There are two trains of thought with news that Jamestown will have enough firefighters on duty in 2025 to end the two-decade practice of rotating fire station closures when manpower is limited – and in our view those trains run on parallel tracks.

The first train of thought is that it’s good for public safety if all the fire stations are open all the time. Fire and EMS coverage to the entire city is better with five stations than three or four. Response times will be better during emergencies when seconds count. Jamestown is still a place with older home construction and an aging population, so the fire department will remain highly active for years to come. Being fully staffed makes firefighters’ jobs easier and helps thousands of city residents who rely on the department in an emergency. So it really is noteworthy that rotating fire station closures are a thing of the past.

But there is a second, more cynical train of thought, that comes to mind as well – how long will it remain economically feasible for the city to keep all the fire stations open every day? Jamestown is flush with cash compared to 2020 and 2021, when the rotating fire station closings began. It’s been a long climb to financial stability helped by additional state aid, a few years of revenue sharing from the city Board of Public Utilities and help from the federal government, first from $28.3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding and more recently in the form of a federal SAFER grant that is paying the cost for eight new firefighters.

As the ARPA funding runs out, it’s reasonable to ask how Jamestown avoids the pitfalls that are befalling its neighbors in the north county. Dunkirk has found itself in need of an $18 million lifeline from New York state while it restructures its finances. Fredonia finds itself $888,000 in the red as revenues have fallen short – including more than $230,000 short in ambulance revenue, something Jamestown is trying to wrap its arms around. And, the Jamestown’s budget is out of whack this year because cost assumptions and revenues included in the 2024 budget were off base, though the city has the reserves to cover the shortfall.

There will come a time when the eight firefighting positions paid for with the SAFER grant have to either transition to the city’s payroll or be eliminated through attrition. And when that happens Jamestown will be faced with the same choice it faced in 2001 – can taxpayers afford the increased costs?

There’s two trains of thought. Which one pulls into the station first?