by Aaron Rutkoff
Queens Councilmembers Tony Avella, Jim Gennaro and David Weprin joined community leaders and members of the Uniformed Firefighters Association (UFA) last week to protest Fire Department New York (FDNY) plans to close the fire marshal base at Fort Totten and slash the number of active citywide fire marshals.
The fire marshals serve as the detectives of the Fire Department, investigating cases of suspected arson and looking into fire-related deaths. Their responsibilities include the prevention of insurance fraud and the apprehension of arsonists.
Since March 2002 the citywide fire marshal force has been cut by 55 percent, dropping from 211 marshals to an estimated 80 to 98 marshals next month once the Queens office closes, officials said.
The plan to shutter the office surfaced in City Council budget deliberations and provoked outcries from many Councilmembers — especially the Queens delegation — who see this move as the latest in a series of assaults by the Bloomberg administration against firefighters and fire safety.
Councilman Tony Avella said he was “aghast” over the plan. “It just makes no sense,” he said at the press conference. “With the Queens base closing, the only base open will be in Brooklyn, and you can well imagine what that means for their ability to investigate.”
He added, “The mayor has to be convinced, and convinced rather strongly, that this cut has got to stop.”
Mayor Mike Bloomberg deflected questions about the planned closure of the Queens fire marshal office when he spoke to members of the Jamaica Estates Civic Association on June 23, insisting that citywide firefighter coverage had never been stronger.
After several attempts to reach them for comment, no FDNY spokesperson was available at presstime.
The previous fire marshal overhaul occurred last year and led to the closure of the Bronx base and staffing reductions at the Manhattan office — with the Queens office picking up the slack.
One of the obstacles faced by those who want to reverse the planned fire marshal office closure is the relative anonymity in which fire marshals do their work. Ed Burke, the fire marshal representative of the UFA, explained, “If you asked an average person on the street what a fire marshal is, they wouldn’t be able to tell you. That’s why the mayor thinks he can get away with this cut.”
Jim Kelty, a supervising fire marshal in Manhattan with over 20 years experience, succinctly summed up the consequence of a smaller fire marshal force: “If you let things go uninvestigated, people will burn stuff.”
His brother Gene Kelty, the chair of Community Board 7 and an FDNY captain, said, “We just had a fire in College Point and the fire marshals were there. The last thing I want is to have to wait four hours for marshals to come from Brooklyn.”
Weprin, who chairs the Council’s Finance Committee, could not attribute any credible budgetary reason to the closure of the Queen base, characterizing the potential savings due to the closure as negligible.
A spokesperson for Borough President Helen Marshall remained hopeful that FDNY officials would find an alternative to closing the Queens base. “The Borough President’s strategy has been to offer alternatives,” the spokesperson explained. “Hopefully it’s not going to happen. It’s not written in stone yet.”
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