By Erin Durkin New York Daily News
Commissioner Sal Cassano said that if Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed firehouse closings occur, the FDNY can’t maintain its current performance levels, which have resulted in a record-low 58 fire deaths in 2012 and lower response times.
If Mayor Bloomberg goes ahead with his plan to close 20 fire companies, the FDNY may not be able to keep New York as safe as it has, Commissioner Sal Cassano warned Thursday. “We will have difficulty maintaining these performance levels that we’ve been doing if we close that many companies,” Cassano told a City Council hearing after ticking off the record-low 58 fire deaths in 2012 and other FDNY achievements, including low response times.
“Every community in the city will be affected,” he said. “We hope that does not happen.”
Bloomberg’s proposed budget calls for shuttering 20 companies to save $59 million. He has made the same threat in past years, but the City Council has blocked the closings every year.
