By Jennifer Myers
The Lowell Sun
LAWRENCE, Mass. — The escalating Lawrence firefighting crisis that resulted in 30 mutual-aid calls to 15 communities last weekend, including several in Greater Lowell, can only be resolved by the restoration of the Lawrence Fire Department’s manpower, provisional Fire Chief Brian Murphy said yesterday.
In August 2009, Lawrence closed two fire stations. Last month, a third station was closed and 23 firefighters were laid off. Lawrence is currently staffed by 13 firefighters per shift, which Murphy said by industry standards is the staffing level recommended for a community half its size.
City Councilor Mark LaPlante said the city would need $2.5 million to rehire the 23 firefighters.
The city was notified yesterday that it was not awarded a FEMA grant that would have put 16 firefighters back on the job, Murphy told officials from Lawrence, Andover and North Andover at a meeting at the Lawrence Public Library.
“This problem has been created by the city of Lawrence,” said Murphy. “The only way this can be corrected is if the city of Lawrence gets more fire-fighting personnel. The citizens and property are in imminent danger because of the lack of fire-suppression personnel and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel.”
“Lawrence has to take care of itself, we cannot rely on everyone else,” he added.
Andover Fire Chief Michael Mansfield said that his department typically responds to Lawrence 11 times a year. So far this month they have made seven trips to Lawrence, including five that involved active fire fighting, two of which lasted longer than nine hours.
“Mutual aid is in place for extraordinary events and not meant to provide resources to communities who have decided to decimate their fire or public safety resources in any way shape or form,” Mansfield said, adding that if the current level of response remained this high year-round, trips to Lawrence would cost Andover about $45,000 annually.
He added that his own department is understaffed, with only one firefighter staffing the aerial-ladder truck that Mansfield said should be staffed by four men.
“I would like that money to put personnel back on Andover’s apparatus,” he said.
LaPlante said Lawrence is planning to apply for another FEMA grant and will request letters of support from fire officials and area city councils and boards of selectmen to include with that application.
“That (grant funding) is a Band-Aid,” warned North Andover Selectman Brian Major. “The financial structure has to be there to support those firefighters when the funds go away.”
LaPlante acknowledged that, stating that the city will “take the bandage” now, as a short-term solution, until it can get back on its feet.
The Essex County Fire Chiefs Association is hosting a meeting regarding the Lawrence situation next Tuesday at 9 a.m. at the Andover Public Safety building at 32 North Main St. in Andover.
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