Finley defends fire station closures as union remains defiant

YOUNGSTOWN — While temporary closures of fire stations started on Wednesday, there’s no end to internal strife in the Youngstown Fire Department.

Youngstown fire Chief Barry Finley said the temporary closures of fire stations by limiting the use of vehicles was a result of the fire department’s overtime budget for the year being used in five months.

“The city is hurting for money, and the overtime budget is not unlimited for us,” Finley said.

But union president Charlie Smith said the department wasn't given enough money for overtime in the first place, especially taking into account the coronavirus pandemic. The budget was depleted quickly to ensure the department was fully staffed when firefighters tested positive or were exposed to the virus, Smith said.

Finley clarified the stations are not going to close just to close. Stations will only close on a rotational basis when fully staffing a station or a truck would require paying firefighters overtime.

“Yesterday, the fire station was closed, and today it is open because we didn’t require any overtime,” Finley said.

Finley said the fire department is still expected to meet the national response time — 9 minutes and 20 seconds — even with the closures. Youngstown Fire Department’s average response time is between 3 minutes and 30 seconds to 3 minutes and 40 seconds for the first truck to arrive at a scene, Finley said.

With a station closed, it “is probably going to be maybe 2 more minutes for the first truck to arrive, but it’s still under the national standard,” Finley said.

“Any fire department that’s worth anything, they get there within 3 minutes,” Smith said. “That’s what the citizens are paying for.”

This story was originally published June 5, 2020 at 5:44 AM with the headline "Finley defends fire station closures as union remains defiant."