Fort Wayne fire chief says department remains operational while previewing expedited contract request for new Station 5

Good evening. At a June 24 committee session of the Fort Wayne Common Council, Fort Wayne Fire Department Chief Eric Leggy told the council the department is “understaffed” but said “the city is not in danger” and that the department is not “operationally compromised.”

In a preview of an item the department will bring to the full council on July 8, Chief Leggy said he or a colleague will ask the council to suspend the normal rules so a construction management contract for the new Fire Station 5 in Wayndale can be approved quickly. Leggy said the request is aimed at keeping the project on a schedule “to get this building under roof before winter” and to avoid cost increases for winter work. He told council the delay was caused by Senate Bill 1 and follow-up budget review and that “every day right now counts.”

The nut of Leggy’s staffing update was procedural and numerical. He said the department currently has 352 sworn firefighters and that a class due to graduate in July would add 21 people, bringing staffing to about 373 if all graduate.…