This afternoon the city released its report on the fire companies it may close to help fill its budget gap. Out of 20, 8 (the most) are in Brooklyn, and one serves Windsor Terrace: Engine 220 at 530 11th Street.
Council Member Brad Lander said this in a statement:
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% increase), and the second arrival time would go from 4:08 to 5:24 (a 30% increase). An extra minute to get an engine company to a fire can be the difference between life and death.
The closures will depend on negotiations between City Council and Mayor Bloomberg, but the mayor will stand behind what he says is a realistic outlook. “It will be great to have a firehouse or company on every corner,” he said in a press conference, “but that’s not the real world.”
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