By Nicolette Cavallaro
Staten Island Advance
NEW YORK — Staten Island elected officials and FDNY leaders gathered at Squad Company 8 in Travis on Friday to announce $9 million federal funding to modernize local firehouses and build an Emergency Medical Services training center.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican who represents parts of Staten Island and Brooklyn in Congress, secured the funding through the congressional appropriations process. She was joined by Assemblymember Sam Pirozzolo, Councilmember David Carr and new FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore.
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“We have a growing city around us, and Staten Island is no different. As we continue to operate at normal levels, our whole volume continues to go up across our city,” shared Bonsignore. “So this helps us start to continue our pathway of modernization. We have to grow and modernize like the rest of the city.”
New EMS training center
According to Malliotakis, the largest amount of money — $5 million — will go toward renovating a building on Staten Island that will be used for EMS classroom training. The exact location was not immediately clear.
Currently, personnel must travel to either Randall’s Island or northeastern Queens for training, requiring them to be placed out of service and unavailable for duty during those sessions.
“It’ll be shorter commutes to training, which means more first responders are available in our communities, and there’ll be better preparedness across the board,” she said.
Along with the distance, the Queens training facilities have reached maximum capacity as EMS class sizes have grown in recent years. The new center will accommodate larger classes and continue training new and existing EMS members, which will improve service for Staten Islanders.
Other improvements
According to Malliotakis, $2 million of the funding is dedicated to Squad Company 8, Staten Island’s only squad ocmpany , which is among the FDNY’s most versatile units and is critical to safety.
“Ensuring that Squad 8 is safe, modern and an accessible facility is essential to protecting our entire borough and supporting the firefighters who respond to its most complex emergencies,” stated Malliotakis, who had toured the facility earlier in the visit.
Squad 8 moved into the former Engine 154 firehouse in 2018, but the unit requires additional space to accommodate its larger crew and specialty equipment. The upgrades to the station will include improving the kitchens to support firefighters working 24-hour shifts. These amenities will allow firefighters an opportunity to recover after a run.
Malliotakis also secured $1 million for generator improvements at FDNY Engine Company 155/ Ladder Company 78 in New Brighton. This ensures continuous operations during major weather events or outages, especially for firehouses near the water.
Generator installation in aging firehouses often requires facility modifications or roof reinforcement to support the equipment’s size, resulting in costs significantly higher than residential generators.
In Brooklyn, FDNY Engine Company 284/ Ladder Company 149/Satellite 3 in Dyker Heights will also receive over a million dollars in funding for firehouse improvements, including generator improvements.
“To hear this good news, not only for the Staten Island side of my district, but also the Brooklyn side of my district, this investment in these two great firehouses, all these great companies that they serve in Staten Island and southwest Brooklyn, it’s just music to my ears,” said Carr, a Republican who represents the Mid-Island and Brooklyn in the City Council.
“It takes a very special type of individual to walk into a burning building. When I talk to them, I say ‘How do you do that?’ Every single one says, ‘it’s not only the training and the equipment, but it’s the faith that they have in each other,’” said Pirozzolo, a Republican who represents the Mid-Island in the state Assembly. “That’s what this money is going to do. It’s coming back to Staten Island. It’s going to enhance this facility. It’s going to enhance their training facilities so that they can take care of each other as they do.”
Along with the new training center and firehouse updates, the package also contributes to the funding of The Zadroga Act’s World Trade Center Health Program. The program, which provides no-cost medical monitoring and treatment for 9/11-related health conditions, has been fully funded until 2040.
“These men and women are true heroes. The people in the fire department and other first responders who reported to 9/11 and served on 9/11, would do it again if they had to,” said Bonsignore. “So thank you for putting the work into caring for all of us for years to come.”
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