Midland Daily News, Mich.
(TNS)
Aug. 13—The seemingly abrupt closure of Bay City's Fire Station 5 was again a popular topic during Monday's meeting of the Bay City Commission.
Throughout a presentation given by Public Safety Director Caleb Rowell, which was designed to provide further details on Station 5's closure, multiple commissioners and residents expressed concern.
"I think some of the frustration is that we didn't have that plan (for Station 5's closure) in front of the residents for communication," Commissioner Christopher Girard said.
During a July 1 meeting, Rowell gave a presentation on the operations and infrastructure for the city's west side fire stations. He also discussed a few reasons for a planned closure of Station 5 at 1209 East Smith Street in northwestern Bay City, which would take place two weeks later on July 15.
However, at a regular commission meeting that took place on July 15, residents and commissioners alike said they were surprised to hear of the station's closure earlier that day.
"I apologize if I didn't make my intent clear," Rowell said. "I meant to. I just didn't, obviously, because people were surprised."
Now after nearly a month to process the issue, multiple commissioners and residents spoke out about the closure on Monday.
"One of the issues that a lot of the residents I spoke with had was, what would happen if you have a train that is stopped on the tracks and somebody can't get to the scene of a medical emergency or a fire — what kind of answer are we giving in that respect?" Commissioner Brentt Brunner asked.
Rowell replied, stating that in such an event, a rapid response is still possible thanks to mutual aid from neighboring townships like Bangor. He also mentioned that an ambulance is still stationed in District 5, just no longer in a garage.
Reasons for the station's closure, according to Rowell, include poor conditions of the building (mold and mildew) and limited staff availability. The staff from Station 5 has since relocated to Station 4, allowing at least two responders to be on duty at all times.
"The maximum staffing Station 5 ever had was one person," Rowell said. "When it comes to a fire, one person can do a lot, but they can't do much safely...There's a high probability that (the one person) is going to put themselves in danger instead of waiting for more firefighters."
Despite response time concerns, most commissioners seemed to agree with Rowell that having only one firefighter at the scene of a fire rescue could result in a greater potential loss of life, rather than having two or more.
"Having one person at Station 5 doesn't fix the problem for fire," Commission President Jesse Dockett stated. "We'd basically be keeping the station open for medical calls only."
Dockett addressed the concern about delays by stating that the responders do maintain communication with both bridge and train operators. Coupled with the quick mutual aid response times, Dockett said he struggled to find a problem with the station's closure.
"We've got a situation where we did approve (the closure of Station 5) in the budget, we have a good amount of money that we have to outlay, and I'm not opposed to outlaying that money if it solves a problem, but I'm looking at this and trying to figure out what problem it solves and I'm not seeing one." Dockett said. "I'm seeing a concern for a problem — which I understand and respect — but I'm not seeing an actual problem."
During public comment, seven residents came forward to discuss their issues with the station's closure, bringing to light problems with mutual aid, budget approval and financing, and echoing issues with the limited staffing, response times and the station's infrastructure.
Rowell shared a few additional points during his presentation in regards to response time to help address the concern among residents living in District 5.
He stated that Bay City's medical calls are answered within eight minutes 90% of the time. He also mentioned that over four months during the COVID-19 pandemic, all medical calls were taken by Station 1, which maintained an average response time of just under five minutes.
"For Fire Station 5 medical emergency response times this year — prior to closing — we had 133 total medical calls with an average response time of five minutes and 40 seconds," Rowell shared. "Since closing (Station 5) for about three weeks now, our average response time is still five minutes and eight seconds."
Next month, the Department of Public Safety will host Infrastructure Walk-throughs for locals to see for themselves the state of each station. Tours are scheduled each day from 4 to 6 p.m. and will take place:
— Sept. 3 at Station 1, 1401 Center Avenue.
— Sept. 4 at Station 2, 1000 Fremont Street.
— Sept. 17 at Station 4, 212 South Dean Street.
— Sept. 18 at Station 5, 1209 East Smith Street.
"Even though Station 5 is closed, we're still going to take people through it to see the condition of it for themselves," Rowell said.
___
(c)2024 the Midland Daily News (Midland, Mich.)
Visit the Midland Daily News (Midland, Mich.) at www.ourmidland.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
