The city is putting its own firefighters at risk unless it pours hundreds of millions of dollars into renovating the FDNY’s century-old firehouses – including 23 with rotting roofs requiring immediate repairs, union bosses claim.
As Mayor Adams and the City Council iron out a new budget, the Uniformed Firefighters Association recently compiled a list of 23 buildings in urgent need of a combined $81 million in roof-repair work alone.
Many of the firehouses are plagued by cracked and moldy ceilings and walls and other foundation issues, the UFA says.
“We might be the greatest Fire Department in the world, but it’s based on pure grit and determination because we are way, way behind the times,” said UFA Vice President Bobby Eustace. “We’ve been fiscally abused for decades.”
Failing to fix the FDNY’s archaic buildings could lead to emergency response times continuing to rise because many firefighters and medics would have to continue working in unsafe conditions or relocate to other buildings, Eustace added.
Adams and the City Council struck a tentative agreement Friday on a budget for the new fiscal year beginning Tuesday that includes $2.6 billion for the Fire Department, but it’s still a $1 billion short of what council members had initially demanded for the agency – mostly for infrastructure repairs and replacing outdated equipment.
Council Minority Leader Joann Ariola (R-Queens), who chairs the fire and emergency management committee, said she visited many of the buildings on the list and was “shocked by the deplorable condition they were in.”
“There is a cruel irony to the fact that the brave men and women we ask to save New Yorkers from buildings that are about to collapse are being forced to work out of dilapidated and unsafe buildings that in some cases are about to collapse,” she said.
“The FDNY is facing a facilities crisis that is impacting everything they do, from fire prevention to inspections to training, and we need a significant capital infusion to fix it.”
Ten of the 23 FDNY buildings with rickety roofs are in Queens – including the three with the most estimated damage: an FDNY training site at Fort Totten Park built in 1906 ($15 million), 63-year-old EMS Station 45 in Woodside ($8 million) and 112-year-old Engine Co. 264 in Far Rockaway ($5 million).
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Recent images from inside FDNY Squad 288’s building in Maspeth, Queens, were startling. The site, built in 1913, is plagued by massive sewage backups, cracked walls and floors, mold and exposed asbestos. And the union contends the garage where the trucks are parked and equipment stored is in danger of collapse.
The garage – or “apparatus room” – until recently also had gaping holes leading to the basement, but firefighters dipped into their own pockets to put new cement flooring down because they feared someone would get hurt before the city responded, said Eustace.
The FDNY said repairs at the Squad 288 are slated to begin in the fall.
The Post also reviewed recent videos and photos of Engine Co. 96 in The Bronx showing a huge sinkhole forming on the roof next to what the union says is a broken vent. Inside, the 59-year-old station is plagued by leaky windows and walls, mold and exposed asbestos, and the union estimates $2.2 million in repairs are needed.
The union estimates the FDNY’s 219 firehouses, 37 EMS stations and other buildings need hundreds of millions of dollars in work.
FDNY spokesperson Amanda Farinacci Gonzalez said the agency is “engaged with conversations across the Adams administration to make any needed repairs as soon as possible.”
“The safety of the brave men and women who serve New Yorkers every day is our No. 1 priority,” she said. “We are working to make needed repairs at facilities throughout the department, and there is no threat to our members’ safety. . . . Any emergency repairs are handled right away.”
Zachary Nosanchuk, a spokesman for the mayor, insisted the proposed budget includes “historic funding to support the brave men and women of the FDNY” – including $940 million for “facility improvements and construction.”
