Concerned by a Life and Death Decision, Baysiders Get on the Horn

Compelled into activism during lunchtime, about a dozen Baysiders came to on Thursday to raise awareness of the .

The event, organized by 22-year-old student accountant and , sent concerned Baysiders to the phone lines to spread the word.

On the receiving end of the calls, residents were asked to call 311 and register their concerns over the firehouse’s slated closure.

Community Board 11 this week declaring that the firehouse closure would extend reaction time by up to two minutes, since the next closest firehouse is 1.5 miles away.

“In the case of an emergency medical situation, or in the case of a fire, that could be the difference between life and death,” said Meara.

Phil Konigsberg, who also came to call around in support of the house, supplied anecdotal evidence to Meara’s point.  Konigsberg, an officer of the Bay Terrace Community Alliance, said a medical emergency was reported in the large co-op complex just a few weeks ago.

“Engine 306 arrived a good two to three minutes before the ambulance,” Konigsberg said, adding, “Especially [because] Bell Blvd. is where all the businesses are—how can you pull a firehouse away from such a busy commercial strip?”

Leaving his home bar for the cause, a bar tender from —which is just down the street from Engine 306— Michael Durkan, 23, said of all the firemen he knows, every one is against the closure.

“There’s a lot of storefronts around this neighborhood,” Durkan said. “What happens when something does happen?”