Update on Plan to Close Firehouse
There is still no word on which of Erie's six firehouses may be closed by Mayor Joe Sinnott. CLICK FOR VIDEO He says he's closing one of them to comply with a court order upholding an arbitration award on mandatory staffing. He says it means re-deploying firefighters to other stations. Today the fire chief and top administrators are working to put together information about the number and types of calls answered by crews at each of the firehouses. And they are working with the 911 center to come up with a plan for fire dispatching. The mayor is promising to have a decision by the end of the week. And unless some sort of compromise can be worked out with the union, he says the closure will happen within 30 days. The mayor says his plan will stress safety. But retired Erie Deputy Fire Chief Bill Vahey is worried that the department will be stretched too thin. He said, "I don't think additional firehouses should be closed because of the need for each and every fire to have both firefighters and apparatus. If you would close another firehouse you're losing not only firefighters, even though you've moved them around to compensate, you are losing equipment." But Sinnott says keeping all the firehouses open and complying with the staffing mandate would be too costly. The court ruling upholds the arbitration award mandating 5 firefighters on each rig, and the end of dual companies where crews can respond on either an engine or ladder truck. |