Board of Aldermen Page 11
July 12, 2016
President McCarthy
Chief, when you do have a situation of having a downed truck in the station where does the primary
response come from for that area?
Chief Galipeau
If either the engine or the ladder truck were to break down the back-up vehicle is coming out of the Lake
Street fire house.
Alderman O’Brien
| would like to remind everyone on the Board that even though this is kind of fresh and it had received an
A-1 rating for the last several years it’s not that fresh. The station was built in 1977 with the intention to
put three bays on it and 39 years later here we are. Firefighting has changed over the years; their gear
needs to be cleansed immediately after a fire. We supply firefighters with two sets of gear. We also
have extractors that do that but these machines take up room and the addition of this bay will help us
modernize that facility. We are employers and we have people that work for us and like to have
adequate living conditions. You also have to remember that in that district there is Apple Tree Green and
there was a fire down there and | think it cost over $1 million. Increasing the size of the station helps out
with additional apparatus. We also have a lot of conservation or open land and putting a brush truck into
that bay would probably assist in quelling down large acreages burned due to a brush fire. | support this.
Alderman Lopez
It doesn’t make sense to me that our current plan includes the back-up truck being stuck in traffic
because it has to be there while it’s responding to the fire that’s happening and if there is something else
that is happening then now you have another asset that isn’t on the table just because we were trying to
send a truck too far across the city for it to be able to do what it needed to do and get back in service as
quickly as possible. It also feels to me that we might be able to take care of our equipment a little better
and not having to pay overtime. | think we should be all about preventing problems responding to fires.
Alderman Siegel
The original design was modified to save money back in the day and it was really a kick the can problem
so it’s more than just a question of maintenance. We've got twice as many people in there now and we
have a different population at NFR; we have men and women that work for NFR and that’s got to be
considered. Also the ladder truck, we can’t pull the equipment compartments fully open in the existing
facility. It's sad because we are faced now with the consequences of poor decisions years ago but
nonetheless we have to realize that in Ward 9 we can’t afford to wait for a truck to come from Lake
Street. Depending on the time of day it is that could potentially be the difference between life and death
or serious property loss. | think it’s inevitable that we have to vote for this.
Alderman Deane
I’ve always been under the impression that what we provided our fire department in the city was the envy
of everyone else in the State of New Hampshire and Massachusetts and New England for that matter.
l’ve always felt that in my time on this Board that we always made sure that our fire department got the
necessary equipment and vehicles that they needed to protect our citizens. Any of the comments that
are being made here tonight about kicking cans down the road and things of that nature, that may be the
case because there is only so much money to go around and so many people living here to provide it but
| think in the long run | have always looked at our fire department as | wouldn’t expect anybody to run
into a burning building with substandard equipment on. | wouldn’t do it and | wouldn’t expect anyone
else to either. | think we’ve been very supportive of our fire department and is this bay needed, yes. Do
