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Q&A
Discussion on creating and distributing a residential fire emergency response guide
0:45:31
·
4 min
Council Member Gutiérrez and Chief Esposito discuss the creation and distribution of a residential fire emergency response guide. Gutiérrez emphasizes the importance of providing information to fire victims, while Esposito suggests digital solutions for distributing the guide.
- Gutiérrez highlights the need for both digital and physical versions of the guide
- Esposito proposes a website or app to provide comprehensive information
- Both agree to continue discussions on improving information distribution to fire victims
Jennifer Gutiérrez
0:45:31
Chief, can I ask, and and I'm I understood your sentiment in the testimony, I would love to get to a place where together we can collaborate and figure out what is the best way to distribute information?
0:45:45
The guide for me is something that worked in District 34, right, we had a number of back to back fires, we see spikes every fall into winter, and it's very hard as a council member to get in communication with tenants, with victims, unless we show up to the scene of the fire, which is not necessarily safe all the time.
0:46:04
And so the guide really came from a former staff member of mine who experienced a traumatic fire, and she was kind of picking up the pieces by herself and said, like, we we should do something here, and it's been very useful.
0:46:16
We distribute it to all council offices.
0:46:18
Every time there is a fire in my district, we're able to post it.
0:46:22
If people reach out to us, we can distribute it.
0:46:24
We had multiple conversations with Red Cross.
0:46:26
They've also made a commitment to distribute it in the district.
0:46:29
We wanna see something more citywide because we do feel it's it's vital.
0:46:33
We've heard from tenants who said, thank you.
0:46:35
I didn't I didn't know where to go.
0:46:36
So I guess my question to you is, in being mindful of, like, of everything you laid out in your testimony about what it takes, the cleaning up after, what is what is the best way to get information, maybe not a physical piece of paper, to whatever tenants are still around.
0:46:54
A lot of them, obviously, are not able to stick around, But what is, in your opinion, the best way to give even something as small as a business card?
0:47:03
When does that happen?
0:47:04
It doesn't need to be FDNY, but when could that happen?
John Esposito
0:47:09
The the idea of the guide, I I think, is is a very good idea.
0:47:13
As as we were preparing for this, I was thinking of, if I had a fire in my house, all of those questions you raised, I don't know the answer to.
0:47:23
You know, what's available to you and and and the insurance and what what what government agencies.
0:47:29
My hesitation is requiring that the fire department distribute it with with all the equipment and everything we have on our So the a suggestion is and, you know, more more and more, we're getting away from paper and everything being digital.
Andrew Sokolof Diaz
0:47:47
Mhmm.
John Esposito
0:47:48
So if there were a website that was maintained that that would, you know, that everybody could go there and find all of this information Yeah.
0:48:00
You know, most of the time, we're seeing people with with their phones and everything's, you know, a QR code or a website or some some sort of application or even, you know, an app,
Andrew Sokolof Diaz
0:48:12
you know,
John Esposito
0:48:13
an app for for a phone that would give us all of this information, you know
Pierina Ana Sanchez
0:48:19
Yeah.
John Esposito
0:48:19
Is in in my mind a a suggestion.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
0:48:22
So it it's just the matter of, I guess, the time that FDNY is there and kind of the the steps afterwards.
0:48:32
We do I mean, there is an online component of this obviously.
0:48:35
As a tech chair, it'd be silly for me to say, let's just all do physical paper, but I think there are instances where maybe people do not have access, don't have a smartphone, don't have access to anything afterwards and prefer having a physical piece of paper to be able to to point to.
0:48:51
And so I would love to just think a little bit more about kind of how we can produce that and I appreciate the the remark the fire guide, it really was a labor of love and you know, will continue to evolve, but it really came from victims in my own neighborhood.
0:49:07
Average New Yorkers do not know who DOB is, who HPD is, I've heard from victims that oftentimes the the most information they were able to get at the scene was from FDNY alone.
0:49:19
They don't know who DOB is.
0:49:21
Maybe they left by the time HPD came.
0:49:23
Maybe they weren't there when Red Cross was there.
0:49:26
They ran out.
0:49:27
And so FDNY is kind of that agency that in a fire, I think, for victims in attendance, that's who they know was there.
0:49:33
And so that's kind of where that connection was made.
0:49:35
So, I just appreciate you being open to the conversation, and and we'll we'll keep talking.
0:49:39
Yeah.
0:49:40
I
John Esposito
0:49:40
think we can, we can discuss further and come up with some some ideas.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
0:49:44
Thank you.
0:49:44
Chair, can I just ask one more question?