Friday, September 4, 2009

Bloomberg orders firehouse closed for elephant-washing photo op

From Eyewitness News:

When Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus came to Coney Island, they enlisted the help of firefighters from Engine Company 245.

It was a playful photo-op with a firefighter washing down an elephant.

But it bothered the Uniformed Firefighters Association's leadership.

They say it compromised safety. They claim the firehouse shut down for 30 minutes on Wednesday while four firefighters and an officer went to scrub Suzie at the press event.

UFA President Steve Cassidy, says someone at City hall made the decision.

"It's clear a mistake was made initially. Initially, the local company was asked to participate. It went right up the chain of command. He was overruled by someone at city hall," Cassidy said.

When we asked the Mayor's office about the UFA's allegations, they referred us to the FDNY.

A spokesman there dismissed the UFA's claims, saying City Hall had nothing to do with the situation.

While at the same time, the spokesman acknowledged the mistake, saying "They should have stayed in service & it was not a malicious thing."

The UFA isn't backing down.

"It compromised public safety and firefighter's safety for public relations," Cassidy said.

The Fire Department says firefighters were only supposed to spray the animal when it walked by the firehouse, and were not ordered to close down. The department says closing the firehouse was a mistake.

9 comments:

Missing Foundation said...

Remember that Coney Island is about to be the next victim to development, and this is a photo op that has Blummerranged back into Blumturd's face.

All he tried to do is help the developer.

Hospitals? Fire houses? That's for the little people.

As long as we can find dishwashers, nannies, and bike lanes, we are ready to march forward to a Brave New New York!

Anonymous said...

Crappy, you have done it again!

From the website that gave us 'Tweeding' to describe the Democratic Machine,

we now have 'Blummerrang' to describe the mayor's bumbling support for developers.

Anonymous said...

Hey Doomberg-
You know where you can stick the hose! Why don't you pack your trunk and vamoose!

Anonymous said...

I wish the elephants would stampede on Bloomberg face. This fucking asshole gave rent free use of Coney Island to Ringling Brothers to abuse the elephants. Now he uses our money for Ringling Brothers' use. Did Ringling Brothers pay Taxpayers back for the use of FDNY?

Anonymous said...

Perfect metaphor for the circus that is the Bloomtard administration!

Anonymous said...

September 11th is just around the corner too. Maybe we should be remembering what can happen in seconds:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2097315/september_11_2001.html?cat=37

God bless those brave men and let's avoid situations that make them look ridiculous or extraneous.

linda said...

bring in the clowns!

Anonymous said...

So the FDNY hoses a Republican!

That's OK by me!

Now stick that nozzle up the Queens' Democratic clubhouse's ass

What this town needs is a good enema!!

panzer65 said...

Was the FDNY responsible for removing "calling cards" also?