Fire-union officials argued yesterday that some of the city's $3.5 billion surplus should go to restoring cuts made to the Fire Department three years ago, when Mayor Bloomberg closed six engine companies.
The Uniformed Fire Officers Association said citywide average response times have risen by 16 seconds since then - all while their workload has increased by nearly 10 percent.
"The statistics speak for themselves," said UFOA President Peter Gorman. "The Fire Department is ignoring them."
"We've already shown that in Staten Island, where they did restore an engine company, response times went down," Gorman said.
Gorman blamed Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta for not pressing the mayor for more money.
"[Police Commissioner] Ray Kelly asked for more help investigating child-abuse cases after the Nixzmary Brown case - and he got it," Gorman said. "The fire commissioner doesn't seem to want to ask for anything."
Gorman said he'd like to see the six engine companies reopened or have new ones built elsewhere. He also wants more money to hire fire marshals to investigate blazes. There were 180 in 2002; today there are just 80.
"Many small fires are not being investigated," he said. "The problem with arsonists is they start small. If you can stop an arsonist who lights up a trash barrel in a minor fire, he might not be around the next day to start something like what happened in [the Greenpoint Terminal Market fire]."
But Bloomberg said he wouldn't budge.
"Response times are fine in this city," the mayor replied. "I think at the moment that our resources probably are in exactly the right places."
"I think the City Council and the union and those who protest would be better off in helping us make sure that our firefighters don't have to go out on fire runs," he added. "Particularly during this season, stay away form using illegal fireworks, never leave a child with matches."
Scoppetta argued that response times are down, despite the statistics Gorman cited - which come from the FDNY.
"The closing of those engine companies added one-third of a second to the citywide response time," Scoppetta said. "And, in fact, four of those areas, the companies that now service those areas . . . the response of the engine companies in four of those areas are faster."
Additional reporting by David Seifman
[email protected]. Republished with permission of The New York Post.
