FDNY Advocates Push Restoring Fifth Firefighter

City Council Speaker Julie Menin joined FDNY union leaders and families affected by fatal apartment fires at Engine Company 7/Ladder Company 1/Battalion 1 on Duane Street in Lower Manhattan on Monday to press for more staffing on city fire engines. The group is asking Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration to fund a fifth firefighter on 86 engine companies, a change they say would reverse a Bloomberg-era reduction that left most engines staffed with four firefighters. The push comes as the City Council and City Hall negotiate the next city budget. The Council has put the cost at $91.7 million. ### Which firehouses would get a fifth firefighter under the plan? The proposal would expand five-person staffing from the FDNY’s current 20 busiest engines to 86 engine companies, or roughly half of the department’s nearly 200 engines, according to Menin and the Uniformed Firefighters Association. Menin said the added staffing would be targeted through the budget process, while supporters described the proposal as focused on high-risk and high-volume areas. (cbsnews.com) Only 20 engines now carry a fifth firefighter, a remnant of earlier restorations after broader cuts during former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration. QNS reported that the Council’s plan would bring the total number of five-person engines to more than 100 citywide if adopted. (cbsnews.com) ### Why are Menin and the firefighters’ union making this a budget fight now? The budget talks began this week, and Menin has made FDNY staffing one of the Council’s first public asks. In interviews with CBS New York, she said the city had reached “a breaking point” as fire deaths rose this year and argued that a fifth firefighter would shorten the time needed to extinguish fires and improve safety for civilians and firefighters. (cbsnews.com) Andrew Ansbro, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, said the staffing increase would help crews get water on a fire faster and keep single-alarm fires from growing into multi-alarm incidents. Bobby Eustace, the union’s vice president, said standard fire-service practice supports putting water on a fire as quickly as possible and that more firefighters help do that. (cbsnews.com) ### What are supporters pointing to as evidence? CBS New York reported that 51 people had died in fires across the five boroughs so far in 2026 as of late May, nearly double the level at the same point a year earlier. The station cited recent fatal fires including a Bronx apartment blaze that killed a 1-year-old child and another Bronx fire in April that killed three people. (cbsnews.com) Bronx-focused supporters have tied the staffing push to the borough’s fire load. QNS reported that Ariola and the firefighters’ union want 40 of the added fifth firefighters assigned to Bronx engine companies, which they described as the city’s busiest borough for fires. ### Who else is backing the proposal? (cbsnews.com) Joann Ariola, the chair of the Council’s Committee on Fire and Emergency Management, said restoring the fifth firefighter has been one of her priorities since 2022. She said the added position would help stretch hose lines faster and reduce pressure on the rest of each engine crew. (qns.com) Families affected by major fires also appeared at Monday’s rally. CBS New York reported that survivors and relatives of victims joined Menin and union officials in calling for the staffing increase, including people tied to fatal apartment fires in the Bronx. ### What has City Hall said? (qns.com) An FDNY spokesperson told CBS New York that “the Mamdani administration looks forward to continuing conversations with the Council regarding a fifth firefighter pilot proposal.” The statement did not commit to the $91.7 million request or say which engine companies would be included if a deal is reached. (cbsnews.com) The next test is the city budget negotiation now underway between the Mamdani administration and the Council. Menin and allied council members are seeking $91.7 million for the staffing expansion, while City Hall has said only that discussions over a fifth-firefighter pilot will continue. (cbsnews.com)