A reprise of a familiar ritual just took place, with the Citizens Budget Commission advancing its evergreen argument that firehouses should be closed to save money and the fire unions parrying with a list of reasons why that’s a bad idea.
If anything, the unions’ argument has been strengthened over the past decade by the city’s continuing surge in population. This not only means there’s a greater need for fire service, there’s also—as anyone driving within the five boroughs can attest with exasperation—more traffic to cope with. Major arteries in Brooklyn and Queens, on weekdays as well as weekends, sometimes have the kind of bottlenecks once associated solely with Manhattan. What that means is that it’s harder to justify closing a firehouse because there are two others within a mile of it; the extra travel distance for what would have been a second- or third-due company can turn into blocs of minutes in situations where seconds can be the difference between life and death.
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