Recent Blog Posts

The recent injury of a Eureka Springs, Arizona firefighter may help FDNY personnel looking to avoid respiratory injuries at fire ground. According to a September 29 news report from KSFM, Rod Wasson had to spend weeks in a burn unit after removing the mask of his self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) while fighting a fire on […]

Barasch & McGarry represents thousands of firefighters who, through their career, suffered permanent hearing loss as a result of the constant exposure to high decibel sirens without proper protection. Mike Barasch said: “This case, as well as others that are pending throughout the country against the manufacturers of the sirens who failed to provide proper […]

Firefighters responding to emergencies have become the emergency, due to poorly designed door handles on a new line of rigs that have led to several cases of crushed thumbs. Attorney Dana Cohen of Barasch & McGarry is representing five firefighters in a lawsuit against the City of New York. Each suffered a gruesome and painful […]

Statistics on line-of-duty deaths in 2014 contained some good news for the firefighting community. The National Fire Protection Association reports that fatalities were down significantly from 97 recorded deaths in 2013 to 64 in 2014. Seven vehicle fatalities was the second lowest total over the past 30 years, and those were volunteer firefighters. Among career […]

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro recently announced that Con Edison and the National Grid had donated $150,000 to the Department. One hundred thousand dollars will go toward the purchase of 86 new portable gas detectors, as part of the Department’s plan to provide each of its 198 fire stations with a device. The gas detectors will […]

In 2010, the National Institute for Occupation Safety and Health initiated a far-reaching study of firefighters and cancer. That study and others have consistently generated credible evidence that firefighters are at greater risk for developing a variety of cancers than the population at large. For example, the risk of a firefighter developing testicular cancer is […]

NYC firefighters and police officers have similar pension rights and their pension boards operate very much alike.  As a result, cases that determine firefighters’ rights are applicable to police officers’ cases and vice versa. In one recent case, a New York appeals court rejected an attempt by the City of New York to prevent a […]

Recently, a storm of controversy arose surrounding racially provocative social media comments by the president of United Women’s Firefighters. Critics charge that Sarinya Srisakul’s remarks violate the FDNY’s social media policy, which prohibits postings that bring disrepute upon the Department. But an FDNY spokesperson would only say that Srisakul’s post is “under review.” The FDNY […]