By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
SOUTH STREET SEAPORT — The possible closure of a Lower Manhattan fire company could pose a deadly risk to a community still recovering from the 9/11 terrorist attacks and a massive fire in Chinatown last week, elected and fire officials said at a rally Wednesday.
The Bloomberg administration has proposed defunding 20 fire companies across the city as part of the mayor’s preliminary budget, which includes across-the-board cuts to city agencies and uniformed services such as the fire and police departments.
But with a series of major emergencies in Lower Manhattan — from the World Trade Center attacks and the Deutsche Bank building fire to the recent blaze in Chinatown — local politicians are worried that the loss of Engine 4, on South Street, could compromise downtown safety.
“In the four months that I have represented District 1, we have had fires in almost every corner of it, from SoHo to Chinatown to the Financial District,” said City Councilwoman Margaret Chin at the rally, held outside the firehouse.
“On top of this, we have recently seen firsthand the need for firefighters in our city with the devastating seven-alarm blaze on Grand Street, where this company responded and operated.”
While the administration has not indicated which specific fire companies could be cut under the preliminary budget proposal, Engine 4 made a list of 16 companies slated for closure last year that were ultimately saved through funding from the City Council.
The fire companies located in Lower Manhattan, including Engine 4, respond to major tourist attractions, transit hubs and potential terrorist targets downtown, making their preservation all the more important, elected officials said.
“The value to our community of our local fire companies in responding to these and many other construction accidents and as the first line of defense in the event of another terrorist attack cannot possibly be overstated,” said state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in a statement.
With the state budget still pending and $1.3 billion in city funds expected to be trimmed, all the city agencies have been asked to put together proposals indicating how they plan make cuts, said Marc LaVorgna, a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office.
But reductions within police and fire departments will amount to about half of what the other agencies will be asked to slash, he noted.
“In general, cutting any city service is difficult,” LaVorgna said. “We have managed to trim from the budget several times without significantly impacting city services, and it’s been done in the face of an epic financial collapse that took billions upon billions away from the city.”
Members of the city firefighters’ union tried to frame the cuts in historical terms, stating that the past five years have been the busiest in the nearly 150-year history of the Fire Department.
"If proposed staffing cuts and firehouse closures are enacted, it will dramatically increase the time it takes to get a fire truck or an ambulance to an emergency and as a result, civilians and firefighters will die,” said Steve Cassidy, president of the Uniform Firefighters Association of Greater New York.
