The Greenburgh Town Board approved about $49,000 for personal protective equipment (haz mat) for the police and $l9,000 for seven portable radios. Police Chief Kapica believes that the equipment is needed to address potential disaster or terrorist acts. Additional funding requests have been forwarded to Congresswoman Nita Lowey.
Town still has not received $30,000 for cascade truck promised by Assemblyman Richard Brodsky 3 years ago. Grant funds were to be used for the refilling of air bottles of firefighters and rescue workers at emergency scenes.Lack of funding has had a negative impact on our ability to respond to emergencies. Town Board appropriated $l8,000 for this program on Wednesday night.
Town will be voting on purchasing a Mobile communications command vehicle ($250,000) within the next month. Vehicles enables police, fire, EMS, DPW to communicate with each other during terrorist related action or emergency. In fact, the lack of interoperability between the police and fire services in NYC was cited in the McKinsey report as one of the most significant reasons for the massive loss of life among fire personnel during the 9/ll attack on the World Trade Center. Greenburgh has l0 different police agencies, (MTA, county and MTA police are included), nine fire departments, seven ambulance services and public works departments.
