see any ambulances; they were trying to connect me over to EMS,” Williams said.
Long could not provide specifics of what happened in that case.
The cause of the computer system’s crash was not immediately clear on Monday, Long added.
The city’s 911 system was plagued by glitches following an overhaul during the tenure of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The system got bogged down with consultants, contractors and expensive delays.
The glitches prompted the city’s Department of Investigation to launch a probe of the beleaguered emergency response system.
In a damning 21-page report, released Oct. 21, DOI said its investigation “exposed an antiquated, unwieldy system for dispatching ambulances to the scene … that substantially increases the opportunity for human error.”
DOI started examining the 911 system after a series of missteps on April 19 took place during an emergency call and two youngsters died.
On that night, a Saturday, a call for help from a fire scene came in to the FDNY via 911 at 11:51 p.m.. But an ambulance didn’t arrive at the scene, on Bay 31st St. in Far Rockaway, until 12:12 a.m. on Easter Sunday.
During the minutes in between, no fewer than seven individuals were involved in passing the 911 call from the NYPD to the FDNY and finally to FDNY EMS, the DOI report found.
Half-siblings Jai’Launi and Aniya Tinglin, both 4, were killed in the fire. Injured in the blaze were Jai’Launi’s twin sister and an adult woman and an adult male.
With Reuven Blau
Man Saved after Jumping into Hudson River from Pier 84
NY Daily News 11/4/14 BY Kerry Burke , Joseph Stepansky A man was critically injured after he jumped into the Hudson River from Pier 84 — but still alive because of the rescue efforts of a good Samaritan and a Fire Department diver. The man plunged into the water around 3 p.m. on Monday and was closely followed by the good Samaritan, authorities and witnesses said.
“Another guy took off his jacket and jumped in after him” said witness Derry Huang, 28.
An FDNY diver then swam under the pier — a dangerous maneuver — to reach the distressed man, a Fire Department spokeswoman said. Both rescuers were uninjured.
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