By Richard Meek
Contributing Writer

EDGARD – A vacant fire station in Pleasure Bend continues to be a source of consternation for Councilman Art Smith, who raised the issue at the council meeting Tuesday for the second time in several weeks.
Smith is wondering why the station is not manned, and the equipment remains idle. The Pleasure Bend station is one of 17 stations in the parish. The parish’s fire protection consists of 100 volunteers and 43 paid firefighters.
“It needs to be manned,” Smith said. “We need to be training somebody back there (to learn and operate) the equipment.”
Similar to when he raised the issue earlier, Smith was told the fire department has had trouble recruiting volunteers for that station. Parish Emergency Operations Director Jobe Boucvalt said at least one person from Pleasure Bend volunteered but left early in the training program.
“It would be nice to have 24/7 paid (firefighters),” Boucvalt said. “ I would like to have a paid fire department, but it goes back to the budget. It’s a money issue.”
“We want to support this,” Councilman Lucien Gauff III said “(The Pleasure Bend residents) have to help us out.”
“That was the agreement, but that’s not working,” Smith said.
He added that one obstacle is residents are hesitant to travel to Edgard for the required training.
“They are willing to be trained,” he said. “We are asking them to come to Edgard to be trained, and these people will not drive to Edgard to be trained. We need to bring the training to them.”
Boucvalt reminded Smith that the Edgard fire station is a central location and the training center for all west bank firefighters.
“I don’t’ see why they wont’ go somewhere to get training so they can man the station,” Gauff said. “They don’t have the facilities (in Pleasure Bend) to train them. They would have to go somewhere else.
“I’m not against fire protection in Pleasure Bend. There are a lot of things that need to be asked. “
Parish President Natalie Robottom said the parish has an agreement with St. James Parish that Vacherie firefighters are initial responders to fires in Pleasure Bend because of closer proximity to the area, with St. John units arriving as soon as possible.
Boucvalt said there has been one structure fire in the past four years in Pleasure Bend.
He informed council members that volunteers from other fire districts are checking the equipment and performing maintenance as required.
Smith also expressed concern about a lack of a recreation facility in Pleasure Bend. He said the parish needs to explore the possibility of purchasing some land so the youth of the area will have at least a playground. Robottom reported 11 children live in that area and the parish had not purchased property for a playground nor has any land been donated for that purpose.
Councilwoman Cheryl Millet told Smith those young people are part of the parish and have accessibility to any of the area playgrounds and recreational programs, including sports.
Repeating a familiar chorus, Smith said the “travel distance makes it very difficult” for those children to participate in parish programs.
“We can do something for these kids back there,” he said.