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The FDNY is grabbing headlines nowadays for nixing its beefcake calendar, but some Cobble Hill community leaders are much more concerned about one of the department’s older, retired members. Although the Economic Development Corporation has announced that it’s looking to rent Cobble Hill’s old Engine 204 to a nonprofit organization, some community leaders are still holding out hope that the building will one day again be used as a firehouse. The EDC is seeking proposals for cultural and/or community groups to redevelop Engine 204 and Williamsburg’s Engine 212, both of which were shuttered in 2003 despite fierce community protests. While the city is selling the Williamsburg property outright, the fact that the Cobble Hill building at 299 Degraw Street is only being leased has prompted Councilman Bill de Blasio and State Assembly Member Joan Millman to suggest there’s a possibility it will again be used as a firehouse at some point in the future. Is this a case of politicians posturing over a lost cause? Or has the lack of a firehouse had a marked impact on life in Cobble Hill?
Vacant B’klyn Firehouses To Become ‘Cultural Institutions’ [Brooklyn Eagle]
Rally Today to Save Cobble Hill’s Engine 204 [Brownstoner]
RFPs for the firehouses [NYCEDC] GMAP


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. PLEASE PLEASE ITS’S TIME NOW TO GIVE BACK TO THE FIREFIGTHERS WHO HAVE GIVEN US THEIR ALL EVERY DAY AND THAT TERRIBLE DAY 9/11. THE HORRORS THAT THEY SAW AND THAT STILL DID NOT STOP THEM FROM HELPING EVERYONE THEN AND NOW. WELL ITS TIME NOW FOR ALL OF US TO GIVE BACK TO THEM BY LEASING ENGINE 204 TO FRIENDS OF FIREFIGTHERS FOR THEIR HEALING AND THEIR RECOVER. THEY DESERVE TO HAVE A FAMILAR SURROUNDING TO HELP THEM BY TALKING AND HAVING A MEAL WHERE THEY WILL CAN BE COMFORTABLE AND OPEN UP THEIR FEELINGS TO RELEASE THE HORROR OF THAT DAY. ALSO IF THERE IS ANY HOPE OF OPENING UP THAT FIREHOUSE IN THE FUTURE,IT WILL BE AVAILABLE TO THOSE NEW FIREFIGTHERS, SO PLEASE THINK WITH YOUR HEADS AND HEARTS AND REMEMBER WHAT THEY DO FOR YOU AND ME EVERYDAY OF THE THEIR FIREFIGTHING LIVES. PLEASE REMEMBER HOW IMPORTANT THE FIREFIGHTERS ARE TO OUR NEIGHBORHOODS.

  2. Most people don’t realize that the deployment of fire fighters in a neighborhood is larger than just whether or not they are there to respond to a close neighborhood fire/emergency. Among other actions, they also cover neighboring firehouses, when those houses are busy on calls. So the closing of one house has a ripple effect on a much larger neighborhood, as response times become longer, and in case of a major fire or emergency, they may be seriously understaffed in the critical early minutes of that emergency.

    Many houses also specialize – the closed firehouse in Wmsburg, for example, was specially trained for hazmat/chemical fires. Those men and their equipment are now scattered elsewhere, to much less good effect.

    Being well prepared, especially in a city with a large target on it for potential terrorism, would seem to be the more prudent cause of action. We shouldn’t treat our potential emergency situations the way we treat our infrastructure – ignore it until something awful happens, and then suffer the consequences in the needless loss of life and property.