Northeast

'Heroic' firefighters use rare rope drill to rescue 3 people from burning NYC building

Published

2 years ago

February 24, 2024

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'Heroic' firefighters use rare rope drill to rescue 3 people from burning NYC building

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The FDNY has released heart-stopping footage of its firefighters using a rope in a rarely used maneuver to dramatically rescue three people from a burning New York City building on Friday. The fire left one person dead and 17 others injured.

The incredible footage shows a courageous fireman dangling on the rope against the side of the Harlem apartment building with a rescued resident in his arms as smoke billows up into the air.

In an aerial scene captured in night vision mode, firefighters can be seen setting up the daring rescue effort atop the six-story building at 2 St. Nicholas Place which involved firefighters grabbing hold of one end of the rope as another crew member slides down the rope to a window to grab a despaired resident.

“Our members attach themselves to a rope and then another member goes on to the rope and goes off the side of the building, goes down to the window and grabs the person that is trapped by the fire, FDNY Chief of Operations John Hodgens said during a press conference at the scene flanked by his firefighters and New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Incredible video has captured the moment courageous FDNY firefighters rescue three people from a fast-moving residential fire in New York City on Friday. (FDNY)

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“This happened three times at this fire. Three firefighters performed this evolution. We usually have one of these a year or two. This was three at one fire, a very heroic action,” Hodgens said.

Hodgens said the fire was “very challenging fire” and that his team were on the scene within three and a half minutes of receiving a 911 call for the inferno which broke out at around 2:15 p.m.

They found three unconscious victims on the floor of the upper hallways after beating back some of the flames while three more residents were at the window screaming for help.

The three residents had fled to the window as the hallways and stairways were blocked by the smoke and flames only to find out that there was no fire escape.

Firefighters had difficulty reaching the trio and then decided to deploy the rescue method Hodgens described as “the life-saving rope evolution.”

Firefighter Jason Lopez, centered, who was lowered down to carry out the daring rescue. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is pictured on the far left. (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

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Firefighter Jason Lopez said his team practices the drill twice a week in case they need to use the life-saving measure.

“We always train like the real thing so when the real thing happens, we know what we’re doing,” Lopez said. He thanked his colleague who was on the rooftop clinging onto the rope, saying “I trust him with my life.”

Witnesses told Fox 5 they saw one person jump out of the burning residential building. It is unclear if this was the person who died.

“They were on the window sill, and they were trying to escape, but it’s all the way on the top floor … they were hanging onto the window. I guess they couldn’t hang on for long, and they fell to the ground,” witness Michelle Paradis told FOX 5 NY.

The FDNY has not confirmed the cause of the fire yet, but FOX 5 NY reports seeing e-bikes and their batteries being pulled from the building. E-bike batteries have been responsible for a surge in fires in the city over the past few years. E-bikes sparked 267 fires which caused 18 deaths and 150 injuries in the city in 2023, according to the FDNY.

Blown out windows of the Harlem building that caught fire on Friday and where the rescue took place. (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

Resident Regina Shaw, who lives on the top floor, told the New York Post that she said she and her son grabbed their dogs and ran down the fire escape when their fire alarms began going off.

“My three firearm alarms went off and then all the alarms in the building,” the 58-year-old retired train operator said.

“There was smoke coming out of the windows. Smoke everywhere. I heard people screaming, just screaming.”

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Maine

NECEC conservation plan will not protect Maine’s mature forests | Opinion

Published

41 minutes ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

NECEC conservation plan will not protect Maine’s mature forests | Opinion

Robert Bryan is a licensed forester from Harpswell and author or co-author of numerous publications on managing forests for wildlife. Paul Larrivee is a licensed forester from New Gloucester who manages both private and public lands, and a former Maine Forest Service forester.

In November 2025, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved a conservation plan and forest management plan as mitigation for impacts from the NECEC transmission corridor that runs from the Quebec border 53 miles to central Maine.

As professional foresters, we were astonished by the lack of scientific credibility in the definition of “mature forest habitat” that was approved by DEP, and the business-as-usual commercial forestry proposed for over 80% of the conservation area.

The DEP’s approval requires NECEC to establish and protect 50,000 acres to be managed for mature-forest wildlife species and wildlife travel corridors along riparian areas and between mature forest habitats. The conservation plan will establish an area adjacent to the new transmission corridor to be protected under a conservation easement held by the state. Under this plan, 50% of the area will be managed as mature forest habitat.

Under the forest management plan, a typical even-aged stand will qualify as “mature forest habitat” once 50 feet tall, which is only about 50 years old. These stands will lack large trees that provide wildlife denning and nesting sites, multiple vegetation layers that mature-forest birds use for nesting and feeding habitats and large decaying trees and downed logs that provide habitat for insects, fungi and small mammals, which in turn benefit larger predators.

Another major concern is that contrary to the earlier DEP order, the final approval allows standard sustainable forestry operations on the 84% of the forest located outside the stream buffers and special habitats. These stands may be harvested as soon as they achieve the “mature forest habitat” definition, as long as 50% of the conserved land is maintained as “mature.”

After the mature forest goal is reached, clearcutting or other heavy harvesting could occur on thousands of acres every 10 years. Because the landowner — Weyerhaeuser — owns several hundred thousand acres in the vicinity, any reductions in harvesting within the conservation area can simply be offset by cutting more heavily nearby. As a result, the net
mature-forest benefit of the conservation area will be close to zero.

Third, because some mature stands will be cut before the 50% mature forest goal is reached, it will take 40 years — longer than necessary — to reach the goal.

In the near future the Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) will consider an appeal from environmental organizations of the plan approval. To ensure that ecologically mature forest develops in a manner that meets the intent of the DEP/BEP orders, several things need to change.

First and most important, to ensure that characteristics of mature forest habitat have time to develop it is critical that the definition include clear requirements for the minimum number of large-diameter (hence more mature) trees, adjusted by forest type. At least half the stocking of an area of mature forest habitat should be in trees at least 10 inches in diameter, and at least 20% of stands beyond the riparian buffers should have half the stocking in trees greater than or equal to 16 inches in diameter.

Current research as well as guidelines for defining ecologically mature forests, such as those in Maine Audubon’s Forestry for Maine Birds, should be followed.

Second, limits should be placed on the size and distribution of clearcut or “shelterwood” harvest patches so that even-aged harvests are similar in size to those created by typical natural forest disturbance patterns. These changes will help ensure that the mature-forest block and connectivity requirements of the orders are met.

Third, because the forest impacts have already occurred, no cutting should be allowed in the few stands that meet or exceed the DEP-approved definition — which needs to be revised as described above — until the 50% or greater mature-forest goal is reached.

If allowed to stand, the definitions and management described in the forest management plan would set a terrible precedent for conserving mature forests in Maine. The BEP should uphold the appeal and establish standards for truly mature forest habitat.

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Massachusetts

Foul play suspected after human remains found in water in Shirley

Published

59 minutes ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Foul play suspected after human remains found in water in Shirley

Human remains were discovered Wednesday in the water in Shirley, Massachusetts, and authorities suspect foul play.

Police in Shirley said in a social media post at 7:15 p.m. that they responded to “a suspicious object in the water near the Maritime Veterans Memorial Bridge on Shaker Road.” Massachusetts State Police later said the object was believed to be human remains.

The bridge crosses Catacoonamug Brook near Phoenix Pond.

The office of Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said a group of young people was walking in the area around 5:30 p.m. and “reported seeing what appeared to be something consistent with a body part in the water.”

Foul play is suspected, Ryan’s office said.

Authorities will continue investigating overnight into Thursday, and an increased police presence is expected in the area.

No further information was immediately available.

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