Yonkers Firehouse Condemned, Firefighters Forced To Relocate
YONKERS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Firefighters in Yonkers have had to relocate because their firehouse has been condemned and shut down.
As CBS2's Matt Kozar reported, the once bright red doors at the downtown Yonkers firehouse are peeling and some windows are boarded up.
Firefighters knew fixes needed to be made, but say they had no idea how bad it really was.
"So the fourth and third floors, there's water intrusion that goes into all the walls and the walls in the interior," said Fire Commissioner John Darcy.
Darcy showed Kozar the cracks in the facade. After an inspection Friday, engineers determined the 88-year-old firehouse was in danger of collapsing.
So more than 50 firefighters were ordered to vacate and move to nearby firehouses.
The commissioner said response times should not be affected.
"Response time, the ladder company that was in here had just moved down the street," Darcy said.
But firefighter union president Barry McGoey is worried about moving Rescue One out of the downtown area.
Yonkers has only one rescue company for the entire city.
"They've gone up to the northwest part of the city, which is hilly and very hard to traverse to the remaining parts of the city from where they're located," said McGoey.
Yonkers residents gave the fire department high marks, but worry how a station house closing will effect service.
"(Kozar: Are you concerned at all about response time and safety?) Definitely, and I think the firefighters themselves are as well," said Douglas Gray.
"You never know when a fire is going to happen. Anything can happen at any give time," said Jerrerr Beneitiz.
A spokesman for the mayor's office said plans for the firehouse won't be determined until the city has a better idea of the structural damage and the cost to fix it.