Department stalled in quest for ranking

06/09/2006

Marissa Yaremich , Register Staff

WEST HAVEN — The Allingtown Fire Department is close to becoming a full paramedic service, but that won’t become a reality until the Board of Fire Commissioners stops "sitting on their hands for almost one year" and permanently replaces Fire Chief Elmer Henderson Jr., department representatives say. For the first few months after Henderson’s departure on June 30, 2005, it didn’t bother the 21 rank-and-file firefighters that the fire commission didn’t convey a clear-cut plan on how or when it would fill the leadership positions, according to Tony Connor, a 23-year veteran who said he was speaking on behalf of the "majority" of the department.

It even became an outstanding barb between the close-knit fire crews as to who would be good enough either to beat out acting Chief Victor Sampietro for the chief’s post or be promoted to the captain post that would open up as a result.

But with no decision from the commission, the department couldn’t get full-time paramedic status because there wasn’t a shift open for the newly hired paramedic-firefighter, according to fire union representative Richard Murray Jr.

Murray said getting paramedic status was the vision Henderson and then Sampietro held for the department and, more importantly, the citizens of Allingtown. Now, frustration dominates many firefighters’ sentiments on the matter, Connor added.

"That’s the cry now: It’s been long enough. Do what has to be done to move this department ahead," said Connor, former union vice president.

According to Leonard Guercia Jr., director of the state Office of Medical Services, Sampietro has submitted the required "medical intensive care upgrade" paperwork and obtained the equipment for the department to become a first-call paramedic service. The final step, Guercia said, is for the department to have paramedics on call 24 hours daily.

Murray and Connor said the district can do this by assigning one of its four paramedics per shift. But that can only happen if one of the department’s four captains is promoted, they said.

"It’s like we’re on an airplane, circling Allingtown and looking down, wondering when we’re going to land," Murray said of the anticipation.

Commission Chairman Louis P. Esposito Jr. called their assessment of the paramedic service "part true, but not a true picture." He said the commission plans to have the paramedic service in effect on July 1, but that it’s waiting for the new Fairfield County-certified paramedic-firefighter to obtain his New Haven-area medical control license. He said there isn’t an issue with shift availability.

The commission is also "very close" to naming an internal firefighter as chief, though he declined to comment on the leading candidate’s identity. All of the captains underwent interviews within the past year.

"It will probably be a matter of days before the announcement is made," Esposito said, adding that the delay is not deliberate.

Rather, he said a number of uncontrollable factors preoccupied the commission, including a federal lawsuit filed in 2003 by Peter Massaro, now a district captain. Massaro claims he was discriminated against in the 2001 search for a new chief, which resulted in Henderson’s appointment, because he is white. The fire district filed in April for the case’s dismissal.