Four FDNY firefighters critically hurt in a Staten Island blaze last year announced Monday they are suing New York City over what they called a dangerous policy that puts firefighters and the public in harm’s way.
The plaintiffs, FDNY Lieutenant Bill Doody and Firefighters John Sarnes, Michael Guidera and Kwabena Brentuo, alleged in a lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court on Staten Island that a city policy that periodically closes firehouses for medical exams and training left them short-staffed and with a longer response time.
The four firefighters nearly lost their lives on Feb. 17, 2023, when a raging four-alarm fire ripped through a family home on Shotwell Avenue, spreading quickly as heavy winds continued. The closest firehouse, Ladder Company 167, was closed for annual medical exams when the fire occurred, lawyers for the firefighters said.
“There’s a policy with FDNY to close a firehouse when the firefighters need to go in for medical exams or training,” said Andreas Koutsoudakis, a lawyer from KI Legal Personal Injury firm representing the firefighters. “Instead of replacing them with firefighters who might be off or from another firehouse nearby, they close it. So if there’s a fire in the area where that closed firehouse is, the one that’s responding is not that one obviously because no one is there.”
The firefighters are seeking $20 million in damages and a change in the city policy to ensure faster response to emergencies.
The Shotwell Avenue blaze began as a one-alarm fire but quickly escalated to four alarms by the time the firefighters arrived.
“When we talk about the risks that these people go through, yes, they sign up for a very dangerous job, but we don’t need to make it worse,” Koutsoudakis said. “This is something that is completely within the city’s control to not add to the risk.”
The four firefighters involved in the lawsuits were among the 22 members of New York’s Bravest injured in the fire.
Doody, now retired, was briefly trapped inside the burning home when a stairwell collapsed. Though he made it out, he was burned so badly during the inferno that his boots melted onto his skin; he has since undergone multiple graft surgeries.
“I was trapped, but I relied on my experience and training to get out, Doody said. “But I just don’t want this to happen again. Another firefighter or civilian with less training and doesn’t stay as calm…it might not work out as well for them.”
Guidera had to jump out of the second floor of one of the houses that burned, requiring multiple surgeries on his hip and back, Koutsoudakis said.
“This didn’t need to happen, and it doesn’t need to continue to happen. It’s Russian roulette on any given date when a firehouse is closed,” the lawyer said.
The FDNY sent amNew York Metro a statement about the lawsuit.
“Firefighters have made countless sacrifices to keep New Yorkers safe, and we are deeply grateful for their efforts,” the statement read. “After every incident that causes a serious injury, the FDNY conducts a review of the incident to work to improve the safety of all firefighters. Following this incident, FDNY made changes to protocols including a dispatch announcement to fire companies during a wind advisory issued by the National Weather Service and changes to dispatch operations to automatically backfill when a fire company is placed out of service.”
The Fire Department has 193 fire engine companies and 143 ladder companies. Andrew Ansbro, president of the New York City Uniformed Firefighters Association, said in a New York Post article that on any given day, 10 to 12 firehouses could temporarily close so firefighters can get physicals or training.
“They’re relying on the firefighters in the other firehouses to pick up the work. A majority of the time it works out,” Ansbro said in the article. “But sometimes you have a fire like the one on Staten Island where … firefighters get hurt.”
