Brooklyn fi rehouses face staffi ng shortages
BY BEN BRACHFELD,
EMILY DAVENPORT &
ROBERT POZARYCKI
The vaccine mandate for
almost all municipal employees
has gone into effect, and
while many Brooklyn fi rehouses
have faced staffi ng
shortages in its aftermath, reports
of some “closures” have
been mildly exaggerated.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis,
who represents Staten Island
and a sliver of South Brooklyn,
claimed Monday that Engine
243/Ladder 168 in Bath
Beach had gone out of service
as unvaxxed crew members
were turned away. The Uniformed
Firefi ghters Association,
the union representing
most fi refi ghters, made the
same claim on Twitter.
An FDNY spokesperson
denied that Engine 243 was
out of service, but said Ladder
168 was not in commission
Monday afternoon due
to a “shortage of staffi ng.”
The spokesperson, Jim
Long, explained that the department
shifts manpower
and resources between fi rehouses
in the event of company
shutdowns, which he
categorized as relatively common
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even outside of the mandate
context owing to things
like trainings or routine
maintenance of equipment.
“Units out of service are
not a new thing to us,” Long
said. “Today’s reason is somewhat
different and unexperienced
before, but we are managing
this scenario.”
Unvaccinated workers
were told Monday morning to
go home on unpaid leave until
they fi nally roll up their
sleeves and get the shot. The
bulk of them seemed to come
from the FDNY fi refi ghters
ranks — more than 2,000 unvaccinated
smoke-eaters were
sent home Monday, pending
their receipt of the vaccine.
Exacerbating the issue, an estimated
2,300 FDNY employees
called in sick on Monday,
seemingly in protest.
“Since the mandate was
issued, our medical leave
spiked up,” FDNY Commissioner
Daniel Nigro said at
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Nov.
1 press briefi ng. “We know
that’s related to protests
against the mandate. It’s obvious.”
Malliotakis previously
claimed over the weekend
that 26 fi re companies were
out of commission due to staff
shortages, but the fi rehouses
were in working order when
visited by the Daily News.
The NYCFireWire Twitter
account, which is run by
active-duty FDNY members
but isn’t affi liated with the
department, said that 10 companies
were out of service
Monday morning. Asked if
the department is maintaining
a list of companies out of
service, Long said that the
FDNY’s reallocation strategy
means the staffi ng situation
is constantly “fl uid” and that
companies are normally not
out of service for long.
“The units that are temporarily
out of service change
regularly,” Long wrote in an
email. “The time it would
take to identify the companies,
then share with you
would likely change before
publication.”
NYPD is at a vaccination
rate of 84 percent, while the
FDNY Fire personnel is at 77
percent and EMS personnel
at 88 percent, the mayor’s offi
ce reported Monday, Nov. 1.
Despite the mandates,
9,000 city employees have not
yet been vaccinated and have
been placed on leave without
pay as of Nov. 1, which is less
than 6 percent of the entire
city workforce at 378,000.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot
Shea noted that only
34 police offi cers have been
placed on unpaid leave. The
remaining 12,000 unvaccinated
city workers have applied
for medical or religious
exemption, which will
be worked on in the coming
days. The mayorsaid he does
not expect there to be any further
disruptions to city services
as a result.
“There was lots of time for
people to think about this. We
had the phase of vaccinate or
test, there was lots of time,
and lots of incentives,” de
Blasio said Monday. “But it’s
been quite clear this was the
direction we’re going in, and
it’s the right thing to do.”
Both de Blasio and Nigro
reiterated that any FDNY
member that has been placed
on unpaid leave due to being
unvaccinated can come back
to work once they get the jab.
FDNY-Fire Offi cers Association
President Jim McCarthy
and UFA President Andrew
Ansbro predicted Monday
that dozens of fi re companies
would shut because of staff
shortages and urged the city
to give his members more time
to comply.
“Right now their livelihood
is on the line and their
paycheck is on the line,” Ansbro
said.
In the meantime, Long said,
the department will work hard
to keep ladders and companies
open and operating across the
fi ve boroughs.
“We continue to evaluate,
we continue to as necessary
backfi ll units with members
on overtime, or move resources
like apparatuses and
fi re trucks to make sure we
are adequately covering the
city,” Long said.
With reporting by Reuters
“We continue to evaluate ... to make sure we
are adequately covering the city.”
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