by ARI PAUL
The Fire Department’s proposal to end the use of fire-alarm boxes in order to achieve a $6-million savings would compromise safety in immigrant communities, the Uniformed Fire Officers Association has warned.
In addition to proposing to close 20 fire companies and reduce all engine company staffing to four Firefighters and an officer, the FDNY is pushing legislation that would allow the removal of the alarm boxes, which enable people to contact both the FDNY and the Police Department through the 911 system. The department notes 99 percent of fire calls come from phones, and that most transmissions from the boxes are false alarms.
Cites Language Issues
But in an interview last week, UFOA President Alexander Hagan noted that in non-English-speaking communities, especially among the Chinese, there is not only an inability to communicate over the phone but a reluctance to make 911 calls because of the language barrier.
The result, he said, is longer response times in those neighborhoods.
"When the Fire Department gets there, they find the fire in an advanced stage, and needless to say it becomes more difficult to extinguish that fire," Mr. Hagan said.
He argued that fire-alarm boxes were needed in these communities. Mr. Hagan also rejected the logic that the alarm-box system was outmoded because of the wide use of cell phones.
We are mindful of what happened on 9/11, when cell-phone service in all of lower Manhattan was rendered ineffective," he said.
The Fire and Criminal Justice Services Committee of the City Council is set to hold a hearing on the legislation May 27 at 1 pm.
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