May 27, 2009 8:34 pm US/Eastern
Firefighter's Union Ad Gets FDNY Commish Steamed
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
The Firefighters Union took out a full page ad Wednesday warning people about potential cuts in their neighborhood, but the FDNY said the ad went too far.
The ad named neighborhoods the union said fit the city's criteria as one of the 12 firehouses that might close.
"The fire commissioner and the mayor said they now intend to close 12 firehouses after the election in November. Our ad campaign is to tell the neighborhoods around the city of New York that they could be in that list," said Firefighters Union President Steve Cassidy.
"If the union would just agree to reduce by one firefighter the staffing on those 60 companies, just the way the other 138 engine companies are staffed, there would be no closings," said Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta.
Cassidy disagreed. "That's a ridiculous statement by the commissioner," he said.
"I don't know how then he accounts for the fact that 134 engines have been operating for many many years with four firefighters and an officer," Scoppetta said.
Cassidy's response: "Their own study says it takes a four man engine company twice as long as a five firefighter engine company to get water on the fire."
Some of the neighborhoods that could lose fire companies are Woodside, Queens, Harlem or Long Island City.
Residents caught in the middle of this fight understandably do not want any engine or ladder companies to close.
"I think it would be a disaster, because where would they come from if they don't come from right here?," said one Woodside resident.
The list of possible closings might seem insignificant to some, unless it's your neighborhood that's affected.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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