Small Towns Roll the Dice When Fire Breaks Out

[Pyroinvestigator 0]

Small Towns Roll the Dice When Fire Breaks Out  

Number of Firefighters Available for Daytime Runs Varies

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SPENCER, Mass. (AP) -- When a fire breaks out in this small central Massachusetts town, Fire Chief Robert P. Parsons knows he can count on his on-call firefighters. How many he can count on, however, is another question.  

In Spencer, as in many other towns across the state with on-call firefighters who work day jobs, the number of firefighters who can respond to daytime alarms -- particularly if it's not clear that the alarm is a full-blown fire -- is often very small.  

In Spencer, it's become difficult to find enough firefighters to repond to non-fires or calls that turn out to be false alarms.  

``We are an active department, with about 305 calls for the year so far, and we are going (on calls) quite a bit,'' Parsons told the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester.  

The number of firefighters responding to such calls is often low ``because they (firefighters) cannot leave work readily or their employers only allow them to leave if it's a full-blown fire,'' he said.  

In addition, he said, Spencer has become a bedroom community, where many people work out of town, further reducing the pool of available personnel.  

``It's a growing issue throughout the country with volunteer and call firefighters,'' he said. Several other Worcester County fire chiefs confirmed that daytime response is a major problem in their communities, too.  

Jonathan Plante, a regional vice president of the Massachusetts Call-Volunteer Firefighters Association, told the newspaper that the situation in Worcester County mirrors conditions in most parts of the state.  

``It's a gamble,'' said Barre Fire Chief Joseph A. Rogowski, that town's only full-time firefighter. ``Every time the alarm comes in, you wonder if you are going to have enough people show up to do the job.''  

Voters in some communities have approved increased funding to hire full-time paid firefighters to cover daytime shifts, but that is the exception and not the rule, according to Plante, a 15-year veteran of the Leicester Fire Department.  

Volunteer or on-call fire departments are likely to stay the way most communities in the state manage their fire service, Plante said. These systems provide good fire protection at a cost taxpayers are willing to pay, he said.  

``I can always provide the level of service people are willing to pay for,'' Chief Rogowski said. ``If they want a fire truck and five men right at their door, I can provide that, but it comes at a price.''  

While most fire chiefs were concerned about daytime response, Chief Michael Gauthier of Grafton said his department hasn't had to face the issue.  

``I have a pretty good response during the day. It's due to a lot of support from town businesses that allow our firefighters to respond during the day,'' he said.  

``They (the businesses) look at it as a community service, and it saves them money in the long run on taxes,'' he said, because the town is able to maintain an on-call, rather than full-time, department.  

Chief Gauthier said other fire chiefs were amazed at the situation in Grafton.  

``Everybody looks at me and says, `I don't know how you do it, but keep up the good work,''' he said.

[Pyroinvestigator 0]

Listen...before anyone gets started....the question put forth is this...if you have a problem getting out...what should you do about it....Nothing? hope it goes away....count on mutual aid? Hire paid...daytime or fully....merge? etc. This is an obvious problem occuring here in westchester. And many have chosen to do little about it...(also in Putnam) where just last month (as reported in the journal news) there was a fire in Put. Lake and the house burt to the ground and the chief was (give him some credit) quoted as saying they didn't have any manpower to put it out. (He doesn't get credit in the dept. of doing something about that). We all can't run and hide or pretend this situation doesn't exist. If it were your house..would you accept..."well, you don't pay much for this dept. and a career dept. would be very expensive....oh.. by the way ...sorry you don't have a house now"..... I AM NOT promoting changing everything to paid depts. (before someone even goes down that road)... the discussion is.....what should be done...it is a tough decision....but someone with power has to make it...and if it were you....what would you do.....

[Guest alsfirefighter]

When you are honest abot the level of protection you may or may not be able to provide, I honestly believe people will not mind a tax increase that is fair to what you need for that protection.

[Pyroinvestigator 0]

how come no one has touched this?....seems like life mimics forum...

There has been discussions here about tri dept. response, merging depts....what should be done..and shouldn't we be doing something about it now...why not start with the tri response like montross...or start merging like someone pointed out in the sound shore area....or shallowing small depts...such as Archville....

[CFD320 35]

The bottom line here is that a department that knows it has a manpower problem needs to find a solution. There is no one proper solution to this problem, it depends on the situation.

Mutual aid is a tactic employed by many departments and works very well in most cases. There are problems with it just like any other option. Territorial attitudes are rampant, here is a statement that I was told was made by a chief regarding mutual aid: "I wont call xxx fire department anymore because they get there to fast and bring too many guys" All volunteers take pride in doing their civic duty, but god-forbid a neighboring department beats you in to your own call. The fabric of the space time continuum may come apart at the seams.

Going to a fully paid department is certainly an option. This option is extremely cost prohibitive for Towns, Villages and Hamlets with a small tax base. Quick math if you staff a small community with an engine and a truck and a chief 24/7 you are looking at about 30 employees. Average salary about 50k plus benefit costs, retirement plans etc. etc. we will figure 3 million per year. If your tax base is 2000 units you are looking at an average of a $1500 per year tax increase. Just think about that for a second and that 3mil # is very very low. Now to complicate this lets say you get a fire, you have your engine truck and cheif on the scene 11 guys. You recall the entire department and you get half you get 9 fresh bodies in 30-45 minuets. Did you really solve the manpower issue?

Combination departments are also an option, very costly but more economical than fully paid. I won't go into money here but you are still counting on volunteers for manpower. Your paid chauffer may get the apparatus to the scene but what does he do then? Not to mention the conflicts that initially arises between career and volunteer, which never really go away.

There is no right or wrong way to address this problem because all possible solutions have their flaws. One option may certainly make sense in one town but completely off the wall in another.