FDNY facing reduced staffing at city’s busiest engines due to budget cuts
Engines in Borough Park, Bed-Stuy, Brownsville, Cypress Hills, East Flatbush, Mount Hope, Morrisania, Fordham and Gun Hill will be impacted.
More Stories
The FDNY is the latest city agency to feel the brunt of the mayor’s recent budget cuts as 20 engines citywide will be losing their fifth man position.
A fifth firefighter is assigned to the busiest companies in the city. Now, 20 of the busiest engines in the five boroughs will be losing that additional firefighter.
The Uniformed Firefighters Association says that not having that fifth firefighter could be the difference-maker in a life-or-death situation. They say this comes in the part of the year where fires are most common and as e-bikes continue to cause fatal fires across the city.
The most recent e-bike fire took place on Sunday night in Soundview, marking the 100th fire-related death so far this year in the city.
“If you have a fifth alarm, you’ll have 20 engines responding, and undoubtedly you’ll have several of them not having the fifth firefighter,” said Andrew Ansbro, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association.
Ansbro says the recent fire is a prime example of how important each member of the FDNY is, and this is coming as a direct result of the mayor’s budget cuts that require a 5% slice to all city agencies’ budgets.
Engines in Borough Park, Bed-Stuy, two in Brownsville, Cypress Hills, and East Flatbush will be impacted.
Engines in Mount Hope, Morrisania, Fordham and Gun Hill will be impacted.
