Last time we checked in on the Second Avenue subway, the big-time project that showed Governor Cuomo was the kind of Liberal Who Gets Things Done, it turned out that the system opened with 17,000 minor safety defects. Hey, no biggie, it's not 20,000 or 25,000—and anyway no one has been injured on it. So, it should also be no big deal that the fire alarm system screwed up back in May and hasn't actually been online since then, right? Cuomo 2020: Fire Walk With Me.

Politico reports that an internal MTA memo discussed the little oopsie of the fire alarm system accidentally going off at the 86th Street station in May, which resulted in damaged escalators which were shut down for three days after getting soaked. The sprinkler system went off because of a programming error no one mentioned before now, resulting in the entire "fire alarm and water mist system" getting replaced by contractors. The work will be done by December which is only, oh six weeks away. Luckily it takes months for a fire to start.

Professional fire safety monitors will be watching out for fire while the system gets fixed, at a cost to the MTA of $6.5 million. MTA spokesperson Shams Tarek told Politico that the authority was going to make the contractor who screwed this up pay out for the system reboot and the fire watch costs, and that in the mean time, the line is very safe. The MTA did not respond to the question of whether this is a normal amount of time to reboot a fire alarm system and if the contractor responsible for the malfunctioning fire system will continue to get work from the agency.

Future headlines to look out for regarding the Second Avenue subway include: