North Attleboro closes 2 fire stations
By News Staff
Reporting by Liz Tufts
ltufts@abc6.com
The doors are locked at two of the three fire stations in
“It makes me nervous because they are too many people in this town,” said Margaret Goehring, who lives next door to the Kelly Boulevard Station. She is now worried that if a fire breaks out, getting crews to her home will take much longer than it should.
“They need to cut somewhere else, police and fire are the most important part of your town,” Goehring continued. “Imagine this house catches fire… but this is closed and we have to come to the central part of town.”
It’s something Fire Chief Ted Joubert isn’t surprised happened but never wanted to see coming. “If our normal response time is three minutes, we are now looking at eight minutes,” he said.
It all stems from recent budget cuts over the past two years—the fire district losing more than $300 thousand, along with several veteran firefighters retiring, and more injuries on the job.
“Catch 22 when you decrease your staff… then your current staff will be stretched thin and injuries will occur,” explained Joubert.
Crews will now operate out of the headquarters in Downtown on
But with more than $30 thousand people living in
“If you sense something is going on call us right away because we are going to be behind the gun right off the bat,” says Joubert. “We could be looking at another 4-percent next year, because every year is getting worse and worse.”
It doesn’t look like the stations are going to open any time soon with the department facing even more cuts next year.
Besides the closure of the two fire stations, the chief has also eliminated specialized units, including the dive team, arson unit, and bicycle team.
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