DES MOINES, Iowa — The Des Moines Fire Chief will recommend the closure of a fire truck at a station on the city’s south side during a meeting with the city council on Monday morning, according to Des Moines firefighters.

The Des Moines firefighter’s union posted on Facebook on Friday stating that the city council and mayor will hold a work session meeting with Chief John TeKippe at 7:30 a.m. The chief is expected to ask for the closure of one of the two fire trucks at Station Eight in Des Moines. 

Station Eight is on McKinley Avenue and serves the city’s south side with stations six and ten. This is one of the largest areas in the city. 

Union representatives said that stations six and ten currently have issues with being able to meet the National Fire Protection Association standards for getting trucks and personnel to areas in a timely manner. As a result, closing an engine at Station Eight would increase their workload.

The president of the Des Moines Professional Firefighters, Joe Van Haalen, said this is likely a financial decision. However, he said the way to fix this problem is to build four new fire stations and place them in strategic locations. 

Ten years ago, the City of Des Moines started an accreditation process. Van Haalen said this would have provided data on where stations were needed, but he said that process was never completed, even though it normally takes around two to five years to complete.

“Public safety isn’t the place that we need to be cutting funds when it comes to saving money in the City of Des Moines. The City of Des Moines has put themselves behind the eight ball by not building stations fast enough and we realize that’s a capital improvement but the answer is not to take a frontline rig out of service,” he said.

The meeting between the fire chief, city council, and Mayor is scheduled to start at 7:30 a.m. Since it’s a work session meeting, the public won’t have the opportunity to voice their opinions, but firefighters are sharing a link to a message that can be sent to council members.

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