Category: FDNY

LODD: Timothy Klein

Timothy Klein

FDNY firefighter Timothy Klein died in a Brooklyn house fire on Sunday.

Timothy Klein

The fire at 10826 Avenue N turned deadly when fire swept through the second floor of the structure. The intensity had firefighters leaping from windows and led to a partial structural collapse per fire officials.

Klein became separated from his unit and was fatally injured in the structural collapse per both fire authorities and other on scene sources. Eight other firefighters also were injured.

Timothy Klein

Timothy Klein

Klein died just three years after delivering the eulogy for fellow firefighter Steven Pollard who also died in the line of duty.

Klein was thirty-one and had been on the job over six years. He is the son of a retired firefighter and was assigned to Ladder 170 in Brooklyn.

FDNY Lt. James McCarthy, president of the FDNY Fire Officers Association said Klein’s “sacrifice embodies the ultimate heroism, laying down his life for others.”

Klein graduated from Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens before attending York College of Pennsylvania, where he received a bachelor’s degree in sports management and athletic administration in 2012.

He was also a second-degree member of the Knights of Columbus.

Per FDNY, Klein is the 1,157th member of the department to die in the Lien of Duty.

The September 11 Foundation mourns the loss of all firefighters and public safety responders risking their lives to protect others.

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FDNY EMS Terminates 36 Over COVID19

FDNY EMS Terminates 36 employees over the COVID19 vaccination mandate started last year under Mayor Bill deBlasio. The move came after the employees exhausted their last legal challenge to the workplace vaccine mandate.

The last-minute effort by a group of anti-vaccine municipal workers to avoid getting fired failed Friday, February 18, 2022. Mayor Eric Adams said other vaccine-resistant employees were finally getting the jab.

A Brooklyn federal judge rejected the group’s request to temporarily bar the city from terminating employees who have not been vaccinated. Similar suits failed in court, with the latest one arguing that the rules violate workers’ “fundamental religious and constitutional rights.”

FDNY EMS Terminates 36

“Plaintiffs have not met their burden of demonstrating their entitlement to the extraordinary remedy of a temporary restraining order,” declared Judge Diane Gujarati.

The vaccine mandate was implemented per city management after the Eastern District of New York judge’s ruling. New York City then terminated 36 FDNY EMS members for failing to get vaccinated, according to the Local 2507, which represents Fire Department EMS workers.

Public employees against the vaccine mandates received more bad news Friday when they lost on another legal front. United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor turned down a request by fourteen city Department of Education employees who were terminated after their requests for religious exemptions to city vaccine requirements was denied.

FDNY EMS Terminates 36 – The Culmination Of More Than A Year

The FDNY vaccination plan started in December 2020, but immeidately faced hurdles as up to fifty percent of FDNY responders said they would decline the vaccine. This number remained steady for many until their jobs were on the line until President Trump said to “get the vaccine.”

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FDNY Firefighter Fee Part of Attack on US Capitol

FDNY Firefighter Fee

The worst news is true as headline read for the Fire Department of New York: Retired FDNY firefighter Fee was part of attack on US Capitol.

FDNY Firefighter Fee

Thomas Fee, 53, of Freeport, Long Island, admitted in text messages to an acquaintance he was part of the riot and sent a photo of himself surrounded by rioters inside the US Capitol Rotunda, according to court papers.

FDNY Firefighter Fee

Fee who is seen in the US Capitol during the attack has a history of racist behavior.

In 2004 at his volunteer firehouse, Fee repeatedly taunted a black physician. He was suspended from his Hempstead volunteer fire department for the behavior, but no action happened at FDNY because no crimes were charged.

The announcement about FDNy Firefighter Fee follows a statement last week from the Fire Commissioner saying FDNY would cooperate with federal authorities regarding any allegations.

FDNY Firefighter Fee, FDNY, NYPD – All With Ongoing Issues

IAFF Local 22 endorsed President Donald Trump for re-election in October 2020, but since then there have been multiple reports of problems in New York’s public safety departments.

FDNY Firefighter Fee

An on duty NYPD officer used his vehicle while on duty to broadcast pro-Trump messages in violation of directives not to engage in politics on duty. Additionally, the department’s division director for equal opportunity, James Kobel, has now retired rather than face an administrative hearing over chat room posts he made which were racist in nature.

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FDNY Commissioner On January 6 Capitol Attack

January 6 Capitol Attack

The Fire Department of New York (FDNY) put out a statement on the presence of active or retired members from the FDNY ranks during the January 6 Capitol attack.

January 6 Capitol Attack

The statement says “department members, whether active or retired, must not engage in conduct that tends to bring the Department into disrespute…” Both FDNY and the New York Police Department are facing multiple issues of this nature.

Yesterday it was reported that James Kobel submitted his resignation paperwork in advance of a deaprtment administrative hearing over racist posts he had made under an alias.

January 6 Capitol Attack

Several FDNY and other fire department jackets and hats were seen during the January 6 Capitol attack.

January 6 Capitol Attack

In October 2020, IAFF Local 22 endorsed Donald Trump for re-election, despite the national union coming out strong for Vice President Biden. The same month a patrol officer was suspended for using his patrol car to broadcast pro-Trump messages.

 

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FDNY COVID19 Vaccination Plan Begins

The Fire Department of New York – FDNY COVID19 vaccination plan began in earnest on Tuesday for the front line heroes facing the pandemic in the community.

“I’d like to thank the Department, Chief Medical Officer, the nurses and all the members who made this happen so quickly and worked so hard to bring this vaccine to our members. I have full confidence in the vaccine and its efficacy.

FDNY COVID19 Vaccination Plan Begins

I think this is the path back to what we would consider a normal life and we are encouraging all our members to participate,” says Fire Department of New York Uniformed Firefighters Association Health and Safety Officer Michael Schreiber, who received the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine today along with other FDNY Firefighters.

UFA President Andrew Ansbro says, “I just received my first dose of the Moderna Vaccine and scheduled my second dose. I’m looking forward to society getting back to normal. I encourage all the members in the Department to sign up and get vaccinated.” 

FDNY COVID19 Vaccination Plan Faces Uphill Battle

In early December a poll found fifty percent of FDNY firefighters would decline the vaccination.

The FDNY Moderna COVID-19 Vaccination Plan, conducted by the FDNY Bureau of Health Services (BHS) in conjunction with the Bureau of Operations, continues at FDNY Headquarters in Brooklyn, the FDNY EMS Academy at Fort Totten, and the FDNY Fire Academy on Randall’s Island.

COVID-19 vaccinations began on December 23, and will continue for the next several weeks. As of today, over 1,000 FDNY members have been vaccinated.

It is unclear if the current approved vaccination will work against the new UK COVID19 strain which has been found in Colorado via community transmission.

 

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Forget Rudolph, FDNY Ladder 13 Brings Santa

FDNY Ladder 13 Brings Santa

Forget Rudolph and the reindeers this year. Fire Department of New York – FDNY Ladder 13 brings Santa to the children of Ronald McDonald House New York. This time of year children there normally get a visit from the big man in red.

This year though, due to COVID19, a visit was considered too dangerous for the children there, many of whom have compromised immune systems.

FDNY Ladder 13 Brings Santa

Thirty-five families currently stay at the nonprofit center, all with children with various serious illnesses, including cancer. While COVID19 has caused 2020 to be a tough year for many, these children had it even tougher, and were ready for some Christmas cheer.

Santa knows who has been naughty and nice though and has many friends in the ranks of FDNY.

Instead of a flying sleigh this year, the kids got an up-close view of the big man himself, as he was able to go right up to their windows and say hello thanks to the help of an FDNY firetruck bucket. The joyful scene is being called “the miracle on 73rd Street.”

FDNY Ladder 13 Brings Santa Down The Block

Ladder 13 is housed with Engine 22 at 159 East 85th Street.

Ronald McDonald House holds a special place for Never Forget 9-11 Foundation. Our nonprofit provided organizational guidance and assistance to a Texas teen who formed his own nonprofit aimed at bringing baseball to kids with cancer, Strike Out Kids Cancer Foundation. To date, the organization has brought baseball to kids in multiple cities and states. The teen hopes to continue playing baseball in college.

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Adel Abdul Bary – Osama bin Laden Lieutenant Freed From Prison

Adel Abdul Bary

Adel Abdul Bary, a former Osama bin Laden lieutenant has been freed from prison after a Manhattan judge cited his obesity as a reason for his release.

Bary, the former Osama bin Laden henchman convicted in two deadly 1998 bombings is free and living in the UK this week after being released early. This was due to Manhattan federal judge Lewis Kaplan who agreed the terrorist was way too obese to survive the coronavirus behind bars.

Adel Abdel Bary, 60, had spent twenty-one years in a New Jersey prison for his role in the 1998 al Qaeda bombings of two US embassies in Africa that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. He was not involved with September 11.

Adel Abdul Bary

“Defendant’s obesity and somewhat advanced age make COVID-19 significantly more risky to him than to the average person,” US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote in granting the release.

Attorneys asked that Adel Abdul Bary be let out sooner, citing their ­client’s age, girth, and asthma.

“Mr. Bary’s continued incarceration now significantly increases his risk of infection, which could wreak disastrous health outcomes,” his lawyer wrote in court documents.

While prosecutors didn’t agree that Bary’s age made him more at risk to catch COVID-19, they did concede his body mass index of 36 did.

“The defendant’s obesity is an extraordinary and compelling reason that could justify a reduction of his sentence in light of the current pandemic,” they wrote.

The 230-pound terrorist was freed from prison Oct. 9 and from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Wednesday, when he was handed over to UK officials.

Adel Abdul Bary — whose son, British rapper Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, is an Islamist militant — was reunited with his wife, Ragaa, who lives in a $1 million-plus apartment in London, Britain’s Sun newspaper reported.

His return to the UK couldn’t be blocked because he was granted asylum there in 1997 — before being arrested in 1999 and extradited to the US to stand trial in 2012.

He had been sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2015 but received credit for the years he spent behind bars in Britain while fighting extradition.

Officials couldn’t send him back to his native Egypt after his release because he could be at risk of death or torture, the Sun reported.

“His return remains a huge headache for the [UK] home secretary” — equivalent to the US secretary of state. “She is intent on ridding the country of threats, but here’s a notorious terrorist dumped right on her doorstep,” a source told the Sun.

Adel Abdul Bary Freedom Outrages Victims Families

Bary’s immigration lawyer said, “After all this time, all Mr. Bary wants is to enjoy a quiet life with his family, but Edith Bartley, whose younger brother was among the victims, ripped the release.

“Just serving a sentence doesn’t mean that a person has been rehabilitated, doesn’t mean that their core thinking has changed,” she told the Times. “This is a person who can still do harm in the world.”

In 2015, Judge Kaplan said Adel Abdel Bary, then 54, benefitted from an “enormously generous plea bargain” that should have him out of jail in eight years when factoring in seventeen years of time already served. It is unclear why he chose to contradict himself on the terrorist’s freedom.

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FDNY Says No To COVID19 Vaccine

A recent internal Fire Department of New York (FDNY) survey revealed that more than half of the department’s firefighters says no to COVID19 vaccine when it becomes available.

In the past three days, the Uniformed Firefighters Association polled 2,053 members, and around 55 percent of them said they wouldn’t get vaccinated for the virus, Andy Ansbro, the union president, told local New York media. Those polled make up around a quarter of the the union’s 8,200 active members.

No To COVID19 Vaccine

Last month, an FDNY memo stated the department would not mandate firefighters and EMS workers take the COVID vaccine. As of Friday, the FDNY had more than 130 positive cases, with at least six firehouses having three or more cases, a department source told the Post.

In a statement late last month, the International Association of Fire Fighters pushed for firefighters and other first responders to be at the front of the line for the COVID19 vaccine.

A Centers for Disease Control advisory panel, however, recommended last week that health care workers and long-term care facility workers and residents be placed in the 1a priority group for the vaccine.

No To COVID19 Vaccine

Ansbro said that many FDNY firefighters in their 30s and 40s aren’t as threatened by COVID-19, especially if they’ve already battled the virus. He added that he would be getting vaccinated.

“A lot of them probably feel they are not in a risk category, they are younger, stronger, they may have already had it and gotten through it, and feel it’s not their problem,” Ansbro told the Post. “They are more familiar with the coronavirus than they are with the vaccine.”

Skepticism about the vaccine also runs high among FDNY EMS members.

“A few are anxious to get it, but there have been a few dozen (online) responses saying, ‘Thanks, but no  thanks,’ ” Oren Barzilay, president of the Uniformed EMTs, Paramedics and Fire Inspectors union, told the Post. “They were thankful it was not mandatory, because they don’t want to be looked at as test subjects.”

Barzilay added that he would be waiting to see about what independent studies reveal concerning possible side effects before taking the vaccine.

One veteran FDNY member told the Post that the resistance toward the vaccine is a source of frustration.

“The 55 percent doesn’t surprise me. They’re called the Bravest, not the Smartest,” the FDNY member said about members saying “no to COVID19 vaccine.

“It’s saving their lives, and the lives of their co-workers, families, friends, and the people they take care of. They respond to live-threatening medical emergencies. The last thing you want is a family member in dire straits being worked on by an unvaccinated firefighter.”

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John A. McGinty: Disabled Firefighter Performing Stunts

John A. McGinty

John A. McGinty, a former Fire Department of New York (FDNY) Firefighter with a lucrative annual payout for disability is actively working as a stunt man. In 2016 he retired from FDNY citing leg, hip and spinal injuries after 25 years with the department.

The New York City firefighter has been moonlighting as a stuntman — while also raking in a $136,684-a-year disability pension, according to court documents. His acting career goes back to 2004.

John A. McGinty Acting Career

McGinty, 58, works as a professional movie stuntman, according to his own LinkedIn page.

John A. McGinty LinkedIn Profile

John A. McGinty — who also goes by the stage name John Mack — says he is adept at fighting, driving stunts, falls below 30 feet and small fires, according to his own profile on management site CMG Talent.

John A. McGinty CMG Talent Profile

John A. McGinty Double Life

Firefighters who know McGinty blew the whistle on the stuntman and foremer firefighter. They did so after knowing about the retired disability pensioner’s double life after seeing a New York Post story that nearly all the firefighters who retired last year had annual pensions that topped $100,000, mostly on three-quarter disability. Meanwhile Mayor DeBlasio is planning on cutting positions from FDNY EMS despite their being on front lines of COVID19 crisis.

“McGinty is disabled and we watched him build a new porch on his house,” said one neighbor who lives nearby in Neponsit/Rockaway Park area.

“How can you be a stuntman and have a disability with the Fire Department? I don’t get it,” said another neighbor, who requested anonymity.

Another neighbor referred to John A. McGinty as “Johnny Stunts.”

The FDNY’s practice of awarding of three-quarter disability pensions has been a simmering issue over the years. The Post reported a decade ago about a firefighter who obtained a disability pension for a respiratory illness — then went on to compete in triathlons.

McGinty’s double life — retired disabled firefighter and vigorous stuntman — might have remained a secret except that he sued his next-door neighbor in the Rockaways for defamation and claimed the name-calling in front of an actress friend, Julie Reifers, hurt his stuntman/movie acting career.

“The plaintiff is employed as a stuntman and actor with the Screen Actors Guild,” said McGinty in his own suit against neighbor Brian Sullivan, also a retired firefighter.

McGinty alleged in court docs that Sullivan called him a “pedophile,” “chicken hawk” and a “sexual predator” who harassed his wife.

The two also sued each other over a dispute involving a fence Sullivan erected separating their properties.

McGinty’s attorney, Stephen Dachtera, confirmed he has a FDNY medical disability pension and defended his client’s stunt work as appropriate.

“There’s nothing to hide here,” he said. “Just because you’re a stuntman doesn’t mean you’re exerting a great amount of activity. It can be total benign work. He’s doing stunts that are not physically exerting. There’s no fraud here.”

Dachtera claimed information about McGinty’s disability is surfacing now to pressure him to drop his defamation suit against his neighbor, Sullivan.

 

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FDNY Ladder 102, Ambulance Collide Killing 1, Injuring 11

FDNY Ladder 102

FDNY Ladder 102 and an ambulance collided early Thursday morning killing one patient in the ambulance and injuring eleven, including eight members of FDNY.

Ladder 102 ‘T-boned’ the ambulance carrying a heart attack patient at an intersection at about 12:45 a.m. per local news. The patient was pronounced dead and his sister, who was in the ambulance with him, was seriously injured.

The collision caused the ambulance to strike a third vehicle; two people in that vehicle were transported and are in stable condition. Six firefighters and two EMTs were also injured; one EMT sustained a leg injury and another complained of pain. The firefighters’ exact injuries were not reported but were said to not be serious.

Family members said the man who died in the crash was Jamil Almansouri, 59, a local bodega owner, known to his friends as Mike.

Both FDNY vehicles had their lights activated when the crash occurred. Officials said the ladder truck was responding to a fire on the fifth floor of an eight-story building.

The FDNY EMS Union President recently complained about lives being at risk secondary to forecast budget cuts.

FDNY Ladder 102

Ladder Company 102 started out as Ladder 2 in the Brooklyn Fire Department on September 15, 1869. It became part of the Fire Department of the City of New York and was redesignated as Ladder 102 on January 1, 1913.

 

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