FDNY: Failed Authority
Yes to a joyride
On the evening of June 22, 2022, Marine 1 Bravo, an FDNY boat, stationed on the Hudson River, castoff with a retired FDNY captain, his visiting Belgian firefighter friend and their wives.
It was an unauthorized voyage with the vessel being crewed by a single on-duty member of the Marine unit, an apparent breach of staffing regulations.
While in the East River, far from its berth, Marine 1 Bravo collided with a fishing vessel and the Belgian man suffered a fatal injury.
(The East River isn’t a river, it is a tidal estuary connecting New York harbor with Long Island sound. It changes direction frequently and is notorious for its strong currents and heavy traffic.)
The U.S. Coast Guard and FDNY are investigating the incident; it would seem that failure to keep a sharp lookout will be a key issue and effective watchkeeping is dependent on having adequate personnel aboard.
Unfortunately, the National Transportation Safety Board will not be conducting a review as they would likely examine the leadership and work culture in play.
That’s where the attention belongs — the leadership failures and cultural factors which led to the docklines being cast off in the first place; all else is but a tragic result.
If leadership and work culture is the focus, the fatal boat crash is a variation of the Ladder 113 incident where an on-duty FDNY crew drove to a N.Y. state senator’s office and told staff they would have “blood on their hands” over the Covid vaccine mandate.
Ditto with some legendary apparatus accidents, especially where both vehicles are FDNY response units ignoring traffic laws and department regulations.
They are the same: despite a multi-layered command structure where effective supervision and guidance would seem to be a given, off the rails they go.
And this time a life was lost.
The New York Post reports that a battalion chief, captain and lieutenant have been pulled from their positions and reassigned over the incident.
But the visiting Belgian firefighter got the permanent reassignment.
Leaders are steeped in the prevailing organizational culture as they proceed through the rank structure: they lead with the cultural norms they know.
What cultural norm predisposes a unit officer to
- send a member of his crew out on an understaffed rig with civilians in a high hazard environment
- while ignoring department regulations
- and defying the authority of his supervisors?
One of the passengers was a retired FDNY captain, was his mojo so powerful that an on-duty officer would take such risks on his behalf?
The officer must have felt that the damage done by saying no to the pleasure cruise was greater than the risk of saying yes.
If that’s the case, what could the damage be?
Since his formal or employment standing was protected by saying no, it must have been his informal standing or reputation that could be jeopardized by turning down the request.
But standing with whom?
With the troops he supervises or with his officer peers?
Even recognizing that we want to be accepted by the group, is that cause enough to risk your livelihood, especially on behalf of a retired member?
All three examples (threats, accidents, joyrides) have the common theme of occurring at the firehouse or company level with the “higher-ups” caught supposedly unaware.
Good luck proving that the strict command authority found on the fireground isn’t parked on return next to the soda machine at the firehouse door, it never even makes it inside.
In 99.9% of U.S. firehouses a request like the joyride one would be turned down flat or a savvy type would say, “Run it by the chief.”
Ironically, the other place where you would have the best chance of joyride success would be a volunteer operation where rules are negotiable, Long Island, N.Y., comes to mind.
The closed and insular firehouse culture triumphs over the failed authority of the bigwigs where a retired guy has more juice than the on-duty battalion.
Welcome to the big city.
