The city has launched a controversial program to use firefighters and EMTs to help rescue critically injured victims in “active shooter” incidents, The Post has learned.
New York’s Bravest and FDNY paramedics are being trained to accompany special NYPD officers into buildings or other places where a gunman or terrorist is killing people and help bring the wounded to safety.
The first “rescue task force” units are ready to roll in several Midtown firehouses — near Times Square, the Port Authority bus terminal, Penn
Station, Madison Square Garden and other crowded places. They were deployed in the Sept. 17 Chelsea bombing, the NYPD confirmed.
But the program has fueled concern among the unarmed first responders, who could be exposed to mass murderers or terrorists using assault weapons or explosives.