Voters in Smithfield are considering a $4.5 million referendum to fund a bond that will pay for the construction of a new fire station in the north end of town. It will appear as Question 4 on Tuesday’s ballot.
"If you take about a mile stretch of Route 7, ten thousand people come to work there every day,” said Chief Robert Seltzer about how busy that area of town is.
The area includes the huge Fidelity Investments campus on Salem Street, the Bryant University campus, four day cares, and elementary school, and several condominium complexes – many of which are for residents 55 and over. Response times to that part of town run between eight and 14 minutes while the safety standards as put forth by the National Fire Protection Agency put response times between four and six minutes.