Astoria's Paramedics Celebrate New $4 Million EMS Station

ASTORIA, QUEENS — The paramedics who serve Astoria are moving their headquarters from a trailer below the Triboro Bridge to a shiny new $4 million facility — but hopefully you'll never need to benefit from it.

Fire Department officials cut the ribbon Tuesday for the new EMS Station 49, on 42nd Street north of 20th Avenue in Astoria. Housed within an industrial building, the 26,000-square-foot station cost $4 million to build after construction began in early 2020.

It will serve residents of Astoria and surrounding communities in Queens, according to the FDNY.

"Station 49 is essential to our Department’s operations and to the health and safety of all Queens residents," acting Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said in a statement.

More than 120 EMTs and paramedics will work each day at Station 49, which includes 12 ambulance bays, 150 lockers and storage area for PPE, offices for the lieutenants and station captain, a conference room, kitchen and dining area, and a lactation room for personnel who are nursing mothers.

Also part of the facility is a memorial for former Batallion 49 paramedic Carlos Lillo, who died in the Sept. 11 attacks at the age of 37, as Queens Post reported.

The station will run 28 ambulance tours each day, according to the FDNY said. It replaces the station's temporary location in an office trailer on Hoyt Avenue South below the Triboro Bridge, which opened in 2014.

First established in 1996, Station 49 was initially located in the basement of Mount Sinai Hospital Queens on 30th Avenue, before being displaced due to the hospital's renovation. The station's new home on 42nd Street is being leased by the city's Department of Citywide Administration Services.