***MEDIA ADVISORY***

U.S. FOREST SERVICE TO PRESENT PLAQUES OF
APPRECIATION TO FIVE FDNY ASSISTANT CHIEFS

On Monday, May 22, 2006 at 11:30AM at the FDNY Training Academy on Randall’s Island, members of the United States Forest Service will be presenting plaques of appreciation to 5 FDNY Assistant Chiefs for their efforts with the rapid deployment of the FDNY to the Gulf Coast region for Hurricane Katrina last September. The ceremony is being held on the first day of a weeklong training course on emergency response to urban catastrophes.

Representatives from the FDNY, United States Coast Guard (USCG) United States Forest Service (USFS), New York State, New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont, and Maine will train together at a 36-hour “Command and Generals Staff Course.” The various agencies will work side-by-side on different Emergency Management tactics, all leading up to Thursday’s “All Risk” mock scenario of a Category 3 Hurricane in the Rockaway section of Queens. The teams will work on complex simulations and scenarios that the city would potentially be faced with during a natural disaster of this magnitude.

The United States Forest Service (USFS) was instrumental after September 11, 2001 with the inception and development of the FDNY’s Incident Management Team (IMT). In February of 2003 a partnership was established between the Department of Agriculture and FDNY for the Northeast area of U.S. Forest Service to supply instructors to the FDNY and facilitate shadow training at large scale natural disasters or catastrophes.

The IMT’s are a highly trained group of fire officers and firefighters who are trained in the components of the Incident Command System (ICS) and perform specific functions including: command, operations, logistics, planning and finance/administration. The FDNY IMT’s can be activated and deployed at a moments notice for any urban “All Risk” catastrophes in the United States.

Press Contact: Francis X. Gribbon / Seth E. Andrews, FDNY (718) 999-2056

http://www.nyc.gov/fdny