By Paul Liotta
Staten Island Advance
NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has been in turmoil for the better part of a month, but it would be hard to tell at an emergency demonstration held Tuesday in Sea View.
Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol said the drone exercise, meant to demonstrate how the technology would be used in the event of a coastal storm, showed the administration is focused on working for New Yorkers despite Adams’ federal indictment last week and a host of swirling controversies.
“I think this exercise shows that it is business as usual,” he said. “Our partners have been working together. We’ve been working together 24/7/365.”
Iscol’s part of the New York City government, the Office of Emergency Management, led the drone exercise in partnership with the NYPD and FDNY.
The brainchild of Jose Rolon, a citywide interagency coordinator for the Office of Emergency Management, the demonstration showed how drones could be used in two scenarios in the event of a coastal storm, like Hurricane Sandy.
Drones have been a focus of Adams’ administration with the mayor and senior officials repeatedly touting their efficacy, including use during a Manhattan parking garage collapse last year and this summer, along New York City beaches to watch for swimmers in distress.
Tuesday’s demonstration showed how they could be used in the aftermath of a coastal storm to search a large building for possible survivors or to help emergency personnel search for people along the city’s coastline.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry said the technology can help reduce risk for emergency responders by giving them advanced information about an unknown situation they may be entering.
“What you’re going to see is how the drones are implemented in this administration and what they’re doing to save lives,” he said. “In the event [emergency personnel] have to go in and rescue somebody, they can see what’s going on.”
Drone personnel from the Office of Emergency Management, FDNY, and NYPD conducted the building portion of the demonstration at an abandoned hospital building at the former Seaview Hospital complex, which is city property.
That location featured a simulated rescue of several people trapped in the building, and a demonstration of a special drone used to breach a glass window installed in the building.
The breach drone uses a spinning spike to break apart windows allowing it to gain access to buildings where people might be trapped.
The beach portion of the demonstration took place off the Fox Beach section of Oakwood Beach and featured rescue personnel pulling people from the water with the help of onsite drones.
Both portions of the demonstration featured artificial distractions, like a distraught civilian or unauthorized drone, that helped personnel better prepare for real-life scenarios.
Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker said training exercises, like the one conducted Tuesday, help FDNY personnel better prepare for the realities they face on the ground.
“We are all working for public safety every single day. Drones are a major part of our fire ground operations, where our drone units are responding to fires all the time,” he said. “We’re thinking constantly about other ways we can deploy drones within the fire department.”
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