Firefighting in a hotter New York City: ‘This is a whole brave new world for us’

Robert Tucker, 35th commissioner of the Fire Department of New York, has been especially focused on the paramedics who make up a quarter of the department’s 17,000-person workforce. During his now year-long tenure, coming in following the departure of Laura Kavanagh, the first woman to lead the department, Tucker has taken over with a priority focus on emergency services. He has brought attention to the challenges of emergency medical technician recruitment, and sought to understand the department’s role outside of firefighting, including at crisis situations like the July 28 mass shooting in Midtown Manhattan that left five people dead. Tucker, who hadn’t previously worked for the FDNY before becoming commissioner, previously led T&M Protection Resources, a private security firm. City & State caught up with him to discuss ways the FDNY is dealing with extreme weather situations, emergency services and the impact of cuts to FEMA on the department. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How is the FDNY handling the rise in extreme weather events hitting New York City, including rain and heat? 

Well, first of all, we're very aware of it. In fact, when we recently had flash flooding in Queens, we had already moved high-axled vehicles and sophisticated water rescue people and equipment to that area. In other areas of the city, we activated our hurricane plan, which we have in place. You can't be over-prepared. And in this instance, we needed it. We rescued people on the Cross Island Parkway, and in some other areas on Northern Boulevard. We're very conscious of it. Climate change is real. This commissioner thinks it's real, and it's affecting us. 

Extreme rain events have led to a rise in flooding in the city, as we just said. How has that impacted the ability of the FDNY to perform rescues?

We are the rescuers in New York City. Make no mistake about that. We are going to get there first ... We've had to acquire equipment for that, and we need more. Look at last fall with the brush fires we had in Prospect Park and in Inwood Park. We've not had brush fires like that, in parks like that, ever, ever. And you can't take a fire truck and wind it through these parks. We don't have the right equipment. We're taking the same structural fire hose line into the park. There's a point to where it's absurd, the things we do in FDNY so well with such limited resources. 

So, what are the top concerns with the rise of extreme heat and droughts in terms, which you just touched upon.It matters to us because fires are hot to begin with, and you have firefighters who are in their quiet time doing building inspections, hydrant inspections in 100 degree weather. Your hydration and all these things really, really matter to us. I'm super focused on it because we need physiologists. This department doesn't have that. We've got to hire exercise physiologists to help us stay in ready shape for firefighting in extreme heat. When it's 100 degrees, there are still fires and we've got to be ready to fight them. When you put on 80 pounds of gear and a turnout coat and pants, and it's already 100 degrees [outside], it's 150 degrees in there and that matters to us. We need more people at the scene of a fire for relief purposes, and … we need things we normally haven't needed, and I'm not afraid to ask for it, and I am asking for it. We can't make do anymore. We've got to really figure out what kind of vehicles we need to get around and up these hills in Prospect Park and Inwood Park, where there are no streets, where there are no fire hydrants. We drafted water from a fireboat into Inwood Park to put out that fire because there was no fire hydrant anywhere near there. This is a whole brave new world for us.

How about the impact on EMS?

The same … They're operating out on the streets all day long. It's hot out there, and it begs the question: Are our vehicles ready to operate in 100 degree weather? How's the air conditioning working? It's not working so well in a lot of our apparatus, but we can't take that offline because of the air conditioning. So it's a complicated problem. 

What impact would federal emergency management funding cuts have on New York and the FDNY's work?

Major, major problem. Big, giant problem … I'm not political, but I cannot believe that President Trump intends to cut the things that the Department of Homeland Security is going to cut. If these cuts go through. I just won't believe it, because he's a New Yorker, and he's a big fan of the FDNY. Our fire boats, for example, all that's a federally funded grant program, because we don't just service the shoreline of New York City. We service the shoreline of New Jersey as well. All the way south, way, way south, much further south than you believe, into New Jersey. 

All the training we get in the real rescue operations, the non-firefighting, rescue operations, it's all federally funded. You're talking about tens of millions of dollars. It’s a very, very significant problem for the city and for the public safety of New York City and for what people expect us to be ready for, including Marine One landing at the Wall Street Heliport. That landing's going to look very different if we don't have the federal money to support the waterways right around there, if God forbid something was happening. The U.S. Fire Administration is part of FEMA. Homeland Security 

Secretary Kristi Noem is currently studying the future of FEMA, including a possible downsize or closure of the agency. What impact would cuts or a closure of FEMA have on New York City and on fire departments? 

Look, I'm confident that Sec. Noem and the people around her are going to understand the value of FEMA. How big or small it should be? That's not for me to opine. But the elimination of the Federal Emergency Management Agency is absurd. I'm sorry, but it doesn't make sense. I don't know where all of these people who are making these decisions live, but good luck to you with climate change without FEMA. … You should speak to Commissioner Zachary Iscol at NYC Emergency Management. That's almost entirely federally funded, and if we don't have that, God help us.