Baysiders Burnt Up Over Firehouse Closing

A crowd estimated by police at over 350 braved the hottest day of the year so far to rally in front of the Bayside firehouse threatened with closure by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed budget cuts.

“Save Engine 306” was the cry – echoed by numerous elected officials and their representatives, as well as fire personnel, union leaders and civic leaders.

The call to action came from City Councilmember Dan Halloran. “The money saved by closing firehouses is miniscule for the risk to human life,” he said.

Halloran, who has firefighters and police officers in his family, called Bloomberg to task for this and earlier “economies” in the fire budget.

“First he cut the engine crews from five to four firefighters to save money,” Halloran said. “Only now it takes two engines instead of one to respond to a fire,” he fumed. “So where’s the saving?”

Speaker after speaker pointed out the details that would bedevil Bayside if the firehouse closes – such as the neighborhood has some of the longest response times in the city and that the increase caused by closing the Bayside house would also be larger than most other affected neighborhoods, more than a minute.

Uniformed Fire Officers Association President Al Hagan reminded the crowd that last Friday, Engine 306 removed a woman from a burning building. “If this house wasn’t here, she might not have survived,” he said.

Several speakers, including Public Advocate Bill De Blasio and Assemblymember Ed Braunstein called Mayor Bloomberg to task for closing firehouses to save a projected $55 million from the city’s roughly $60 Billion budget – complaining about hundreds of millions in cost overruns and “excess” consultant charges on several mayoral initiatives.

“If he wants to save money, he should cut the tax rebate to Madison Square Garden,” suggested Councilmember Peter Koo.

One of the facts at issue is that the majority of the housing stock in the immediate vicinity is “frame” construction – made of wood.

In the 1970s, the house was closed – for exactly one day due to the public outcry, according to Jack Fried, president of the 111th Precinct Community Council and CB11 member. “We stopped it then and we’re going to stop it again,” he predicted.

“My Council district is one of the largest geographically in the City,” Halloran said. “Closing firehouses anywhere is not acceptable, but in districts like mine, it’s even more devastating.”