Fire Department of New York officials expect Amazon.com Inc.'s new campus in Long Island City to put a strain on their firefighters in the Queens neighborhood and are considering reopening a firehouse shuttered 15 years ago to accommodate the tech giant's arrival.
In 2003 then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg closed Engine Company 261, which was housed at 37-20 29th St. in Long Island City, and five other firehouses across the city. Since then, community members and officials have pushed the city to reopen it, particularly as the number of residential buildings in Long Island City has skyrocketed.
The FDNY was already assessing the need for additional resources in the neighborhood before Amazon announced in November that it would build a second headquarters there, promising to bring at least 25,000 jobs to the location over the next decade.
"We can anticipate with confidence that the growth in daytime population brought on by Amazon will lead to a greater number of incidents," John Sudnik, the acting chief of the FDNY, said Monday during a City Council hearing about the neighborhood's emergency services.