Thursday’s Headlines: Cool It Edition

Mayor Mamdani knows you’re hot (and not just because it’s 105 out!), so he’s been urging adults to go to the closest firehouse and ask for those special sprinkler caps that used to be impossible to get. He said it again in his Wednesday heat wave alert press release: “Local firehouses will distribute free spray caps to adults 18 and older to turn fire hydrants into sprinklers.”

Will distribute? Free? That sounded great to all of us at Streetsblog, so we fanned out across our respective neighborhoods to see if the New York Post is right and our Socialist mayor is giving everything away for free. Here’s our report:

Gersh Kuntzman: I went to Engine 240/Battalion 48 at the corner of Prospect and Greenwood avenues in Brooklyn and was handed a spray cap, no questions asked. Like, literally, none: New York’s Bravest didn’t even want to know where I lived, if I would return the cap, or if I was even going to use the cap to cool off my neighbors (full disclosure: I live nearby and intend to cool off my neighbors, because thus far, I think they think I don’t contribute much to the block. This’ll show them!).

Sophia Lebowitz: Our Williamsburg-based reporter headed to Engine 216/Ladder 108 on Union Street and asked about the process (she did not want a cap because, clearly, she’s not as needy as I am). She was told that she could get a cap simply by providing a name and address and promising not to deploy the sprinkler stupidly: “It has to be on a side-street,” she was told, “because we can’t have kids running around on Union Avenue.” (A wise precaution.)

JK Trotter: The intrepid Streetsblog associate editor went to Engine 312/Battalion 49 on 35th Street and 23rd Avenue in Astoria and was given the cap — but had to fill out a form providing his name and address, the address of the hydrant where he planned to install the cap, and his phone number. (We will be holding Trotter accountable for making good on his promise to cool off his neighbors.)

Sammy Sussman: Our law enforcement reporter went to Engine 55 on Broome Street in fashionable Soho and was told that the firefighters would gladly give him a cap, but he’d have to wait 20 minutes because “the boys are out on some bullshit call near Target.”

Henry Beebe-Center: Our social video producer went to Engine 9/Ladder 6 on the far eastern end of Canal Street and discovered that no one knew what he was talking about. When Beebe-Center explained, the firefighter asked for a location where the cap would be installed so that the smokeaters could later show up and install it. That’s old school.

Emily Smith: Streetsblog’s Summer Specialist went to Engine 230 on Park Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant and was told to fill out a form so that the FDNY could do a drive-by later and attach the sprinkler cap. (Full disclosure: It seemed like firefighters were in a rush to get somewhere because after talking to Smith, they all jumped into a firetruck and left with lights and sirens.) When Smith returned home, she discovered, sure enough, that the FDNY had actually installed the cap. You’re welcome, Bed-Stuy.

So there you have it, New Yorkers — go get yourself a sprinkler cap. And tell ’em Streetsblog sent ya!

Now, David Meyer provides the news roundup because I’m too busy splashing with my neighbors:

• A Long Island man died in a single-vehicle crash on South Conduit Avenue early Sunday morning. (QNS)
• New York City pedestrian deaths hit a record low in the first half of 2026. (amNY)
• New subway cars are coming to the D Train. (Gothamist, amNY)
• A speeding driver struck a light poll near car-free Freedom Drive. (Safe Streets Richmond Hill via Instagram)
• Gothamist tried to stir up some parking hysteria over trash containerization repurposing .01 percent of parking spots.
• Former FDNY firefighter Michael Peña pleaded guilty for the 2025 vehicular killing of 23-year-old Justin Diaz. (Susan Edelman via X)
• PIX11 got the cops to investigate the driver who chased a cyclist down the E. 61st Street protected bike lane, after officers initially laughed off the two-wheeler’s concerns.
• And, finally, a friend of Streetsblog sent us this picture that his passenger took on the Cross-Bronx Expressway on Monday. I ran the plate and observed that this van very rarely gets speed-camera tickets (could it be because of the defaced plate?!?). So I called the company to see why it would deface (or at least not replace) its back plate, and the company receptionist feigned ignorance. But she said she’d pass along my message (I’ll update this page if I hear back). Bottom line: This is a scofflaw hiding in plain sight.