A plan to cut 20 firehouses means it will take firefighters longer to reach you in an emergency, warns Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.
The proposed cuts came about after Mayor Michael Bloomberg introduced a dramatically slashed budget earlier this year. Affected firehouses, according to the FDNY, range from West 37th Street in Manhattan to Jamaica Avenue in Queens. Brooklyn will be hit the hardest, with eight firehouses there to be shuttered.
Firefighters are expected to arrive at an emergency within four minutes, a national standard, said de Blasio. But residents in some neighborhoods, such as City Island in the Bronx, will have to wait up to a minute more for help in an emergency if their local firehouse closes, he said.
The FDNY argues that the more accurate national response time is six minutes and 20 seconds.
Follow Alison Bowen on Twitter @AlisonatMetro.
