By PATRICIA DADDONA
Day Staff Writer, Waterford
Published on 11/22/2004

Waterford— A fire service committee has completed draft revisions of a plan that recommends keeping five fire stations intact as firefighters work to define the future of the fire service in town.

In August, the Board of Finance voted to hire an outside consultant to analyze whether the firehouses could be consolidated to save money and operate more efficiently. The panel forwarded its request to the Board of Selectmen, which asked fire chiefs and other local experts to produce their own analysis first.

On Thursday, the Board of Fire Commissioners endorsed the revisions completed by a Fire Service Planning Committee composed of five fire chiefs, the fire administrator, two fire commissioners and the town fire marshal.

The Board of Selectmen will consider whether or not to support the finance panel's approach at a 7 p.m. meeting Tuesday at Town Hall.

The plan is based on an earlier version called Task Force 95 that firefighters had been working on with Fire Administrator Bruce Miller, committee Chairman Bill Henderson said Sunday. He is fire chief of the Cohanzie Volunteer Fire Department.

The draft report considers five fire stations “adequate” in a town of 36.7 square miles because most homes and businesses can be reached from those fire stations in less than six minutes. Irreversible cellular damage to a fire victim begins four to six minutes after a person's breathing or heart stops, the document states.

Some outlying areas on seven streets and arteries in town, including Route 85 and Interstate 395, are beyond the six-minute reach of any fire station, a situation documented in a previous study conducted by a consultant, Firescope Inc., the report states.

Waterford's fire service consists of seven full-time professionals, dozens of paid part-time firefighters and about 100 active volunteers, according to the report.

“It is the committee's belief that in order for Waterford to be spared the costs of an adequate career (paid) firefighting force, programs that enhance and reward the self-esteem of the volunteer firefighters must be instituted,” the report states. “If this is not done, the system will continue to suffer a serious depletion of personnel due to ... economic and societal pressures.”

The report also recommends improvements to personnel, water supply, interaction with the dispatch center and police, equipment, vehicles, fire prevention, management and communication. Some of the proposals include improving the fire service insurance rating, addressing homeland security concerns in training and increasing the availability of water sources in the north end of town.

The revised plan is meant to be a road map for the direction the fire service would like to take as its members improve service and enhance incentives for volunteers, Henderson said. Absent is back-up analysis and cost-estimates for each topic and recommendation, but those materials exist and just have to be incorporated into the draft plan, he said.

A final version could be ready by summer, he said.

“A lot of work went into what we have here and there's still a lot more to follow,” he said.

While the finance board has every right to request another study, Henderson said, the committee would like to see finance and other town officials rely on the firefighting expertise within the town.

“The entire fire service is working toward the same goals as the town boards and agencies — fiscal responsibility and operational effectiveness,” Henderson said. “We hope they look at this and say the fire service is very serious about their operation. And we are.”