By Thomas Tracy
The little firehouse on 11th Street is about to do the work of two fire stations, but no one is going to notice any difference. That was the New York City’s Fire Department’s promise to residents of 11th Street worried that the increase in men, equipment and activity on the block is going to impinge upon their quality of life. Fears were raised after word was spread over the last month that Engine Company 220 and Ladder 122, located at 530 11th Street at 7th Avenue, will be sharing quarters with Engine 239 when their station at 395 4th Avenue is renovated. Fire Department officials confirmed Wednesday that the planned renovation of Engine 239 has yet to start and, so far, no one has been moved out of the 4th Avenue firehouse. Construction crews, however, are continually visiting the 11th Street station making sure everything in the building is prepared for the added personnel. After being brought together during a recent Park Slope Civic Council meeting held at New York Methodist Hospital, FDNY officials said that ever consideration is being made to make sure that the community does not notice any changes to the 11th Street firehouse. The FDNY said that they plan to take some exorbitant steps to make sure that the transition is as seamless as possible, Lieutenant Paul Geoghegan told Park Slope Civic Council members Thursday. “The FDNY was founded in 1865,” said Geoghegan. “Many of the firehouses we have are over 100 years old and they have to be renovated.” In order to renovate, firehouse personnel and equipment have to be moved out of the house so they can fix the building. They also have to share quarters with a neighboring firehouse so they could still cover the area they are responsible for protecting, Geoghegan explained. “It’s not a fun thing for everyone involved,” he said. “It’s kind of like having your in-laws living with you.” Geoghegan said that he expects the firefighters of Engine 239 will be moving to Engine 122 in the next six to eight weeks. The renovations of Engine 239 should take anywhere from 12 to 18 months to complete. According to Geoghegan, when two firehouses usually share quarters, the visiting firehouse’s rig is usually kept under a “cage” built in the street outside of the firehouse they’ve relocated to, a prospect that members of the 11th Street was dreading. Members of the 11th Street Block Association, many of whom attended the Park Slope Civic Council’s meeting, said that one of these cages would take up too many sorely needed parking spots. But, that’s not going to be the case when it comes to Park Slope, Geoghegan said. “We’re not going to be putting a cage on 11th Street,” he said. “Instead, we’re going to piggy back the trucks in quarters.” “That is our very first concession,” he said, joking, “this is obviously a politically connected block.” “It’s an alternative that we don’t normally give to communities,” he said. “It’s going to be complicated, but we’re affording Park Slope every consideration.” Other considerations afforded to 11th Street may also include having the firefighters coming to Engine 220 park their cars on other streets, possibly on the side of a 7th Avenue church. That possibility, however, still has to be hammered out with the DOT, fire officials said. Firefighters said that while their plan should benefit residents, those living on 11th Street should expect some traffic congestion when one fire truck blocks off the street while the other prepares to respond to the call. The new plan could also affect response times, they said. Residents attending the meeting fired off a number of alternatives that would further improve the situation. Suggestions ranged from implementing a device that will change traffic signals at 7th Avenue when fire trucks were ready to leave the station to moving Engine 239 instead share quarters with Squad 1 on Union Street. Fire officials said that the Squad 1 idea wouldn’t work, because there wasn’t enough room. The Squad 1 house was also father away from Engine 239’s response area than Engine 122. As this paper was going to press, residents of 11th Street are expected to have a follow up meeting with the FDNY to hammer out the specifics of their current plan. “We’re happy to co-exist with a firehouse on our block,” said Mark Gordon, co-president of the 11th Street Block Association. “But we’re concerned that adding a third vehicle to the firehouse would significantly impact our quality of life.” “Our block is entitled to a dialogue [with the fire department],” Gordon said, adding that he was pleased to hear that they were “opening the lines of communication that would clarify the situation that we are all going to live through.”
