NYC opening encampment for 2,000 migrants at Floyd Bennett Field despite fire safety concerns

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration is forging ahead with plans to open a massive encampment to house 2,000 migrants at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field in the coming days — despite safety concerns raised by the Fire Department, The Post has learned.

The FDNY and other city agencies recently inspected the premises at the federally-owned airfield and cited a number of red flags — including that fire hydrants are far and mostly “not reliable” — in a summary report obtained by The Post.

“This is a recipe for disaster,” said Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens), after reviewing the inspection report. 

“Floyd Bennett Field is a potential fire trap,” she said. “If they can’t put out a fire there in a timely manner lives will be lost — families with children.”

Four, congregate sleeping dorms housing 500 migrant families with children would be located in huge one-story tents located on runway 19 — formerly used by the military before the airfield was converted into a national park.

Bathroom and shower trailers will be set up between sleeping tents, and a migrant processing center, medical facility and cafeteria will be located at the makeshift complex.

But the inspection revealed that there are “no hydrants in close proximity” on the shelter site, with the closest Department of Environmental Protection hydrants located a half mile away on Flatbush Avenue, next to the Ryan Visitor Center.

The inspection report also states that:

• “Most of the hydrants located in FBF [Floyd Bennett Field]  are older federal hydrants and not reliable.” And while there are two hydrants located within the airfield but also a half mile from the shelter site, “these hydrants may not provide enough water volume due to their water main supply configuration.”
• Portable fire extinguishers are the only fire suppression devices on site, though five certified fire guards will be available per tent.
• Two FDNY Satellite Units may be needed to supply water to the shelter site in the event of a fire.
• The FDNY might have to rely on Jamaica Bay, which is 2,000 feet from the shelter site, to draft and supply water from its marine unit in the event of a fire. The bay is actually closer than the unreliable hydrants.
• Twenty-one diesel generators, each holding 564 gallons, will provide heating and electric to the shelter site. A fuel truck will refill them each morning. There will be no diesel storage on site.
• One private Advanced Life Support ambulance will be on site.

The plan also allows asylum seekers to bring in e-bikes — devices that generally require lithium batteries, which had been known to explode while charging, causing deadly fires in city apartments.  

The electric scooters and bikes will be stored in a designated outdoor area, not inside tents, the inspection report notes.

But Ariola, who chairs the City Council committee that oversees fire services, said allowing e-bikes was irresponsible because migrants could still charge the lithium batteries that power the devices inside the dorms, causing a potential danger.

“These batteries explode. Talk about a major fire hazard,” the councilwoman said.

She also said the two FDNY satellite unit that would be needed in the event of a fire at the shelter site are supposed to cover the entire borough of Brooklyn.

Despite the red flags, the city agencies did not object to using Floyd Bennett Field as a migrant encampment.

“Division 15 is in the process of coordinating with responding units, Battalions, and Satellite units to develop an initial operating procedure for structural and non-structural fires at the shelter,” the report said.

A mayoral spokesperson said the tent city at Floyd Bennett Field is still scheduled to open “in the coming days.” 

City Hall insisted the site will be safe, noting FDNY is drawing up operation plans and conducting fire safety drills in advance of the encampment opening.

City officials have likened the set-up at Floyd Bennett Field to the tent city for migrants erected at Randall’s Island.  

Gov. Kathy Hochul and Adams got the green light from President Biden’s administration to use the airfield as a site for a migrants encampment after months of haggling.

Families will be allowed to stay there for up to 60 days.

More than 130,000 migrants have flooded into the Big Apple since spring 2022 and the city is currently putting up over 65,000 asylum seekers at its various shelters, the latest City Hall figures show.

But City Hall said the situation is becoming more dire because of a dearth of space to shelter the unrelenting influx of migrants, thus requiring more drastic solutions.

“We are out of room, and it’s not if people will be sleeping on the streets, it’s when. We are at full capacity,” the mayor said last week.

Big Apple officials are even weighing handing out small tents to arriving migrants and setting up campsite-style shelters in other public parks as the city plans for the potential next phase of its ongoing asylum seeker crisis.

New York City also is now steering migrants to a new “reticketing center” where they can secure a free one-way plane ticket anywhere in the world — as officials scramble to free up space in the Big Apple’s already-overburdened shelter system.

Adams said the cost to care for migrants is also putting a big dent in the city treasury, which he claims could top $12 billion over three years.

The city has even paid out tens of millions of dollars in contracts just to clean migrants’ dirty laundry, as many shelters don’t have washing machines or dryers.

https://nypost.com/2023/10/29/metro/fire-safety-woes-found-at-planned-floyd-bennett-field-migrants-encampment/