Residents Angry Over Proposed Fire Station Consolidation Plan

A group of Central El Paso residents are upset over a new plan that would shut down older fire stations in the area and create one bigger, modern station to serve both districts.

The plan comes after El Paso Fire Chief Otto Drozd’s implentation of a new vision to increase the efficiency of the department.

The debate over the plan is fueled by residents who don’t want to see their neighborhood fire stations go away.

They say it doesn’t matter how old they are, they want them to stay because it makes them feel safe.

“If it aint broke then don’t fix it,” Central resident Mary Johnson said in reference to the plan.

Residents like Johnson are concerned that doing away with their neighborhood station would increase response times and therefore be left waiting much longer in the event of an emergency.

That argument was rebuttled by Chief Drozd who said the his plan would bring more fire units the area, and it would allow for them to serve the residents with greater efficiency and in some cases faster response times.

However, not all residents are buying it.

The plan is not set in stone yet, but if it does get approved city officials say it could save the city of El Paso about 1.6 million dollars in the long term.