Williamsburg
CRIME & SAFETY
Understaffing Amherst Fire Department Endangers Community
At 22:15 Monday July 1, a box alarm was struck alerting all Amherst FIre Department units to flames and fire showing in the area of 63 South Pleasant Street, Veracruzana. Ten minutes later a recall was sounded for a working structure fire at 63 South Pleasant Street. Your Amherst Firefighters were able to work quickly and effectively to extinguish the fire which had occurred on the back porch on the 4th floor of the building. The Amherst Fire Department was staffed to nine firefighters that night, five working out of central station and four working out of the north station. At the time that the box was struck, Ambulances 1, 2, and 3 were all either on scene at a medical call, transporting to the hospital, or at the hospital in Northampton. Each of these ambulances had two firefighters on board. Engine 2 was also on scene acting as an EFR (Emergency First Response) vehicle with two firefighters waiting for a mutual aid ambulance to come transport a patient. With these calls going on, that left the Town of Amherst to be covered by a single firefighter in a firetruck out of the central station. This firefighter responded to 63 South Pleasant Street on their own with no other on duty members available to respond with them. The second firefighter to arrive on scene was the Acting Chief of Department who had to pump the engine to provide water during the initial attack and suppression of this fire.
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