Yesterday afternoon, Old Louisville residents filed a class-action lawsuit against Metro Louisville and Mayor Jerry Abramson in an attempt to save the Engine No. 7 fire station, which is slated to close tomorrow.
The lawsuit — filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court — asks that a judge issue a temporary injunction to stop the city from shutting down the firehouse as planned. Ultimately, the suit seeks to keep the station open until “appropriate alternative fire service is available.”
Mayor Abramson announced plans to close the firehouse last month to help chip away at the city’s $20 million budget shortfall, sparking outrage among residents.
During a recent community meeting, residents raised concerns about increased response times in the densely populated neighborhood packed with historic Victorian homes, high-rises and special-need facilities. In addition, many opponents of the closure pointed out that this historic firehouse is the oldest in the city — established in 1871 — and possibly the oldest continually operating fire station in the country.
As for whether a judge is likely to rule on the matter today, lawyer Oliver Barber, who is representing the neighborhood, says: “It’s too early to tell. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
4 Comments
This closing isn’t about the firehouse being outdated; there are much older firehouses in Europe that are still in service with upgrades and additions.
This is an issue of payroll. Closing the firehouse will reduce the need for overtime at other firehouses. The solution seems simple: temporarily close the firehouse and reassign these firemen/women; hire more firefighters; update the firehouse and reopen it.
The population downtown is growing; reducing fire protection to save money is just deferring cost until the next disaster.
The data used to determine if the closing will affect response time is based on a 2000 sq foot ranch home on a 1/4 acre lot…. I dont know how many of you come to Old Louisville but that is not the type of house we live in… we need data on verticle response time… climbing three flights of stairs or using ladders at houses that are offset from the street behind iron fences. It is a unique situation when you fight a fire in our neigborhood and I find it hard to believe that closing this station will not increase response time
Am I wrong or did I read somewhere there are 6 or 7 other firehouses within a two mile radius of this one? I don’t know many neighborhoods that have that much coverage.
It isn’t the number of houses, it is mainly the number of houses that make med runs. Of those 2 in the same district, E15 and E16 are the only two that make med runs - which is the bulk of what E7 (or any firehouse for that matter) does. There actually are NO firehouses in the true downtown area, they are all on the perimeters. E2 (HQ) isn’t in the downtown (District 3) dispatch area. Only engines make med runs. So they will be dividing up 1600 (conservative estimate) med runs between 2 other engine companies, and you can’t say that adding 800 calls to a firehouse isn’t going to have an effect on service.
And as noted by another poster, the housing stock, and the average age of the residents, is very, very different in that area.