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All JFD To Be Open, Manned – Just Not Yet

A Jamestown Fire Department apparatus is pictured. For the first time since 2002, the Fire Department is on the verge of being fully staffed and all stations open for business. Submitted photo

For the first time since 2002, the Jamestown Fire Department is set to be manned at full-strength and reportedly have all stations open.

That won’t happen until early in 2025, when Station 5 repairs are finished and new fire department recruits have been hired and trained. But it caught the attention of one member of the City Council this week when two council committees approved sending eight new firefighters to the state academy in Montour Falls.

“That’s awesome news,” said Councilman Jeff Russell, R-At Large and Public Safety Committee chairman. “That basically puts the fire department up to once they’re all through their training puts it up to the full staff, which includes all the fire stations being open.”

There have been rotating fire station closures in Jamestown since 2021, when the city tried to decrease overtime spending in the fire department by requiring stations to close if firefighters called in sick or used time off and manning dropped below three firefighters in a station.

Being at full strength and all stations open may spill over into early 2025, because of varying degrees of mitigating circumstances.

From left, Jamestown Fire Department Honor Guard Members, Firefighter Marcus Fosberg, Lieutenant Andrew Caruso, Firefighter Jesus Garcia, bugler Damon Tanner, Lt. Jeffery Hatch, Lt. Kyle Sholl and Firefighter Alexander Hallberg, are at the Jamestown Fire Department’s Central Command Hub, Ladder Company One’s building, for a private Memorial Day ceremony held for the Morton Club. Submitted photo

“Station Five is still closed because of roof repairs,” said Jamestown Mayor Kim Ecklund.

Additionally, the Assistant Fire Chief Matt Coon, echoed some of Ecklund’s statement.

“Station Five is down for roof work, electrical and some plumbing,” he said. “We’re making some much needed repairs and upgrades.”

Fire protection in Jamestown dates back to June 25, 1827. The Jamestown Fire Department (paid staff) was formally established on March 1, 1911.Operating under a paramilitary structure, the department’s chain-of-command, ascends from firefighter to company officer, battalion chief and deputy chief. The department comprises four platoons, each assigned to staff four companies: three engine companies and one ladder company.

One Ladder – City Hall; Ladder Co.

Three – Newland Avenue; Engine Co.

Four – Allen Street; Engine Co.

Five – Fairmount Avenue; Engine Co.

Previously, the city accepted a federal Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant, which is helping fund these positions. The new manpower authorization for JFD will jump from 54 to 62 firefighters, as reported by The Post-Journal.

“We’ve hired four firefighters, and will hire four more,” he said. “They (cadets) still must go to the firefighting academy and graduate. We’ll try and get them all in the same academy or the last four may spill over until next year. So, I’m thinking, by early January 2025 we should have everything opened and fully staffed.”

A 20-YEAR FIGHT

The city’s new firefighter hires will bring an end to 20 years of rotating fire station closures.

The rotating fire station closing policy began in January 2001 as a way to decrease overtime spending in the fire department when budget cuts forced the city to cut the size of the police and fire departments. When a station was to be understaffed due to sickness or other absences, the station would close and firefighters would be redistributed to other fire stations in the city. At least three firefighters were needed to staff a station.

Firefighters fought the change. Brian Boehm, a lieutenant in the fire department at the time, said closing fire stations increased response time to get a pumper truck to fire scenes, while Frank Martinelli, the fire department’s union president at the time, argued the station closings were being used as a negotiating tool while the city and union negotiated a new contract.

“We realize there are budgetary constraints,” Martinelli said. “This sort of cut changes the way we do business. It endangers citizens and firefighters. It will make rescue operations difficult or impossible. We feel that in the spirit of good-faith bargaining, it is better to leave the stations open than to use station closings as a hammer over our head.”

A petition with 1,700 signatures was presented to the City Council in October 2021 – about the time a looming $1.3 million deficit led to a proposal to lay off four firefighters and to not replace two more firefighters who were retiring.

“I want to be clear the new policy does not affect the fire department’s ability to call back firefighters in the event of a fire,” former Mayor Sam Teresi said before the station closing policy began in 2001. “Jamestown has the preeminent fire protection in this part of the state and this policy will not change that.”

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