BOSTON — The city that funded $500-a-head yoga, massage, and hair salon vouchers for LGBTQ+ migrants says it can no longer afford plastic fire hats for children.

That's the new line from the Boston Fire Department's Fire Prevention Education Unit — the people who teach kids how not to burn down their houses — which quietly informed firehouses this week that the hats are off the table. Budget cuts.

Plastic. Fire. Hats. For kids.

Fox News ran it. The Daily Mail ran it. Gateway Pundit, AOL, the Toronto Sun, the New York Post — all piled on. Mayor Michelle Wu's office conceded the spending was "inappropriate." OUTnewcomers, the nonprofit partner, paused the entire program.

One week later, the fire department says it can't cover plastic helmets that cost less than a cup of coffee.

The councilors are not amused.

Erin Murphy and Ed Flynn, two of the loudest critics of the Wu administration's spending priorities, lit into the cut on Tuesday in statements to the Herald.

"How did we get here?" Murphy said. "We are now being told we can't afford something as simple as plastic fire hats for kids through the fire department's education unit. These are simple, low-cost items."

"Just months ago," she added, "we were advancing hundreds of millions in funding across the city, supporting youth jobs, senior programming, homeownership, and small businesses. Now we are seeing cuts to those same programs, and departments facing spending restrictions so tight they can't afford even the most basic items."

"That's a dramatic shift in a very short time, and it raises serious questions about how we got here."

Flynn was blunter.

"Fire prevention education is not a program that should be cut from the city budget," he said. "I have seen firsthand how this critical outreach to Boston residents teaches people how to recognize hazards, practice safety and respond to emergencies. Let's not put residents at risk by cutting public safety outreach programs."

The Fire Prevention Education Unit runs K-12 fire safety programs and kid-friendly events like touch-a-truck. The plastic hats are a staple — the kind of thing a four-year-old wears home from a firehouse visit and refuses to take off for a week. About two dollars a hat, wholesale.

The Belonging Matters program, by contrast, offered vouchers of $250 to $500 per person for yoga, hair salons, massages, acupuncture, and gym memberships — promoted on the city's own Instagram account and funded through Wu's Office for Immigrant Advancement.

One of those programs got scrapped because the money vanished.

The other got scrapped because the money showed up in the news.

And every city department has been told to submit spending plans with 2% cuts.

Two percent was enough to zero out the fire hat line.

Meanwhile, a push by Flynn and Murphy for a full audit of city and school department finances was killed this month by the Boston City Council. The varsity baseball team at South Boston's Excel High School needed community donations last month just to buy caps for its opening day game, after the district couldn't cover them.

Kids losing baseball hats. Kids losing fire hats. Same budget. Same administration.

The hats aren't really the point. A plastic fire helmet costs less than a subway ride. No city goes broke on a line item that small.

The point is the sequencing.

A week ago, Boston was funding $500-a-head wellness vouchers for migrants. Today, it doesn't have the cash for a $2 piece of molded plastic for a six-year-old.

Both can't be true.

Asked about the cut, Wu's office, the Boston Fire Department, and the Fire Prevention Education Unit did not respond to the Herald's requests for comment.

The plastic fire hats are not coming back "at this time."

The yoga is paused.

Somewhere in Boston this afternoon, a six-year-old walks out of a firehouse empty-handed. A week ago, migrants were applying for $500 acupuncture vouchers. Now neither program is running — one paused by scandal, the other by "budget limitations."