Thousands of New York City firefighters participated in a massive rally on Friday to demand that Mayor Michael Bloomberg halt his plan to shutter 20 fire companies.
More than 800 firefighters marched across the Brooklyn Bridge and then joined a crowd estimated at 10,000 for a demonstration against the planned closures.

Bloomberg says that closing the 20 fire companies will save $55 million for the city, which faces a $600 million budget deficit. The mayor’s FY 2012 budget totals $69 billion. Leading fire officials, city Council members and New York State lawmakers each took turns at the rally microphone condemning the planned closures. Each warned that shuttering these 20 fire companies will not only jeopardize the lives of citizens living nearby, but that such a wholesale cut in fire service will tear away at an efficient system that swiftly responds to emergencies ranging from fires to terrorist attacks.

The 20 company cuts would be the largest since the 1970s when city officials closed dozens of fire companies, a decision that eventually left entire neighborhoods in the Bronx destroyed by fires.
The cuts would impact all five of New York’s boroughs: Eight in Brooklyn, three in the Bronx, three in Manhattan, four in Queens and two on Staten Island.