Thousands of city buses were driving around with faulty fire extinguishers that could have killed a person who tried to use them, Transport Workers Union officials said on Friday.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled more than 40 million Kidde disposable fire extinguishers on Nov. 2, saying that they could create an “impact hazard.”
TWU officials inspected the buses the next day and found the sketchy dousers on more than 2,000 buses, said TWU Vice President J.P. Patafio.
“My members and the public were in danger, potentially immediate danger, and a response needed to happen immediately,” he said. “All it takes it one bus to catch fire.”
The MTA moved quickly to buy thousands of replacements, but Patafio contends that the agency has only swapped out about 75 percent of the potentially faulty extinguishers.
Agency officials said the job is done.