Town of Union May See Fire Coverage Changes

There might soon be a shift in fire services for some Town of Union residents. The Endwell fire department is looking at covering the areas of Westover and Fairmont Park. These two locations are currently covered by the Johnson City Fire Department, however, higher tax rates for emergency services in these areas served by the Johnson City Fire Department prompted the look into a possible change. There are some advantages and disadvantages to these possible changes. The first is that the Endwell Fire Department is staffed with almost double the amount of people. However, Johnson City’s response time is faster than Endwell’s. The question now becomes “Do lower emergency service taxes and more responders outweigh a longer response time?” The Town of Union will be holding a meeting on August 12th to discuss the proposal.