FDNY using google earth to check on roofs?

Hi all – this is somewhat out there, but has anyone else heard that FDNY is now using google satellite images to check on the status of private homes’ roofs? I was talking to an HVAC tech the other day about putting an AC condenser on my roof and whether or not a permit would be required – he mentioned that the most common way people are getting “caught” these days for unpermitted things on the roof is via FDNY systematically using google earth to compare to older pictures or, I guess, the building’s docs filed with the city. Is he being paranoid or is this actually happening? The potential consequences of this are pretty frightening…

empathie00

in General Discussion 8 years and 4 months ago

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murph | 8 years and 3 months ago

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Did you ask them for the CM alarms free with installation? I got FIVE! Now that’s friendly.

lcoots | 8 years and 3 months ago

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I don’t know about drones, but I got two visits from the fire department as a result of my expansion permit. They wanted to know about the size and melting point of beams and interstitial fire insulation. Very friendly.

lcoots | 8 years and 3 months ago

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I don’t know about drones, but I got two visits from the fire department as a result of my expansion permit. They wanted to know about the size and melting point of beams and interstitial fire insulation. Very friendly.

murph | 8 years and 3 months ago

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Some forty years ago I was told by the Director of the Board of Water Registry they wanted to buy NASA satellite photos to look for unregistered backyard pools. This was pre-meters and only residences with commercial tenants(doctors, etc.) were billed extra, beyond frontage. Pools were extra but you needed to locate those not “on the books”.

Today FDNY rules that a six-foot area front-to-rear must be maintained for their emergency access. Solar panels need to observe this restriction. Pix would confirm a correct installation.

daveinbedstuy | 8 years and 3 months ago

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> @resident2
> In fact most do not have access to outside internet sites, only their own departments.

Imagine how bad their productivity would be if they all had internet access at their desks.

resident2 | 8 years and 3 months ago

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I have been told by many City agency employees that any one City agency cannot use the internet to discover public information from another City agency or use “Google” for information purposes.
In fact most do not have access to outside internet sites, only their own departments.

slopefarm | 8 years and 4 months ago

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FDNY is using drones. Doesn’t seem like they are using them for routine code enforcement. Seems like they have 3 and are using them for safety in fighting actual fires.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/fdny-drone-time-battle-fire/story?id=45971738

empathie00 | 8 years and 4 months ago

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Seriously mozeeatupu??

mozeeatupu | 8 years and 4 months ago

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FDNY has started using drones though

Lurker | 8 years and 4 months ago

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Based on no info I’m skeptical. This would only makes sense on a case by case basis, perhaps based on a complaint. For starters Google doesn’t offer a live satellite view, it’s a static picture updated every few years, so at best it’s a hit or miss approach. But the overall idea that the FDNY would have a crack team of digital investigators going building by building over the one million of them in NYC hoping to catch people with a condenders, confirming if it’s filed and to code from a grainy photo would be absurdly time and resource intensive.