by ARI PAUL
Fate decided to bolster their point.
As fire union activists, community members, and elected officials gathered outside Engine Company 93 in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan April 27 to protest its rumored closing under the Bloomberg administration's proposed budget, the crowd was forced to step aside and allow the rigs to roll out. Both Engine Co. 93 and Ladder Co. 45 had just been called to an emergency.
Twenty companies are slated for closing under the budget proposal and the Mayor has said up to 62 could be eliminated if Governor Paterson's budget is approved. In the center of a dense Latino community, these two companies are busy ones; they respond to up to 5,000 emergency calls a year, according to one official. The roar of cars rushing by where the George Washington Bridge makes landfall is audible. Storage facilities, restaurants and the age of the buildings contribute to possible fire hazards. The company also serves nearby Yeshiva University and areas in The Bronx.
‘Every Company Like a Thread'
"Fire protection is like a fabric, every company is a thread in the fabric, and when one thread is removed, even one, the cloth becomes weaker, and when that cloth becomes weaker and fails, who suffers?" asked Uniformed Fire Officers Association President Alexander Hagan, noting that children, the elderly, and people of color were twice as likely to die in fires.
Uniformed Firefighters Association President Steve Cassidy said that the past few years have been some of the busiest for firefighters, noting that after the 2007 Deutsche Bank building fire, Firefighters and fire officers were assigned to more building inspections.
He said of Mr. Bloomberg, "If he gets his way, if some family dials 911 they should pray that the firefighters who are responding don't have to drive by a closed firehouse, because seconds count."
The area also holds a dark place in the Fire Department's collective memory. Firefighter Thomas Brick was killed in December 2003 responding to a fire at a mattress store in nearby Inwood.
Heat Led to Explosions
"If you know about mattresses, when they're exposed to a certain amount of a heat and a certain material, they explode," said Community Board 12 Chair Pamela Palenque- North. "It was just an overcrowded store. They tried to save lives. And we lost the life of a [Firefighter]."
She added, "This community is laden with stores that have goods up to the ceiling, because there's so limited space and they pay so much rent for the space they have. But the fire officers also go building to building, they will knock on doors to advise. They do many, many functions. They're a needed resource."
Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano has said the only way to meet the demands of the Mayor's austerity plan is to close units, as 80 percent of the department's costs are operational. He has not yet identified which units would close.
But Mr. Hagan said that there were other ways to cut waste, such as doing away with the costly Unified Call Taker 911 dispatch system, which unions say increases response times, as well as the CityTime palm-scanner system, which has cost the city more than $700 million.
"They're burning it," he said of squandered money.
More Lost Than Is Saved?
The UFOA leader argued that closing fire companies made little financial sense, as reduced fire coverage leads to a loss of property.
"We save the real-property tax base of the city," he said.
Community activists urged the Mayor to consider fire response as sacrosanct, just as he had recently announced he would not cut police staffing due to the rise in violent crime.
City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who represents the area, said that the community had the strength to stop the cuts, noting that recently its protests had prevented the closing of a nearby Post Office.
"My community will mobilize to be sure that this firehouse will play a major role in this community," he said. "This firehouse is only a few blocks from the George Washington Bridge. It protects [us from a] terrorist attack."
Unions and activists have also held demonstrations at fire companies slated for closing in lower Manhattan, the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, and City Island in The Bronx. They are also planning a unified rally against FDNY cuts at City Hall later this month.
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