The Uniformed Firefighters Association (UFA) has unveiled a new firehouse out-of-service community alert pilot program named FireSafeNY. The FireSafeNY system can notify New Yorkers and elected leaders when FDNY companies serving their community are taken out of service for the day or for portions of a day.
The pilot program goes online June 20 with initial participation of 220 FDNY community Engine Companies and Ladder Companies from across the five boroughs. The mobile media based system can send instantaneous email or text notifications when firehouses are closed for any reason at all. As the pilot program expands citywide, each FDNY company will be included.
Members of each of the participating firehouses notify the UFA via a text alert when they are taken out of service, resulting in the transmission of a warning notification to the FireSafeNY.org community notification system. The real-time system then updates an online heat map identifying each community fire company and transmits an alert to the smart phone or email address of participants in that neighborhood who opt-in to the free 24/7 service.
Among central reasons why FDNY companies are taken out of service:
Anyone can opt-in to receive email notices every time their neighborhood fire company is out of service by going to here and registering. There is no cost. This site displays a Google Map of all five boroughs, showing the fire companies contained in each neighborhood.
Each time a fire company is out of service the Google heat map will reflect the closing in real time and show the percentage of units available to respond to emergencies, as well as sending out notices to program participants in that vicinity.
