Assert Queens Needs Added Fire Resources

By ARI PAUL

Fire Department response times for 2007 in Queens lag behind the citywide averages once again, spurring a demand by elected officials in the borough for added service.

STEVE CARBONE: Adapt to population growth.

The average response time to structural fires in Queens was four minutes and 58 seconds, while the response to medical emergencies was four minutes and 42 seconds. Citywide, those numbers were 4:27 and 4:20 respectively. The average response time to all incidents was 4:49 citywide last year.

'Need Added Resources'

"While we acknowledge the citywide improvement in response times to fires, I believe that without additional fire resources in Queens - particularly in western Queens - we will never reach the Fire Department response time goal of [4 minutes 27 seconds] to structural fires," Queens Borough President Helen M. Marshall said last month during her "State of the Borough" address.

Her office contended that even though neighborhoods in the western part of the borough like Astoria and Long Island City are seeing more high-density buildings being built, the area has not had improvement in fire response since Engine 261 in Long Island City was closed in May 2003. Assemblywomen Catherine Nolan and Marge Markley also supported the company's reopening.

HELEN MARSHALL: Must improve fire responses.

"There seems to be a growing movement to open '261,''' said Dan Andrews, a spokesman for Ms. Marshall.

In regard to the response times, Queens City Council Member Eric Gioia told the Daily News that the situation was a "catastrophe waiting to happen."

Cites Dispatch Glitches

Chief FDNY spokesman Francis X. Gribbon said that slower response times in Queens had to do with technical issues at the department's new dispatch center in the borough, which have since been addressed.

"The increased time in Queens was due to, we believe, the dispatch end," Mr. Gribbon said. "It does not have to do so much with the field unit."

He doubted that a new firehouse in the borough would improve things, but he added that the department had hired a consultant to develop software to analyze areas that need improvement.

"In Queens, I'm not aware of any specific area where there's kind of a call for an additional unit, but we do have this technology coming in," Mr. Gribbon said. "We will continue to work on response times."

For the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, the problem in Queens is two-fold. On the one hand, the union believed that the closing of six Engine Companies in 2003, including Engine 261, adversely affected response times citywide. And, it has said, the workload, in Queens especially, has gone up substantially.

'Density Through Roof'

"The density in there is mind-boggling," said UFOA Lieutenants' Representative Stephen Carbone. "The population is through the roof in that borough."

Adding that Queens was treated like the "red-headed stepchild" of the city, Mr. Carbone speculated that the department viewed Queens as a sparsely populated suburban community, while the reality is that many neighborhoods have been experiencing more development of large apartment buildings that often have dwellings that house many people. He recalled responding to fires in Jackson Heights and finding large buildings that were often overcrowded, sometimes illegally.

"That's the Queens of the old days," Mr. Carbone said of the idea that Queens was mostly one- and two-family homes, invoking the 1970s sitcom "All in the Family." "Today, it's a bustling metropolis."

Mr. Gribbon responded by saying that Queens, the largest borough geographically, had 15 fire deaths in 2007, a 10-year low.