My biggest concern for the town of Scituate is public safety in the Chopmist Hill Fire District.

On Oct. 19 there were three rescue calls in the Chopmist Hill district. The first call was at the Chopmist Hill Inn, which is only one tenth of a mile away from the Chopmist Hill fire station. It took Rescue 3 over 12 minutes to get there. I could have walked there from Chopmist Fire Station in about 30 seconds.

The second call was up in the corner of the Chopmist Hill District and it took Rescue 2, from Hope, 28 minutes. The third rescue came from the town of Foster, and it took them over 16 minutes to get to the Chopmist Hill district. The standard response time to any emergency should be no more than six minutes.

What should be of great concern to residents of Scituate is that an engine from Hope had to come up to Chopmist because North Scituate could not get anything out of their station. How can Scituate residents expect North Scituate and Potterville to cover Chopmist, when they cannot even get a truck out for a call in their district?

An example of this has happened at the schools. On Sept. 22 there was a box alarm at the Scituate High School, and the only truck that responded was Ladder 22. The same thing happened at Clayville Elementary School, however this time no fire trucks  responded. It took them over 15 minutes to get one paid rescue to the school. This is in no shape or form practical to anyone in the entire town of Scituate.

Maybe Scituate residents think this doesn't affect them, but I assure you it does. Right now the only reliable station in Scituate is Hope Jackson.

Justin Gaffney

Scituate

(Chopmist Hill Fire Fighter and Scituate High School senior)