WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. June 11, 2004: They don't look like Batmobiles, and they were not requestioned from "Q," however the Emergency Services Unit and Fire Rescue 88 introduced Thursday by Mayor Joseph Delfino give the White Plains Department of Public Safety on-the-scene first-response equipment to deal quickly with serious emergencies where lives hang in the balance.

Housed together at one of the fire houses in the city, the white  Emergeny Services Unit and Fire Rescue 88 carry equipment to deal with hazardous gases, weapons of mass destruction, cave-ins, and trapped victims without waiting for special equipment to arrive at the scene from other localities. Each unit is staffed with their own police and fire specially trained squads to furnish and operate the tools of rescue.

TWO NEW BEAUTIES ON DUTY: The police Emergency Services Unit, left, and Fire Rescue 88, right, were introduced by  Mayor Joseph Delfino and Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety, Charles Jennings at Fire Headquarters Thursday morning. The police truck carries equipment to handle "situations" as the police like to call them, including special weapons, assault aids, medical equipment. Previously the police did not have an all-purpose incident response vehicle. (Equipment had to be located, and called in.) Fire Rescue 88 carries special rescue equipment such as the PowerHawk back pack to cut victims out of automobiles; contains equipment for monitoring and decontaminating hazardous waste; it refreshes firefighters' oxygen tanks on the scene, and is even equipped with a winch to hall vehicles out of ditches, with devices to aid in rescues at cave-ins, shore up building floors in collapses. Photo by WPCNR News

The Police ESU unit (the white truck) cost $145,000, which was paid for with asset forfeiture funds. Fire Rescue 88 was purchased for $298,000 through a bond.

The Police ESU unit is sataffed by six volunteers from the police department Special Response Team, a sergeant and five officers. The six trained for seven weeks at a training school sponsored by the Yonkers Police Department. Fire Rescue 88 is staffed by firefighters who received special training.

The Big Red 88 & Crew. The unit carries about 15 equipment bays, plus an air-conditioned crew cab to cool down firefighter's body temperatures in the course of fighting a fire. On the left rear of the unit is the oxygen tank refresher unit, enabling White Plains firefighters to carry an hours' worth of oxygen on their backs and to refresh tanks at the firescene. This unit would have come in handy at the Temple Bet Am Shalom fire in 2002. Photo by WPCNR News.

Fire Rescue 88 has a list of incidents where it will automatically be dispatched. Both vehicles will be housed together and operate as a Police-Fire emergency first-on-the-scene team in response to catastrophes, violent threatening situations, or terrorist incidents.