MA Fire Chief: Rolling Blackouts Will End in March

NEW BEDFORD —The New Bedford Fire Department's controversial rolling blackout policy is coming to an end, but in order to end it the department will be decommissioning Engine 11, another controversial move.

Fire Chief Paul Coderre announced an end to the blackouts, which involved taking one of the city's 10 fire companies out of service on a rotating basis, in a statement sent out by the city on Friday afternoon.

According to the statement, the blackout policy will end in March.

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The Local Firefighters Union along with some city councilors expressed dissatisfaction with the decision on Friday.

"You're going to have the whole entire peninsula south of Cove Street unprotected," Union President Billy Sylvia said when reached for comment. "That's ridiculous."

The reasons Coderre gave for ending the policy included that it has become administratively cumbersome, since it requires staff to manage the reassignment of personnel. It also generates overtime costs, and has undermined morale since firefighters are regularly re-assigned as a result of the policy.

Coderre said the city considered fully funding the department to end the blackouts, but it was financially unrealistic at an estimated cost of $2.7 million annually. So instead, Fire Department leadership recommended the decommissioning of Engine 11, housed at 754 Brock Ave. on the South End peninsula.

Engine 6, located 1.2 miles away at 151 Purchase St., also in the South End, will take over its response area, according to Coderre, but the South End Public Safety Center on Brock Avenue scheduled to open in spring 2021 "will shift further south the location of both Engine 6 and Ladder 3."

With the discontinuance of blackouts, the department has estimated a reduction in overtime spending next fiscal year (FY2021) to be as much as $400,000-$500,000.

Ending the blackout will save the city as much as $500,000 in the next fiscal year and allow the NBFD Fire Prevention to add two positions, according to Coderre.

Mayor Jon Mitchell took the same position as the chief when reached for comment.

"I agree with Fire Chief Coderre's recommendation to end rotating blackouts. It represents the appropriate approach to managing Fire Department operations in light of the city's available resources," Mitchell said.

Sylvia sent out his own press release Friday afternoon in response to Coderre's statement that called the decision to decommission Engine 11 disappointing and said, "it will increase response times and overextend the coverage areas of the department's remaining apparatus."

It also called the statements from the administration that the blackout policy and the closure of a fire company were necessary for New Bedford to be fiscally responsible a farce, stating that "city workers in every department, as well as retirees, have continually bent over backwards to help the city save money through changes to healthcare and contract negotiations."

By citing financial strains as a reason for not fully funding the department, "The administration has essentially put a price tag on the safety and well being of its citizens," according to Sylvia.

The opening of the new public safety center is not an adequate solution to decommissioning Engine 11, according to Sylvia, because the two companies moving to the station are currently located in densely populated residential areas and it will result in "increased response times and reduced coverage for the far West End."

He called the planning of the public safety center rushed and said it was completed without the input of the public servants who provide the services the center will facilitate.

Sylvia closed with "Local 841 has long disagreed with this administration's approach to public safety and the safety of our members and we will continue to do so. We will also continue to protect the people of this city to the best of our ability even when it is made more difficult and dangerous for us to do our jobs."

When reached for comment Councilor-at-large Brian Gomes, chair of the council's Committee on Public Safety and Neighborhoods said, "My thought on that is you just blacked out the South End of the city."

He said the move to decommission Engine 11 does not solve the blackout problem, it deprives people of fire protection and "this is not a good move by the mayor or the fire chief."

Gomes said he would fight the decision on the City Council floor and stand up just as he always does when he hears the safety and the well-being of the citizens of the city are in jeopardy.

Council President and Ward 6 Councilor Joseph Lopes also said he would advocate for the administration to keep the station open.

"I do not support the initial decision to close Station 11 as a means of ending the blackouts," Lopes said when reached for comment. "You're putting the entire peninsula of the city at a greater risk until the station on Brock Avenue is open especially during the summer months."

Both Lopes and Gomes noted that Engine 11 is the first station to respond to any situations on the beaches on the peninsula, such as drownings.

The council president said the city needs to look at other financial solutions instead of closing a station in an area "where people pay some of the highest property taxes in the city."

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