As high rises dot Westchester cities, firefighting requires new thinking and planning

As new skylines rise in Westchester's major cities, fire departments face the life-and-death challenge of preparing to respond to fires in growing numbers of high-rise apartment buildings.

High-rises require a new kind of firefighting.

Many are too tall for traditional ladders and hoses but are equipped with modern features like smoke removal systems and water pumps. Fire departments must make sure their firefighters understand how modern high-rises work and are familiar with emergency response plans in new buildings.

Responding to high-rise emergencies requires detailed response strategies and more communication and cooperation among fire and other departments.

Yonkers Assistant Fire Chief Christopher Thomas said managing high-rise buildings is now the biggest challenge for fire departments in cities with significant housing growth.

"We’re moving into a new era," Thomas said. "Fighting a fire in a high-rise, just by virtue of the fact it is so far above the ground, requires a whole other level of coordination among firefighters.”

New York state classifies buildings over 75 feet tall, or 6-7 stories, as high-rises. Firefighters rarely can use outside ladders above that height.

In White Plains, about 140 buildings are classified as high-rises ranging from six to 45 stories. Yonkers has 75 high-rises and New Rochelle about 40.

Cities that expect to see major population increases — with newcomers moving into thousands of new rental units — will likely need to add firefighters and equipment. However, the high cost of equipment for high-rise firefighting and a lack of suitable training sites that can simulate high-rises promise to be ongoing challenges.

And it's simply difficult to project fire-protection needs as housing developments continue to rise across Westchester.

Do suburban cities need more firefighters?

Cities that expect to add tens of thousands of residents are evaluating whether they need to add firefighters to their departments.

In New Rochelle, ongoing downtown redevelopment is expected to increase the city's population of 80,000 by about 17%.

A report on fire department staffing determined that a significant increase in emergency call volume is expected, even though there is no formula to correlate population to call volume. The study recommends increasing on-duty staffing from 31 firefighters to 37 by increasing overtime for existing staff, which would cost the city about $456,000 annually for each additional on-duty position.

It also recommends that the city monitor call demand and consider adding staff should the response performance fall below 90% of expectations.

Andrew Sandor, New Rochelle Fire Department chief, said the department continues to increase staffing as high-rise buildings are added. Like many fire departments in Westchester, they also rely on mutual aid from surrounding departments.

Yonkers, New York's third most populous city, has 458 firefighters and officers serving almost 210,000 residents, and usually has 78 on duty at any given time. White Plains is going to increase its firefighting staff from 155 to 158, with about 29 firefighters working per shift serving a population of 60,000. New Rochelle, a city with about 81,000 residents, has a roster of 162 firefighters and 34 on duty at all times.

“There is not really a magic number. We’re trying to keep pace with the development as it occurs,” Thomas said of how many firefighters the city might need. “Certainly, as the city grows, the fire department would have to grow with it. We’re trying to evaluate the needs as we go forward.”

A 2021 report by the National Fire Protection Association found that nationwide, an average of 28 paid firefighters served communities with a population of 100,000 to 249,999 and that communities of 50,000 to 99,999 residents had an average of 14. The organization recommends that fire departments assign at least 43 firefighters to a fire in any building that rises at least 75 feet above the "lowest level of fire department vehicle access."

However, the union that represents firefighters in New Rochelle said in a statement that the department is understaffed and potentially unprepared to face fires in high-rise buildings. The recognized firefighting standard is to have at least 43 firefighters on scene within six minutes for a high-rise fire, the union said, but the city now has 33 firefighters on a shift. The city is essentially relying on mutual aid from neighboring districts, it said.

Additionally, the union said, if any other emergency call comes in while firefighters are dealing with a high-rise fire — from a medical emergency to a vehicle accident — the response "will be very delayed and it is unknown who will be responding."

"Bottom line, we need more members on-shift. Members are being taxed to their extremes due to increasing call volume," said the statement from Local 273 of the Uniformed Firefighters Association. "The expanding skyline of New Rochelle is bringing challenges which our current staffing is simply unable to deal with. Along with this increased call volume, our rigs are being pushed to their limits as well. We need to be provided with more reliable apparatuses."

With call volume rising, the city may need to add a downtown firehouse, the union said.

Inquiries to the White Plains and Yonkers firefighters unions about the growth of high-rises in their cities were not returned as of Monday.

High-rises are designed to resist fires

High-rise firefighting is largely focused on the design of modern buildings, which is supposed to prevent fires from spreading.

High-rises built after the 1980s are required to be built with fire-resistant materials and to have vital safety systems, including automatic sprinklers, fire alarms, emergency power and lighting, and two-way communication systems, according to New York state's building code.

Some municipalities have stricter building codes. For example, high-rise buildings in White Plains must have more expansive smoke detection coverage and automatic smoke removal systems.

These internal systems are generally monitored 24/7 at a fire command station that is typically located on the lobby level of the building. Fire departments conduct regular inspections of the systems.

Damon Amadio, White Plains building commissioner, said that if a building's fire alarm system goes off, both audible and visual alarms are activated to alert occupants. Depending on the type of incident and its location, only certain floors may receive the initial alarms. The fire department can activate alarms on other floors or give occupants on each floor specific instructions via speakers located in the common corridors.

Ultimately, the fire department incident commander must decide whether additional floors — or the entire building — need to be evacuated. Occupants exit the building via at least two emergency exit staircases.

Amadio said fires in modern high-rise buildings are rare and are usually contained by automatic sprinklers before firefighters arrive. From 2020 to 2022, nine high-rise fires were reported in White Plains out of 10,857 fire alarms, according to the city records.

"We get a lot false alarms because we require more smoke detection than a lot other communities do," Amadio said.

The message: stay in your apartment in case of fire

A key part of fire preparedness in high-rises is educating residents. They are encouraged to familiarize themselves with their buildings' emergency plan and safety features, and most importantly, to stay calm and wait for instructions in case of a fire emergency.

It sounds counterintuitive, but residents of high-rises are often urged to remain in their apartment, with the door closed — unless that is where the fire is.

Modern building materials should stop fires from spreading. So the goal is to keep residents from smoke.

When 19 people died last year in a Bronx high-rise fire — New York City's deadliest fire in three decades — the culprit was a malfunctioning fire safety system. Multiple self-closing doors did not close properly, and the victims died from smoke inhalation.

Thomas said the Yonkers Fire Department distributed 10,000 flyers last year trying to send the simple message to every high-rise building resident that they should stay in their apartment and await instructions.

“It’s kind of the opposite of what we’ve been told," he said. "But in the case of high-rise apartments, the rule is different because the building is different."

What happens when ladders cannot reach high-rises?

When firefighters do have to battle a high-rise blaze, traditional gear such as basic water hoses and ladders are not practical.

In buildings that are higher than 420 feet, or about 42 stories, internal fire pumps are critical to distribute water through sprinkler systems. Regular water pressure from water mains is unlikely to reach a fire above that height.

Fire departments now commonly have high-pressure supply hoses to deliver water to the upper floors should a high-rise building's own fire pump fail. They also have curved high-rise nozzles to attack fires from the floors below. Fireproof blankets are used to cover windows and prevent fires from spreading to nearby apartments.

White Plains has an aerial fire truck with a 105-foot ladder that can reach about the 8th floor of a typical high-rise building, whereas traditional ladders can only reach the second floor. Fire Chief Douglas McMath said it would be unsafe to operate a ladder beyond that point, let alone to try to rescue occupants.

Keep up with training

Training is a crucial part of preparing firefighters for high-rise fires. Fire departments regularly conduct field inspections within high-rises and review techniques at firehouse training centers.

New Rochelle Fire Department has been conducting high-rise training for years. Currently, they visit buildings near completion. Firefighters also perform physical training as firefighting gear can be as heavy as 80-100 pounds.

Yonkers Fire Department walks through and inspects stairway and fire controls in high-rise buildings, in addition to daily training at a training center. It is also developing new types of training.

“You really can’t know every single building," Thomas said "What you really have to understand is the theory behind the construction and our plans to fight the fire."

John S. D’Alessandro, secretary of Firefighters Association of the State of New York, said the most valuable tool firefighters have is knowledge.

"The more knowledge we have about the high-rise buildings structure, layout, water sources, it puts us that much further ahead should something happen in that building," he said.

However, for some fire departments, it’s challenging to make time for training as the number of emergency responses continues to increase. Also, it’s difficult to coordinate training in high-rise buildings.

“Our officers have become quite adept at maximizing limited training time and space to ensure each of our members is prepared for the challenges they face,” said Sandor.

Helu Wang covers development and real estate for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach her at hwang@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Lower Hudson firefighters plan new strategy for high rise buildings