Gorham officials are not alarmed about the town’s future ability to step up fire coverage in the rapidly growing area in the southern part of town.

“South Gorham has coverage from our Central Station, as does the rest of Gorham,” Town Council Chair Suzanne Phillips said in an email this week to the American Journal. “If and when the need arises in that area (South Gorham), the town would address that.”

The town has a pair of significant development projects pending in South Gorham. An 824-multifamily, residential project is proposed for the former Gorham Golf Course on McLellan Road and is awaiting the town’s contract zone approval to move ahead. Another development is a nearby, potential senior citizens’ community with 84 units off Newton Drive and Shirley Lane. The seniors’ project was introduced to the town in July.

“We haven’t heard from them in several months,” Town Planner Carol Eyerman said Tuesday.

A few years ago and prior to recent proposed developments, Gorham pulled out of sharing the North Scarborough Fire Station that also housed a Gorham truck and staff to cover the South Gorham area.

“The department shifted away from a part-time, fire-only position in that station when we added six more firefighter/medical providers at the Central Station,” Gorham Town Manager Ephrem Paraschak said in an email to the American Journal.

Gorham Fire Chief Kenny Fickett said the department had to move the truck from the North Scarborough Station to the Little Falls Station to replace a truck it junked because of a crack in the frame that measured 6-plus feet.

“We also moved the 12-hour person to Central to help with staffing,” Fickett said.

The shift from North Scarborough to Central “maybe” added 2 minutes in response time for an engine, Fickett said.

Scarborough Fire Chief Richard Kindelan said the North Scarborough Station is and will remain in operation.

“It has a small number of dedicated call company members and is also funded and scheduled to be staffed around the clock by part-time (or what we call per-diem) firefighter/EMS providers. One Scarborough fire engine/pumper (E5) along with the Canteen vehicle is housed in that station,” Kindelan wrote in an email.

Kindelan said when the sharing agreement ended with Gorham nearly three years ago, the two departments made a commitment to revisit it when and if it ever made sense again.

“Scarborough Fire Department remains open to any discussions regarding mutually beneficial partnerships with all of our mutual aid partners,” Kindelan said.

The option could make sense for Gorham in the future when it could need to reexamine providing adequate coverage for South Gorham rather than build a new facility there.

As the area grows down the line, Paraschak said, there may be more need for in-house staffing at specific locations, but at this time the only full-time staffing in Gorham is centrally located at the station on Main Street.

Fickett said Gorham could rethink sharing North Scarborough.

“It’s always in our minds what impact (growth) will have on us,” Fickett said.