By Michael Bonner
The Standard-Times
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Multiple city fire stations along with trucks from four neighboring towns responded to a fire on Mount Vernon Street on Sunday afternoon.
One engine that didn’t go to the scene was also the closest: Station No. 7.
The station was “browned out” from responding. It’s a measure taken by the city to cap overtime, which means the city’s 10 fire companies rotate in stepping away from the job for 24-hour periods. During that time, the other nine inherit the calls from that station’s area.
On Sunday it happened to be Station No. 7, which president of the New Bedford Firefighters Local 841 Steve Peixoto said could have responded to the blaze in about two minutes. Instead, he said Station No. 8 arrived in about six minutes.
“A fire will double in size, every minute,” said Peixoto, who arrived on scene with Station No. 9.
Another station that didn’t respond was District 3 from Dartmouth.
According to Dartmouth Fire Chief Richard K. Arruda, District 3 received a call to cover for the New Bedford stations that were fighting the fire, but never made it to New Bedford. About 5 minutes later, the station received a call to report to a fire in Dartmouth on Fisher Road.
“If we sent a truck over it would leave Dartmouth uncovered,” Arruda said.
A ladder from Dartmouth District 1 and engines from Fairhaven, Acushnet and Mattapoisett responded to help New Bedford.
Crews began to leave the site at around 9:30 p.m. The cause of the fire in the building containing porta potties is still unknown, New Bedford Fire Chief Michael Gomes said.
According to Gomes, no one was in the building and no injuries were sustained.
“Beyond the property damage it’s gravely dangerous and at a huge amount,” Richard MacKinnon, president of the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts, said. “Putting our members in more hazardous situations and more chances of getting injured or worse case getting killed,”
“Brownouts” aren’t new to New Bedford or Massachusetts. They began about a year ago in New Bedford, Mayor Jon Mitchell said.
They also came during the midst of a 10-year period where the city invested $9.7 million Investments in Fire Department Fleet, Equipment, and Facilities
Gomes said the brownouts prevent stations from closing. The fire chief said the option was to either rotate a day off or close a station for good.
“Based on the fiscal realities this is a daily exercise we have to do,” Gomes said.
Mitchell himself reported to the fire on Sunday and praised the ability of crews to extinguish the flames and protect the surrounding buildings.
“Look, in a world of unlimited finances we would have a fire station every 10 blocks or so. But that’s not the world we live in,” Mitchell said. “The question of whether the fire (Sunday) would have been responded differently I think is just purely speculative.”
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