Middleboro: Selectmen to vote on fire department grant

A $2 million grant for the Middleboro fire department will be on the line at the selectmen’s meeting Monday night.

Fire Chief Lance Benjamino will give a presentation, and selectmen will vote the following week on whether to accept the money.

The two-year grant would add 16 firefighters, enabling the chief to reopen Middleboro’s north station and fully-staff the south station, cutting emergency response times by at least half.

However, the cash-strapped town is required to pay more than $1 million in salaries for an additional year.

Benjamino thinks he can cover all but about $20,000 of that if he uses the grant to jumpstart a town-run ambulance service staffed with firefighter-paramedics.

However, the head of the Middleboro Finance Committee says he’s not convinced that’s the best way to keep both stations open.

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