May 22, 2004 -- The Police and Fire departments are working so well together that NYPD helicopters now transmit video images of fire scenes to firefighters, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday.
Downplaying the historic rivalry between the two agencies and criticism from the 9/11 commission, Bloomberg also said a police chief is being dispatched to every two-alarm fire and the NYPD is making its airborne resources available to its sister agency.
"We now routinely fly whenever they want. We broadcast television pictures from police helicopters to the Fire Department. We fly fire officers in the police helicopters whenever they want. We don't need two air forces. We've got one," the mayor said on his weekly radio show.
"There's no evidence ever that the senior police and fire officers don't work together. Whenever you have the battle of the badges, it's typically some low level, two guys and they get into an altercation. Those are aberrations."
The mayor called confrontations so rare as to be barely worthy of comment.
But Peter Gorman, president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, said top fire commanders all object to giving the NYPD control of hazardous-materials emergencies, as Bloomberg has directed.
