LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The men and women who man the fire station on Grade Lane, located alongside Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, are almost family to people like Sonya Combs, especially after what Combs went through last fall.
"My husband had a heart attack in October," she said.
Combs said firefighters arrived in just two minutes, which is why she was concerned when she learned Louisville Metro Government would close the station because of sweeping budget cuts.
"I was upset," she said. "I was scared."
Combs got good news Wednesday when Louisville Fire Chief Greg Frederick announced plans to keep the station open despite $1.7 million worth of cuts to his agency required by the city's new budget.
"We felt like closing this station would open us up to some very long delays in this area," he said.
Right now, Frederick said, firefighters at the Grade Lane station can respond to most of the surrounding areas in a matter of four or five minutes. Losing the station would have doubled those response times, he said.
But saving the station will cost another: the station on Rubel Avenue in the Highlands, where the two companies that share the firehouse there will combine into one.
"We'll staff four fewer firefighters at that station, but we'll still have four per day on duty," Frederick said.
Frederick doesn't think the community will notice a difference, but Combs is still nervous for those people across town.
"That's still not what I want to hear," she said. "When you're losing positions, then you're asking those people to do even more on our bad days."
They're all reasons why she hopes this year's budget will be the last one loaded with cuts.
Ultimately, Frederick has to eliminate 15 fire positions, but because of existing vacancies, he said no one will need to be laid off.
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