Federal grant enables Lawrence to reopen a fire station

By Alli Knothe, Globe Correspondent

After being closed for more than two years, the Engine 6 fire station in Lawrence reopened today, thanks to a $6.6 million federal grant meant to put firefighters back on duty after extensive cuts during the recession.

A welcome banner hung from the windows o fthe Rollins School across the street. (Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)

Thirty-eight firefighters were hired or rehired in the department because of the grant. About 10 of them will be assigned to the reopened station.

Fire Chief Jack Bergeron said he would like to bring still more firefighters on board.

“We’re still running pretty thin,” he said.

The US Department of Homeland Security SAFER (“Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response”) grant provides resources to staff fire departments to the point where they can operate under minimum staffing, response, and operational standards required by law, according to the SAFER website.

The station, located at 471 Howard St., is in the Prospect Hill neighborhood of the struggling city.

Two of the city’s six stations are still closed. Bergeron said he hopes eventually they will be reopened and he can fill all the openings left by job cuts over the past 10 years.

Bergeron said the funding will help the department to be more independent. In recent years, Lawrence has had to call for help from nearby towns like Methuen and Andover to battle a serious fire. However, those towns are short on funding themselves and if they assist Lawrence with a fire, he said, they have to pay their staff overtime and incur other expenses.