Sleep tight and don’t let the …. This time it isn’t bed bugs.
One of the two fire stations in Glens Falls, NY is currently operating under a reduced schedule. This isn’t because of a lack of money. It’s because of a surplus of something else: rats.
The Broad Street station will only be open from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM. The firefighters will sleep and take meals at the Ridge Street station while exterminators and health officials work on the problem.
One firefighter got up close and personal with the problem. Here are excerpts from Maury Thompson’s story on PostStar.com:
Glens Falls officials shut down sleeping and dining quarters at the city’s Broad Street fire station after a firefighter was apparently bitten by a rat while sleeping.
The firefighter, who city and union officials would not identify, was awoken by something painful, and when he looked in the mirror he noticed some blood and “two little spike marks” on his nose, said acting Mayor John “Jack” Diamond.
The incident occurred on Saturday, but city officials did not disclose it until a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
The firefighter did not actually see the rat at that point, but rats had been spotted at the firehouse various times over about a three-week period, said city Fire Chief Raymond Ives.
Ives said that the firefighter received a tetanus shot and was prescribed antibiotics at Glens Falls Hospital.
