NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) - The North Attleborough fire chief says his community is at risk with two fire stations closed for 12 hours every day because of budget cuts.
The Kelley Blvd. firehouse now closes from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., while the Allen Ave. station is now unmanned during the opposite hours.
"I worry daily about the people in this community," Chief Joubert said. "They didn't just throw a dart and put a station here. They put it here for a reason."
Joubert said he chose those locations and hours, because the Kelley Blvd. station is busier at night, when more neighbors in the residential area are home, whereas the Allen Ave. location, near the Emerald Square Mall, quiets down in the evening.
Voters rejected a $4 million tax increase in an override proposed in April. That led to more than $300,000 in cuts to the fire department, leaving firehouses short-staffed and making response times longer, according to the chief.
"Time factors into everything that we do," Joubert said. "That's why these stations are where they are. To close them puts the community at a huge risk, and that's why I don't sleep well."
On Friday, a 67-year-old man suffered life-threatening injuries after falling from a tree on Oakridge Ave. A neighbor and friend of the victim told FOX25 the victim fainted while he was cutting down the pine tree and landed 25 feet below.
A fire engine and ambulance had to respond from 4.9 miles away at the Elm St., headquarters, because the Kelly Blvd. location - less than half the distance - was closed, Joubert said. The response time should have been two to three minutes, according to the chief.
"Unfortunately, it took just over eight minutes, almost nine minutes," Joubert said. "And it was, I believe, 11 minutes before all crews were on scene."
Also last week, a mail carrier was stung by a bee and went into anaphylactic shock just a couple doors down from the Kelly Blvd. firehouse, which was closed at the time. The response time was approximately eight minutes, Joubert said.
"The person administered the EpiPen to themselves twice," Joubert said. "By the time we got there, the person was in real trouble."
The victim has recovered, the chief said.
And in late June, a 79-year-old man who lives two doors down from that Kelly Blvd. station fell in his bathroom. Because Roger Labonte has a rare incurable disease that limits his mobility, he was not able to call 911 until his daughter arrived hours later.
Paramedics responded from the Elm St. headquarters, because the Kelley Blvd. firehouse was again unmanned.
"I said, 'This is how it feels like to die,'" Labonte said. "'I'm going to die on this floor.'"
Labonte isn't sure a few extra minutes put his life in further danger, but he is concerned about himself and his neighbors. He wants to be able to rely on paramedics being just feet away.
"I think it's a damn shame," Labonte said. "That's a perfectly good fire station, and it should be manned."