Massive FDNY Deployment: Astoria Edition

On Tuesday, St. Patrick’s Day, I was doing what you’re supposed to do on that holiday — happily enjoying a pint at my local with an old friend. Then all of a sudden, everything started flashing red. I’d only had a few sips of my first beer at that point, so it couldn’t have been the alcohol. Looking outside, a massive deployment of FDNY personnel were observed, so I grabbed my camera and made apologies to my friend – I had to get to work.

More after the jump…

Admittedly, I was the kind of kid who would race along the sidewalk when FDNY came roaring down my block, with their lights and sirens on, shouting “Firemen! Firemen!” the whole time. This hasn’t really changed too much in my adult life. The units that were deployed to Astoria, on Broadway in the 40s near Steinway Street, hailed from as far away as the Bronx.

It was seeing Collapse Rescue 3 that hinted at what was going on.

City employees aren’t allowed to talk to the “press” without a public information officer present, but sometimes they’ll tell you what’s going on in an “off the cuff” manner. One firefighter – not pictured above I would add – told me that there had been a partial basement collapse on 41st Street, but didn’t know much more.

There were dozens of them milling about, and it seemed that whatever direct danger it was that had drawn the deployment had already been abated. Most of the firefighters were heading back to their trucks as I walked up 41st Street towards the center of the action.

These fellows are from Hazardous Materials 1, a specialist unit trained to deal with all sorts of esoteric industrial situations, chemical spills, gas leaks… that sort of thing. You’ll notice that the Unit Captain (white shield on helmet) is carrying a gas probe.

All of their attentions were focused on these two structures, so presumptively, this is where the basement collapse occurred. The bin outside would suggest that their was some sort of renovation work underway within.

The fellow in the white helmet at center is Battalion Chief Johnston, who holds a job which would roughly equate to being a Colonel in the Army. You generally don’t see guys of this rank on the street unless something proverbial has hit the fan.

The situation seemed to be under control – hey, that’s what FDNY does – and both my friend and my half drank pint of beer were waiting for me to return to the pub, so I started back towards Broadway.

The only FDNY folks still deploying were these two EMT’s who were all done up in protective gear. Normally, St. Pat’s is all about the green, this year it was red, yellow and scarlet instead.

Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman lives in Astoria and blogs at Newtown Pentacle.