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It's a rat race
Vermin force Queens firefighters to scurry
By AUSTIN FENNER, ALICE McQUILLAN and BILL HUTCHINSON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Stephen Humensky, Queens trustee for the Uniformed Firefighters Association, holds up dead rat outside Jamaica firehouse.
Engine 298, Ladder Co. 127 and Battalion 50 abandoned their Jamaica quarters yesterday.
Hundreds of rats have invaded a Queens firehouse - forcing New York's Bravest to flee from New York's Slimiest.
Firefighters from Engine 298, Ladder Co. 127 and Battalion 50 abandoned their Jamaica quarters yesterday as officials said the firehouse will have to be gutted to flush out the vermin.
"We thought we were winning the war initially, but later it became clear that the rats are winning the war," Assistant Chief Robert Sweeney, the FDNY's Queens borough commander, said as he stood outside the firehouse last night amid an overpowering stench.
The rodents, some measuring 10 inches long, started moving into the firehouse at Hillside Ave. and 153rd St. in the spring, and many have survived repeated extermination attempts. Others simply crawled into the walls and ceilings and died - stinking up the 43-year-old building.
Officials don't know where the creepy pests are coming from, but they suspect they relocated from the E and F subway lines running under Hillside Ave. or a construction site on Queens Blvd., six blocks away.
'Hundreds of them'
Phil McArdle, health and safety officer for the Uniformed Firefighters Association, said "hundreds of them" are scurrying about the house.
"This firehouse is so bad the rats are fighting in the ceilings and walls," McArdle said.
"The infestation is so bad there are entire rat families living in our firehouse," said Stephen Humensky, the union's Queens trustee, adding that he's never heard of anything like it in the FDNY's 138-year history.
"It's like the Indianapolis 500 in there, with the rats running all over the walls and ceiling," said Humensky, who pulled a dead rat out of the Dumpster in front of the firehouse and held it up by the tail to bolster his point.
The cash-strapped city, which recently closed several fire companies because of budget constraints, will spend thousands of dollars to save the Hillside Ave. firehouse.
"We're going to do a complete gut job," said Sweeney.
The gutting will begin Monday, and the firehouse could be closed for up to 10 weeks, he said.
In the meantime, the 60 firefighters assigned there have been dispersed to three area firehouses.
Sweeney warned that response times for calls around the firehouse will likely increase by a few seconds because of the relocations. But Humensky said, "the move is going to effect response time tremendously."
Glad to go
Firefighters assigned to the firehouse said they were relieved to be out of the rats' nest.
"It's nasty," said one 17-year veteran firefighter, who requested anonymity. "We call it the Tet Offensive."
He said firefighters killed 16 rats Thursday night and seven Monday night.
"This is no way to live," said another firefighter who asked that his name not be published.
"One firefighter found a dead rat caught in the manifold of his car," he added. "You can't bring this stuff home to your wife and kids."
Sweeney said exterminators have been to the firehouse at least eight times in the last two weeks. He said FDNY brass first heard about the problem in April and moved immediately to fix it by bringing in exterminators and setting traps.
But Humensky said the infestation has been known about since at least March and that the firehouse's walls should have been ripped into a lot sooner to root out the rodents.
"They had to use this Band-Aid approach because of the budget cuts," Humensky said. "Had the department taken more proactive steps, we never would have gotten to this point."
News of the firehouse rat outbreak came just days after a Daily News special report revealed the city was losing ground in the battle against rats.
Despite increased Health Department inspections and extermination efforts, the city's rat population has grown to an estimated 56 million.
By AUSTIN FENNER, ALICE McQUILLAN and BILL HUTCHINSON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Stephen Humensky, Queens trustee for the Uniformed Firefighters Association, holds up dead rat outside Jamaica firehouse.
Engine 298, Ladder Co. 127 and Battalion 50 abandoned their Jamaica quarters yesterday.
Hundreds of rats have invaded a Queens firehouse - forcing New York's Bravest to flee from New York's Slimiest.
Firefighters from Engine 298, Ladder Co. 127 and Battalion 50 abandoned their Jamaica quarters yesterday as officials said the firehouse will have to be gutted to flush out the vermin.
"We thought we were winning the war initially, but later it became clear that the rats are winning the war," Assistant Chief Robert Sweeney, the FDNY's Queens borough commander, said as he stood outside the firehouse last night amid an overpowering stench.
The rodents, some measuring 10 inches long, started moving into the firehouse at Hillside Ave. and 153rd St. in the spring, and many have survived repeated extermination attempts. Others simply crawled into the walls and ceilings and died - stinking up the 43-year-old building.
Officials don't know where the creepy pests are coming from, but they suspect they relocated from the E and F subway lines running under Hillside Ave. or a construction site on Queens Blvd., six blocks away.
'Hundreds of them'
Phil McArdle, health and safety officer for the Uniformed Firefighters Association, said "hundreds of them" are scurrying about the house.
"This firehouse is so bad the rats are fighting in the ceilings and walls," McArdle said.
"The infestation is so bad there are entire rat families living in our firehouse," said Stephen Humensky, the union's Queens trustee, adding that he's never heard of anything like it in the FDNY's 138-year history.
"It's like the Indianapolis 500 in there, with the rats running all over the walls and ceiling," said Humensky, who pulled a dead rat out of the Dumpster in front of the firehouse and held it up by the tail to bolster his point.
The cash-strapped city, which recently closed several fire companies because of budget constraints, will spend thousands of dollars to save the Hillside Ave. firehouse.
"We're going to do a complete gut job," said Sweeney.
The gutting will begin Monday, and the firehouse could be closed for up to 10 weeks, he said.
In the meantime, the 60 firefighters assigned there have been dispersed to three area firehouses.
Sweeney warned that response times for calls around the firehouse will likely increase by a few seconds because of the relocations. But Humensky said, "the move is going to effect response time tremendously."
Glad to go
Firefighters assigned to the firehouse said they were relieved to be out of the rats' nest.
"It's nasty," said one 17-year veteran firefighter, who requested anonymity. "We call it the Tet Offensive."
He said firefighters killed 16 rats Thursday night and seven Monday night.
"This is no way to live," said another firefighter who asked that his name not be published.
"One firefighter found a dead rat caught in the manifold of his car," he added. "You can't bring this stuff home to your wife and kids."
Sweeney said exterminators have been to the firehouse at least eight times in the last two weeks. He said FDNY brass first heard about the problem in April and moved immediately to fix it by bringing in exterminators and setting traps.
But Humensky said the infestation has been known about since at least March and that the firehouse's walls should have been ripped into a lot sooner to root out the rodents.
"They had to use this Band-Aid approach because of the budget cuts," Humensky said. "Had the department taken more proactive steps, we never would have gotten to this point."
News of the firehouse rat outbreak came just days after a Daily News special report revealed the city was losing ground in the battle against rats.
Despite increased Health Department inspections and extermination efforts, the city's rat population has grown to an estimated 56 million.
I step out onto 66th Street and find Engine 40, Ladder 35, Engine 23...and 2 other FDNY engines, parked all over the place. (Visiting the ABC house of rats & Mickey Mouse)
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