Council Member Joann Ariola has welcomed reports that the City Council is pushing to allocate $91.7 million in the city budget to re-install fifth firefighters at 86 engine companies across New York City.
The City Council is calling on the Mamdani administration to reverse a Bloomberg-era cut that dropped the fifth firefighter from all engine companies in the city. At present, only 20 of the nearly 200 engines in the city have a fifth firefighter after former Mayor Bill de Blasio reinstated the position at some companies across the five boroughs.
