Friday, December 9, 2016

Neighborhood Meeting Concerning Proposed Fire Department Consolidation

From Councilman Sam Zurier:

The administration has negotiated a tentative agreement with Local 799 of the fire fighters' union which would consolidate the deployment of fire engines in our neighborhood.  More specifically, the agreement proposes taking Engine Companies 4 and 5 out of service.  Engine Company 4 is currently located at the Rochambeau Avenue fire station, while Engine Company 5 is currently located at the Humboldt Avenue fire station.  The tentative agreement is before the City Council for review.

Because these two engine companies serve our neighborhood, I have invited Steven Pare, the Commissioner of Public Safety and Robin Muksian, the Director of Administration, to come to our neighborhood to explain the consolidation and how fire protection in our neighborhood can be maintained if the tentative agreement is approved. The meeting will take place on Wednesday, December 21, at 6:30 p.m. at the Nathan Bishop Middle School Cafeteria.  The doors will open at 6:00.  Please make every effort to come to ask questions and express your concerns.


From David Kolsky (Blackstone and Wayland Sq. Neighborhood Associations)

It appears from this that with its only apparatus (Engine 4) removed from service, the Rochambeau Avenue fire station would seem to have little or no reason to stay open.

The Humboldt Avenue fire station (at the junction with Irving and Cole Avenues) is only losing Engine 5, which would leave Air Supply 1. Until I had to move to Federal Hill last June, our family had lived opposite that station since 1961 (55 years ago) but I can’t verify now if Air Supply 1 is still operating from Humboldt. It isn’t listed in the Fire Dept’s own web pages, but both Wikipedia (current as of May 2015) and the site of the Firefighters’ union (I.A.F.F.) do list it at Humboldt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Providence_Fire_Department

http://www.providenceri.com/fire/stations

http://providencefirefighters.org/about-the-department.html


This is the current alignment of East Side fire stations as best I could gather from the sites above:

10 Branch Avenue
Engine 2
Ladder 7
Rescue 3
Battalion 3 chief

223 Brook Street
Engine 9 *
Ladder 8
Marine 1

155 Humboldt Avenue
Engine 5
Air Supply Unit 1

270 Rochambeau Avenue
Engine 4

151 North Main Street
Engine 7
Ladder 4 *
Rescue 5

* The 2015 Wikipedia article says these apparatus had been temporarily disabled by staffing shortages. I don’t know if they were later remanned and reactivated.

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