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Fire Response Times Delayed Due to UES Firehouse Renovation, Officials Say

By Shaye Weaver | July 25, 2016 3:15pm
 Engine Company 22/Ladder 13/10th Battalion will be relocated while their headquarters is renovated, FDNY officials said.
Engine Company 22/Ladder 13/10th Battalion will be relocated while their headquarters is renovated, FDNY officials said.
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Wikimedia Commons/Jim Henderson

MANHATTAN — Fire response times for a chunk of the Upper East Side will be delayed during the renovation of the firehouse at East 85th Street, according to FDNY officials.

The delays are affecting areas from 101st street to the mid-80s and upper-70s as the firehouse's Engine 22 will be relocated each night, from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., 16 block north to the 101st street firehouse, according to Richard Torello, the chief of Battalion 10, which operates out of the 159 E. 85th St. station.

The next nearest engine company, Engine 44, is located on East 75th Street, meaning there is a 26-block gap between each engine company in the area.

Torello could not specify how long the delays were, saying it depends on traffic.

FDNY spokesman Frank Dwyer did not respond to inquiries about how long the delays were since construction on the station started last month.

In order to improve the response time, the engine company will return to the firehouse during the day and its Ladder 13 firefighters will stay during the work at night, according to Torello.

Each firehouse is able to accommodate multiple companies at a time, Dwyer said. Engine 22 has 5 firefighters on at a time and Ladder 13 has 6 firefighters at a time, he added.

"These temporary relocations are carefully planned out, monitored throughout and can be adjusted as needed," Dwyer said.

The department also has redundancies in place so that multiple units go to emergency calls and dispatchers know where each unit is at a given time, Dwyer said.

The FDNY expects that the renovation, which has already begun, will take several months to complete.

The changes come as the firehouse undergoes a major renovation as part of the city's $305 million plan to renovate fire stations citywide over the next 10 years. The 85th Street firehouse, which was built in 1961, will get a new bathroom dedicated to female firefighters as well as a revamped kitchen and upgrade to its electrical and plumbing systems, officials said.

Ladder 13 was organized in 1865 and serves from East 70th to East 99th streets, between the East River and Central Park. It's also home to Carlow the firehouse cat who's lately become an Instagram star.