Uniformed Firefighters Association - NYC : NYELJP is Special Environmental Counsel

"There is nothing more important than the health and safety of those men and women who risk their lives to serve and protect us.” Mayor Gary Morris of Seattle, addressing cancer outbreak in Fire Station 31. October 9th, 2003.

New York’s Bravest deserve better safety and protection. They are the first line of defense against emergencies and terrorist attacks. Yet the firefighters suffer budget cuts and safety cuts. They have to face preventable, unnecessary exposure to hazardous chemicals. Many of the fire trucks have not yet received proper decontamination since 9/11.

In the face of an emergency, the firefighters can’t afford to wait until they know all the toxic materials present. They just go in with one thought -- to save people. That is why they need to know what is out there beforehand.

The New York Environmental Law & Justice Project, as environmental counsel for the Uniformed Firefighters Association, strives to protect the health and safety of the firefighters through our preventative and holistic method.

 

USEFUL LINKS:

UFA - Health and Safety Office

NYCOSH (NewYork Committee for Occupational Safety and Health)

CHEMICALSPILL.ORG : EPCRA for Firefighters

 

 

READ WALLACE & WALLACE, PhD.!!!!

UFA continues to fight for the CLOSED FIREHOUSES to OPEN again.

This Philadelphia Inquirer Series "Beyond the Flames" By Susan Q. Stranahan
and Larry King examines the history and aftermath of a huge chemical fire which occurred in Chester, PA in 1978 where public officials totally betrayed the public trust which resulted in numerous cancers and death. This appears to be the same scenario with Federal, State, and City officials declaring the WTC/downtown NYC area to be "safe", jeapordizing public safety.

Daily News 5/30/2003 Fire Union Is Ordered to Post $4.5 Million Bond By Robert F. Worth. Judicial system fails to protect endangered communities!!!!

Engine 279 - Environmental Analysis

(6/20/03) E279-L131-INDOOR-AIR-QUALITY-INVESTIGATION -1- Performed by FDNY

(6/20/03) E279-L131-Air-Quality-AssesSESS-GCI-3-19-03 Follow up study

(8/25/02) FDNY Ladder 25 SciLab results with high readings of asbestos taken by NYELJP Joel Kupferman.

(8/25/02)NYPost 8-25-02 Fire Heroes Trucks Still Tainted By WTC Dust by Al Guart. Was cover story for some editions. Asbestos and fiberglass found months after fire trucks were "de-contaminated." NYELJP's discovery and analysis of these materials is cited. The contamination is serious for the firefighters.

(8/27/02) NYPost-8-27-02-Editorial-Eek-Asbestos NY Post calls our actions "mischief". Read the NYELJP response!!!

(8/6/02) Recently, the New York Environmental Law and Justice Project has been representing the Uniformed Firefighters Association investigating possible asbestos contamination in fire trucks throughout New York City. As of now, all of the fire trucks have had more than the EPA's threshold standard of 1%, some even as high as 5%, This appeared in Newsweek magazine August 4, 2002. For more information and test results, contact NYLJP.

NEWSWEEK -Periscope August 4, 2002
Asbestos: Alarmingly High Levels by Suzanne Smalley
Many fire trucks at Ground Zero have been contaminated

Aug. 12 issue —— Bobby Stanlewicz''s exposure to disease-causing chemicals didn''t end when he left Ground Zero. The 35-year-old firefighter——who is suffering from respiratory diseasehas learned that he''s spent the past year working in a contaminated truck.
THE NONPROFIT NEW YORK Environmental Law and Justice Project recently tested some of the same engines that the New York Fire Department had approved as safe in February, and found asbestos concentrations as high as five times the 1 percent safety limit. ""The OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] standard is that asbestos does not become carcinogenic until it is airborne,"" says the FDNY''s Frank Gribbon. But that standard is not ideal. ""This is a material that becomes hazardous if disturbed, which it almost surely will [be] in a fire truck full of foot traffic,"" said Dr. Stephen Levin of Mount Sinai''s Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine. ""OSHA acknowledges that even with exposures that meet their standards, some people will develop asbestos-related cancers."" Last week FDNY announced a $2 million-plus contract that will pay for the decontamination of hundreds of dust-tainted Ground Zero trucks.

Some of our Testing Results of Fire Department Trucks and Ladders of Equipment supposedly "decontaminated". More to come soon...

Engine 47 SciLab Results2
Ladder 25 SciLab- results-7-31-02.pdf
engine-58.-sci-lab- reports.pdf

Pictures from the Engine 10 Firehouse located on Duane Street. Their living quarters and truck bay. They were the featured firehouse on the CBS program 9-11 with the 2 French documentarians. Notice the dust contamination that is ever present in their sleep quarters. See the magnafied picture. The bottom picture shows how the FDNY sent in people to clean without the proper protection for either the workers or the firefighters themselves when they cleaned up the floor of the truck bay which had been occupied by FEMA equipment which was laden with WTC dust that they brought in daily on their vehicles that were parked there that were running around Ground Zero..