F.D.N.Y. to protect life and property at a superior level of excellence

Within Harsh Report on Fatal Fire, a Nod to Firefighters’ ‘Can-Do Attitude’

By AL BAKER
Published: August 22, 2008
Here is the Halligan tool: a lightweight crowbar-like device used by firefighters to pry open locked doors, smash windows and punch holes in walls.

It hangs on a truck’s side at the headquarters of Ladder Company 1 and Engine Company 7, on Duane Street in Lower Manhattan. And as Firefighter John McConnachie pulls it from the rig on Friday and lifts its 8 ½ pounds up to the height of his chest — like an extension of his arm — he explains its place in the city’s long history of firefighting ingenuity.

“Anytime something happens, we try to do something to make it safer and better,” said Firefighter McConnachie, 46, who has 15 years on the job. “It’s always a hairy situation — if it’s an explosion, a man under a train, there’s a gas leak, there’s a woman in a wheelchair with a broken elevator and we carry her up.”

The Halligan, a combination adze, pick and fork, is made for improvisation. Named for its inventor, Hugh A. Halligan, who joined the Fire Department in 1916, it is well-suited to the men and women who are expected to think fast in a crisis, even if they have to cut corners sometimes.

But while the tone was scolding, the subtext was admiring. The report said the firefighters’ risky actions embodied a culture of positive thinking. “The ‘can-do attitude’ has enabled the F.D.N.Y. to protect life and property at a superior level of excellence since the Fire Department’s inception,” it states.

Glenn P. Corbett, an associate professor of fire science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said city firefighters were known for fearlessness and innovation. Each fire is unique, he said. Conditions can change in a heartbeat.

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