OEM’s field responders established an Incident Command Structure, which divided responsibilities among all responding agencies, including the New York Police Department (NYPD), the Fire Department (FDNY), Con Edison, the American Red Cross, the Department of Buildings (DOB), the Department of Sanitation (DSNY), and the Housing and Preservation Department (HPD), among others. 

“On a complex job like this, OEM plays a critical role by coordinating the interaction between the many agencies involved,” reported Brad Gair, OEM Deputy Commissioner for Operations. “In the early stages of this incident, there were more than a dozen City, state, federal agencies on-scene, and OEM made certain that all were working together and prioritizing based on guidelines set by the Fire Department.

The media compete to ask City officials about the explosion and the status of the response efforts.

Together, the first responders identified the incident as a gas  explosion, and requested that Con Edison turn off the gas immediately. OEM and other City officials also held a news briefing to notify the media that the collapse was not a result of a terrorist attack.

Some of the tasks the agencies conducted were the following:

• NYPD conducted interview with pedestrians, nearby residents and any witnesses they could in order to determine if individuals were in the building or if others were endangered. The Police Department also closed down the roads to minimize injuries and perform recovery more efficiently.
  
• DOB performed building surveillance to ensure that the buildings were sturdy for investigation and rescue efforts.
  
• HPD came in to execute an emergency demolition so that building debris would not fall on pedestrians or responders.
  
• DSNY cleared the street and sidewalk of building wreckage so they were safe for response, and, eventually for foot and vehicular traffic.