Firehouse, Engine Company 261 And Ladder Company 116
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Firehouse, Engine Company 261 and Ladder Company 116 is a
New York City Fire Department The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) is the full-service fire department of New York City, serving all Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs. The FDNY is responsible for providing Fi ...
firehouse at 37-20 29th Street in
Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a neighborhood within the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; Sunnyside to the east; and Newtown Creek, which separates Queens from Greenpoint, Brook ...
,
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,
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. The firehouse was originally built in 1932 for Engine Company 261 and Ladder Company 116. Engine Company 261 was established in 1894 as Long Island City Fire Department's Engine Company 3, and was renumbered in 1913. Engine Company 261 served both Long Island City and the nearby community of
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until 2003, until it was closed as a cost-saving measure, while Ladder Company 116 still operates out of the firehouse. Fire officials, local residents, and business owners have argued that the engine company should be re-opened.


Building

Construction of the present firehouse at 29th Street started in the 1930s. After the foundation was completed, work was halted by early 1932 because the
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, Charles W. Berry, had failed to allocate funds for construction. Berry approved construction contracts for the firehouse in late March 1932. The building opened in November 1932 and was the first firehouse in Queens with its own water tower. Upon the opening of the 29th Street firehouse, Engine Co. 261 and Ladder Co. 116 vacated their former headquarters at 38-08 28th Street, one block away.


Engine Company 261

Engine Company 261 was established as Long Island City Fire Department's Engine Company 3 in 1894. It was renumbered after Long Island City was annexed by New York City in 1913. In 2003, Engine Company 261 was closed as a cost-saving measure. The closure was one of six announced by
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, on May 26, 2003. At the time of its closure it had served both Long Island City and nearby
Roosevelt Island Roosevelt Island is an island in New York City's East River, within the Borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to the west, and the borough of Queens, on Long Island, to the east. It is about long, wit ...
. ''
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'' noted how residents who lived near the closed stations expressed various degrees of distress, with some other closures triggering greater distress. There was controversy over the firehouse's closure, as Community Board 8 had not been sufficiently notified in advance. A
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judge subsequently ruled that the closure was illegal. In June 2017,
New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City in the United States. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government mod ...
member Jimmy Van Bramer and local residents started to advocate for Engine Company 261's reopening, citing large population growth in Long Island City. Representatives of the Fire Fighter's Association said that the population of the station's service area had grown from 60,000 when it was closed to 200,000 in 2015. Efforts to reopen the engine company increased in late 2018 and early 2019, after
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had announced that it had chosen a site near the station to house their massive new headquarters,
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. Assemblywoman
Catherine Nolan Catherine T. Nolan (born March 12, 1958) is a former American politician who served as the Deputy Speaker of the New York State Assembly. From 1985 to 2022, Nolan represented the 37th Assembly District, which includes the Queens neighborhoods of ...
pointed out that when mayor
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was a city councilman, he had also argued for reopening the station. Other advocates of Engine Company 261's reinstatement included U.S. representative
Carolyn Maloney Carolyn Jane Maloney (née Bosher, February 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2013 to 2023, and for from 1993 to 2013. The district includes most of Manhattan's East Side, Astoria and Long I ...
, whose 12th congressional district included Roosevelt Island and Long Island City. However, plans for reopening the engine company were postponed in mid-2019 after the cancellation of the New York City campus of Amazon HQ2.


Ladder Company 116

Ladder Company 116 still operates within the firehouse. The difference between the two companies is that ladder companies focus on rescuing occupants of buildings on fire and ventilating heat, smoke and gases and do not carry pumps, hose, or water, while engine companies focus on actually extinguishing fire.


References

{{New York City Fire Department Long Island City Fire stations completed in 1894 Fire stations in New York City 1894 establishments in New York (state)