The spot where A1A (Anastasia Boulevard) hits Red Cox Drive has had a history of crashes, some of them deadly, firstcoastnews.com reported.

The Florida Department of Transportation has paid for traffic studies in the area, the report said.

The studies propose plans to reconfigure the intersection. One option is loosely called the “peanut” and another option was nicknamed the “dog bone.” And the option the city of St. Augustine and the state are considering the most seems to be a third option – a roundabout, according to the report.

However, it means the St. Augustine fire station at that intersection would have to relocate. The latest idea being floated is to build a new fire station about a half a mile away in a wooded area immediately across from the St. Augustine Amphitheater, the report said.

A flyer about the plan from the city of St. Augustine states the current fire station was built in 1995 and “is painfully undersized and underequipped at 2,700 square feet.”

To schedule a meeting or provide input, email CityFire@CityStAug.com.

Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
(TNS)

An FDNY chief who oversaw the department’s firefighting boats — including one involved in a fatal East River crash last year — has been forced to turn in his retirement papers, court papers reveal.

Chief Richard Blatus was FDNY’s acting chief of operations at the time of the June 17, 2022 incident that took the life of Johnny Beernaert, a Belgian firefighter aboard the fireboat Marine 1 Bravo on a tour in the East River.

• FDNY Marine 1 Bravo Hit by Charter Boat, Belgian Firefighter Killed

A month after the crash, Blatus was moved to another position. He eventually put in papers for his retirement, which sources said took formal effect Thursday.

A lawsuit filed by a group of FDNY chiefs and Daily News sources say Blatus, 63, was browbeaten into retirement by the Fire Department.

Jim Walden, a lawyer who says he represents Blatus as well as the chiefs who sued Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh, called Blatus’ demotion an example of the commissioner’s “terrible decision making,” carried out “without cause” and “illegally.”

Walden said he and his clients “look forward to deposing the commissioner, to explore the reasons she violated standard operating procedure” in Blatus’ case.

A call to Blatus for comment was not immediately returned.

Blatus is not a plaintiff in the lawsuit by high-ranking chiefs who claim they were harassed, maligned and ultimately demoted because they were too old in Kavanagh’s eyes. But his retirement highlights tactics used to get older FDNY chiefs to retire, say sources and legal papers.

The lawsuit, filed March 23, also alleges that the nighttime fireboat joyride that took Beernaert’s life was initiated by a retired FDNY captain who “activated FDNY’s Marine 1 Bravo and took civilians on a ride without authorization.” The captain had retired from the department before the crash, sources said.

A source with knowledge of the case confirmed that the retired captain cajoled an active FDNY member to pilot the boat, but never asked anyone of a higher rank for permission to take the vessel out.

Beernaert, his wife, the retired FDNY captain and the captain’s wife were on a nighttime ride on the East River aboard Marine 1 Bravo when the fireboat coll