Ladder 39 - the Pride of Woodlawn

Local officials are fuming over the city's decision not to reopen a Bronx firehouse despite a serious increase in response times to the neighborhood.

EMS station is coming in place of firehouse

More than a year after the city closed the decrepit, century-old Woodlawn firehouse and promised to monitor changes in response time before deciding whether to rebuild it, the Fire Department announced last week that Ladder 39 would not return, with a new Emergency Medical Service station built at the location instead.

Although response times to the larger coverage area saw an overall improvement, response times for Ladder 39 to Woodlawn structural fires increased by five seconds, from 4 minutes and 12 seconds to 4 minutes and 17 seconds. Moreover, Woodlawn response times for all FDNY apparatus increased by 45 seconds for all calls, including false alarms, car and trash fires, and so on.