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Who you gonna call?
Not Ladder Co. 8!
The TriBeCa firehouse that played a starring role in “Ghostbusters” could be headed for the afterlife itself.
The picturesque station is among 20 that the Bloomberg administration is proposing to close due to budget cuts, according to a list released last night by the Fire Department.
City lawmakers yesterday were fuming over the cuts, and vowed to keep as many of the targeted fire companies open as possible.
“To even think about closing two fire companies in lower Manhattan, the No. 1 terror target in our country, is unconscionable,” railed City Councilwoman Margaret Chin, whose district includes Ladder 8.
The list also includes Engine 4 on South Street in Chin’s district.
READ THE FULL LIST OF FIREHOUSES PROPOSED FOR CLOSING(PDF)
“If the city moves forward with any of these closures, people who could have been saved will die,” warned Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, who chairs the Fire Safety Committee.
Word that Ladder 8 is on the chopping block is a case of fact following fiction. In its role in the 1984 comedy, characters played by Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis moved into the firehouse after it had been closed by the city.
“Today Mike Bloomberg willfully abdicated responsibility for protecting the safety of New Yorkers with his proposal to close 20 fire companies . . .”, said Uniformed Firefighters Association President Steve Cassidy.
Council members yesterday vowed to save as many of the fire companies as possible, but it’s a tall order. Mayor Bloomberg typically gives the council $300 million to restore some of his cuts to city services, and the 20 companies alone would cost $55 million.
Council sources predicted they would be able to save approximately 15 companies. Speaker Christine Quinn, who negotiates the budget with Bloomberg, did not comment on the proposed closures but thanked the mayor for making the list public. Councilman Domenic Recchia (D-Brooklyn), who chairs the Finance Committee, said he will call for another hearing on the closures. He held a budget hearing with Fire Commissioner Sal Cassano Tuesday but the list had not yet been made public.
“He has a lot of explaining to do,” Recchia said of Cassano.
Councilman James Vacca (D-Bronx) said the loss of Ladder 53 on City Island would mean a doubling in response times to fires in the area, from about five minutes to 10.
“This will have a ricochet effect throughout the entire city,” he said.