NASA considers closing fire station that hasn’t responded to fire call in 5 years

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A dozen firefighters are expected to lose their job at the Kennedy Space Center.

NASA is looking to close Station 3, which is the one closest to the Artemis I launchpad. NASA says the station hasn’t responded to a call in years.

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Closing that station would leave two stations open to respond to calls.

Local 525 president Kevin Smith said he has not been given a good reason for the closing by NASA, but a spokesperson said the station has not responded to any calls in the past five years and the other two stations take 90% of the calls.

Read: NASA announces 2 potential launch windows for Artemis I

Smith said the station does not respond to things like structure fires, but they are there in case of an emergency and respond to calls on Playalinda Beach. Smith said the closure could add about 9 minutes to response times.

Smith said there is also a possibility of layoffs on the Canaveral Air Force side, and if that happens there will be about 30 firefighters without jobs. But those layoffs are not expected to happen immediately.

Read: Scrubbed Artemis I launch: What’s next?

VIDEO: NASA continues work toward late-September launch for Artemis I NASA continues work toward late-September launch for Artemis I

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