City Firefighters Got Their First Test since Six Fire Stations were Closed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

March 25, 2005
City firefighters got their first test since six fire stations were closed on Monday.

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- City firefighters got their first test since six fire stations were closed on Monday -- they responded to a fire near a closed station.

The verdict: City firefighters took a minute longer to get to the fire than national standards suggest.

Some residents complained that the closures would cause unacceptably slow response times.

Thursday's fire was at a house just blocks away from a shuttered station. Three engine companies from other stations responded and got to the fire in seven minutes, a minute longer than the six-minute benchmark. National standards say firefighters should be able to get to 90 percent of fire scenes within six minutes.

City Operations Director Robert Kennedy said the response time was acceptable.

''If the media (are) going to look at each fire and how we get there, then there's going to be times when it's six minutes and times that are two minutes,'' Kennedy said. ''Average it together.''

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