BIDDEFORD, Maine — The city of Biddeford is considering building a new fire station.
City Manager Jim Bennett says populations are growing along the coast and Fire Chief Scott Gagne says response times to that part of town are unacceptable, but fixable.
City leadership formed a citizen-led "ad hoc" committee to assess, over the next five months, whether the move is worth the cost.
Biddeford currently has one staffed building on Alfred Street, in the heart of downtown. Chief Scott Gagne says he loves the building, which has stood for 30 years, and has no plans to vacate it.
But he wants his crews to be able to reach any part of town in six minutes. A trip to the coast, he says, can take up to 14.
"We know that after the five-minute mark — and whether it’s a medical call — the chance of surviving and the positive outcomes decrease dramatically," he explained. "We know, with fire suppression, fire doubles in size every minute."
Bennett sat at his office computer and showed NEWS CENTER Maine a map of responses from 2021. Red dots marked those that took longer than 12 minutes. The city's coastal regions were filled with red.
Bennett says the ultimate cost of not building is dire.
"I certainly don’t want to have to try to figure out if I’m capable of holding my breath for more than four to six minutes," Bennett said, envisioning a serious medical emergency. "I’d rather have the talented staff that we have be there quicker, so they can do the things that they do, [rather] than have them show up six minutes later than that."
The committee meets for the first time Sept. 1, and is expected to present its findings in February.