Letter to the editor from Gerald Anderson, Chair, RTM District 10 submitted Aug 15 2018
What are we waiting for? It’s time to build a fire station in northwest Greenwich.
The front page of the August 11 edition of the Greenwich Time (“Midnight blaze destroys Greenwich home”) exposed the shocking reality that, when it comes to fire coverage in Greenwich, not all residents are equal.
In fact, if you live in the NW corner of Greenwich, response times greatly exceed nationally recommended thresholds and the response times other areas of Greenwich enjoy. As a result, these residents pay increased insurance premiums and must wait and hope that a fire truck pulled from another area of town can get to the house, school or nursing facility in time.
This is particularly troubling since the NW corner is home to Brunswick and Sacred Heart schools; there are three health care facilities, many businesses, several churches, and two country clubs in addition to 3,500 residents.
Fire trucks did not get to Locust Road in time. The first responders arrived in about 10 minutes.
By then, the fire on was out of control. Units from all over town arrived during the next 30 minutes to help keep it from spreading to other houses, but this home was lost. A person or pet in the home could easily have died. And, of course, a law suit against the town would have followed. Meanwhile, if a fire happened in another area of town would the firefighters working on Locust Road have been able to get to it in time?
District 10 has put together a NWG Firestation brochure and a website containing FAQs to explaining the need for the firehouse www.NWFireStation.org.
I urge Town residents to visit this website and sign the petition.
With your support we can make the fire station happen.
We ask our fellow RTM members to join D10 and support a professional fire station in the northwest corner of Greenwich. The fire on Locust Road makes it clear; North West Greenwich needs this essential town service.
Gerald Anderson
Chair, RTM District 10