Technical Assistance

Fire Investigation/K-9 Assistance. Members of the Inspections and Investigations Branch are Certified Fire Investigators and Peace Officers. They are available to assist local and county level fire investigation teams, county fire coordinators, fire chiefs, police and local government in the investigation of suspicious or unusual circumstance fires, including loss of life, high dollar loss, explosions, and/or serial fire setting. In addition, all fires that involve cigarettes as a possible cause are now tracked by OFPC. The services include canine accelerant detection, on scene technical assistance, general case review, juvenile fire setter program support and computer database inquiries of the Property Insurance Loss Register (PILR), NYS Corporations research and Burn Injury Reporting.

Hazardous Materials Technical Assistance. Hazardous Materials Specialists are available to assist with incidents involving the threatened or actual release of hazardous materials or accidents involving hazardous materials containers. Assistance is also provided with incidents which result from known or suspected terrorist activities. Hazardous Materials Specialists will assist local authorities in developing appropriate strategy and tactics for these events. If necessary, OFPC can assist in coordination of additional resources from other State agencies or the Federal Government. There is no established threshold for response; and in many instances, technical assistance can be provided by telephone. 

Fire Mobilization and Mutual Aid. Specially trained OFPC personnel manage the provision of statewide mutual aid for large-scale fire incidents and natural disasters through the New York State Fire Mobilization and Mutual Aid Plan. This is an agreement between communities to assist each other in significant emergencies. This Plan is administered by the Office of Fire Prevention and Control. Please call your County Fire Coordinator for more information. Personnel are specially trained in the National Incident Command System. 

Technical Rescue Assistance. A full range of assistance is available from specially trained and equipped OFPC personnel and the New York Task Force - 2 (NY-TF2). Assistance can be delivered by telephone advice or on-scene response by select specialists and team members. Activation requests can be for incidents such as structural collapse, excavation emergencies, technical rope rescues, confined space rescue, and other specialized rescues. Response time varies depending on the nature of the request and location. But, in any event, the requested assistance will be en-route in no more than two hours. The team has been deployed to numerous emergency situations and stands ready to assist your emergency response agency should the need arise. 

Damage Assessment Response Team (DART). This OFPC program provides State, county and local emergency managers and code enforcement officials assistance in conducting post-event rapid visual screening of buildings for the purpose of damage assessment and immediate safety evaluation. The evaluations are used to determine if damaged or potentially damaged buildings are safe for use, or if entry should be restricted or prohibited and to support preparation of requests for presidential disaster declarations.