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Who Turned Out the Lights?
It is rare for the New York City Fire Department to run out of
units. We have 454 pieces of apparatus staffed full time: 203 engines,
143 ladders, 49 battalion chiefs, 9 divisions, and 50 assorted
special units. Yet, on August 14, 2003, when the most widespread
blackout in the country's history hit the Northeast, dispatchers in
Brooklyn had more alarms than Brooklyn had units. The other four
boroughs had just barely enough to hold their own.
Every summer for the last few years, the local electric utility
warned the city to conserve or face rolling blackouts. However, the
summer of 2003 was not a brutal summer. In fact, the season started
late as a low-pressure trough sat stationary on the east coast for
much of June. It came as a shock to me, as it did to millions of
other people, when "the big one" hit.
New York City is home to some 7 million people. During the week that
number swells as out-of-towners from upstate, New Jersey, Connecticut,
and Long Island come here to work. Moving all of those people
around takes a lot of power. They depend on electricity to run the
Port Authority Trans-Hudson, Metro-North, and Long Island commuter
railroads, and the New York City subway.
Many buildings in the city have elevators. From the typical five or
6-story housing project to the (now) tallest building in the city,
Empire State Building, they are a necessity for daily life. We take
for granted these modern conveniences. But, when power fails, it
leaves hundreds of thousands of people stranded and realizing just
how dependant they are on electricity.
Thursday, 1600 hours. The workday nears its end and rush hour begins.
The throngs head for the elevators and trains to begin their ride
home. At roughly 1610 hours, a cascade failure of the power grid
caused the City to grind to a halt. Within minutes, every central
office received calls for stuck elevators and stalled trains.
As the day wore on, people again were reminded how dependant they
are on electricity as their cordless and electrically powered phones
did not function. Cell phones worked for a short time, but they soon
stopped working as the power drain on the backup batteries in the
cell towers exceeded their design specifications.
Fortunately, for New Yorkers, our street fire alarm box network
remained 100% in service. All boxes receive their power from the
central office by department owned wires. Our offices are totally
self-sufficient and can run indefinitely without outside power. Help
was never farther away than the pull of a handle, or the push of a
button. NYPD 911, on the other hand, had to deal with 3 outages
stemming from equipment failures at the local telephone company
switching office.
As night fell, fires increased. From 1600 hours of the 14th to
midnight of the 15th, there were 60 all-hands or greater alarm fires;
caused mostly by candles. The situation was grave enough that the
department instituted off-duty recall, staffed 33 additional engine
companies and dispatchers from the day tour were held into the night.
Here is a borough breakdown of the fire activity:
Brooklyn - 8/14/03
1068 calls received
688 alarms transmitted
6 all-hands fires
1 second alarm fire
- 77-75-0994 1851 hours 19 Macdonough St. Fire in the basement of a 3 story brick 20X60 dwelling.
- 77-75-1278 2053 hours 530 6 Ave. 3 story brick 20X45 fire first floor.
- 77-22-1554 2241 hours 944 Flatbush Ave. Fire in a 3 story taxpayer.
- 77-75-1062 2307 hours Union St. & Nostrand Ave.
- 77-75-1626 2310 hours Opposite 61 E. 96 St.
- 77-75-3559 2330 hours 2815 W. 15 St.
- 77-75-1255 2343 hours 91 Garfield Pl.
Brooklyn - 8/15/03
1218 calls received
873 alarms transmitted
19 all-hands fires
1 third alarm fire
- 77-75-2648 0016 hours 74 St. & 5 Ave. Store fire.
- 77-75-0848 0045 hours Sumpter St. & Rockaway Ave. Fire 4th floor of a multiple dwelling.
- 77-75-0038 0101 hours 147 Guernsey St. Fire in apartment 2R.
- 77-75-1371 0116 hours 15 Bush St. Fire in a 6 story 100X100 multiple dwelling.
- 77-75-0392 0255 hours 36 St. Edwards St. Fire in apartment 9C.
- 77-75-2015 0330 hours 658 Hendrix St. Fire on the 1st floor of a 4 story 20X50 multiple dwelling.
- 77-75-1309 0354 hours 448 3 Ave.
- 77-75-1208 0444 hours 452 14 St. Basement fire.
- 77-75-1938 0543 hours 1305 Loring Ave. Fire 8th floor apartment in an 8 story 100X50 multiple dwelling.
- 77-33-1548 0558 hours 733 Flatbush Ave. Fire on all floors in 3 stores of a 3 story 25x75 taxpayer.
- 77-75-0701 0958 hours 370 Bushwick Ave. One DOA.
- 77-75-3760 1425 hours1335 Eastern Pkwy. Fire in a 3rd Floor apartment.
- 77-75-0347 1513 hours 28 Graham Ave. Store fire.
- 77-75-0526 1528 hours 339 Hicks St. Fire in the cockloft of Long Island College Hospital.
- 77-75-0039 1535 hours 13 Clifford Place.
- 77-75-0053 1539 hours 255 Calyer St. Factory fire.
- 77-75-0334 1549 hours 171 Lee Ave. Fire 1st floor of a 3 brick 20x40 dwelling.
- 77-75-1970 1805 hours 110 Sunnyside Ave. Dwelling fire.
- 77-75-3467 1837 hours 2356 83 St. Dwelling fire.
- 77-75-3025 1858 hours1330 E 4 St. Attic fire in a 3 brick 25X50 dwelling.
Queens 8/14/03
817 calls received
477 alarms transmitted
4 all-hands fires
- 99-75-9106 1727 hours 73-13 Main St. Basement fire in a store.
- 99-75-5746 2009 hours 134-40 Springfield Boulevard. Fire on the roof of Pathmark.
- 99-75-2816 2012 hours 149-27 256 St. Fire in a 2 story frame 20X40 dwelling.
- 99-75-5323 2253 hours 194-15 109 Ave. Fire 1st floor of a 2.5 frame 25X40 dwelling.
Queens 8/15/03
859 calls received
584 alarms transmitted
6 all-hands fires
- 99-75-4835 0017 hours 145-45 107 Ave. Dwelling fire.
- 99-75-5370 0019 hours 116-34 203 St. Fire in a 2.5 story frame 20X40 dwelling.
- 99-75-5416 0511 hours 104-17 220 St. Fire in a 2.5 story frame 20X40 dwelling.
- 99-75-9611 0648 hours 86-52 104 St. Bedroom fire in a dwelling.
- 99-75-9853 1721 hours 155-24 90 Ave. Fire in a 2 story 75X100 church.
- 99-75-6705 2052 hours 226-26 Union Turnpike. Fire in a 6 story 150X150 apartment building.
Manhattan 8/14/03
1184 calls received
635 alarms transmitted
3 all-hands fires
- 66-75-0560 1936 hours 29 9 Ave. Fire 4th floor of a dwelling.
- 66-75-1733 2114 hours 592 W 178 St. Fire in an apartment building.
- 66-75-0890 2159 hours 2 E 55 St. Fire in a 20 story 200X200 high-rise apartment building.
Manhattan 8/15/03
1171 calls received
900 alarms transmitted
7 all-hands fires
- 66-75-1318 0106 hours 2080 1 Ave. Fire on the 27th floor of a 31 story 200X200 high-rise apartment building.
- 66-75-0422 0114 hours 54 E 3 St. Fire 1st floor of a 6 story 30X80 dwelling.
- 66-75-1545 0204 hours 220 W 133 St. Fire 10th floor of a 15 story 20X200 apartment building.
- 66-75-1188 0409 hours 223 E 89 St. Fire 3rd floor of a 5 story 20X60 apartment building.
- 66-75-0785 0516 hours 51 W 42 St. Fire 13th floor of a 21 story 100X125 high-rise apartment building.
- 66-75-1206 0542 hours 1780 1 Ave. Fire on the 16th floor of a 25 story 200X200 high-rise apartment building.
- 66-75-1498 0634 hours 1982 Madison Ave. Fire in a 4 story apartment building.
Bronx 8/14/03
3 all-hands fires
- 66-75-3006 2152 hours 1504 Metropolitan Ave. Fire 1st floor of an 8 story 75X125 multiple dwelling.
- 66-75-4379 2157 hours 2844 Wickham Ave. Fire in a private dwelling.
- 66-75-3137 2256 hours. 788 East 182 St. Fire in a 6 story 120X90 multiple dwelling.
Bronx 8/15/03
851 calls received
500 alarms transmitted
2 all-hands fires
1 second alarm fire
- 66-75-2709 0022 hours 1249 College Ave. Fire 1st floor in a 2 story frame 30X60 dwelling.
- 66-22-3781 0046 hours 6125 Broadway. Fire on floors 3, 4 and 5 of a 5 story 50X75 multiple dwelling with several jumpers down.
- 66-75-3923 0839 hours 720 West 254 St. Fire in a 1 story 50X50 commercial.
S.I. 8/14/03
193 calls received
141 alarms transmitted
3 all-hands fires
- 88-75-8032 1747 hours Bayley Seton Hospital. Fire 2nd floor.
- 88-75-1955 2308 hours 69 Richard La. Top floor fire in a 3 story frame 20X60 private dwelling.
- 88-75-0339 2354 hours 349 Cary Ave. Dwelling fire.
S.I. 8/15/03
184 calls received
137 alarms transmitted
4 all-hands fires
- 88-75-3692 0102 hours 75 Macon Ave. Kitchen fire in a 2 story 20X40 townhouse.
- 88-75-0993 0117 hours 52 Spartan Ave. Fire 2nd floor of a 2 story frame 30X60 dwelling.
- 88-75-8066 0606 hours Seaview Hospital. Fire in the basement.
- 88-75-3119 2105 hours 4401 Victory Blvd. PVC fire in the NRG electric generating station.
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