Since the implementation last year of sending a mutual aid Firefighter Assist and Search Team (FAST) on the initial dispatch of a possible structure fire within the Yorktown Fire District, YHFD and our Mutual Aid FASTeams have responded to 44 possible structure fires in our district, with seven of them requiring an upgrade to an active working fire (10-75) or greater alarm. The Yorktown Heights Fire Department makes firefighter safety a critical aspect of fire ground operations, and this policy ensures that a FASTeam is dispatched and on the road at the same time our units are, and arrive on scene shortly there after.

The FAST team is essential for firefighter safety when firefighters are working inside of a building that is on fire. Their sole responsibility is search and removal of firefighters who are injured or incapacitated inside the structure. The teams are comprised of highly qualified, highly trained, and expert firemen from each department, with the will to ensure that everyone goes home. They take proactive measures on the fire ground, such as throwing ladders to 2nd and 3rd story windows for quick egress, provide scene updates on fire conditions, and stand ready to help a firefighter who has been overcome by the conditions inside the building. These members make up of the best of the best of our surrounding departments, and have the drive to succeed with a "can do" attitude.

Yorktown Fire would like to express our sincere thanks to all of our Mutual Aid FASTeams who have accepted our call for assistance over the last year and who continue to do so on a consistent basis. We would also like to thank the Millwood Fire Department for their response of an Engine for possible fires on the south side of town during the duration of the Taconic closure.

You can view which department fills out the FAST roll for each part of town in the operation section of our website, located here: http://www.yorktownfire.org/content/operations/