BOF Funds New Firefighter

Published on 7/8/2004

Last Monday's Board of Finance (BOF) meeting felt like a flashback to March, when town departments were pitching their staffing plans for the next fiscal year. During the budget process, the BOF cut one and the RTM cut the second of Fire Chief Jack Ahern's requests for two new firefighters.

The political pressure from the chief, the Board of Fire Commissioners, and the firefighters union to bring Engine One up to full staffing forced the RTM to backpedal, and last week Ahern was back where he started.

"I'm not sure how we ended up back here," said Ahern. "We are truly at a critical juncture. No organization will tell you it's safe to run a fire engine with two people on it. That's what we do every day."

Standard practice for fighting structure fires calls for four firefighters per engine. After the BFD upped the hours on Ambulance Medic Two to round-the-clock duty, the union conceded by pulling two firefighters from Engine One to staff the ambulance, with the hope that Engine One would be brought back to the standard four-man crew in the 2004-05 budget. By cutting Ahern's requests, the BOF and RTM dashed those hopes, effectively voting to perpetuate an unsafe staffing level. Understandably, the BOF agreed to revisit the issue.

"We did our work," said BOF Chair Joe Mooney. "Coming back now after the budget's closed is difficult for us."

With an ever-increasing volume of medical calls, the pressure to continue staffing two ambulances has drawn staff from the fire engines. BOF members questioned whether that pressure should be heeded, or whether the town might be better off relying on CMED (a local network of ambulances from surrounding towns), or paying for professional ambulance services.

"We are fast approaching the time when three ambulances will be needed in this town," said Ahern.

"I don't believe there's a better ambulance service than you get in Branford," he added. "But suppression is taking a back seat. We don't get a lot of structure fires. But when we do, we want to have enough guys. I don't think people understand the seriousness of this. This is people's lives."

"We participate in the CMED program," said BOF member Jeff Vailette. "Maybe we need to lean on them a little more."

According to Ahern, that may have to happen.

"If we don't get these personnel, we will shut down an ambulance," he said. "We need more people on a fire truck."

Members of the BOF were critical of the chief's long-term planning.

"We're looking for some predictability down the road," said Mooney. "We have to balance your needs with everyone else's needs."

While Ahern knows that the fire department needs a serious increase in staffing, he's unsure on how to approach the BOF for the money.

"There was one recommendation from a member of the RTM to hire eight new people right away," he said.

BOF members asked the chief whether he could promise not to request another firefighter next year if the current proposal for two was granted.

"You couldn't commit to a zero add for next year?" asked Vincent Casella.

"Not the way our call volume is increasing," replied Ahern.

Ahern also revealed plans to build a new eastern station on Route One close to the Branford Motel. But the financial burden his staffing needs place on the town have made him reluctant to pitch hard for capital projects.

"I'd rather work in a shoebox if we have the personnel to do it," he said.

But when asked whether he would rather have a new fire engine or a new firefighter at the BOF budget meeting in March, Ahern chose the engine, although he didn't realize than that the RTM would interpret his answer to pull his second request.

"This is the time to start that conversation," said Mooney. "Coming onesy-twosy like this doesn't work. We'd like to see that full plan, with capital, volunteers, staff."

"The fire department has forever given five year plans, and they're never getting acted on," replied Ahern.

The BOF approved one new firefighter to start immediately. Until the new hire is trained and ready to serve, the BFD will pay for an extra man to staff Engine One out of the overtime budget.

"I'm disappointed," said Ahern. "We wanted two starting Jan. 1, we got one starting July 1."

The BOF didn't rule out adding another firefighter after seeing a clear plan for future funding of staff and capital projects.

"They're done for now," said Ahern.