A large number of retirements within Fire Services on St. Croix and the Turnbull administration’s edict that overtime expenses be cut mean that the island's only East End fire station will have to close temporarily, Fire Services director Pedro Encarnacion said.
With 18 St. Croix firefighters retiring this year and overtime funding used up, there is no choice but to close the Cotton Valley station, possibly through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, he said. He didn't specify a closing date.
"We cannot continue to provide for overtime. We have overspent our allotment for this fiscal year already," Encarnacion said.
He said he will discuss the situation with Gov. Charles W. Turnbull and Office of Management and Budget officials on Tuesday. While recognizing the economic straits of the government, Encarnacion said, he is "not really happy with the closing."
To compensate for the closing, "We’re going to do our best to have a unit prepared from the Christiansted fire station," he said, "but distance will be a downside when we are responding to the East End."
While this would be the first fire station to close on St. Croix, two have already been shuttered on St. Thomas in the last year for the same reasons — shortages of money and personnel, Encarnacion said. Nine firefighters in the St. Thomas-St. John district have retired this year, causing increased staffing problems, he said.
Last week, firefighters joined unionized St. Croix and St. Thomas police and officers from the Bureau of Corrections and the Planning and Natural Resources Department in forming a new Public Safety Coalition. The aim of the group is to press the administration for unfunded pay raises and increased funding for equipment and supplies.
