Park Slope Fire House Slated for Closure in July

Neighbors and politicians responded with outrage that Park Slope’s Engine 220 is one of eight Brooklyn fire department companies Mayor Bloomberg has proposed closing July 1 thanks to budget cuts.

“I’ve had two incidents where this fire station has come to my house. One was a kitchen incident, and another was an alarm going off,” said Rhonda Sherman, who lives on Sixth Street, five blocks from Engine 220. 

“Every neighborhood should have a local fire station," she said.

Engine 220, at 530 11th Street, between Seventh and Eighth avenues in Park Slope, is one of two Park Slope fire stations, and serves South Park Slope and Windsor Terrace. It was one of 20 fire stations on the list of proposed closures that was released by Mayor Bloomberg today.

Bloomberg attempted to keep the list of FDNY closures a secret to prevent the expected community backlash, but released the list today after pressure. Bloomberg said the closures were purely budget-driven, and nothing personal.

“You rank fire houses and companies based on how much they get used, what kind of response time and then you have to see at the end what kind of financial realities there are,” Bloomberg said, in a statement to reporters.

But Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said he was “flabbergasted” by the number of proposed FDNY closures in Brooklyn.

“Brooklyn is growing by leaps and bounds, which means that in the coming years there will be an ever greater need for New York’s Bravest,” he said in a statement. “It is our collective responsibility to ensure maximum safety for all of our residents — and that means no firehouse closings!”

Whether Engine 220 and other fire stations close will depend on negotiations between Bloomberg and City Council.

Councilmember Brad Lander said in a statement that the proposed closure of Engine 220 show “Mayor Bloomberg has his priorities in all the wrong places.”

“This fire company keeps my family, and me, and much of Park Slope safe,” Lander said.  “If the Bloomberg Administration is allowed to proceed with this closure, arrival times at fires will increase dramatically in our neighborhood."

"According to stats provided to the City Council, the first arrival time would jump from 3:38 to 4:08 seconds (a 19 percent increase), and the second arrival would go from 4:08 to 5:24 (a 30 percent increase)," he said. "An extra minute to get an engine company to a fire can be the difference between life and death.”

Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano testified before City Council Monday that closing 20 fire stations “will negatively affect response times to fires and life-threatening medical emergencies.”

Park Slope resident Tracy Agerton, who lives on 11th Street experienced first-hand the benefits of living close to a fire station.

“My daughter had a seizure once and they were over here before we got off the 911 call. It’s been nice having them on the block,” she said. “They’ve been very good neighbors.”

Uniformed Firefighters Association of New York City President Steve Cassidy said he was outraged by the possible closures.

“Today Mike Bloomberg willfully abdicated responsibility for protecting the safety of New Yorkers with his proposal to close 20 fire companies," Cassidy said.

"Twenty closed fire companies will affect at least 60 communities and the city as a whole. The mayor has been saying that New Yorkers must do more with less and that is just what New York City Firefighters have been doing all along.”