(Upper West Side-WABC, October 12, 2005) - There will be plenty of questions raised at the FDNY's annual memorial service. Today's tribute to firefighters lost in the line of safety ropes were pulled from service.
Eyewitness News reporter Lisa Colagrossi is live on the Upper West Side. Two-hundred-fifty firefighters got their hands on the first ropes just a week ago. They're slender, 50 feet long, made with a kevlar like material called technora. With a safety harness, it should hold up to 5,000 pounds.
The department hopes to have more than 11,000 firefighters and officers equipped and trained by next March.
But training at the department's Randalls Island Academy took a dangerous turn yesterday. As a firefighter practiced sliding, his lowering device jammed and the rope was badly frayed.
No one was injured but Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta took quick action, ordering the ropes pulled from service.
There will be no more training until troubleshooters figure out what went wrong.
The ropes became a rallying point for the rank and file, after six firefighters without a rope were forced to jump from a burning Bronx apartment, last January. Two men were killed in the five story fall. Four other firefighters were injured.
The new personal safety device was designed by firefighters over the past eight months. The new design underwent more than 7000 tests only to fail yesterday with a firefighter at the end of the line.
This is an $11 Million project. The commissioner says he just wants to get it right before everyone gets the fire safety ropes. They're saying it's a precautionary measure while the manufacturer goes through and does troubleshooting on the equipment.
(Copyright 2005 WABC-TV)
