FDNY Pro Blog

May 25, 2017

Manchester Arena Device Triggered Outside Security Perimeter

A man wearing a backpack detonated his homemade-explosive device Tuesday evening in the publically-accessible foyer area (outside security checkpoints) as concertgoers, mostly young girls, were leaving an Ariana Grande show at U.K.’s Manchester Arena, the largest indoor performance venue in Europe. Evidence includes backpack cloth, nuts and screws, a 12-volt battery (larger than usual for […]

May 18, 2017

Hospital Computer Systems Targeted as Part of Global Ransomware Attack

The biggest ransomware attack on record locked out at least 200,000 computers in 100 countries, and included healthcare systems in the U.K., China, and Indonesia. Of the 248 “trusts” (geographic or specialty functions) in the British National Health Service (NHS), 48 were affected by the attack, called “Wannacry,” impacting tasks such as access to patient […]

May 11, 2017

Rare, but Serious, Tick-borne Disease Spreading in NE, Great Lakes Regions

A deadly virus spread through tick bites called Powassan, which is still very rare, is spreading in the Northeast, including New York state, and in parts of the Great Lakes region. Powassan, also called POW, causes encephalitis (brain inflammation) in some, is fatal in about 15 percent of symptomatic cases, and 50 percent of those […]

May 4, 2017

Narcan Dosage ‘Ineffective’ on ‘Elephant Tranquilizer’ Overdoses in Northeast

Three recent deaths in New Hampshire have now been linked to carfentanil overdoses, a potent form of synthetic opioid typically used to tranquilize elephants and other large animals. Manufactured in Chinese medical labs, the drug is visually identical to fentanyl, but 100 times more potent so that a single grain may be lethal. Meanwhile, in […]

April 28, 2017

An Enigma Wrapped in the Predictability of Weather Forecasts

Weather is not often associated with high predictability, but the consistency of when daily weather forecasts were released over secure channels gave British code breakers based out of Bletchley Park one of the tips they needed to break the Nazi Enigma cipher code (with total possible combinations measured in quintillions, or 1027) by hand, before […]

April 13, 2017

Teacher and Student Killed in San Bernardino School Shooting

A murder-suicide took an additional victim—an 8-year-old boy—and additional meaning in as the attack took place in a San Bernardino elementary school classroom. A second male student was badly wounded, but recovering, and police believe they were both shot as bystanders and not specifically targeted, as a 53-year-old with a history of domestic violence shot […]

April 6, 2017

Intentional Fire Caused Georgia Interstate Collapse

Three people have been arrested in connection with a fire burning below an overpass section of I-85, north of Atlanta, last Thursday, including one man who talked of smoking crack when he set a chair on top of a shopping cart ablaze. That fire moved to involve an area where the state of Georgia stores […]

May 25, 2017

Manchester Arena Device Triggered Outside Security Perimeter

A man wearing a backpack detonated his homemade-explosive device Tuesday evening in the publically-accessible foyer area (outside security checkpoints) as concertgoers, mostly young girls, were leaving an Ariana Grande show at U.K.’s Manchester Arena, the largest indoor performance venue in Europe. Evidence includes backpack cloth, nuts and screws, a 12-volt battery (larger than usual for […]

May 18, 2017

Hospital Computer Systems Targeted as Part of Global Ransomware Attack

The biggest ransomware attack on record locked out at least 200,000 computers in 100 countries, and included healthcare systems in the U.K., China, and Indonesia. Of the 248 “trusts” (geographic or specialty functions) in the British National Health Service (NHS), 48 were affected by the attack, called “Wannacry,” impacting tasks such as access to patient […]

May 11, 2017

Rare, but Serious, Tick-borne Disease Spreading in NE, Great Lakes Regions

A deadly virus spread through tick bites called Powassan, which is still very rare, is spreading in the Northeast, including New York state, and in parts of the Great Lakes region. Powassan, also called POW, causes encephalitis (brain inflammation) in some, is fatal in about 15 percent of symptomatic cases, and 50 percent of those […]

May 4, 2017

Narcan Dosage ‘Ineffective’ on ‘Elephant Tranquilizer’ Overdoses in Northeast

Three recent deaths in New Hampshire have now been linked to carfentanil overdoses, a potent form of synthetic opioid typically used to tranquilize elephants and other large animals. Manufactured in Chinese medical labs, the drug is visually identical to fentanyl, but 100 times more potent so that a single grain may be lethal. Meanwhile, in […]

April 28, 2017

An Enigma Wrapped in the Predictability of Weather Forecasts

Weather is not often associated with high predictability, but the consistency of when daily weather forecasts were released over secure channels gave British code breakers based out of Bletchley Park one of the tips they needed to break the Nazi Enigma cipher code (with total possible combinations measured in quintillions, or 1027) by hand, before […]

April 13, 2017

Teacher and Student Killed in San Bernardino School Shooting

A murder-suicide took an additional victim—an 8-year-old boy—and additional meaning in as the attack took place in a San Bernardino elementary school classroom. A second male student was badly wounded, but recovering, and police believe they were both shot as bystanders and not specifically targeted, as a 53-year-old with a history of domestic violence shot […]

April 6, 2017

Intentional Fire Caused Georgia Interstate Collapse

Three people have been arrested in connection with a fire burning below an overpass section of I-85, north of Atlanta, last Thursday, including one man who talked of smoking crack when he set a chair on top of a shopping cart ablaze. That fire moved to involve an area where the state of Georgia stores […]