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The Public Safety Hearing was just announced and is scheduled for May 26th at 5:30pm. This is a critical opportunity for the Concord community to support the Fire Department's request for a 4th ambulance, renovations, and increased EMT staffing. Let's show our heroes, who have served us unswervingly through Covid-19, our wholehearted support!
BACKGROUND:
The Fire Department Study from 2022 included recommendations for station renovations, relocation of stations, adding a 5th station, in addition to increasing administrators and adding a 4th ambulance - page 4 of the study. It concluded optimal response time (less than 4 minutes) and survival therefore depends on EMS location. The study found relocating the fire stations to respond more quickly to underserved areas or adding a 5th fire station would improve 4 minute response time.
The city council and mayor chose in March 2022 to move Penacook's Manor Fire Station ambulance (responsible for 19.1% of all calls in Concord) to North State Street Fire Station instead of adding a 4th ambulance. It is important to remember that testimony provided at a recent city council meeting reflected the ambulance was placed in service at Manor station to improve response time. This decision to remove the ambulance from the Manor station prolongs response times in the northern half of the city and potentially adds to increasing mortality in Wards 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10.
The Fire Department has requested a 4th ambulance every year for the last FIVE years (Public Safety Board minutes: 5/3/21; 6/29/20; 9/30/19; 4/9/18; 4/24/17), it’s been needed since BEFORE the COVID pandemic. It's high time we prioritize the heroes that have responded to the greatest medical crisis of our time and spend ~$1.4 million to add a fourth ambulance and life saving medical staff.