Lorain had 72 firefighters on Friday. Now the have only 49 to protect the city of 65,000.
Lorain firefighters responded to an apartment fire Monday. No one was hurt and the building was only three minutes from the main fire station. But after Friday’s layoffs and the closing of three fire stations, union head Ken Shawver said response times will at least double.
Each fire station is located so fire trucks can get to an emergency in 3 minutes—a good response time—but all of those fire stations are closed leaving only the main fire station open, which means fire trucks couldn’t get to the furthest points of the city within 15 minutes.
Shaver says that’s unacceptable and gives an example of a small fire that luckily didn’t get bigger.
“We had a report of a little mulch fire, but to respond from here, to South Lorain it took 13 minutes, if that station was open it would have taken three, if it was something serious," Shawver said.
Perhaps the most concerning number, Lorain went from having 20 firefighters on duty to only six and seven open fire stations to only one.
That means Lorain has to rely on mutual aid or help from other departments like Elyria and Amherst.
Those cities must pay overtime to cover their fire stations, putting a strain on their budgets.
“It’s a burden on other cities meaning it’s taking money out of their coffers to provide services for our city,” Shaver said.
Laid off fire fighters plan to protest at Lorain City Hall at 5 p.m. Monday, leaving their fire gear at the entrance of city hall.
They say it represents city leaders putting firefighters and citizens at risk.
Those firefighters will attend Monday night’s city council meeting.
