BY JACKSON CHEN | A firehouse at 159 East 85th Street will be relocating one of its engines on the overnight shift as the station undergoes renovations expected to take several months.
According to Battalion 10 Chief Richard Tarello, renovations on the firehouse’s second floor will create separate bathroom and locker room facilities for female firefighters and will be completed in three to four months. The FDNY said there are currently 52 female firefighters — out of a total of more than 11,000 — and, according to Tarello, there is one female firefighter within his battalion.
The firehouse that is home to Engine Company 22 and Ladder Company 13 is just one of the 47 firehouses throughout the city that don’t currently have separate women’s facilities. The FDNY is pumping $70 million into efforts to renovate the remaining firehouses with separate men’s and women’s bathrooms and locker rooms, another set of facilities for officers, and also an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant unisex bathroom.
But to accommodate the renovations, Tarello said that every day between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., Engine 22 would be relocating to the firehouse at 1836 Third Avenue, between East 101st and 102nd Street.
“The purpose is to minimize daytime response when traffic is at its peak,” Tarello explained. “If they stayed up there all day long and tried to respond to lower blocks, it would impact response time.”
The chief said the difference of about 16 blocks combined with the typical traffic congestion during the day led the department to schedule the renovations and resulting need for relocation during night hours to avoid fire service delays during the day. Tarello said lighter traffic in the overnight hours should mitigate any impact on response times then, but he could not precisely quantify any potential delays.
“We’re hoping there’s no impact on service,” Tarello said. “Our goal is to minimize the impact due to the renovations in quarters, and it was impossible to keep both Engine 22 and Ladder 13 on 85th Street.”
The initial relocation plans had focused on Ladder 13, instead of Engine 22, but the FDNY determined there was too great a risk of creating a gap in ladder companies between the firehouse at East 67th and the one at East 101st Street. While engine companies provide hose lines and fire extinguishing capabilities, ladder companies are geared for more dire circumstances involving the need for forced entries, ventilating buildings, and conducting searches for life, Tarello explained.
According to the chief, the relocation began a couple of weeks ago, and the renovations are due to start any day.
