JACK ENCARNACAO
The Patriot Ledger

QUINCY - Germantown's fire station will be open during the day only, and further layoffs in the fire department could lead to even less coverage in the neighborhood.


Five firefighters have been laid off, leading to reduced coverage of the station on Doane Street and a scaled-back schedule for a rescue unit that carries extra air tanks and heavy-duty hydraulic rescue equipment.

"We're just trying to economize in every place that we can," Quincy Fire Chief Joseph Barron said.

Any more layoffs would leave the Germantown station's fire engine unmanned, fire officials said.

The situation in Quincy mirrors that in other South Shore communities where firefighter layoffs that took effect this week have translated into reductions in coverage.

In Abington, one of the town's two stations remains closed, and each shift will now be covered by four instead of five firefighters. In Weymouth, five firefighter layoffs prompted the removal of one engine from service, leaving two engines and one ladder truck to cover the whole town.

Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch said the city is trying to maintain basic services. The city has 190 firefighters, compared with 278 about 30 years ago, union president Ernie Arienti said.

"Obviously we're concerned," Koch said. "We've seen communities around us for the last 10 years closing fire houses outright. We're still in far better shape in coverage for our city. We'll continue to monitor it closely."

Koch said the city is working with Fallon Ambulance to ensure that an ambulance can respond to medical emergencies in Germantown when the fire station is not manned. Koch said the station does the fewest runs of the city's eight stations.

Staff cuts last year forced the department to leave the ladder truck in the station on Beale Street in Wollaston unmanned for the summer and on a reduced-coverage schedule the rest of the year.

Again this year, the ladder truck will be unmanned if staffing drops to a certain level. The next step would be to close the Germantown station.

City officials are worried that four firefighter jobs paid for through a federal stimulus grant may be in jeopardy come November.

"We're at the point right now where we cannot service the citizens of this city in the way they're used to being serviced," Arienti said. "It's going to take more time to get a fire under control."

The Quincy department's overtime budget was cut from $800,000 to $700,000. The department is also waiting for the city council to authorize $250,000 in what are called "fire claims."

Arienti said that without that money, and if the city cannot replace the stimulus money, the fire budget is looking "very bleak."

"There's no money within the city, so it's going to be probably more firefighters losing their jobs," he said.

Unlike most other city unions, Quincy's firefighters voted to reject Koch's request that they defer raises they will receive this year, which will cost the city $364,124. Arienti said there would have been layoffs in the fire department even if the union had approved the wage freeze.

He said the freeze would have taken away a top earning year for senior members about to retire, thus lowering the pension for which they would be eligible.

"It was a very tough vote all around," he said. "We don't want to hurt anybody."

Reach Jack Encarnacao at jencarnacao@ledger.com

"We're at the point right now where we can not service the citizens of this city in the way they're used to being serviced."


Copyright 2010 The Patriot Ledger
July 8, 2010