Dispute Reasons For Eng. 271 Closure

Engine Company 271 is not one of the slowest Fire Department units in the city and should remain open at all hours, according to a ranking FDNY officer who spoke at last Wednesday's Brooklyn Community Board 4 meeting in Bushwick.

Battalion Chief Joe Schiralli of Battalion 28, which is housed with Engine 271 and Ladder Company 124 at 392 Himrod St. on the Ridgewood/Bushwick border, asked the advisory body and community to oppose plans to shut the engine company and three others across the city during overnight hours beginning in January.

In doing so, he provided statistics regarding Engine 271's performance during 2007, in which the company ranked either in the top half or near the middle of all 198 engine companies in responding to fires and medical emergencies. He charged that closing the unit down for any period of time would jeopardize the lives of thousands of residents in both areas during fires and other emergencies.

At last Wednesday's session, Board 4 unanimously approved a resolution calling on Mayor Michael Bloomberg to stop the planned cutbacks. District Manager Nadine Whitted noted that the board would also reach out to local elected officials in an effort to bring attention to the matter as quickly as possible.

In the letter to Mayor Bloomberg conveying the board's opinion, Chairperson Julie Dent stated that the loss of the fire unit for any amount of time would put numerous lives at stake.

"Community Board 4 fully understands that the city is experi- encing a fiscal crisis and desperate measures must be taken to address the problem," she stated. "However, our concerns are the potential of the loss of life. ... Our sentiments are that a human life is priceless, and every second in fact counts."

Cutting back to address budget

As previously reported, the cutbacks are part of the FDNY's plan to reduce its operating costs in the wake of the ongoing fiscal crisis gripping the city. Engine 271 and the three other affected units, while in operation from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, would be closed at all other hours beginning on Jan. 17.

Ladder Company 124 and Battalion 28 would remain in operation 24 hours a day as normally scheduled.

Firefighters assigned to overnight shifts at the engine company would be redeployed to other units across the city during their scheduled hours. The FDNY maintained that this would reduce its overtime costs and lower the number of firefighters to be hired in the next class graduating from probationary training.

Schiralli noted that the FDNY is currently overstaffed by more than 60 firefighters and all units are fully manned.

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta, in a Dec. 4 statement, said that the four affected units were chosen following analysis by department officials and were determined to be in communities that would be the least impacted by the loss of service.

'Not the slowest'

Battalion Chief Schiralli pointed to reports which indicated that the units chosen for closure ranked among the slowest in the entire department.

"The city's been told that the four slowest engine companies in the city are being closed; that's not true," the chief said.

Based on statistics for 2007 compiled by the FDNY Bureau of Operations, Engine 271 made 2,885 runs (responded to emergency calls), which ranked the unit 117th out of 198 engine companies across the city. Of those runs, the company performed work (such as stopping a gas leak or putting out a fire) at 2,077 of them, which ranked them 110th of all FDNY engines.

"By no means are they the busiest engine company in the city, but they're not the slowest," Schiralli observed.

Last year, Engine 271 responded to and helped to put out 221 fires in the area. The battalion chief noted that the unit ranked 90th in the entire city in the number of fires it fought in 2007.

"If anyone knows the area" around the Himrod Street firehouse, "they know the population density is immense," Schiralli said. He noted that many of the structures in the neighborhood are multi-family rowhouses over a century old, constructed out of "lightweight timber" and are particularly vulnerable to fire.

Should a fire break out in any of these structures while Engine 271 is closed, the battalion chief stated, it would take longer for engine companies from surrounding neighborhoods to respond to the area. Each second delayed, he indicated, could allow the blaze to burn out of control and put additional lives in danger.

"Once they go on fire, it's almost like someone poured gasoline on it," Schiralli said. "In the '70s, we lost blocks at a time once one of them" caught fire and burned quickly. "That's why you need a speedy response and you need to get water on the fire as soon as possible."

As noted, engine companies are equipped and tasked to pump large amounts of water where needed to extinguish a blaze. Ladder companies, which are primarily tasked with search, rescue and venting operations, carry only a limited amount of water to put out flames in a small, confined area.

A matter of life and death Engine 271's presence in Ridgewood and Bushwick is also critical to responding to medical emergencies that may arise, Battalion Chief Schiralli indicated. In 2007, the unit responded to 1,126 medical incidents, which ranked them 88th out of all engine companies in the city.

That figure put the unit above 12 other units in surrounding communities including Engines 206 in East Williamsburg; 211, 216 and 229 in Williamsburg; 217, 218, 237 and 277 in Bushwick; 222 in Bedford- Stuyvesant; 286 in Glendale; 291 on the Maspeth/Ridgewood border; and 319 in Middle Village.

Since the city's EMS was consolidated with the FDNY in 1995, he explained, engine companies are the first to respond to medical emergencies in a given area such as a heart attack or stroke. The units, whose firefighters are trained to provide CPR and use cardiac defibrillators, provide immediate care to victims whose heart has stopped beating before EMS units can arrive and transport the victim to a nearby hospital.

The quick response has been known to save many lives, the battalion chief stated. If Engine 271 were to be shut down during overnight hours, he said, it could take longer before heart attack and other cardiac patients in need of emergency care get the help the need, potentially putting lives at risk.

An alternative offered

While observing that Engine 271 must stay open to protect residents in the surrounding area, Battalion Chief Schiralli argued that the FDNY shouldn't close down any fire units at all.

"We feel no units should be closed," he stated, noting that after the cutbacks were announced, firefighters and members of the Uniformed Firefighters Association pitched an alternative plan in which the closures would rotate from one engine company to another on a nightly basis.

On average, he noted, it would mean that each of the city's 198 engine companies would shut down two nights a year. While the closures would still pose a risk, Schiralli indicated, the rotation plan would reduce the probability of an engine company being closed if a major fire or another emergency occurs in a given area.

"We should move in the direction of safety," the battalion chief said. "You don't need numbers to know that if you close a firehouse at night, residents won't be as safe as they once were."

LOCAL ENGINE COMPANY STATISTICS FOR 2007 (citywide rank in parenthesis)