By Eric Stirgus
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — Atlanta’s Fire Station 7 is silent these days.
Fire trucks do not roar from the twin garage doors. There are no firefighters inside. Trash is mounting alongside the 100-year-old building.
The city closed the station in July 2008 in a budget-balancing move that angered many community leaders and resulted in a heated confrontation between residents and then-Mayor Shirley Franklin.
It’s still shut, but fire officials have some ideas about what could be done with the station.
Interim Chief Joel Baker and his staff have discussed in recent weeks using the station as a training facility and allowing the community to use the building for various events.
“We’re not going to totally abandon the station house,” Baker recently told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We’re going to find some use for it.”
The idea sounds interesting to some nearby business owners and residents, but most of them still want their fire station back.
Quisha Jackson, sales representative at an auto repair and tire sales shop across the street from the station, believes it would be easier for firefighters and paramedics to get to an emergency faster if Fire Station 7 was still in use.
“Open it back up,” she said.
Her boss, Johnny Bailey, said what’s being discussed by fire officials is “a good idea,” but added, “I’d love to have [the fire station] back.”
Fire Station 7, located on Whitehall Street near the West End mall, opened in 1910 and was the oldest station in the city. It typically ranked among the top five fire stations in the city for calls for service.
But the end came suddenly. In May 2008, Franklin proposed raising property taxes to plug a $12-million budget gap. The City Council roundly rejected the idea. The mayor ordered budget cuts that included closing the Fire Station 7. Fire officials defended the move, saying there were four other stations within three miles of the old station house.
On a hot July afternoon, some residents booed the mayor at a ceremony to close the station. Franklin warned the crowd it was going to bring out the “Philadelphia side of me,” referring to her hometown. Three days after the mayor announced her plans, Fire Station 7 was closed.
During last year’s mayoral race, several candidates, including eventual winner Kasim Reed, said they wanted to reopen the station if elected. A mayoral spokeswoman said Reed is considering all options about the future of Fire Station 7.
Fire Rescue Lt. Jim Daws, head of the city’s firefighter union, said he wants the city to reopen the station to improve response times. Fire officials late last week said they needed more time to compile response times in the area before and since the station closed.
City Council President Ceasar Mitchell, who lives in the area, said he’d like to see the building reopened in an “ideal world.” However, Mitchell said current and retired firefighters have told him it will cost money to reopen it. The Franklin administration estimated it saved $1.2 million by closing the station.
Baker said if the station is turned into a training facility, he envisions recruits gaining experience for what it’s really like to work in a station house. If approved in the next 12 months, Baker said the department would use funds in the budget scheduled to begin July 1.
Bailey hopes to see firefighters there again soon. He believes they provide safety for his business. It’s been robbed since the station closed.
“It’s good security for me too,” Bailey said.
Copyright 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution