Providence St. Fire Station

Tuesday, August 19, 2008


http: / /www. telegram.com/article/20080805/NEWS/808050651


From the Telegram article:
"Instead of relocating both firetrucks now at the Providence Street station, to make way for UMass Memorial Health Care EMS taking over the building, District 3 Councilor Paul P. Clancy Jr. suggested keeping Ladder 5 at the station, where it can be paired with a UMass Memorial ambulance. In return, he said, the city could offer to garage one of UMass Memorial's ambulances at the McKeon Road fire station. "

Well, that's funny. We were moved from McKeon Rd station because there was no room. Yeah, no room for EMS.

So now the community is up in arms that Chief Dio wants to close their beloved, albeit, condemned local station. Answer, "We'll put an ambulance in there. That should quiet the masses"

Well let me tell you how it really is. I get my ambulance at shift change. I do a checklist, if I am lucky and don't have to leave right away for a call. Then it's from call to hospital to call to hospital all day long. I will return to the station at the end of my shift. We will not be at the station waiting. We're too damned busy for that. We have already responded to 22,000 calls this year. Not a lot of time to be sitting in a fire station easing John Q. Worcester's fears of conflagration.

"UMass Memorial EMS, meanwhile, would take over the building and garage two of its ambulances there, as well as provide dispatching services from it. All costs associated with operations of the building would then be assumed by UMass. "

What a deal! We can take over the bill for a decrepit, old building the FD doesn't want anymore.

"By closing the 109-year-old Providence Street station, referred to as "The Rock" by many neighborhood residents, the city will be able to save $85,000 to $ 100, 000 in capital and operating costs a year".

See? What a deal! EMS is going to pay that for a station that has no one in it ninety percent of the time.

Why not keep the Rock intact? There was a fire station downtown, remember? Engine 1, Ladder 1, and Rescue. Why not put them in the new Franklin St station? Why not put EMS there, since it's such a prime spot for first response? Yeah, that might happen.

This is not the first time EMS has been the pawn in WFD administration's game. We spent a summer at Webster Square when they were temporarily closed. We did a tour at Tatnuck too, same reason. To appease the angry masses. I don't think we really ever made a difference, we just occupied the public's mind until they forgot what they were angry about. I'm sure the crowds on Vernon Hill will forget too, and we'll be out the door again.