# What percentage of the NYFD was occupied with the WTC on 9/11?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-nyfd-was-occupied-with-the-wtc-on-9-11/767635>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 4, 2016, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-nyfd-was-occupied-with-the-wtc-on-9-11/767635 "2016-10-04T15:00:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-nyfd-was-occupied-with-the-wtc-on-9-11/767635/1 "2016-10-04T15:00:13Z")

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If through bad luck there had been a major non terrorist related fire elsewhere in the city that morning were there enough available units on standby to deal with it?

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**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-nyfd-was-occupied-with-the-wtc-on-9-11/767635/2 "2016-10-04T15:13:15Z")

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This [cite](http://citylimits.org/2011/09/06/out-of-911-tragedy-came-change-for-fdny/)has some numbers.

> [@](#):
>
> According to NIST, the fire department’s personnel-tracking system “generally worked well for the first 30 minutes” but then became overwhelmed with the large number of units and personnel arriving at the scene. Sixty-one percent of the city’s engine companies, 43 percent of ladder units and nearly half of all chiefs were dispatched to the World Trade Center, but all the incident commanders had to track them on was a suitcase-size “command board” that used a whiteboard and magnets to keep sense of who was being sent where.
> 
> There’s a misconception that dozens of FDNY units deployed to the WTC on their own. In fact, only four did. But according to the 9-11 Commission, more fire units were dispatched to the scene than commanders asked for. Some fire trucks and engines “rode heavy,” with fire-fighters who were going off duty leaping aboard to join the shift that had just come in. Several firefighters arrived on the scene as individuals, asking to help. McKinsey found that “as these units approached the area, many failed to report to the staging areas and instead proceeded directly to the tower lobbies or other parts of the incident area. As a result, senior chiefs could not accurately track the whereabouts of all units.”

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**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percentage-of-the-nyfd-was-occupied-with-the-wtc-on-9-11/767635/3 "2016-10-06T02:06:35Z")

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> [@Quintas](#):
>
> If through bad luck there had been a major non terrorist related fire elsewhere in the city that morning were there enough available units on standby to deal with it?

My city (Minneapolis, MN) has has agreements with neighboring cities/suburbs that their Fire Departments will respond to fires here during an emergency. I believe our Fire Dispatcher still organizes the response, by communicating to the outside Fire Departments. On occasions, when many of our Minneapolis units were at a major fire, outside units were relocated from their city to our Minneapolis Fire stations so that they could respond in time to another fire call.

I presume NYC has a similar arrangement with other nearby cities, even those across state lines.