Plympton Town Property Committee Opens Fire Station Review With Data-Only Phase 1 Session

PLYMPTON -- February 7, 2026, Plympton's three-member Town Property Committee launched its Phase 1 fire station review Saturday with a public data session, pledging no site selections or cost commitments at this stage. Committee members Caitlin Johnson, Keelan Smith, and Pierre Boyer presented four years of emergency response data, total calls grew from 750 in 2021 to 808 in 2024, with roughly 65 percent EMS-driven and mutual aid given to neighboring towns climbing from 14 percent to 23 percent of activity over the same period. Fire Chief Charles Duddy confirmed that mutual aid ambulance runs generate patient billing revenue for Plympton, making the ambulance service "a cash cow," in the words of resident Justin Shepherd. Finance Committee member Ronald Brown, citing 25 years with the state Department of Revenue, said flatly that Proposition 2 and a Half leaves no viable path to a new station "without an override or a debt exclusion." Former fire station committee member Mark Wallace urged the current panel to meet with the previous committee before reinventing work already done under a $978,000 town authorization, roughly half of which has been spent.