PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Jack Spillane, Recording Secretary of Uniformed Fire Officers Association, on Wildland Firefighting Equipment and Challenges
2:08:14
·
137 sec
Jack Spillane, representing the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, testified about the challenges faced by firefighters when dealing with brush fires in NYC parks. He emphasized the need for specialized equipment and training for wildland firefighting, as the current gear designed for interior firefighting is not suitable for park environments.
- Highlighted the need for lighter gear and specialized boots for better mobility in park terrains
- Suggested implementing more forestry hose, which is more pliable and easier to carry in large quantities
- Recommended expanding the use of drones to identify deep-seated fires and optimize resource allocation
- Stressed that proper training and equipment are crucial to reduce the risk of injury to firefighters during prolonged operations in challenging conditions
Jack Spillane
2:08:14
How you doing?
2:08:14
Thank you very much for allowing me to speak here today.
2:08:17
My name is Jack Splane.
2:08:18
I'm recording secretary for Uniform Fire Officers Association.
2:08:22
I've been on this job for a long time.
2:08:25
I love parks.
2:08:26
Love the fire department.
2:08:28
I hate fires and parks.
2:08:29
It's a big, big problem.
2:08:31
I was a captain at Staten Island for over 6 years.
2:08:33
We dealt with a lot of stuff in Great Kills Park, Fresh Kills Park, up on Lighthouse Hill.
2:08:40
What you find yourself now nowadays is, we are dressed for interior firefighting, interior firefighting.
2:08:47
We're wearing a bunker gear.
2:08:48
We're wearing £80 of gear.
2:08:50
That's all well and good when you're going down a hallway into a enclosed area.
2:08:54
We'll either traverse over large, swaths of land up and downhill.
2:08:58
A lot of times, a limited visibility.
2:09:01
Wearing clunky boots and heavy equipment is very, very difficult.
2:09:05
Also, carrying these 5 gallon Indian pumps.
2:09:10
If you see the guys in California, they they spray the water and stuff like that.
2:09:13
Right?
2:09:14
It's typical.
2:09:15
And the hoses we use, in, other parts of the city, inter the use of interior firefighting, they use those in Prospect Park.
2:09:22
They use up in Inwood.
2:09:23
They use those in Van Cortlandt Park.
2:09:25
We need to implement a better set of gear for wildland firefighting, something lighter, something with, like, better boots for better, traction, better, walking around capabilities.
2:09:37
We need to implement, more forestry hose.
2:09:40
It's a, quarter inch diameter sorry, 1 inch diameter hose, very pliable.
2:09:46
It's easy to stretch and, you can get you can carry over a 1000 feet of that on a roll about that big.
2:09:54
So there's a lot of things the department can do.
2:09:56
We should probably also expand the units of the drones, usage of the drone unit.
2:10:00
It's a great tool, to get get in deep into the park, see where the deep seated fires are.
2:10:05
Maybe we'll be able to send a a certain amount of resources to that one area to mitigate it with less people and less cause for injury.
2:10:12
So just going forward, it's a bigger problem.
2:10:14
It's just it's it's a big problem.
2:10:18
It's multifaceted.
2:10:19
And, without the proper training and equipment, firefighters have to perform a longer periods of time in tougher conditions, and open themselves up to injury.
2:10:29
Thank you very much.
2:10:29
I appreciate your time.