Engine 261 Threatened With Closure

Queens will make up for the citys $6.4 billion budget deficit by losing three senior centers, bearing the brunt of a 25% property tax increase and paying more for express bus serviceamong many other austerity measures proposed by Mayor Bloomberg last week.
But none seemed to threaten public safety as much as the proposed cutting of police and fire services, with two fire engine companies to be closed in our borough.
Engine 261 in Long Island City and Engine 293 in Woodhaven would close, along with six other fire companies throughout the city. In addition, engines at 49 companies would be staffed by four firefighters instead of five.
No firefighters would be laid off, said a Fire Department spokesman. Instead, displaced firefighters would be transferred to other companies with openings.
Fire Department spokesman David Billig said that reductions in service would not endanger public safety. But the proposals alarmed both civilians and firefighters, who say that the cuts will increase response times in the neighborhoods, put more lives in danger, and leave the city unprotected.
"Considering some of the fires weve had in this area, and the response time, were very concerned about it," said Community Board 2 chairman Joseph Conley, recalling recent local disasters such as the fire at an Astoria hardware store that claimed three firefighters lives on Fathers Day 2001.
Conley, whose district includes Engine 261, pointed out that company members also respond to traffic accidents and emergencies at the Queens Plaza subway station, in addition to fighting fires.
Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) said that the specific engines to be cut were not set in stone, and that eliminating 261 would affect both Long Island City and Astoria, as other fire companies would "have to stretch over a wider area."
Vallone, chair of the Councils Public Safety Committee, vowed to fight cuts to the Police and Fire Departments.
"We are in the crosshairs of the terrorists as we speak, and to make these cuts would be foolish," he said.
Thomas DaParma, Queens trustee of the Uniformed Firefighters Association (UFA), believed that closing fire companies and reducing the personnel on each engine would not only harm the public but would put firefighters lives in even more danger.
"The mayor is talking about spreading the pain, but its more than painits death," said DaParma, who blamed the severe burns suffered by firefighter Stephen Halliday nearly two weeks ago on the fact that Hallidays ladder company had no backup from nearby Engine 275, which was out of service for training.
"It takes more than one company to put out a fire," he said.
DaParma added that of the proposed four-person staff on an engine, one would be the driver, "so you only have three [people] actually fighting the fire."
At Engine 261, the threat of the companys closing was "hanging over our heads," according to a firefighter who did not want his name used.
"We are the busiest engine in our area," he said, adding that the addition of new residents at Queens West would further overburden the remaining fire companies.
The firefighters at Engine 261 planned to distribute fliers to the community in order to rally support against their companys closure and scattering of personnel.
Ralph Gismondi, a retired firefighter at Ladder 116, which shares a firehouse with Engine 261, said, "These guys spent their careers together, but thats a human interest thing that Bloomberg doesnt care about."