The County Executive’s Corner: “Always Call 911 in an Emergency”

My administration is strongly urging and advising residents in the County of Rockland to always call 911 in an emergency. This urgent message is a direct result of a volunteer group called Matzilei Aish, which lacks the training and proper equipment to fight fires, encouraging residents to call them rather than 911.

While I admire & support all our firefighters, it is critical that this fire company stops encouraging residents to call them directly and not 911, knowing full well they do not have the proper training needed to fight fires effectively. At stake in failure to do so will eventually cost us lives.

For several months my County Fire &  Emergency Services Director Chris Kear and myself sounded the alarm about the dangers this group poses to not only the Town of Ramapo but also to several state agencies including New York State Department of Labor Public Employee Safety and Health (PESH), New York State Attorney General, New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control (OFPC), Occupational

Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), in addition to Federal and State officials.

In addition to the safety risk, additional concerns include:

– No notification of utility companies for hazards observed.

– No notification of fire and building inspectors for code violations observed.

– No state fire reporting, resulting in reimbursement issues for homeowners & insurance claims.

This fire group is without question placing residents in jeopardy. This is a very dangerous situation in which inexperienced individuals with the lack of serious training will potentially result in serious injury or loss of life.

Our fire departments in Rockland County are well trained and have vast experience in a wide range of emergency related incidents, and emergencies need to be left in their hands.

While there are no laws that prevent the formation of a private fire company in New York, existing laws prohibit things such as interference with a firefighting operation, which my administration encourages fire departments to document and report in an instance of physical obstruction by this fire group surfaces. Sending untrained personnel into a fire or emergency risks the lives of people and firefighters.

I applaud all the local municipalities that called out this group and urged residents to call 911 for emergencies as we need this addressed before we have a tragedy.