News Center 7’s Monica Castro talked to residents and tried to reach out to the Miami Valley Fire District leadership on Friday, but calls and messages went unanswered.
“I always felt safer having it that close. I can literally see it from my front porch,” Jennifer Lawton of Miamisburg said. “I felt like if there was an emergency or needed somebody they are literally right there, within sight.”
That’s how many Miamisburg residents feel about Station 51, at 10899 Wood Road.
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Turn out gear, air tanks and other heavy rescue equipment, all with no one to operate it. That’s the situation Friday night at Station 51, one of the Miami Valley Fire District’s five firehouses to serve residents of Miamisburg and Miami Twp.
“That doesn’t make me happy at all,” Lawton said of the brownout at the station. “How far is the next station?”
The next closest firehouse, Station 52 is about 4½ miles away.
The question is whether the brownout will affect response times.
“Is this a challenge for my members? Obviously,” Spirk said. “We are now working with less manpower, obviously. Less people on the shift that day when we do that.
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Also unknown is how long Station 51 could be out of service.
“I don’t know if it’s going to be out of service again (Saturday), next day or when it will happen again,” Spirk said.
He said it’s up to Fire Chief Matthew Queen, and he deferred those questions to him.
Those are answers Lawton said she and her neighbors should know, too.
“We pay taxes. Isn’t that information we should be able to know? We should be able to know. We should be able to get answers,” she said.
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The Miami Valley Fire District isn’t the only fire department to face brownouts. The West Carrollton Fire Department temporarily shut down some of its stations because of staffing issues, as does the Dayton Fire Department.
News Center 7 will be following up with the Miami Valley Fire District leadership to find out the reason behind the temporary shutdown.
MIAMI VALLEY FIRE DISTRICT
Station 51: 10899 Wood Road, Miamisburg
Station 52: 2710 Lyons Road, Miami Twp.
Station 53: 10 N. First St., Miamisburg
Station 54: 2135 E. Central Ave., Miamisburg
Station 55: 5204 Springboro Pike, Moraine
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