NOVI, Mich. (WXYZ) — A conversation about safety is heating up in Novi after the local firefighters union sounded alarms, saying Fire Station 4 has been closed over 100 times in the past year.
The union representing Novi firefighters recently posted on Facebook about the recurring closures, attributing them to part-time staffing shortages. The station, located just blocks away from some neighborhoods, was closed for three consecutive nights over the weekend.
Watch Christiana Ford's video report below:
"That’s not good at all," Raghunath Aerabati said. "When we moved here, one of the factors was that the fire station would be open 24 hours."
Novi Director of Public Safety Eric Zinser said the city operates on a combination fire department. Full-time staff covers shifts from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., but the department relies on part-time firefighters for nights and weekend shifts from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
"We just don’t have enough part time staff on occasions to staff all four fire stations," Zinser said.
"It’s really disheartening," Frank Damanskas said.
Despite the closures, Zinser said the community should not be concerned about a lack of safety.
"It is not impacting services. We have three other fire stations in the city of Novi that are fully staffed, fully trained, fully equipped and ready to go," Zinser said.
When the city’s other stations respond, response times vary. Zinser said times range from a couple of minutes to over 12 minutes, with an average of seven minutes and 21 seconds. The union said on Facebook it wants residents to be aware.
"If you look at the emergency situations, even minutes matter. So at that time, you don’t want to wait for other stations to come by and it also puts a lot of pressure on the other stations too," Aerabati said.
"Their (kids) safety is No. 1. That’s why we came out here. We wanted a safe place for them to kind of roam around and play. Now hearing this shocking news it is very surprising, so I hope they figure this out," Susu Berry said.
Zinser said the department is working to combat a state and nationwide firefighter shortage. Eighteen part-time firefighters are nearing the end of their training, and the city is actively hiring.
"It’s not forever, but it does take time and it’s been our plan the whole time to rebuild that staff. We’re actively recruiting part-time firefighters to build that fire staffing back up," Zinser said.
In the meantime, Zinser wants residents to know the city uses Med Star to respond to all medical calls and has automatic mutual aid agreements with surrounding communities.
"What I want our residents to know is that Novi is a very very safe community," Zinser said.
When asked about paying more money to move to a full-time staffing model, some residents like Damanskas said it is something to consider.
"It would be an option. We would have to look at it and see how much it is. I’m retired right now and money is tight, but that would be an option," Damanskas said.
7 News Detroit attempted to connect with the firefighter union. They did make themselves available for this story or provide a statement.
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