New York – Firefighters in New York City battled a record number of fires this week during a heat wave that topped 100 degrees.
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The Uniformed Firefighters Association of New York says this week was the busiest week in 30 years for city firefighters. The association says there were more than 8,700 fire incidents between July 4 and July 9. Nearly 100 of those fires caused enough damage to make a property uninhabitable or cause injury and more than 470 firefighters were injured.
Steve Cassidy, the association’s president, said the heat was to blame for the high number of injuries and made it harder to fight fires.
Fire Department spokesman Frank Dwyer said more firefighters were needed to rotate into and out of fires due to the extreme temperatures
They may be fighting more fires but the kids keep the hydrants open, soon you will not have water to fight the fires. The water pressure in my building drops a lot when these kids keep the hydrant open. We keep calling 311 but what’s the good? You need to keep a cop at the hydrant all day!!