Fire Cuts Hurt the County FD’s

There was a news story on WHEC News 10 this evening that talked about the pressure on the County Fire Departments to provide support for the Rochester Fire Department. You can read the article here.

It is ironic that while Ray Levato was talking about this on tv that Ridge Culver, Point Pleasant and Gates were responding to fill in at the City while they were working multiple calls. Rochester Firefighters were on scene of a working fire and then caught structure calls to Cedarwood, St. Paul St, and Walmart on Hudson Ave. They also responded to EMS calls on Inglewood, North Clinton, Campbell St, Michigan St and Shelter St. The Shelter St call was being covered by an Ambulance from Gates.

One quote from the article: Mayor Duffy said Monday “The fire department is a department that we invest very heavily in. it is not thin by any stretch. Also, not one firefighter has lost their job.” He might be right about that, but closing two companies will result in 16 less line firefighters. Could the jobs be from the large amount of retiring firefighter that do not get filled? We also have to remember that a job was created for Molly Clifford in the fire department at $115,000 plus benefits.