Chief Leader

In an article published in your Feb. 8 edition, you reported that Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, in her State of the Borough report, had major concerns regarding the Fire Department's response times for Queens.

These response times, which were higher than for the rest of the city, bear out that Queens continues to be treated as an afterthought when it comes to fire protection.

Even more disturbing than the rising response times are the reasons given by FDNY spokesman Frank Gribbon, which clearly show the department is trying to find blame with anything rather than face the facts. In his statement, he places the blame for the jump in these numbers on dispatch problems, which they claim have been addressed.

If one were to believe this, then why does he fail to report that it was their mismanagement that created this problem? The department had put off needed upgrades to the dispatch facilities in Queens until they became so antiquated that the entire operation needed to be shut down and routed through the Brooklyn Dispatch Center, putting an additional strain on that office.

Also not reported is the fact that if the department believes it was a dispatch problem, then why did the department, during this time of rising response times, continue to threaten fire officers with transfers out of their assigned units if response times weren't lowered?

Their answer to your reporter that they hired a consultant to analyze the problem is a smokescreen answer to a burning question. No new software is needed to realize the answer lies within the growth of the borough. In the past ten years, Queens has accounted for more than 40 percent of the entire population growth in the city and has seen an aggressive building plan as major companies find new homes in Queens. Hundreds of miles of major roadways, dozens of bridges, two airports and two major sports facilities - not to mention subway lines and the Long Island Railroad - all combine to stretch the resources of the Fire Department. Yet during this time of expansion, the number of fire companies in the borough has been reduced.

The largest borough by land mass, at 71,780 acres, Queens is served by 49 engine companies and 33 ladder companies working out of 52 firehouses dotted across the borough. As a result of all this growth, fire companies face increased traffic and delays in responding to the emergencies brought on with the increased fire potential. Greater delays are encountered by the second and third companies responding in to these calls for help, forcing the first-arriving companies into dangerous situations of operating without the needed back-up.

As stated in her report, Borough President Marshall is truly concerned with the amount of development in the Long Island City area. What is not known is that this area is often left with no fire protection when an emergency occurs on Roosevelt Island. Since no firehouse exists on the Island, fire protection for the residents and buildings there depends on responses from the Long Island City/Astoria-area firehouses. Four firehouses respond to calls, with three engines and two ladders leaving little fire protection in an area that spans from nearly the Midtown Tunnel to the Triboro Bridge. So while the Fire Department hires an analyst to review these problems, let's hope that Council Member Gioia's "catastrophe waiting to happen" doesn't. If it does, Mr. Gribbon may run out of excuses.

STEPHEN G. HUMENESKY, Queens Trustee, Uniformed Firefighters Association