By Jill Harmacinski
The Eagle-Tribune
LAWRENCE, Mass. — City Councilors held an emergency meeting last night to talk about the closure of Tower and Prospect Hill firehouses.
The closure of both firehouses is necessary because of the pending layoffs of 10 city firefighters, Fire Chief Peter Takvorian.
With the layoffs, Takvorian said it’s impossible to “spread out the manpower” to the city’s six firehouses.
Engine 6 on Prospect Hill and Engine 8 on Tower Hill will have to be permanently shuttered, wrote Takvorian and Deputy Fire Chief Jack Bergeron in an e-mail sent to city councilors and officials Wednesday night.
The chiefs wrote that it “is with deep regret and concern for the safety of citizens” of Lawrence that the firehouses must be closed.
The chiefs say they will be unable to staff the city’s six firehouses due to 18 unfilled positions, eight firefighters on sick leave and one firefighter who was deployed this week to active military duty.
City Council President Patrick Blanchette was trying arragned the emergency meeting at City Hall to discuss the issue. He described the closure of two city firehouses as “a state of emergency.”
The council previously voted to keep the firehouses open and hire new firefighters.
However, the council, per the city charter, has no authority to add any money to the budget.
Pointing to the vacant positions and already shrunken shifts, the fire union this week balked at returning to the bargaining table. The city asked the 136-member union to agree to $680,000 in concessions — a pay cut of $5,000 each — to keep the city’s six firehouses open, avoid layoffs and hire new firefighters.
Copyright 2009