Posted on 10/16/2003 6:32:51 PM PDT by chance33_98
Drill, Then Reality; FDNY was holding exercise when disaster struck
Copyright 2003 Newsday, Inc. Newsday (New York)
October 16, 2003 Thursday ALL EDITIONS
The Fire Department was in the middle of rehearsing for one kind of disaster yesterday on Staten Island when a real tragedy struck.
An exercise to determine how quickly and orderly rescue workers could be inoculated in the event of a bioterrorism attack was cut short after the ferry slammed into the dock.
The department had no comment last night on what role, if any, the exercise played in response time or staffing levels.
"They seemed to have plenty of personnel and units," said union official Arthur Parinello, who was at Sea View Hospital Rehabilitation Center and Home in Staten Island for the exercise when the crash was reported. "The department suspended the exercise when word came," said Parinello, a deputy chief who is detached to work full time in his role as treasurer of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association.
David Prezant, the department's deputy chief medical officer, and other doctors with the department's Bureau of Health Services rushed to the ferry to help out.
The Fire Department was conducting Operation BIO-POD, which began at 8 a.m. and had been scheduled to continue until midnight.
(Excerpt) Read more at 6.lexisnexis.com ...
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