Ghostbusters Firehouse Could Close, Along With 19 Others

The city has released the list of the 20 fire companies they may close as part of an effort to fill a $600 million budget gap, the New York Times reports. The City Council had earlier this week threatened to subpoena the list when the city refused to release it. Now that it's out, we can turn our attention to concern over who will lose from the closings. Among the possible closings are eight fire companies in Brooklyn, four in Queens, three in Manhattan, three in the Bronx, and two in Staten Island, about 6 percent of New York City's ladder and engine companies. And one of those -- Ladder 8 at 14 North Moore Street, in Tribeca -- is the firehouse that starred in the movie Ghostbusters.

The closures would save $55 million, according to officials; Mayor Bloomberg has said that the list is a way of gauging which fire companies are used the most and what response times are, and that it's still "much too early" to know which would actually close.

Meanwhile, opposition to the closures is mobilizing: "To even think about closing two fire companies in Lower Manhattan, the No. 1 terror target in our country, is unconscionable," said City Councilwoman Margaret Chin, whose district includes Ladder 8, to the New York Post. Steve Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York, said in a statement yesterday, "Today Mike Bloomberg willfully abdicated responsibility for protecting the safety of New Yorkers with his proposal to close 20 fire companies. 20 closed fire companies will affect at least sixty communities and the city as a whole."

Here's the full list of possible closings:

In Brooklyn:
Engine 205 at 74 Middagh Street
Engine 206 at 1201 Grand Street
Engine 218 at 650 Hart Street
Engine 220 at 530 11th Street
Engine 233 at 25 Rockaway Ave
Engine 284 at 1157 79th Street
Ladder 104 at 161 South 2nd Street
Ladder 161 at 2929 West 8th Street

In the Bronx:
Engine 46 at 460 Cross Bronx Expressway
Engine 60 at 341 East 143rd Street
Ladder 53 at 169 Schofield Avenue

In Manhattan:
Engine 4 at 42 South Street
Engine 26 at 220 West 37th Street
Ladder 8 at 14 North Moore Street

In Queens:
Engine 294 at 101-20 Jamaica Avenue
Engine 306 at 40-18 214th Place
Engine 328 at 16-19 Central Avenue
Ladder 128 at 33-51 Greenpoint Avenue

In Staten Island:
Engine 157 at 1573 Castleton Avenue
Engine 161 at 278 McClean Avenue

On a lighter note, some cinematic scenes in the Ghostbusters firehouse, here...

City Releases List of 20 Fire Companies Slated to Close [NYT]
The Ghostbusters Firehouse Could Be Shut Down! [Gothamist]