Council Fire Chair Tells FDNY: Don't Close Cos.

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang SEES FAT AT THE TOP: City Council Fire and Criminal Justice Services Committee Chair James Vacca has called on the Fire Department to make more cuts at the top level of the agency before discussions on ladder and engine company closings go forward. In particular, he rejected the rationale for having five Borough Commanders.

If the Fire Department is going to meet the confines of Mayor Bloomberg's austerity budget, it must make significant cuts in top personnel before it looks to close fire companies, City Council Fire and Criminal Justice Services Committee Chair James Vacca told THE CHIEF-LEADER March 24.

Mr. Vacca has been outspoken about the proposal to close 16 fire companies, among them Ladder Co. 53 on City Island in The Bronx, which he represents. Union officials and management have agreed these cuts will increase response times, but Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta has insisted they won't jeopardize public safety.

Wants Borough Heads Hosed

But Mr. Vacca has called for alternative cost-cutting, one that starts at the top of the department, rather than what he sees as starting from the on-ground services, he said, that matter the most to city residents. He took particular issue with the department keeping five highly-paid Borough Commanders.

"We did away with the Borough Commanders in the 1990s administratively," he said. 'We didn't need Borough Commanders. You take The Bronx. We have two divisions in The Bronx: one in The Bronx entirely and one that goes into The Bronx and northern Manhattan. So with that kind of division set up, why do we need Borough Commanders?"

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta defended the command structure during a committee hearing March 20, saying that it adds to continuity in the department. But Mr. Vacca did not accept this answer.

"It wasn't satisfactory to me," he said.

While the city budget does not call for layoffs at the FDNY, it does eliminate several hundred firefighting jobs through attrition.

Too Many Chiefs?

"I was surprised when I saw the Commissioner get up to leave, how many people left with him," he said. "All these Chiefs got up and left with the Commissioner, and I'm saying to myself, 'Have there been comparable cuts at the top levels?' We're talking about cutting firemen and ladder and engine companies. I haven't seen that there's been a corresponding reduction in personnel, upper management and Other-Than-Personal-Services."

In his testimony, Mr. Scoppetta said, "All civilian vacancies as of December 2008 have been eliminated, except those that are revenue-producing or in dispatch operations." He added, "For our Randall's Island, Fort Totten and Maspeth fleet facilities, we discontinued contracts for security services by March 1, 2009 for a savings of $1.1 million. We are redeploying 39 training personnel to the field to reduce overtime. This will save approximately $1.5 million in Fiscal Year 2010."

Mr. Vacca said community members will send a petition to Mayor Bloomberg on April 12, Easter Sunday, urging him to not go through with the cuts. City Island could face an average 10-minute fire response time from a nearby ladder company if the cuts are enacted, he said.

"That's going to be people who come to City Island to have lunch or dinner, because Easter Sunday's a big day on City Island, because we have a large restaurant community," he said.