2015 Fire/EMS Study Warned Against Removing Station 9 — Has the City Released Updated Coverage Data?
I’ve been trying to read through the available information on the proposed closure of New Bedford Fire Station 9, and I think this 2015 New Bedford Fire & Emergency Medical Services study is worth revisiting.
The part that stood out to me is that the study specifically did not examine closing Station 9 because removing it from the response system would leave a large northern or western area of the city without acceptable fire protection coverage.
That matters even more when compared with NFPA 1710, the national standard commonly used for career fire department staffing and deployment benchmarks. NFPA 1710 references a 240-second / 4-minute travel-time benchmark for the first arriving engine company at a fire suppression incident, and a 480-second / 8-minute benchmark for the initial full-alarm assignment at low- and medium-hazard structure fires.
So my concern is simple: before closing Station 9, has the city released an updated response-time and coverage analysis showing how this closure affects those benchmarks in the north end and west-central areas of New Bedford?
I understand the city is facing serious budget issues, but closing a fire station is not just a budget decision. It is a public safety decision. Residents deserve to know how response times, school coverage, industrial areas, and firefighter safety will be affected before a station is taken out of service.
This is not meant as an attack on anyone. It’s a public safety concern. If the city has updated data showing that closing Station 9 will not leave residents with unacceptable coverage gaps, then that information should be made public.
Sources:
2015 New Bedford Fire & Emergency Medical Services Study:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/newbedford-ma/wp-content/uploads/20191219193014/New_Bedford_Draft_Report_11122015.pdf
IAFF summary of NFPA 1710:
https://www.iaff.org/wp-content/uploads/Departments/Fire_EMS_Department/30541_Summary_Sheet_NFPA_1710_standard.pdf