New York City is the largest city in the United States, with a population of 7,322,564 (as
of the 1990 Census). Emergency services are provided by three separate agencies, the New York
City Emergency Medical Service (NYC-EMS), the New York City Fire Department (FDNY),
and the New York City Police Department (NYPD).1 Vehicle extrication is generally provided
by the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit (ESU); however, the FDNY also maintains a technical
rescue capability.2 The determination of which agency’s technical rescue services will be utilized
at a given incident depends on the nature of the situation and is often decided on a case-by-case
basis.
The collision of two subway cars on a bridge, approximately 130 feet above New York
City’s East River (and partly over the Brooklyn shore), produced numerous patients who needed
to be rapidly and safely backboarded and lowered from the railbed to an adjacent roadway before
they could be transported by ambulance to the hospital. The risks to rescuer safety included falls
from heights, contact with electric current, and cuts from the wreckage.
Rescuers from all of the agencies demonstrated excellent teamwork, ingenuity, and
technical skills in clearing the trains of injured passengers. All passengers were treated,
packaged, evacuated and transported within about three-and-one-half hours. Ambulance access
to the congested bridge was assured through careful and early consideration of this necessity by
the Incident Command Team. No single hospital received a disproportionate share of the
patients (see Table 1 for a breakdown of patient destinations). Responder injuries were limited to
two minor injures to police officers.
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