Bayside's Fort Totten Park Slated For June Reopening

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — In the thralls of the coronavirus crisis, Fort Totten Park housed ambulances from across the country — and was even considered as a possible burial site if the pandemic worsened. Now, it's slated to reopen to the public on June 1, according to City Council Member Paul Vallone.

The FDNY and the city's parks department are teaming up to ready Fort Totten Park for public access, following the departures of the last members of a "cavalry" of out-of-town EMTs and paramedics that had been stationed there to assist New York City's first responders.

Vallone last week pressed the Fire Department to reopen the park to give residents of northeastern Queens more space to follow social-distancing rules, require New Yorkers to stay six feet apart from others.

"The closure of the park has caused severe overcrowding at nearby Little Bay Park and the overcrowding is dangerous and makes social distancing impossible," Vallone wrote in a May 21 letter asking the FDNY to reopen the park. "Fort Totten is, as you know, sprawling and our residents would be much safer outdoors if this could be made available to them."

I am happy to announce that Fort Totten Park in #BayTerrace #Queens will re-open to the public effective June 1st! With more of our residents out seeking recreation in our parks, more space to safely enjoy warmer weather and facilitate important social distancing is vital. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/dvQzYDQD6u
— Paul Vallone (@PaulVallone) May 26, 2020

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Starting at the end of March, 250 ambulances and 500 EMTs and paramedics from across the country were stationed at Fort Totten Park to help local first responders deal with the city's "unprecedented" number of emergency medical calls.

Calls to the FDNY's emergency medical workers at that time were up 50 percent compared to the agency's normal daily call volume.

"Closing the park was critical to our operations and to the safety of park visitors as ambulances from across the country were staged there while assisting FDNY EMS," Jason Shelly, the FDNY's director of legislative and intergovernmental affairs, wrote in a May 22 letter to Vallone.

A national ambulance contract for the out-of-state units is up May 31, according to Shelly, clearing the way for the park's reopening.

The roughly 80 remaining ambulance units at Fort Totten will start to demobilize Thursday, FDNY spokesperson Jim Long told Patch.

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