Banks and Esposito discuss NYCHA elevator outages and emergency response

Let me go to some other questions.

When it comes to NYCHA emergency response challenges, there was a recent study done by the elevator advocates,

and this was a relegated, particularly dealing with the 42nd Council District, which stated that there were close to

five buildings in my district which had chronic elevator outages.

So I want to know, particularly with these elevator outages that have taken place, has that been a barrier or has that played in the response time, particularly when it comes to NYCHA developments?

So the fire department, we have an elevator task force, and we work closely with NYCHA and the NYCHA elevator team.

So we have a pilot program that we've expanded that when the fire department receives a call for a defective elevator or somebody stuck in an elevator,

At the same time, we will also notify the NYCHA elevator team, and at times we can have an elevator mechanic meet us at the scene and resolve that problem sooner.

What about just general response times to someone who may be calling 911 for some type of help?

What is the, has that been a barrier?

Has there been situations where there's been an elevator outage that has blocked or prevented access to that particular call?

I see you're asking about emergency operations in a building when there's an elevator on the service.

And that's entirely something that can happen and does on occasion.

Right.

I don't have the specific stats on that.

So that goes to my broader point on response time, particularly.

when it comes to NITRA residents, when it's been reported in my district that we have five buildings that have chronic

elevator outages and I just want to hone in on what's being done as far as any is there any coordination with NYCHA and with some of these private developers that are now managing these developments.

So specifically with NYCHA we do have coordination about the elevators we report when we operate there and have an elevator out of service we do report that to NYCHA.

And it becomes their responsibility to repair it.

So has the FDNY observed situations where elevator outages have created barriers, delays of responding to emergencies within NYCHA, to be more specific?

Yes, that happens occasionally, but I don't have the stats for how many.

And if so, what coordination?

Exists between the FDNY and NYCHA to address these challenges to ensure that residents can receive timely emergency assistance, particularly seniors or individuals with disabilities and residents living on the upper floors.

We would notify NYCHA when we discover an out-of-service elevator.

And when it's not per se NYCHA, what's the coordination when it comes to a RADPAC converted development?

We would deal with the managing agent then.

Okay.

Has the FDNY identified any developments that consistently present operational challenges?

due to chronic elevator outages?

And if so, are there any proactive measures being taken to mitigate those risks before the emergency occurs?

In those new complexes or with the new managing agents, we have not identified that at this time.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Chair Ariola.

Thank you.