I've always said the Fire Dept. is like an insurance policy that you have to have but don't like to take advantage of. So they cut back and are paying the price to some degree now. It seems like when cutbacks hit usually the FD goes first, and in FDNY it's the Fire Marshals that go first, then closing houses. A lot of us have been there in the layoffs back in the mid 70's, not me though.
I remember back in the 80s, when Dinkins got.in office and he closed a bunch of houses. Including E294. They hadn't even taken the engine back to the shops yet, and 7 people were dead within a 2 week time frame from when the doors closed. All within a roughly 5 block circle around the station.
