When New York City faces Code Blue weather — those bone-chilling days when temperatures drop below freezing — everything gets slower, harder, and more dangerous for both firefighters and civilians. Snow and ice cause traffic, and emergency response times increase. Fires spread faster. Dragging hoses through snow and ice is more difficult. Hydrants freeze. And the FDNY is forced to deal with it all using the same staffing levels that they have on a beautiful spring day.
The results are deadly. Just recently, three New Yorkers died in two separate fires during Code Blue weather, when selfish drivers parked in front of hydrants, delaying the firefighters’ movement of the hose. In these Code Blue conditions, the FDNY needs additional resources, but it will only happen if City Hall gives the FDNY the funding it needs to keep people safe — and that starts with bringing back the fifth firefighter on every engine company once and for all.
Fifty years ago, most FDNY engine companies had five firefighters working 24/7/365, but decades of budget cuts have reduced staffing to four firefighters on almost all NYC engine companies. Since then, dozens of engines have been closed, and run totals have increased dramatically as our city’s population has grown.
Why is that fifth firefighter so important? Studies have shown that having the fifth firefighter on the first engine to arrive can dramatically cut down the time it takes to get the hose to the fire. Fires are unpredictable, dangerous, and fast-moving, and every second counts. Firefighting is not a solo job — it’s a carefully coordinated team effort. The difference between four and five firefighters on an engine is the difference between life and death.
Here’s how it works: each firefighter has key responsibilities when they arrive at a fire: stretching the hose line, connecting to the hydrant, and advancing the hose into the fire building to put water on the fire. That crucial, fifth firefighter helps move the hose and drag it around any obstacles and corners, stretching and advancing the hose line into a burning building quicker.
Without that fifth firefighter, everything takes longer. The crew is stretched thin. One fewer set of hands means hose lines take longer to get into place, putting both firefighters and civilians at greater risk. In some cases, it means firefighters have to wait for backup before they can even enter a building, wasting precious time while the fire grows more dangerous.
And let’s not forget that fires don’t wait for perfect conditions. They don’t pause for an understaffed crew to catch up. In a city as dense as New York, fires escalate quickly, and firefighters are already working against the clock. When a fire is growing by the second, the time it takes to get water on the flames can mean the difference between a small, contained fire and a fully engulfed inferno. The fifth firefighter doesn’t just make the job easier — they make it safer and more effective for everyone involved.
According to the most recent Mayor’s Management Report, the FDNY responded to 1.2 million fire company runs — a 20% increase from just five years ago. Meanwhile, the FDNY is operating with the lowest number of engine companies in decades.
Firefighters are expected to perform miracles with fewer resources, but at some point, the math just doesn’t work. We can’t keep asking them to do more with less while response times increase and fire conditions get more dangerous. The stakes are too high.
Winter is fire season. People turn to space heaters and other alternative heating sources to stay warm, which increases the risk of fires. We need the fifth man always, but especially in Code Blue situations. The solution is simple: fund the FDNY to staff all 193 engine companies with a fifth firefighter when the temperature drops. It’s not a matter of if we can afford it, but if we can afford not to.
We don’t need another study or a task force. We don’t need to wait for new firehouses to be built. The rigs are ready to go. All we need are the people to staff them.
Code Blue emergencies are predictable and preventable. Now is the time for New York City to do what’s right. Give the FDNY the resources it needs to protect our city when the temperature drops.
Every second counts, and every seat on the engine should have a firefighter in it. Lives depend on it.
Brannan is a Brooklyn councilman. Ansbro is president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York.