PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The last of seven fire stations closed in 2009, to balance the city budget during the Great Recession, has been brought back online. On Thursday, the Philadelphia Fire Department reactivated Engine Company Six, in Port Richmond.
City officials marked the occasion with a ceremonial coupling of the fire hose, symbolically reconnecting Engine Six with the community it serves.
It has taken 15 years to restore the Fire Department to its full capacity, but Councilmember Mark Squilla says it’s remarkable that it happened at all: “It’s not very often that, once something is removed that it’s replaced.”
Restoring Mayor Michael Nutter’s 2009 budget cuts has been a years-long effort, begun by his successor, Mayor Jim Kenney, the son of a fireman, who budgeted capital funds for equipment and renovations and secured federal grants for staffing.
Fire Commissioner Jeffrey Thompson says it’s important for all the fire houses to be operating.
“Fire stations are part of a bigger collective, and restoring this engine will make not only this neighborhood safer but the entire city a safer place for all of us,” Thompson said.
“Location and timing is everything, when it comes to emergencies — and having Engine Six here is going to be able to serve this neighborhood in a much quicker time and mitigate any disasters that are out there.”
The city has spent a year renovating Engine Six, built in 1912. A grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency helps pay to staff it.