ST. BERNARD PARISH, La. — The St. Bernard Parish Fire Department has shuffled fire trucks and firefighters between the parish's two districts and some residents on the Lower side of the parish are concerned about how that affects response in their area.
The chief said it shouldn't as he feels confident they can still adequately serve the entire parish with the changes.
The changes are being discussed at a parish council meeting Tuesday night.
"The bottom line is we need a fire truck down here," oyster farmer Don Robin said.
Robin’s business in Lower St. Bernard is right next to a shuttered fire station.
"It's been here to protect us and now it's not," he said.
Fire stations 11 and 12, both outside the levee protection system, haven't reopened since they were damaged in Hurricane Ida.
The fire trucks were moved six miles up the road to station 10 which was previously vacant.
"We have some financial challenges to see if it’s feasible to reopen those stations," said St. Bernard Fire Dept. Chief Earl Borden.
Council member Fred Everhardt is more concerned with fire response following another recent change in the department.
"We need the trucks and the manpower in this part of the parish," Everhardt said.
Chief Borden said the department shuffled trucks and firefighters March 6.
"We haven’t had moves in a long time in the fire dept and after careful analysis and looking at the population, the call volume, these moves were made for the best interest of the entire parish," Borden said.
St. Bernard is split into two fire districts. District 2 which serves lower St Bernard Parish, went from three pumper trucks and a rescue truck, to two pumper trucks and a rescue truck.
The other pumper truck was converted into a rescue truck and moved to the middle of the parish within District 1 borders.
"Every fire station still has a pumper so they still have fire protection just as before the moves. That also provides quick response for medical which is the majority of our calls, but we now have three rescue apparatus strategically positioned in the parish," Borden said.
Borden adds District 2 went from six to five firefighters on a daily basis. One is a chief officer which the district didn't previously have.
Everhardt is pushing for the parish to immediately reverse the staffing and truck changes. An emergency ordinance is being discussed Tuesday night. As written in the agenda, the ordinance would 'have the administration immediately put back in place the entire staffing and equipment levels of fire district 2 to its levels as it was prior to March 6, 2023.'
"I want my two men back, my fire truck back, and I want my two fire stations open bottom line," Everhardt said.
"If that ordinance does pass and that’s their intentions, we would be going from three apparatus with rescue capabilities back to two," Borden said.
The emergency ordinance is on the agenda for 7 p.m. Tuesday night.
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