FREEPETEY.COM

We would like to put together a list of things unwritten in FDNY. What things are unwritten in the FDNY that are still followed by firefighters?

How many times do firefighters go into buildings that are illegal occupancies? These occupancies should not be occupied because they lack secondary means of egress. A simple example is a basement apartment. The FDNY is called numerous times, every day, throughout the city to emergency runs in illegal apartments. Should the FDNY start to vacate these illegal apartments? Are firefighters going to be held liable if they do CPR in a basement apartment and then a month later there is a fire where someone is hurt or dies? Is someone going to question why a chief was not called to investigate and possibley vacate an illegal apartment.

The written policy is to call a chief. Does the city want us to announce every illegal dwelling on the department radio so that a proper investigation and vacate (if necessary) can begin? I believe this would be the only way to properly do our inspections and follow the regulations properly.

Concerning Petey, a better question should be: What are the things that are written, but never enforced? The FDNY Fire Prevention manual says that all buildings under construction or demolition must be inspected every 15 days. They know that this is an impossible task. If anybody asks them for records of these inspections, it will be obvious that the brass is well aware of the fact that the requirements of their building inspection program are a joke.....

Meals, Mutuals, and Mattresses

What else counts???

Things unwritten and still followed:

MOST IMPORTANTLY.. things that are written, but untraceable. How could that be? since the advent of the fax machine, dept. business can be scribbled on a napkin and faxed out to the companies, with no real record of it ever getting where it was supposed to go. It used to be that orders came out in a handy dandy device called "A DEPARTMENT ORDER". DO's are numbered from one to whenever each year, and it is easy to tell if one is missing. Since Faxes came in, things can be sent out, but was the company there to add paper? Are the faxes of business quality (take a guess). Another, added nuisance of untraceable jibberish is the Dept. E Mail, which works only sometimes, is used only be some chiefs and companies, and again, does not necessarilly carry the force of a Dept. Order. One of many avenues to explore. Hold your head high Cap!

ANother thing OFTEN unwritten, is the response to a memorandum. Memos or reports go UP the chain of command, but anyone along that chain that disagrees can simply toss it in the circular file. Technically, it should be stamped approved (also called an endorsement), or stamp DENIED/Disaproved. Often in the latter case, the memo simply dies in transmission, never to be heard of again. There is no tested way to ensure a response to anything.. I have personal experience in this I shall call the "paperwork vaccuum"