Current Stamford Fire Rescue

[LayTheLine 108]

Hopefully, Alan, AFS1970 can answer this question:

 

This is not intended to open old wounds about the merger of the fire departments in the City of Stamford. What I am interested in is what is the current organization of the department(s)?

 

Staffed stations, location of career engines & ladders, manning per piece, response of volunteers in supplement of career staff? Does the career department respond to every call with some type of response from Long Island Sound up to the New York State border as well as East to West boundaries? 

 

I'm just curious about the current status of what the City runs, not the past or future plans.  Thanks, LayTheLine

[FFPCogs 863]

On 12/17/2017 at 11:51 PM, LayTheLine said:

Hopefully, Alan, AFS1970 can answer this question:

 

This is not intended to open old wounds about the merger of the fire departments in the City of Stamford. What I am interested in is what is the current organization of the department(s)?

 

Staffed stations, location of career engines & ladders, manning per piece, response of volunteers in supplement of career staff? Does the career department respond to every call with some type of response from Long Island Sound up to the New York State border as well as East to West boundaries? 

 

I'm just curious about the current status of what the City runs, not the past or future plans.  Thanks, LayTheLine

SFD has 5 fully staffed firehouses in what had been the Stamford Fire District (basically from LI Sound north to Bulls Head and Greenwich to Darien West to East). These stations house U-4 (on duty Deputy i.e. Shift Commander) Engines 1,2,3,4 & 5,  Trucks 1 (TL), 2 & 3(Ladders)  and Rescue 1. Each unit is staffed with four. Additionally SFD has Engine 6 in Glenbrook, Engine 7 in Springdale and Engines 8 & 9 in Turn of River (1 in each TRFD station) also staffed by four.

 

As for the VFDs, the resources excluding personnel  are as follows

Glenbook  -2 Engines, 1 Ladder 1 support unit

Belltown - 2 Engines, 1 Tower Ladder, 1 medium duty Rescue

Springdale - 2 Engines, 1 Suppprt unit

TRFD - 2 Engines, 1 Ladder, 1 Rescue, 1 Tanker

Long Ridge - 2 Engines, 1 Pumper/Tanker, 1 light duty Rescue. 1 Tanker (2 career personnel on duty 24/7, FM on duty M-F 8-4)

 

As far as responses go, to the best of my recollection the City is dispatched to ALL calls citywide with an Engine (or other unit if no Engine is available) dispatched to life threatening medical calls and a full box assignment for fire calls (which I believe is 3E's, 1T &1R with a 4th E dispatched with traffic, upgraded to code 3 response as FAST if confirmed WF) 

 

For calls in the VFD districts that VFD will also be dispatched. VFD responses vary from nonexistant to 100% which is why SFD is dispatched to all calls. 

 

Hope this is what you were looking for

Merry Christmas

Edited December 20, 2017 by FFPCogs

[AFS1970 504]

On ‎12‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 1:51 AM, LayTheLine said:

Hopefully, Alan, AFS1970 can answer this question:

I will try, but I am not the best expert in some of these subjects.

On ‎12‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 1:51 AM, LayTheLine said:

 

This is not intended to open old wounds about the merger of the fire departments in the City of Stamford. What I am interested in is what is the current organization of the department(s)?

Organization largely depends on who you talk to and what source you use. However per the city charger there is one fire department. This despite the fact that there are still six fire departments. 

 

Stamford has 1 Chief, 2 Assistant Chiefs (one being selected at least partially by the VFD's and serving as Chief of Volunteers), Then various line and staff officers. There is 1 Deputy Chief on each shift & either a Captain or Lieutenant on every SFD apparatus all of which have 4 man crews.

On ‎12‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 1:51 AM, LayTheLine said:

 

Staffed stations, location of career engines & ladders, manning per piece, response of volunteers in supplement of career staff? Does the career department respond to every call with some type of response from Long Island Sound up to the New York State border as well as East to West boundaries? 

The five existing SFD stations all remain as is, although over the years some redeployments have been made. 

 

Station 1 (Central) houses Engine 1 & Truck 1 

Station 2 (South End) houses Engine 2, Truck 2 & Haz Mat 1 & 2

Station 3 (West Side) houses Engine 3 & Truck 3, as well as SEMS Medic 1

Station 4 (East Side) houses Engine 4

Station 5 (Woodside) houses Engine 5 & Rescue 1 (formerly at Station 1)

 

The five VFD stations are all still there although with various staffing solutions, currently Belltown is the only fully volunteer station. Long Ridge still has career firefighters who work for the company and are not part of SFD.

 

Glenbrook houses SFD Engine 6 (formerly at Station 1), then Engine 32, Engine 34, Truck 31 & Utility 35 as well as SEMS Medic 2 (Day shift only)

Belltown houses Engine 41, Engine 42, Truck 45, Rescue 44 & Utility 40

Springdale houses SFD Engine 7, Engine 52, Rescue 54 & Utility 55

Turn of River Station 1 houses SFD Engine 8, Engine 62, Engine 64, Truck 67, Rescue 66, Tanker 68, Utility 60, Utility 61 & Utility 69

Turn of River Station 2 houses SFD Engine 9, Engine 63 (temporarily relocated to Long Ridge #2)

Long Ridge Station 1 houses Engine 71, Engine 73, Rescue 77, Tanker 78 & Utility 75

Long Ridge Station 2 houses Engine 74 (currently using E63) & Engine 72 (Reserve)

 

SFD sends some type of response on the initial alarm in all districts, VFD's can cancel these units if they have staffed & equipped apparatus responding, although I have only heard this done on still alarms. On full boxes it is common to respond with any extra apparatus and wait for someone on scene to adjust incoming response. SFD recently adjusted several responses to better deploy and utilize their rigs, which applies citywide. There are some slight differences in the VFD stations but for the most part the VFD is dispatched along with the standard SFD response for the call type. 

 

There seem to be Utilities responding on a lot of calls, but most of those are medicals where the utility can do the same thing as an Engine or Truck. I know that one challenge to getting larger apparatus on the road is driver training. For quite a while in what were the combination houses there was no urgency for volunteers to become drivers because the career members would drive. Ultimately this has proven to be a problem as stations have transitioned to fully staffed SFD rigs as well as irregularly staffed volunteer rigs. 

 

There is what can be called a pilot program that so far is only running in Belltown, where volunteers can staff a rig with a full crew and they will be listed as staffed & equipped at the dispatch center and we will dispatch them citywide based on location. This has so far not been extended to any of the other VFD's, although it seems to have proven to be a success in Belltown. 

 

On ‎12‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 1:51 AM, LayTheLine said:

 

I'm just curious about the current status of what the City runs, not the past or future plans.  Thanks, LayTheLine

I hope this helped. Although it is hard to discuss the current state of any fire department without at least some elements of both the past and the future. 

[LayTheLine 108]

Thanks guys, just what I was looking for. A lot easier when listening to the scanner.

[AFS1970 504]

For scanner listening there are a couple of other things that may help.

 

SFD Chiefs are Car/Unit 1, Car/Unit 2, Car/Unit 11

SFD Duty Deputy Chief is Car/Unit 4

SFD Safety Officers are Car/Unit 6, Car/Unit 7, Car/Unit 8

 

SFD Fire Marshals are all three digit numbers from 101-112

Long Ridge has a Fire Marshal unit 710

 

SFD Mechanics are 121-123

 

VFD officers are three digits units the first number of which matches the apparatus. Glenbrook has cars for chief & assistant Chief. Belltown & Springdale have cars for their chiefs. Most of the time other officers responding are in personal vehicles, but some officers will use these number if they are in a utility.

 

Glenbrook: 311 (Chief), 312 (Asst Chief), 313 (Captain), 314 (Captain), 315 (Lieut), 316 (Lieut), 317 (Lieut)

Belltown: 411 (Chief), 412 (Asst Chief), 413 (Captain), 414 (Captain), 415 (Lieut), 416 (Lieut), 418 (Safety)

Springdale: 511 (Chief), 512 (Asst Chief), 513 (Captain), 514 (Lieut), 515 (Lieut), 516 (Lieut)

Turn of River: 611 (Chief), 612 (Asst Chief), 613 (Captain), 614 (Captain), 615 (Lieut), 616 (Lieut), 617 (Lieut), 618 (Safety), 620 (EMS Off.)

Long Ridge: 711 (Chief), 712 (Asst Chief), 713 (Captain), 714 (Lieut), 715 (Lieut), 716 (Lieut)

 

When a VFD station is alerted it is generally up to them what to take. Based on crew & driver availability. So you may hear some occasional odd responses like trucks going on medicals or utilities to car accidents.

 

Also there is a wide disparity in what is called a rescue. R1 & R66 are heavy rescues. R44 is a medium rescue. R77 is a light rescue (with only 2 seats). R54 is really kind of halfway between a utility and a rescue but carries no extrication equipment.

[LayTheLine 108]

Very helpful AFS1970. I'll have to save this thread. Thanks!!

[dartnk45 11]

Alan,

 

The only Change that I can see on your list is Truck 2 is no longer a ladder. It is a Tower Ladder. This is the sutphen Tower that was originally at Truck 1 before the seagrave.

[AFS1970 504]

On ‎2‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 3:38 PM, dartnk45 said:

Alan,

 

The only Change that I can see on your list is Truck 2 is no longer a ladder. It is a Tower Ladder. This is the sutphen Tower that was originally at Truck 1 before the Seagrave

 

SFD has Truck 1 which is a Seagrave Tower Ladder and Truck 2 which is a Sutphen Tower. T45 in Belltown  is a Mack Tower Ladder. 

 

Springdale used to run a Snorkel as T56 but that has been gone for years. For the real history buffs SFD used to have a Snorkel assigned as Truck 4 but that has not been a front line company for many years and the current reserve Truck 4 is not a Snorkel. 

[dartnk45 11]

Wow, 

 

The Mack is still running Strong? Its been over 10 years since I was in town. Thanks for the Information. 

 

Tom Tisano JR.

[FFPCogs 863]

25 minutes ago, dartnk45 said:

Wow, 

 

The Mack is still running Strong? Its been over 10 years since I was in town. Thanks for the Information. 

 

Tom Tisano JR.

She just got refurbed again last year. Here she is in her latest incarnation..sad to say after another 10 12- years, probably her last too

[Mark Z 18]

Sweet Looking Mack!

[vodoly 535]

On 2/3/2018 at 7:22 PM, FFPCogs said:

She just got refurbed again last year. Here she is in her latest incarnation..sad to say after another 10 12- years, probably her last too

That Dawg’s Still got it Nice