Despite Alarms, Budget Axe Hits Engine 4
Downtown Express 1/23/09
A
last-minute push by activists and the
City Council last week did not dissuade
the city from closing the Governors
Island firehouse and cutting the hours
of Engine 4 on South St.
Fire
Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta defended
his decision at a City Council hearing
Friday, saying the city needs to save
money. The closure of the Governors
Island firehouse and the nighttime
closure of Engine 4 and three other fire
companies in the city will save an
estimated $8.9 million.
“I don’t
think [anyone] wants to close fire
companies,” Scoppetta said. “It is not a
step we take lightly…. None of these are
easy decisions — there’s a downside to
all of this. You close a company, you
lose something.”
The cuts
took effect Sat., Jan. 17, but the four
companies with nighttime closures will
still occasionally be staffed from 6
p.m. to 9 a.m. Whenever the Fire Dept.
has a surplus of 35 firefighters on the
night shift, they will send the extra
firefighters to the recently closed
companies, Scoppetta said. The surplus
will shrink over the next few months as
firefighters retire and are not
replaced.
Of the
four companies with nighttime closures,
Engine 4 is the lowest priority to staff
temporarily with surplus firefighters,
said Steve Ritea, an F.D.N.Y.
spokesperson. Ladder 53 on City Island
is the top priority and was staffed
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday night. Engine
4 was staffed Sunday night but not
Saturday, Monday or Tuesday. Ladder 15,
which shares the firehouse, will remain
open 24 hours a day.
Saturday
also marked the closure of the
three-person Governors Island firehouse,
with no F.D.N.Y. presence scheduled for
the immediate future. The island is
currently closed to the public but
construction is continuing throughout
the winter, and the island has many
historic wood-frame buildings. Security
guards are on the island at all times.
Scoppetta
said the F.D.N.Y. would have some staff
on the island during large events, but
he did not have any details for the
Council on Friday. Ritea said later that
Scoppetta would give his plan to the
Council this week.
The 14
Governors Island firefighters had a
choice between returning to their
previous company or retiring, and nearly
all opted to retire, said one island
firefighter, who spoke to Downtown
Express on condition of anonymity.
The
firefighter had worked for the F.D.N.Y.
for more than 22 years, just over the 20
needed for retirement.
“I knew it
was inevitable,” he said of his decision
to retire. “But it came sooner rather
than later…. Probably, yeah, I would
have stayed on.”
The
retiring firefighters had only 45 days
to plan for their retirement, which can
take up to a year under normal
circumstances, the firefighter said.
“It was
kind of disrespectful,” the firefighter
said, adding that many members of the
Governors Island company survived the
Trade Center. “We felt we could have
used a little more notice.”
It wasn’t
an emotional ending for the house, which
opened in 2004, at least not on the
surface.
“Everyone
pretty much packed their bags and that’s
it,” the firefighter said. “There wasn’t
a ceremony.”
As the
cuts drew closer at the end of last
week, residents, elected officials and
fire unions joined to oppose them.
“This is spit in Lower Manhattan’s face,” Lt. Edward Boles, treasurer of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, told Community Board 1 Thursday night. “You’re facing a crisis here…. You pay taxes to the city. You deserve better.”
Boles spoke to the community board
after attending a rally City Councilmember Alan Gerson organized
in front of Engine 4. Waving signs and braving the cold, 30
people gathered to speak out against the closures, then many of
them walked uptown to the community board meeting.
Boles told the board that the main
function of engine companies is to respond to medical
emergencies, and Engine 4 often responds several minutes before
the first ambulance. Those minutes can make the difference
between life and death for stroke and heart attack victims,
Boles said.
After hearing Boles speak, the
residents sounded concerned.
“This makes me sit here and say to
myself, ‘Do I want to live here anymore?’” said Bruce Ehrmann, a
Tribeca resident. “This is serious.”
At the City Council hearing the
next day, several councilmembers asked Scoppetta to put the
closures on hold for a few months, to give the Council time to
help find a solution.
“We’re going ahead with the plan,”
Scoppetta replied, “but that doesn’t mean we can’t communicate.”
The city’s economy hasn’t been
this bad since the ’70s, Scoppetta said, and the F.D.N.Y. has
already made cuts, including the elimination of 300 civilian
positions since 2003.
Councilmember Gerson said
Scoppetta’s justifications were not good enough.
“We’re playing Russian roulette
with the safety of those who live and work in the Financial
District,” Gerson said.
Gerson questioned why the city
would close Engine 4, a company that just underwent
decontamination training and received $1 million worth of
counter-terrorism equipment, including a portable shower and
hazmat suits. The equipment will remain in the firehouse on
South St., and in an emergency, trained firefighters from Engine
205 in Brooklyn Heights would retrieve the equipment and
respond, Scoppetta said.
When Gerson expressed concern that
Engine 205 would not be able to get across the Brooklyn Bridge
during an emergency, Scoppetta said the F.D.N.Y. would give
decontamination training to Engine 6 or Engine 10 in Lower
Manhattan.
“The fact [Engine 4] is trained as
a decon unit is not a controlling factor of keeping them open,”
Scoppetta said.
Gerson was also worried that the
construction flooding Downtown’s streets will make it harder for
fire trucks to get around, which could increase response times.
Scoppetta replied that the F.D.N.Y. tracks response times to
correct any negative trends, but he does not predict the impact
of construction on future response times.
Also at the hearing, Councilmember
James Oddo, from Staten Island, questioned whether the cuts
would save the projected $8.9 million and asked to hear from the
city Office of Management and Budget, which was not scheduled to
testify. Several city staffers scurried off to make phone calls,
then relayed the message to Oddo that the O.M.B. would not come.
The O.M.B. thought the hearing was “not budget related,” Oddo
said, prompting laughter from the otherwise somber audience.
Scoppetta stepped in and said the cuts will save money because they will add to the pool of unassigned, on-call firefighters, which will reduce the department’s use of overtime employees. The city will also save money on the salaries and fringe benefits of retiring firefighters, Scoppetta said.
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