Politics & Government

Northeast Queens Leaders Protest Proposed Closing of Firehouse

Avella, Braunstein Lead Rally Outside of Bayside's Engine 306

Elected officials representing northeast Queens at the city and state level are rallying to prevent a Bayside firehouse from being shuttered as a result of city budget cuts.

State Sen. Tony Avella, D-Bayside, and state Assemblyman Edward Braunstein, D-Bayside, held a protest last weekend outside Bayside’s Engine 306, located at 40-18 214th Place, and Councilman Dan Halloran, R-Whitestone, plans to hold a similar rally at the firehouse next week.

Engine 306 is one of 20 firehouses that could be closed across the five boroughs as part of cuts in the city’s budget.

Find out what's happening in Bayside-Douglastonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Unfortunately, we have a mayor who has an obvious vendetta against firefighters and has become fixated with closing firehouses,” Avella said during the rally on Saturday. “Every year, Mike Bloomberg threatens to close firehouses throughout the city. And while he continues to raise salaries for his deputy mayors, he is now threatening the safety of Bayside residents.”

Mark LaVorgna, a spokesman for the mayor's office, attributed the closure of city firehouses to votes cast in Albany.

Find out what's happening in Bayside-Douglastonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"The billion-plus in budget cuts for the city the senator and assemblyman voted for are a huge part of why these shortfalls exist," LaVorgna said. "But the good news is fire fatalities are at their lowest level in recorded history." 

Braunstein said he believed it would be dangerous to shutter Engine 306, which is located near the Bell Boulevard commercial strip as well as a number of Bayside’s residential areas.

“As someone who lives around the block from Engine 306, I can tell you that eliminating this firehouse will threaten the safety of our neighborhood,” he said. “The mayor’s statistics reveal that the elimination of this engine would increase the first arrival response time to over six minutes, which is the third-worst time of all the proposed closures.”

The legislators were joined at the rally by members of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, Community Board 11 Chairman Jerry Iannece and northeast Queens residents.

Avella said he plans to introduce legislation that would require and environmental analysis by the community board, Borough President Helen Marshall and the City Council before any neighborhood firehouse is closed.

Halloran said the community will now rely on Engine 320, which is more than a mile-and-a-half away in Whitestone, to respond to emergencies.

The councilman will join the firefighters association and other local elected officials for a rally outside Engine 306 at 10:30 a.m. on June 1.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Bayside-Douglaston