In an emergency when lives are at risk, FDNY dispatchers are the first response, collecting information and making sure help is getting where it needs to go, as quickly as possible. EMT Dale Bartolomeo with Emergency Medical Dispatch says dispatchers are the “silent heroes.” For National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, we thank our dispatchers who answer thousands of calls each day. They are unseen, but they always provide a comforting presence, and often, lifesaving instructions. “You’re

WATCH: FDNY says the deadly Bronx apartment fire may have been started by a 3-year-old child playing with a stove in a first-floor apartment. | NBC News

At 3:05 pm today, Engine 246, Ladder 161, and Ladder 169 responded to Emmons Avenue at 23rd Street for a report of two people in the water in Sheepshead Bay. They were clinging to a dinghy that was sinking. L-161 and L-169 both deployed rescue swimmers, Firefighters Dan Palmieri and Matt Paz, who swam to the two victims in the water. Using a surfboard, they were pulled to shore. A third person who had jumped into the water to help the other two, was rescued by Marine 9 with the help of NYPD. All